Different Beer Kit Brands - Suggestions

Sky King

I have done three coopers kits now. A blonde ale, a stout with added spraymalt and an English Bitter with added spraymalt. The last two were lovely, the blonde ale was a bit mingin but still drinkable.

Dunno why I stuck with the coopers. Does anyone else believe that other brands (Munton's / John Bull etc) are better? Any one beer kit that worked out particularly well for you?

I have done both a grain and a partial but I am caught for space at the moment and the so while a bit 'simplistic', the kits are still working out grand.

Gonna buy a stout kit soon I think for the xmas - something dark like - anyone got a suggestion?

sharingan

I made a brewferm 'Old Brown' Ale. From kit. Used Dark LME for extra fermentables.

They make smaller batches, so I just used 2 kits together to double up. It takes a while to bottle condition, it finishes out around 5.5 -6%ABV and has a really good deep flavour.

Bottled it properly so that it lasts a proper amount of time.

Spike78

Have done quite a few Coopers kits especailly the stout which I thought couldn't be topped until I tried a Muntons Export Stout brewed with 1KG dark spray malt and 300g dextrose, brewed to 21L.
With only one week conditioning in the bottle it turned out to be excellent.
Since then tried some further Muntons kits, bock and export pils, both excellent imo.

Baneblade

mostly did coopers kits but i did the better brew ipa, turned out well

poitinstill

coopers, brewferm, all good St peters very good, woodfordes good try the Nog its surprisingly good labelled as a porter more like dark ale to me v fruity but great.
coopers turn round fastest. brewferm slowest , st peter and woodfordes take a while to fully mature, but all worth the wait.

finlandia....DONT DO IT.

KAGY

Coopers - did Blonde and Wheat, both tasted suspiciously similar, but okay for parties where ppl expect commercial bland beers. Wouldn't use all spray malt with these, 2nd time I used 1/2 & 1/2. Coopers IPA was better, but not to my taste.

Brewferm Grand cru - 8% nice for special occasions, one for the maybe again list, but prob double the amount.

St. Peters, only did ruby red, but my fav so far will do this one again, have Golden ale lined up but expecting good things

Finlandia winter beer bottle conditioning at the mo, haven't tried it yet.
Muntons Stout will be my next brew also have Youngs barley wine kit waiting so can't comment on these.

Sky King

Think I'll try the St Peter's so - it's a bit pricier than the Coopers but hopefully worth it!

poitinstill

its good stuff give it a month or 2 in bottles and its as good as any ale you'd buy in offie.

sharingan

poitinstill wrote: »

coopers, brewferm, all good St peters very good, woodfordes good try the Nog its surprisingly good labelled as a porter more like dark ale to me v fruity but great.
coopers turn round fastest. brewferm slowest , st peter and woodfordes take a while to fully mature, but all worth the wait.

finlandia....DONT DO IT.

+1 - my first kit beer was a finlandia. Kind of flavourless, but I think that is par for the course with kit beers - darker is best.

If you get your hands on a good kit, bottle it properly so it lasts longer. Its nice seeing how they develop.

KAGY

Sky King wrote: »

Think I'll try the St Peter's so - it's a bit pricier than the Coopers but hopefully worth it!

Still works out at 60c a pint, you don't need to add any other fermentables as you get two cans with everything you need.

sharingan wrote: »

+1 - my first kit beer was a finlandia. Kind of flavourless, but I think that is par for the course with kit beers - darker is best.

Oh dear, I'll have to try the Finlandia I have conditioning at the moment when I get home. It's a dark winter ale so hopefully it won't be as disappointing as your kit.

poitinstill

i have bad news... the finlandia is terrible stuff. i hate to slate a brew before but unless you added your own grains / hops / spices etc it will be bad enough.

KAGY

poitinstill wrote: »

i have bad news... the finlandia is terrible stuff. i hate to slate a brew before but unless you added your own grains / hops / spices etc it will be bad enough.

Okay, cracked one open a bit early and it's not too bad at all - phew! No head retention and it hasnt carb'd fully yet, but its only been in the botle two weeks in a cold room (14°?). Nothing to write home about but definitely drinkable. No off flavours but could do with more hops maybe. This was a 1.5 kg can so it might be better quality than their smaller kits.
Thanks for the heads-up anyway, maybe it tastes better because I was expecting the worst :-D

tteknulp

Just opened a bottle of muntons gold range, midas touch after 5 weeks in bottle ,nice pint even though a bit darker than expected ?as its a 2 can kit ,must say not bad at all ,it will be lovely for xmas .

KAGY

KAGY wrote: »

Okay, cracked one open a bit early and it's not too bad at all - phew! No head retention and it hasnt carb'd fully yet, but its only been in the botle two weeks in a cold room (14°?). Nothing to write home about but definitely drinkable. No off flavours but could do with more hops maybe. This was a 1.5 kg can so it might be better quality than their smaller kits.
Thanks for the heads-up anyway, maybe it tastes better because I was expecting the worst :-D

Just to follow up - it hasn't improved any :-/. Still no head, though plenty of carb, slightly sour aftertaste esp near sediment and lacking body. Won't be doing that again.

Drinkable with a couple of cloves thrown in, and chased with a brewferm grand cru

I have another Finlandia kit and saw it was "not recommended for beginners"

sharingan

It might work for shandies.