I am at the moment doing my first brew with beer enhancer. It is a brew I have done many times before, so I should know as soon as I taste it if worth the extra money.
The problem is there are so many variables, the main one being temperature, when I first started I noted that the same kit produced varying results, had it not been that our fridge/freezer was condemned as having faulty insulation and the insurance paid out, likely I would still not have a temperature controlled brewing system set up.
The first thing I realised when I set up the fridge/freezer to brew in with temperature control was all the data I had gathered before having it could be thrown out.
Kits I had considered as not to my taste were very much to my taste once temperature was controlled.
I would guess this will also be the case when using different sugars and dried malt extract. When you read a kit review what you want is to compare cost to quality. As you add to the cost using dried malt you very soon come to same price as a two can kit.
As DIY from applying the can opener to the can to drinking can be 4 months, I can do the same kit 4 times and have bottles on the shelf of all 4 attempts of the same brew, with notes on the computer on exactly how it was fermented. Which on causal reading all seem the same. But taste has changed between the 4 brews.
On going to the shed where I store my beer I found the pop bottles very hard clearly a little too much CO2 in the bottle, I released the excess pressure as it's a pain to pour. Next bottle opened 2 days latter had a far more mellow taste. Only change was to release excess CO2.
How much the shed temperature makes one can only guess. I think it is likely the more you pay to make the brew the better it will be. At ã2 a pint about the cheapest you can buy beer 40 pints would cost ã80 so home brew will reduce that bill, I have had few failures nothing wrong with beer, just did not like it once made, with the pub they will often let you taste the beer first. So if you go on the idea that 1 in 12 will not be to your taste instead of counting on a brew being 40 pints count it as 36 pints to allow for the odd bad brew. So at ã10 a kit then 28p a pint, at ã20 then 56p a pint both cheap, but unlikely the 56p pint will be twice as good as the 28p pint. By time you hit the 83p pint then one really has to ask questions is it worth it, or should you be moving away from kit beer?
My first step away from kit as supplied following the instructions was when Morrison's stopped doing the kits. They were less than ã7 a can and I was brewing Geordie kits, but not into larger, and larger was only kit left, so a bought the last few larger kits and used them as the sugar for the Scottish heavy Kits.
However I was greedy so also added some sugar and some extra water, yes they were good, but I was hitting the 6% ABV mark and really not to my taste.
So in 2 months time I can give an answer, but in 2 years time likely a better answer. And by then likely the yeast will have altered slightly and the kit will have altered slightly and a load of other things will have also changed.
Since I have bought enhancer I clearly hope I will get a better pint, but we all have different tastes so it is down to each person to select what best fits his or her pallet.
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