hop/grain selection kits

[lagerlad]

hi brewers new to ag brewing just wondering if anyone knows of anywhere that sells a selection of hops or grains as like a starter kit so you don't have to get 100g of each hop to start with or a large amount of grain but get a bit of a few types to try different brews. Cheers lagerlad

 

[clibit]

Good question. Not really, but Geterbrewed.com seems the closest. You can buy 50g of any hop and small amounts of grain.

 

[ManseMasher]

Buy kits, such as those sold by geterbrewed or the homebrewing company. You get everything you need in a box, and for both those companies HBF members get a 5% discount (check out the information, announcements and support forum for the codes). You won't build up a stock of hops/grains, but it will give you a really good idea of what to aim for in the future....

 

[Slid]

Has anyone done any of the Worcester Hop Shop AG kits at £11?

 

[clibit]

I don't think lagerlad is looking for a one brew kit, he wants a selection of grains and hops in small quantities to enable experimentation, if I'm reading the OP right.

 

[stevej]

Has anyone done any of the Worcester Hop Shop AG kits at £11?

Nice of them to tell you the recipe :lol:

Just ordered the Fullers ESB Kit, great price not worth the trouble buying the ingredients individually

Nice spotting Slid :thumb:

 

[clibit]

Nice of them to tell you the recipe :lol:

Just ordered the Fullers ESB Kit, great price not worth the trouble buying the ingredients individually

Nice spotting Slid :thumb:

Don't you have the ingredients already?!

 

[stevej]

Don't you have the ingredients already?!

Probably, forgot to order some Choc Malt earlier on today doing another porter during the week, got carried away with the hops again and i needed some yeast, God i must be getting old ! bought the kit just to see what its like really

Edit and running low on MO til my order turns up

 

[clibit]

The WHS kits are popular. They reproduce the Graham Wheeler recipes. But the postage adds a lot. I prefer to buy grain and hops in bulk and make my own recipes. I get a lot of hops from WHS. You can order up to 7 packs for the 3 quid ish postage.

 

[stevej]

The WHS kits are popular. They reproduce the Graham Wheeler recipes. But the postage adds a lot. I prefer to buy grain and hops in bulk and make my own recipes. I get a lot of hops from WHS. You can order up to 7 packs for the 3 quid ish postage.

Another 46 pounds spent Clibit, on top off the 82 at HBC and 140 for my freezer, turned into a expensive day:whistle:

 

[Slid]

I don't think lagerlad is looking for a one brew kit, he wants a selection of grains and hops in small quantities to enable experimentation, if I'm reading the OP right.

There are a number of suppliers ready and waiting, no doubt. My suggestions are:

Base Malt - I got a 5 or 10 kg starter Maris Otter bag from (?) - one of the usual suspects -then a 25kg Sack - I think from WHS.
Crystal malt, Amber malt, Chocolate malt, Roast Barley (if you like Guinness style stout)
Whatever hops seem to be on offer or just cheap. Higher Alpha content for bittering, is the base line suggestion. With lower Alpha content for flavour and aroma.
I like US Safale 05, especially this time of year.

That's what I did, anyway.

 

[clibit]

Another 46 pounds spent Clibit, on top off the 82 at HBC and 140 for my freezer, turned into a expensive day:whistle:

You need to learn to look before you leap. ;-)

 

[lagerlad]

yeah clibit you are right just stuff so if I see a random recipe I can knock up a small batch till I get to grips with the ag style of brewing todays ipa style seemed to go fine though but time consuming time you wait on cooling etc had other stuff to do though so a fine time was had brewing beer and drinking cider cheers lagerlad

 

[clibit]

You could get on the hop swap thread in the ingredients forum and swap half packets of hops. Buy about 10kg Maris Otter at a time and 500g or 1kg bags of crystal (2 or 3 types), chocolate, roast barley, black, wheat. Stick a few packets of yeast in the fridge and opened hops in the freezer. Grains in airtight boxes.

 

[ManseMasher]

I don't think lagerlad is looking for a one brew kit, he wants a selection of grains and hops in small quantities to enable experimentation, if I'm reading the OP right.

Understand that. My point In suggesting the kits was - see a beer you like, get everything you need for it, no excess hops/grain hanging around because you get exactly what you need, rather than 1/4 used bags of this, and 3/4 used bags of that. Once you know what your tastes are and what you like to brew, then order shed loads of it ....

 

[cornyandy]

Having said that some of the best beers I used to make (and will be again soon) were the bitsas, using up odds and ends in the brew cupboard.

 

[ManseMasher]

I agree, but the OP is new to AG, and his point is that he specifically doesn't want big orders and then have unused stuff laying around until he knows what he wants/likes, if I've understood him correctly...