Crap kit's.

[ilikerossi]

From my kit experience, (and what a few of the local home brew store owners say): keep away from the 1 can'ers!!. one of the experts on here could probably tell you why?, some kind of cheap barley syrup gives a foul taste and adding loads of table sugar doesn't help :nono: . As said there are many things you can do to make kits better but most 2 can kits come out fairly well if you're careful with the temperatures etc.. and the Brupaks supply an advanced instruction which gives you some ideas to play around with like boiling the diluted wort with the hop bag or your own fresh hops and use the bag to dry hop n' so on :thumb:

 

[GazOC]

I'm currently drinking my 3rd Coopers single can kit and they've all been pretty decent (from a newcomers perspective) IMHO. :

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Ha ha Corny Kegs are the way forward got mine last Saturday from Matchless

Good investment for sure :thumb:

Yeah must aggree :thumb:
Trouble is you can't stop buying them once you start....
Best thing I've ever done was dumping the nylon kegs and changing to cornies.

Thx Norm :whistle:

 

[jimmy_b]

Going back to the original post.

Have you been treating the water with 1/2 a campden tablet before using it a brew?

No I havent done this mate. I will try this next time though. Problem is that I have to put the water in in stages with a jug so how would I do it?

How about filling your keg with the required cold water and purifying the water in that. Transfer to the fermenter bucket via the tap. Get some heigh with your keg and it should help with aerating the wort too.

 

[johnc86]

Going back to the original post.

Have you been treating the water with 1/2 a campden tablet before using it a brew?

No I havent done this mate. I will try this next time though. Problem is that I have to put the water in in stages with a jug so how would I do it?

How about filling your keg with the required cold water and purifying the water in that. Transfer to the fermenter bucket via the tap. Get some heigh with your keg and it should help with aerating the wort too.

Sounds like a good idea to me....

The water is purified before it has a chance to touch the wort so it should work the same in principle.

 

[john_s]

How about filling your keg with the required cold water and purifying the water in that. Transfer to the fermenter bucket via the tap. Get some heigh with your keg and it should help with aerating the wort too.

That's how I did my Wherry last weekend. Seems to be fermenting nicely so far.

 

[CptnCrackoff]

or, if you fancy it pop to Tesco and purchase several bottles of value still water @ 13p for 2ltrs, you can also use the bottles for storage of beer! :

My tap water is horrible - i sometimes treat with campden tabs but aint got a spare fv, and also i need the bottles!!

 

[aneray]

Hello all

I'm pretty new to brewing after a very long absence and all that I brew at the moment are the Coopers kits. The only kit that turned out crap was the Coopers lager. It had a very metallic taste when sampled after about a month. I did brew this kit with normal sugar and I added slightly more than recommended. Leaving the brew to mature for another couple of months I found the taste to be completely different, smoother, non metallic and very drinkable.

If making Coopers Real Ale or Stout I always substitute sugar for spray malt. Even though it works out about seven quid a kilo compared to a quid for sugar there is no comparison on the final taste.

I was told on another forum by an experienced brewer that for every ten points of starting gravity, you should leave your brew for a week to mature before sampling (e.g. 1052 leave for five weeks).

There again, living in the South West the water is very soft so maybe that might make a little difference.

Cheers Neil

 

[damfoose]

I bet you lot wait months dont ya?

I have a summer ale on tap at the moment I made in June . . . and am trying to get around to bottling My Russian Imperial Stout that I made in October . . . . . . 2008 . . . So I guess you might be right :lol:

Swap you one of your bottles for one of mine made from the same brew....... Just be intresting to taste the diffrence between the conditioning mine done in bottles yours in the tank so to speak.

 

[snail59]

Ive just purchased (waiting for delivery) my first basic brewing kit and it comes with a one can Coopers English Bitter 40 pint refil kit. Anyone know if this is ok or should I bin it and get a two can kit?????.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Use the one can kit there is a how to HERE which will give some tips on how to get the best out of it :thumb:
Then when you have fermented that one, purchase a two can kit and make it up :thumb:
You will then be able to do a side by side comparison and see if the two can kits are worth the extra cost

 

[snail59]

Thanks for that sounds like a good idea (that will be why I didn't think of it) :whistle: