Not new to home brewing but still class myself a novice...

[Trotters80]

Hello, so ive been using beer kits for a few years now. I still want to use them but improve them. I have done some research, read the how to guides on here & other sources, youtube, other home brew sites etc etc.

1. Someone said to me, "Why buy a cheap beer kit if youre going to add a £10 malt extract to it?....just buy a better beer kit". Thoughts?

2. I now know not to use the provided yeast sachet, but dont know which other one to buy & how much to use?. (I normally make lager/pale ale in a 5 gallon bin)

3. Hops. I have some leaf hops. I read to boil them for 10mins, is that correct?. Wont boiling make them lose their flavour?. Do I use a sieve to get the hop liquid into the beer?, and finally do I add them in the last 3 days or so of 1st fermentation?. I was adding them at the beginning with everything else?.

Thank you and sorry for a lot of questions but im hoping it will keep the thread short rather than keep asking more questions.

 

[terrym]

Hello, so ive been using beer kits for a few years now. I still want to use them but improve them. I have done some research, read the how to guides on here & other sources, youtube, other home brew sites etc etc.

1. Someone said to me, "Why buy a cheap beer kit if youre going to add a £10 malt extract to it?....just buy a better beer kit". Thoughts?

2. I now know not to use the provided yeast sachet, but dont know which other one to buy & how much to use?. (I normally make lager/pale ale in a 5 gallon bin)

3. Hops. I have some leaf hops. I read to boil them for 10mins, is that correct?. Wont boiling make them lose their flavour?. Do I use a sieve to get the hop liquid into the beer?, and finally do I add them in the last 3 days or so of 1st fermentation?. I was adding them at the beginning with everything else?.

Thank you and sorry for a lot of questions but im hoping it will keep the thread short rather than keep asking more questions.

1. Why not buy a premium kit and find out? One cans are cheaper but by the time you have added all the extras the cost is not all that different. But one cans give you more opportunity to experiment, whereas premium kits will usually give you a better beer if brewed as the instructions.
2. There is usually no need to change the yeast in beer kits in my view. They are normally perfectly adequate. For example if you buy a 1.5kg one can for £11, using an expensive yeast is unlikely to make much difference to the finished product. Better spend your money on a more expensive kit if you want a better beer.
3. Boiling hops is a complex subject and you need to say what your objective is for doing that. Kit cans or sachets usually come with the right degree of bitterness so boiling hops and adding the liquid can upset the balance the manufacturer wanted to achieve. However you can freshen up or enhance a kit by using hops in a hop tea or as a dry hop which will add some flavour and aroma to the kit, but little bitterness. And the difference betweens whole or pellet hops is not that significant except you may have to use more whole hops to achieve the same result.
More on dry hopping here
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/a-newbies-guide-to-dry-hopping-your-beer.61045/

 

[BrewMeHappy]

What Terrym said for points 1and 2

I haven't dabbled too much in adding hops, except the odd dry hop here and there so can't really say.