Success with kits??

[Philjobooboo]

Ok guys, so I've now done 4 kits, and to be honest I'm getting abit disheartened! The kits I've are Betterbrew Czech Pilsner, wilko cerveza, brewers spring lager, and magnum strawberry cider. The cider was fairly good the missus enjoyed it. But so far the lagers have proved to be at best just about drinkable at worst totally rank! I tent to only drink lager, and then JD
Ect. Not sure if I'm messing them up? Everything is cleaned and sanitised, done to the book, but I have messed the 1st one up batch priming and bottle priming it. On the brewer spring batch I even used spring water from asda and it tastes as bad at my 1st batch! So reaching out do the kits normally turn out comparable to bought beer?

 

[MyQul]

Kits can be great it you get a good one and play to it's strengths. I've never done a lager kit before because I don't like lager but a couple of pointers - many of lager kits actually have ale yeast in them so your never going to be able to make a proper lager it'll be more like a pale ale. Lagering as a process is a bit more complicated than making ales. You need compatively much colder temperatures and a way to accurately progressively lower the the temperature during fermentation i.e a brew fridge.

The guys who actually make lager will come along and tell you exactly how the process goes but from the little I "think" I know it seems It's not quite as easy as making ale

 

[Will12283]

I have done a few lager kits and found I got better results when I brewed the kits short (20ltr rather then 23ltr).

I found this give them more flavour, to add to the flavour I used light dme and brewing sugar rather than just brewing sugar.

 

[winelight]

Yes that's about it. You need a real lager yeast and then to follow rather complex procedures in terms of temperature control, and the whole process takes a couple of months before it reaches the bottle. About 3 weeks to ferment at 12C, then a diacetyl rest for a few days at 18-20C, then drop to 0-2C for 4 weeks. Something like that, anyway, according to what I've read here. I just have my first real lager at the stage of being dropped to 2C (down to 10C today, I will drop it to 6C tomorrow then 2C the day after).

(edit) Yes, as above, brewing short and/or using DME instead of sugar are pretty much a given in these parts for any kit.

 

[calumscott]

Kits can easily be as good as a commercial beer.

You won't get close with kit lagers though. They are ales, they taste different. The best "lager" style I've done is the Better Brew Export Lager with extra light spraymalt, brewed as cool as the yeast would take. It was passable as a lager.

Ales are better as you don't need lager yeasts, low temp ferments and lagering. I've brewed several that people didn't know were kit beers. Muntons Gold Midas Touch, Better Brew IPA, Ritchies Festival London Porter for example.

You have to take real care of them though. Forget the instructions and have a read of the "OMG!" How to. :thumb:

 

[dx4100]

Ok guys, so I've now done 4 kits, and to be honest I'm getting abit disheartened!

Don't :) I had the same poor outcomes with kits...

Buy yourself a boiler and make a mash tun and move on to All Grain brewing :) You won't look back :)

 

[Mbarn]

Ok guys, so I've now done 4 kits, and to be honest I'm getting abit disheartened! The kits I've are Betterbrew Czech Pilsner, wilko cerveza, brewers spring lager, and magnum strawberry cider. The cider was fairly good the missus enjoyed it. But so far the lagers have proved to be at best just about drinkable at worst totally rank! I tent to only drink lager, and then JD
Ect. Not sure if I'm messing them up? Everything is cleaned and sanitised, done to the book, but I have messed the 1st one up batch priming and bottle priming it. On the brewer spring batch I even used spring water from asda and it tastes as bad at my 1st batch! So reaching out do the kits normally turn out comparable to bought beer?

Are you allowing the lager to age in the bottle, say at least a month? One of my faves is Coopers, and they are average to poor until they've had some time to age. After that, they are great. Following the instructions on a lot of kits makes out it will fully ferment in 7 days, and be drinkable in another 7, which is "possible", but unlikely, and certainly not aged enough to be nice.

 

[winelight]

Kits can easily be as good as a commercial beer.

One of my daughters, who appears to be something of an expert, says they're better... I thought she was just being nice to me, but her boyfriend told me she said the same to him.

 

[chrig]

What commercial lagers do you drink?

If you have a cool area in your house or garage at this time of year you may be able to ferment at lager yeast temperatures without the need for a brew fridge.

Bottle pouring is also important so that you don't tip all the sediment in to the glass, I drank my first kit mostly like a wheatbeer :lol:

 

[Philjobooboo]

Mainly carling, Stella, grolsh are my favourites. The 1 kit will have had nearly 8 weeks in the garage and it's still rank

 

[Sandimas]

I don't wish to be rude, but there are kits and there are kits, if you know what I mean - some are better than others, and personally I wouldn't class those on your list as being the best (just my opinion). And I think lager kits even more so than beer kits can end up being poorer. And it's sometimes hard to tell which are the good ones from reviews, some peoples definition of good homebrew is beer/lager made for the least possible cost.

Key things for a good lager IMHO:
- as others have said, a proper low-temp fermenting lager yeast
- as others have said, brew short, 20L or 21L
- decent fermentables if using a 1-can kit, beer enhancer (malt and sugar) rather than just sugar.
- supplement the brew with a hop tea, such as Saaz hops boiled up and added to the kit

I did Coopers European last winter, made up with Enhancer, supplemented with a hop tea, long slow ferment at 12C followed by a 3 month maturation period, it came out lovely. :thumb: I've got an Extract lager on at the moment, which is a little more involved i.e. a stage of boiling up hops prior to adding to the malt extract.

 

[Jester]

I have also used 1 can kits for lager and it seems to be a bit hit and miss - so far the best kit I have tried was the Coopers Pilsener 500g dextrose 500g light spraymalt and a Saaz hop tea it was pleasant and drinkable but still a bit lacking.
The kit was in FV for 3 weeks at a temp of 18c and has been bottled for 6 weeks so far.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to any decent tasting kits to try ?

 

[Cononthebarber]

IMO I just don't think its possible to get a decent tasting lager from a kit, the lagering process is so much more complicated than with brewing other ales with the specific temp requirements etc...Lager kits that you buy may be made with lager malts etc...but without using a lager yeast and temp control you will never achieve what you are looking for. You might be better trying a pale ale kit instead, I recently tried a bottle of the Razorback IPA kit from the secret-santa thread and it was really excellent. I would never have guessed it came from a kit...

 

[anthonyUK]

Coopers APA was the best lager style kit I made before going AG.
I always used the kit +DME.

 

[Jester]

May try the Pale ale route then thank you

 

[Billyb83]

I would say you can get a decent Lager. Im just beginning, done 8 kits so far, my first was the very cheap Geordie Lager made with brewing sugar and that was nice, maybe not to everyones taste but I would not say bad. It came out very light, quite watery mouth feel, its not a stella or anything strongly tasting like that, its very light tasting and refreshing but still not bad. I did it again and swapped the brewing sugar for brew enhancer which vastly improved the mouth feel and added a lot of background flavour. For both I used asda's smart price water for 17p for 2 litres because our tap water tastes horrible. I didn't keep it cool while fermenting or any special stuff like that.

Again, I will say that this is not a challenging amazing lager but its not a bad one and what do you expect for around 20p per pint! If you are already using bottled water are you rinsing well after you sterilise? The only other thing I would say is how did you carbonate and how much? I think I batch primed with 160g of sugar, my mates dad did exactly the same kit but with 1/2 teaspoon per bottle and he said mine was a lot nicer being a lot fizzier.

I now have a couple of the more expensive lager kits on done in the same way which I am hoping will be better and if that is the case then I will say that you can have a good lager!