Youngs 'Definitive' vs. 'Brew Buddy' kits

[periolus]

Hi!

I am currently conditioning a Young's Definitive Bitter, a 1.6kg kit priced at just over £8 at WIlkinsons. They also do the Brew Buddy Bitter, the 1.8kg kit at £11.

Has anyone any comment on the differences between the two? I would be keen to know if the Brew Buddy is significantly better for the money, or if the basic bitter is good enough that with a replacement yeast from t'internet and a bit of spraymalt to condition, the result is a good brew.

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[Grumpy Jack]

In my experience... they're both much of a muchness and what you spend on a better yeast and some beer enhancer / spray malt will make more of a difference than anything else, so the 3 quid is probably best spent on enhancing the cheaper kit. I've used both kits when playing around with different sugars, treacle, muscovado, honey, you can mix and match and at that price, experiment without blowing too much money away...

I'm not one to say that cheap kits are rubbish and I generally only use single can kits and am very happy with my brews, but I'm inclined to start with a decent Coopers or Brewferm kit at around the 12 quid mark and spend on the spray malt etc to boost the quality. I'd say they were significantly better than the Youngs kits - BUT, it's down to individual tastes, so go experiment and rely on your own taste buds and let us know what you think. :

 

[periolus]

Thanks for the info! I have a Caxton's kit too to start off, and they're about £12. I dare say I will stick with kits at that sort of price, as I hear generally very good things about them; particularly the two you mentioned.

Out of interest, what sort of results did you get with honey and muscavado?

 

[Grumpy Jack]

Using 50/50 Muscovado and brewing sugar I got a nice richer and slightly darker ale and you could definately taste a little difference in the sweetness... the honey, well... to be honest, I didn't use enough to get a significant difference and it's not a cheap way to do it... but plenty of ways of playing around.

 

[happyhoppytaff]

hi fellow humble kit brewer

i have done quite a few youngs difinitive bitter kits but not done the brewbuddy.

my first diffinative bitter was made with ordinary white sugar. i primed half my bottles with white sugar and the other with demerrera. the brew had a citrusy tang, that wasnt awefull but i didnt go for it. the bottles with the demmerrera finishing sugar was a little less tart.

the second i made with all demerrera and it was much better. the next one i did with demerrera and a pot of malt extract from holland and barret. this was my friends favourite and it didnt last too long.

i then made a brew using 50-50 mollasses and demerrera, with demerrera for finishing. this one i really liked although some friends said it was quite bitter. it was my best. i made another.

i am doing a tom caxton at the moment. i will see how it tastes and if there is not too much difference i will probably do another deffinitive bitter with the H&Bmalt extract, 30-40% mollasses and the remainder demerrera.


edit. i didnt use liquid mollasses. i bought a 500gram pack of molasses sugar-(mollasses sugar. unrefined cane sugar-it says on the box)