Beer Kits - Do the Pro's still use em'?

[Brudru]

As a new brewer my first decision was to try out Beer Kits. After a bit of reading they seemed like the place to start and get my feet wet so to speak and my first beer kit batch is fermenting right now. I was wondering though do a lot of you who have been brewing for years still use them or do the majority of experienced brewers permanently graduate away from them?

I seen in an article by John Palmer that he seems to reccomend just buying the extract/yeast yourself and that you don't need beer kits however he does say that there are some decent beer kit brands these days: Beer Kit Woes - How to Brew

I get the feeling though that he isn't a fan of the ol beer kit.

I can definately see myself taking this hobby further though and hope to get some AG batches myself one day but for now, whats your thoughts on beer kits, do you still use em after years of brewing or are they best used as a starting point and typically avoided by experienced homebrewers?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I would definitely start with a good 2 can beer kit. It will teach you the basics of hygiene, fermentation control and bottling or kegging. If you buy a starter kit you will get the basic equipment.
I started that way as most on here will do, I then went to extract brewing and then all grain.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I still do kits as well as ag and small stove top brews, mainly do kits over the winter when it's cold because i brew outside, there some very good kits that make really good beer thats were i would start

 

[obscure]

I wouldn’t consider myself a pro by any means (but am enthusiastic amateur who has being brewing for a few years). I mostly do stove top BIAB batches of about 9L but still do the odd kit now and then. Ultimately I brew for myself if I get something I enjoy drinking then it doesn’t matter if it was made with a hopped malt extract kit, with malt extract and hops or with grain, hops and water.

I tend towards doing all grain batches as I find especially with lower gravity English ales I just get a much better beer that way. Also giving that brewing is a hobby I just find It more fun to brew from grain mixing up a kit seems like a chore (not a difficult or time consuming one but a chore none the less) by contrast I find brewing from grain is enjoyable in its own right.

With kits I do find you can produce something decent still, some of the two can kits produce decent beer in their own right (I particularly like the Festival kits, the Youngs Mocha Porter is also good), you can also modify kits, I,e. I made (in my eyes) a rather nice Barley Wine with a Youngs Harvest Barely Wine kit, by mashing a few kilos of Maris Otter giving it a quick boil and fermenting with the slurry from a batch of Yorkshire Bitter I fermented with Wyeast West Yorkshire yeast.

If I’m being honest I suspect the majority of brewers who stick at it long term tend towards all grain but their are those who stick to kits exclusively and a fair few who end up with a hybrid approach.

 

[Graz]

I've not moved away from them and I've been brewing for 30 years on and off. Early days I was at Uni, then in rented accommodation until about 13 years ago where the logistics of brewing all grain really wouldn't have worked.

Since getting a house with my partner which need a lot of work doing, then getting married and then having kids it's not so much the logistics of being able to do a grain brew more the time involved. Maybe one day, been thinking I might give some extract brewing a try this year, possibly going to make a boiler soon.

Kits have definitely got better over the years though as has my process. Sort of remember making my first Wherry and thinking this is actually rather good

 

[Poddyc]

@Brudru,

Not sure of the date of John Palmer's comments, but I think that his opinion regarding kits was probably an accurate assessment of those prevalent in the market a few decades ago. I imagine there’d be quite a few forum members who, like me, can still remember sourcing their one-can kit and kilo of sugar (with what seemed like baker’s yeast!), from the likes of Boots the Chemist back in the 80s and early 90s.

Results then were questionable. It was certainly homebrew, together with its inevitably distinctive homebrew twang at best, but reminiscent of stewed cabbage at worst! Nevertheless, it was cheap. It definitely got you p*ssed, but only if you could get the stuff past your nose! It was never going to be prize-winning - no matter how carefully the brewing process was managed.

Nowadays, the average homebrewer is really spoilt for choice. The quality of ingredients has massively improved. Extracts are much more carefully produced and packaged. Yeast varieties are true to type. Equipment (and information) available to the average homebrewer is much improved and affordable, enabling more careful management of the entire domestic brewing process.

I’m far from ‘pro’ though been homebrewing a while and still mostly brew from 3kg pouch all-extract kits (Festival, Mangrove Jacks). I've found these to be top quality kits, which also include dry-hops where appropriate and additional dextrose only for higher ABVs. Particular recommendations being: Festival’s Razorback IPA, Belgian Pale Ale, Belgian Dubbel, NZ Pilsner, RIS, Summer Glory, Pilgrims Hope, MJ's Juicy Session IPA.

I’ll be reporting back shortly on MJ's Dry Irish Stout - on the go in FV at moment and already very promising. (Ritchie's Festival and MJ now all part of the same international Bevie ingredients manufacturing group). But there are others of similarly high quality. The Youngs American IPA is already next on my list, as it seems well-reviewed by plenty in the forum here.

In any case, whether using kits, boiling extract, or full AG, good results depend heavily on all the exact same issues regarding proper sanitation, and careful management of a healthy fermentation process wrt temperature and timing. If badly managed, then whatever the process upstream - whether from the best kit, or after eight hours of full AG - results will be spoiled.

There’s no questioning that results from ‘top quality’ (3kg pouch, aka two-can) kits can be excellent. In no time at all you’ll be producing IPAs, Pale Ales, Belgians and Stouts, which if done with care, will definitely challenge much of the commercially produced mainstream bottles available on the average supermarket shelves.

Whatever your future plans, everyone’s homebrew experience is a journey, and the equipment necessary for kit brewing is all the exact same stuff needed when, and if, migrating on to extract mini-mash, BIAB or full AG RIMS/HERMS - if that’s what you later choose to do.

If brand new to homebrew, then starting that journey with quality two-can kits will at least allow you to practice and hone your fermentation and packaging processes with a lot less upfront time on wort production.

Never underestimate, however, the importance of advice elsewhere regarding the need for patience in allowing the brew to properly condition. 2+2+2. Two weeks in bucket, two weeks in bottle, two weeks to condition!

Good luck, and Cheers!

 

[Brewnaldo]

I brew BIAB and have only ever done one kit, keep meaning to try a wine or cider kit, and would happily knock out a kit brew but my fermenters are always in use or queued up with grain batches.

I always enter the comps etc here and would happily brew and drink a kit if I won one. It's just that brewing, rather than neccesarily drinking, is the hobby aspect for me. I enjoy an all grain brew day.

 

[yrhendystu]

I started last April with kits and love how simple it is to make something that is on a par, if not better, than the usual supermarket beers. There's also the fact that it's a very cheap hobby to get into, it's fun, allows you to experiment and at the end of it you get beer.

I've done 16 kits since and have enjoyed every single one of them. The instructions will tell you that you can make it one weekend, bottle the next and drink the next but whilst that is true you'll get far better results by taking your time. The usual rule of thumb is two weeks brewing, two weeks priming and two weeks ageing. When I started I had no beer so would rush them but now I have plenty of stock in the shed so I take my time. The bottles I'm drinking now are from October//November.

When I first started a wise person told me to keep a bottle or two from each batch to one side to enjoy later in the year. It's advice I like to pass on.

 

[Bernie]

I would definitely start with a good 2 can beer kit. It will teach you the basics of hygiene, fermentation control and bottling or kegging. If you buy a starter kit you will get the basic equipment.
I started that way as most on here will do, I then went to extract brewing and then all grain.

I agree that 2 can kits give good results but something similar can be done with 1 can + extract, LME or DME.

 

[moto748]

I started off with those kits in the 80s! And I'm sure kits have come on no end since those dark days. But as it's a hobby first and foremost for me, I wouldn't bother with them now, I'd rather brew from my own grains. But I have plenty of time, and don't have to share my kitchen with anyone!

 

[Poddyc]

+1 to what @Bernie says here.

To newbies, think the key is to avoid over expectation on desirable end-product brew body and flavours coming from bulk of fermentables being just sugar (whether sucrose or dextrose).

If '2nd can' is LME or DME, then IMHO you've designed your own custom 'two-can' kit!

 

[Brudru]

Some really good advice and reccomendations here! Its good to see that some of the kits we have available today are regarded to be of good quality, especially reassuring as I wait on my first kit beer to ferment right now I got a Munton's American Style IPA and everything seems to be going to plan so far and smells quite nice!

I also noticed that the instructions said you can do it within 6 days then bottle - its been 7 days so far and was thinking of waiting until the monday before starting my FG checks but I may try and hold off and take some of the advice here and wait the two weeks, but damn I'm excited to get my tastebuds into that brew!

 

[An Ankoù]

Even if you get a really good kit, it's someone else's recipe. So you can adjust it by adding a few more and different hops and then putting in an infusion of crystal or dark malts and then perhaps doing a partial mash. Before you know it, you're either into extract-based beers or you'll have gone the whole hog into all grain. Let's face it, we didn't get into homebrew because we wanted to brew a standard product otherwise we might as well have continued buying commercial beer. But it's a good way to start.

 

[Poddyc]

@Brudru, kit instructions are notoriously optimistic/misleading re timings at best!

If dry-hopping, you may want to get hops into FV well before two weeks are up. Best I've found is to wait until airlock activity is noticeably slower (day 7-8 with good temps?) then test SG. If within 5 points of target FG, then chuck in dry-hops for last, say, 5 days of time in FV.

(When dry-hopping - as I understand it - you want to wait until lower bubbling activity. As, this means there's less CO2 escaping the brew, otherwise taking with it the desirable aromatic volatiles we want to preserve in final brew, infusing from dry-hops addition).

In any case, even if not dry-hopping, hydrometer is your real guide, regardless of any kit instructions.

Also, if you get a Fermtech "thief' and use that with your hydrometer inside - instead of a sample jar. Then, as long as it's properly sanitised kit, the 150ml sample can be safely returned to FV after testing. (But only after obligatory wee dram in glass for quality tasting!) Means you can check SG with lower risk of infection, and without as much waste of future precious well-conditioned brew!

 

[robfor]

Some really good advice and reccomendations here! Its good to see that some of the kits we have available today are regarded to be of good quality, especially reassuring as I wait on my first kit beer to ferment right now I got a Munton's American Style IPA and everything seems to be going to plan so far and smells quite nice!

I also noticed that the instructions said you can do it within 6 days then bottle - its been 7 days so far and was thinking of waiting until the monday before starting my FG checks but I may try and hold off and take some of the advice here and wait the two weeks, but damn I'm excited to get my tastebuds into that brew!

Hi Brudru

I've just started drinking my Muntons IPA, don't let it put you off! For me its not a pale ale and not that hoppy, I can see why they are bringing a new range out in the spring! There are much better kits out there IMHO!

Rob

 

[Poddyc]

@robfor and others,

If Muntons IPA bit underwhelming out-of-box, (I've only brewed Wherry from Muntons brands, so no personal experience), is now the time for @Brudru to perhaps dry-hop, adding 50g-75g of some aroma hops? Say something like Simcoe or Centennial?

 

[robfor]

For me the problem is the malt - its too dark / strong to be an IPA and masks any of the hops. I dried hopped with extra cascade and nelson hops on top of the hops supplied with the kit. Still tastes more like a pint of best than any IPA!

 

[Drunkula]

For me the problem is the malt - its too dark / strong to be an IPA and masks any of the hops.

Absolutely. I did a split batch of a mangrove jack's ipa kit and did one with dextrose, one with spraymalt and the dextrose version was much more to style, the malt really deadened the hops.

 

[Poddyc]

@Drunkula that's handy intel - thanks. I did MJ's Juicy Session IPA about 3 mths ago w/ their 'Light' LME. Came out really well, but I imagine the mango addition prob helped carry it.

 

[Moe]

I started off brewing kits and wine.

This was before wilko went all home brand. I brewed a fair few kits, from coopers cerveza to stout, Tom Caxton ale, wherry and more recently mangrove jacks.

I tried everything from using brewing sugar, malt extract, bought stuff for temp control, tried treating my water with campden, brewing short, dry hopping etc and everything I ever made always tasted like “homebrew”. I probably chucked away as much homebrew as I drank; it always tasted a bit weird.

Hats off to everyone brews nice kit beers, I fully take ownership that the shortcoming was down to me and not the product. I could just never get it right.

I spent ~£100 on a BIAB starter kit ( plastic kettle, bag, chiller and free AG recipe kit) and straight away my brews started tasting like beer, albeit not amazing