How hard can it be????

[6397luke]

Hi everyone,

I'm still new to the homebrew lifestyle. I've made two beer kits now,(Both were identical) Both have been drinkable without being anything outstanding this makes me think that I should get my hand on a kit more to my taste but I'm a bit worried that I'm going to get a kit that is too difficult and I'm just going to waste my time and money. So my question is do beer kits have a difficulty rating? (maybe like airfix kits do)

Cheers!

 

[31bb3]

No just different quality of kits which kit have you done ???

 

[darrenwest1]

are you a lager man or a bitter man
try a wherry kit

 

[Moley]

Hi Luke,

You can improve on a basic one-can kit by adding more malt extract and less sugar, or you can go to a Premier two-can kit, where you don't need to buy anything else (and all the glue and paint is in the same box, to continue the Airfix analogy), but the difficulty rating is still the same.

 

[mr_spin]

I noticed an improvement when using the brupak brewer's choice kits where you can add your own DME, LME or sugar depending on what quality you want..

 

[6397luke]

No just different quality of kits which kit have you done ???

are you a lager man or a bitter man try a wherry kit

The only kits I have made are youngs bitter (which came with the equipment as a gift). My general taste is more of Old Speckled Hen, Bombardier or Broadside but I don't think they make kits from theese brewers but eventually I'd like to make my version of theese beers because I've found the recipies online to make from scratch but I don't think I have enough experience to try them out yet.

Thanks to everyone that's replied already. I look forward to hearing from you again.

 

[Dunfie]

In that case I would go with Darren's suggestion. Try the Woodefordes Wherry - its a two can kit and is about as good as kits get.

 

[unclepumble]

In that case I would go with Darren's suggestion. Try the Woodefordes Wherry - its a two can kit and is about as good as kits get.

Either that or try a brupacks two can kit, I prefer them to a wherry, which to be honest "my personal taste" wherry is too twangy for my tastebuds, therefore the brupacks are better.

But better still, AG is the way to go, and much easier than you think.

UP

 

[markp]

Of the two-can kits I did, I enjoyed Woodfords 'Nelsons Revenge' the most.
That said, I didn't do many.....unclepumple is right, it is easier than you might think.

ATB

 

[Springer]

I agree with UP and Mark, AG is easier than you think, nothing magic, just read up, ask questions and have a go.
S

 

[evanvine]

While Shinies, HERMS, RIMS, Pumps and valves are great fun and nice to look at, you don't actually need them to make a good AG brew.
Never will I belittle the above, but I find (being a pauper) I can get away with using plastic.

 

[Aleman]

To answer the OPs question . . . There is very little difference in 'difficulty' between a 'cheep n cheerful' one can uBru kit and a premium two can kit . . . the dry kits might be a little bit more complex but it's well worth it TBH as the dry kits tend to make the better beer. . . . Personally I think the Woodfordes kits have gone seriously downhill in the last few years and the quality is very variable. The original founders of Woodfordes were really keen on ensuring that the quality of the kits was spot on . . . and you produced the same beer as in the pub. . . .even down to posting out brewery yeast if you asked them. Unfortunately since Ray and his partner retired the kits have just become a revenue stream for the brewery.

The Brupak Beers of the World kits are difficult to beat though

 

[Sean_Mc]

Have Woodfordes put the price up?
Went to get a Head cracker the other month, previously it was £18.50 and it had gone up to £21.99. Only had £20 on me, but still I could do 10gallons of AG for that and have change

 

[corby_brewer]

Have Woodfordes put the price up?
Went to get a Head cracker the other month, previously it was £18.50 and it had gone up to £21.99. Only had £20 on me, but still I could do 10gallons of AG for that and have change

I noticed that when i went into Wilkos sunday, that the price of the Werry kit had gone up from £16.50 to £21.
As for everything else said on this post, i would personly move on from kit and seriously concider going All Grain. The beer you brew is far better than any kit on the market.

 

[Springer]

As E said you don't need alot of fancy kit to produce top quality beer, (but it is fun )
This is my set up that has produced over 60 brews and still doing so, with varying arrangements of support. :lol:
The boiler lagging was especially expensive :lol:

Very interesting what A said, it usually is, I have heard talk of varying results with Woodfordes kits, when I did one 6 years ago it was excellent.

I did do a bit of extract brewing before going all grain, but once you have won you don't want to come second :lol:

 

[Moley]

I noticed that when i went into Wilkos sunday, that the price of the Werry kit had gone up from £16.50 to £21.

I know it went from £14.99 up to £15.seventy-ish when the VAT rate changed but that's just ridiculous.

I've only done one Wherry, fairly bitter, quite fruity, only 3.8% abv, drinkable but (in my opinion) nothing special.

My AG set-up is no more complicated or fancy than Springer's and was thrown together on a tight budget. The beers I brew are medium-bodied, typically OG 1.050-ish, around 30 IBU, usually work out around £12-14 a brew or 30-35p a pint and will thrash the ar$e off any kit brew.

 

[Aleman]

Woodfordes will not have raised the price . . The kits are made, marketed and distributed by Muntons . . . Woodfordes get a small percentage of the sale. The problem with kits is that there is really only one manufacturer in the UK now, and with no competition they can pretty much do what they want with prices . . .especially as popularity of home brewing is increasing.

The Milestone kits (York Brewery) are still independent, and the consultant that helped formulate them is still very active on ensuring quality. When I made them the quality of the liquid extract was the best I've seen here in the UK, exceeding that of Muntons Cedarex. They are perhaps a little more complex than the basic kits, in that they have a 1/2 kg tin of extract, and a bag of spray malt along with a sachet of pellet hops. However, everything goes into the fermenting vessel at the start of fermentation and beer is siphoned out at the end.

Think BruPak's kits are made at the BruPak factory themselves particularly the dry ones, so again quality is going to be quite high.

 

[AdrianTrace]

The Milestone kits (York Brewery) are still independent, and the consultant that helped formulate them is still very active on ensuring quality. When I made them the quality of the liquid extract was the best I've seen here in the UK, exceeding that of Muntons Cedarex. They are perhaps a little more complex than the basic kits, in that they have a 1/2 kg tin of extract, and a bag of spray malt along with a sachet of pellet hops. However, everything goes into the fermenting vessel at the start of fermentation and beer is siphoned out at the end.

Am I missing something here? The Milestone kits I have done have been 2 cans of extract like any other premium kit. When I contacted Milestone about the yeast in the IPA kit, my query was forwarded to Muntons "who are the manufacturers".

 

[Aleman]

Not at all . I totally misremembered the name of the kits. It is the York Brewery Kits Formulated by Chris Hogg at Hamstead Homebrew.