Best kit on the market???

[Greg]

Evening, I checked with Youngs after reading this post and there is no plans to discontinue either Edme or Tom Caxtons beer kits so there is no supply issues nor will there be. Not quite sure where that rumour has come from but its not true. We have been receiving deliveries of both most weeks.

Regards

Greg.

 

[Moley]

Not quite sure where that rumour has come from but it's not true. We have been receiving deliveries of both most weeks.

Thanks Greg, it came from the Forum Administrator and site host on the Harris Homebrew forum, so I assumed the source was reliable and relayed the message here.

Here's the link.

I will relay your message there and see if we can get to the bottom of this.

 

[ricardo]

Why should the yeast supplied not be good enough ?????
Surely the kit makers are going to supply a good yeast not a duff one ????
It would not be in their interest to provide a poor yeast would it ??

That would make sense wouldn't it . . . unfortunately that is really not the case. In the long distant past they have supplied bread yeast, and even now they generally are supplying a 'generic' ale yeast. . . even if it is a lager kit. The yeast is stored under the cap, in all temperatures for potentially a long period of time . . . so it is probably well past its best when you come to use it. Also the qty supplied does not meet best practice WRT pitching rates, being at least half that required for a proper pitching rate . . . yes they get away with it, but why do many kit beers taste 'yeasty'?

Using a separate sachet of a named variety of yeast can really make an improvement in the beer that is made. Often it is in the shop for less time, and some shops now keep it refrigerated, and most are now around 11g meaning that you pitch at the proper rate . . . or at least close to it.

Mmmmm..........The next time I brew a kit I might go down this route.
I brewed a Woodfordes Wherry kit using the supplied yeast and that to be honest was a right pain to get the gravity down to something reasonable.
Seems a bit of a silly thing to do putting an inferior yeast in the kits....people get p*ssed off with a poor/ slow / stuck ferment and they vote with their feet...

 

[Aleman]

I'll be honest the last time I brewed a Woodfordes kit, you were able to write to the brewery and get a sample of their yeast to ferment it . . . I never had a problem using this yeast . . . . Unfortunately they are now too big to do this . . . and Ray Ashworth (the founder brewer), who had the idea of using live brewery yeast, sold it several years ago . . . oddly enough before the problems with the kits started

 

[Moley]

Greg, my reply from Harris:

The information came direct from the Muntons rep when she called to see us in the Summer. She said EDME, Tom Caxton and Best of British were being phased, but they may bring out special editions of them in the future. Once stocks have gone, they will not be available.

Youngs are the biggest wholesaler in the UK and no doubt they have huge stocks.

Again, we are only passing the message passed to us from Muntons, the manufacturer of the kits. Who knows, they could have changed their minds.

Got any contacts at Munton's?

 

[aeddon]

i found this site very worthwhile http://www.yobrew.co.uk/reviews.php#Beers_kit_reviews

 

[rickthebrew]

Don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger, nor am I responsible for Greg's grammar - Moley!

:lol:

 

[tigertim]

even now they generally are supplying a 'generic' ale yeast. . . even if it is a lager kit.

I was wondering about this - is it because a proportion of casual homebrewers are unlikely to have the facility to ferment reliably within the temperature parameters necessary for lager yeasts? Or is it for financial or other reasons?

 

[Aleman]

even now they generally are supplying a 'generic' ale yeast. . . even if it is a lager kit.

I was wondering about this - is it because a proportion of casual homebrewers are unlikely to have the facility to ferment reliably within the temperature parameters necessary for lager yeasts? Or is it for financial or other reasons?

You would not believe the contempt that the majority of major manufacturers have for the home brewer. I know of a major yeast producer that had no idea that home brewers actually new that lagers should be pitched and fermented cool . .. and made attempts to do so . . . all the instructions on the packets of yeast assume that the yeast is going to be pitched and fermented at at 20C . . . and that is on their lager yeast! To be fair to the yeast suppliers though home brewers are such a tiny proportion of their market that I would not expect them to have an in depth understanding of our needs and wants . . . even if you do get to talk to the MD

For the kits they are all packed on the same line and the difficulty, and cost, associated with stopping the line to change the yeast supplied to match the beer is just too much . . . although Coopers manage it with the European Pilsner ( :hmm: Or is it the Bavarian) . . . it should be possible to do it with all their lagers.

We have had limited success with some suppliers . . . Clive at Brupaks did change the qty of yeast supplied with his kits from 6g to 11g when it was pointed out that 6g was under pitching by at least half and possibly by 65%.

Youngs are still selling hops with no production year or alpha acid information on them . . . and have been doing so for a couple of decades . .despite it being pointed out to them via email and in brewing books.