Brew kit recommendations

[ibbo999]

I am brand new to brewing having been given a wine kit for Christmas. I am more interested in beers and am interested to hear what your recommendations are. While there are loads of kits reviewed on here with lots of great info I am looking for a lager/light beer as a first brew and would like your opinions and advice on what to try first.
As always I will also be grateful for any advice and ideas, especially views on plastic bottles.
Wish me luck.

 

[b4dg3r]

My first kit i did a couple years ago was a coopers lager, which was pleasant enough but very "home brew tasting" ( you will know what i mean after you have done a couple of batches).

I then tried a few wilkos kits, and their Mexican cerveza one was really nice much preferred it to the coopers, but then agian it could be down to experience and improving my process.

My favorite kits though are the Brewferm kits, in particular the framboise one, but these tend to be darker Belgian beers and maybe not what you are looking for.


in terms of bottles, i got plastic bottles with my first kit and they worked really good the first time, but i tried to reuse them with the same caps and i had a few that did not carbonate properly and i could hear the gas escaping out of some of them.

i think they are ok if you buy new caps, but i prefer to reuse old glass bottles and i got a cheap crown capper, plus this gives you a good excuse to buy lots of beer as you need the bottles.

 

[ibbo999]

Thanks Badger.
In time hope to try all of them (my natural greedy nature is showing )
I just thought if I could get a brew that was generally successful then it will spur me on and convince the wife that its a good idea. :party:

 

[Monte Cristo]

I agree with b4dg3r on the Brewferm kits they are very good, I have done several with my favourite being Tarwebier which is probably close to what you are looking for, also the Grand Cru is a lovely kit it's a Belgian style beer and quite strong at nearly 8%.
The only drawbacks with the Brewferm kits are that they do take a while to mature especially the Grand cru I made mine last May and it is only just getting to be a really good beer now. The kits themselves tend to be 9, 12, 18 litre kits so consider that as well - quality not quantity!

The Wilco golden ale is cracking kits I have done this kit twice with really great results.

The Better brew Czech pilsner turned out well and a very easy kit to do.

My first couple of kits did have a slight home brew tang to them but don't be put off the more you do the better they get, i use bottled water which i think makes a big difference.

I'm a glass bottle man all the way!

Good luck :hat:

 

[kentmark]

I like the youngs ubrew lager kit. Have done it a few times with good results. A friend of mine who rarely drinks beer of any description (favouring spirits) actually commented he could easily drink this and merrily supped a couple of bottles when he was round!

 

[Bernie]

I returned to brewing a found that the kits were much better but I'd recommend:
1 fermenting around 20 °C for an ale lower for a lager
2 not using table sugar as a fermentable but a malt extract of some form

 

[dennisking]

Have you browsed our kit review section.

 

[ibbo999]

Thanks to everyone for the help. Like I said the review section is great but I was a bit overwhelmed. Now that I have a few recommendations I will read the reviews ready for my next kit.
Having done the Wilko rose wine kit I got for Christmas I bit the bullet yesterday and made a start with a Wilko Light Golden Lager kit. After some advice and reading I have used bottled water and 50/50 brewing sugar and light spray malt. Stared the yeast before hand and now everything is starting to bubble nicely. It had an OG of 1038 so now it is in the lap of the beer gods.
I will keep you updated as to how I progress. :pray:

 

[ibbo999]

Well, the first mistakes are out of the way. Didn't read the hydrometer correctly and did not allow for temperature
I did add a bit mor brewers sugar before I realised so the OG should be nearer 1.44 ands it is bubbling like a witches couldron so wish me luck.