Best kit on the market???

[Waterman]

Hi all can you help a newbie to home brewing, I've tried several kits but as a group of experts what is the best value for money kit out there on the market?

Beer......
Larger...
Cider....

 

[oconn]

I think coopers stout ...or their APA (a lagerish like ale)

 

[31bb3]

i personally like muntons kits im drinking old conkerwood at the moment and its really nice its dark ale but not as heavy as stout

 

[Aleman]

Beer......Muntons Gold Old English Bitter
Larger... Use Two kits, and a bigger fermenter
Lager.... Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner
Cider.... Muntons Premium Gold Autumn Blush

:hmm: Does anyone sense a pattern developing here :lol:

If you want to improve a cider kit one of the easiest ways to do it is to use apple juice instead of some of the water and the sugar required by the kit. . . . If the kit calls for a kilo of sugar and your apple juice has 100g of sugar per litre you simply replace 10L of the water called for in the instructions with apple juice and add no sugar. . . It really boosts the apple flavour without throwing the kit out of balance

 

[Vossy1]

Moved this post to this section as more relevant :thumb:

 

[oconn]

i made up the nelson revenge form woodfoordes on thursday. If the initial smell from the vigourous fermentation is anything to go by it will be a cracker. Opened the lid and the smell was sensational ( might dry it a bit later on)

 

[corby_brewer]

Stout you cant go wrong with the EDME IRISH STOUT.

 

[Moley]

For anyone who likes the EDME, get down to Wilko and stock up now.

From the forum administrator at Harris Homebrew:

Edme, Tom Caxton and Best Of British were discontinued by Muntons in the Spring. All that is left now are the stocks on the retailers shelves, and what may be left in the wholesalers warehouse. This is the reason that they are harder to find and will get even harder until all stocks are gone.

 

[andyb13]

woodfordes wherry
or
yorkshire terrier

 

[jackmorgan]

I have got great information from this site

http://www.hbkitreviews.com/

(can never get those clicky's to work correctly) :hmm:

 

[micoo]

have brewed many kits brewferm and coopers are my favorites, but i brewed a muntons conkerwood 3kg kit. it knocked my socks off. i did not bother with these (expensive) kits until now, when you work it out there not bad value, i mean a single can kit for say £12 add beer enhancer £4.50 total £16.50. you can get 2 can kits for £17>£18 and the end result is excellent. i would recommend you give a 2 can kit a try, you wont be disappointed.

 

[tigertim]

Lager.... Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner

You're not the first person I've heard to sing the praises of this kit. I've done a fair few kit and AG ale brews to date, but not yet tried brewing a lager of any sort so figured I'd have a go.

One thing I've learned with most ale kits is to chuck away the yeast sachet and, instead, pitch an S-04 or Nottingham :) What yeast might you recommend for a lager kit in place of the supplied one?

Thanks,
T.

 

[Aleman]

S23 is a good general purpose Lager yeast . . . Better in my opinion is W34/70 which IIRC is available from Barleybottom . . . don't forget that if you do pitch cold (<16C) you should pitch at least 2 sachets)

 

[rickthebrew]

:hmm: Does anyone sense a pattern developing here :lol:

:lol:

 

[ricardo]

One thing I've learned with most ale kits is to chuck away the yeast sachet and, instead, pitch an S-04 or Nottingham
Thanks,
T.[/quote]

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 ??

 

[tigertim]

Hi Ricardo,

After my first couple of kit brews with the supplied yeast, I saw some comments on here advising the use of different ale yeasts and I did find I had better results than with the supplied yeasts.

The key benefits in my experiences were that I've never experienced another stuck ferment since using (specifically) S-04 with kit beers, the yeasts seem to have got to work more quickly, the sediment seems to have been more compact and easy to syphon from, and the beer seems to have dropped bright more quickly.

May be coincidence, of course, but it's made me happy to spend an extra £1-2 per brew in order to be more likely to get those results. All personal preference, of course!

Regards,
Tim.

 

[Aleman]

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.

 

[chris_newton]

Edme, Tom Caxton and Best Of British were discontinued by Muntons in the Spring. All that is left now are the stocks on the retailers shelves, and what may be left in the wholesalers warehouse. This is the reason that they are harder to find and will get even harder until all stocks are gone.

Does this mean they are going to stop making EDME brands??

chris

 

[Moley]

Does this mean they are going to stop making EDME brands??

No, it means they've already stopped.

 

[chris_newton]

gutted i loved the EDME lager