Your favourite kit

the corpo · 06-01-2016 3:06pm #1

Right, I'm about to pour 20 litres of a brew down the drain, was a Gozdawa Belgian Golden ale, that I bought on special and read terrible reviews of after, and the reviews were right!

So, I want a safe and delicious brew to kick off the new year. I really enjoyed the Coopers stout and, surprisingly, their ginger beer has been a big hit with friends and family, everyone loved it over Christmas.

But what kits have you loved, had a good success rate with?

mordeith · 06-01-2016 3:30pm

the corpo wrote: »

Right, I'm about to pour 20 litres of a brew down the drain, was a Gozdawa Belgian Golden ale, that I bought on special and read terrible reviews of after, and the reviews were right!

So, I want a safe and delicious brew to kick off the new year. I really enjoyed the Coopers stout and, surprisingly, their ginger beer has been a big hit with friends and family, everyone loved it over Christmas.

But what kits have you loved, had a good success rate with?

The St Peter's kits are good. More expensive but worth it imo. I also like the Muntons connoisseur kits. I'm not a big fan of Cooper's in general.

fobster · 06-01-2016 4:28pm

+1 for the Munton's Connoisseur kits, the wheat beer one is ace and the kit yeast is quite good.

BeerNut · 06-01-2016 4:42pm

Coopers Traditional Draught always came out great for me: far cleaner and hoppier than a kit has any right to be.

Padraig Mor · 06-01-2016 5:03pm

I've been brewing continuously for nearly a year now, mostly kits. Biggest hits were The Craft Range Wheat (a ringer for Franziskaner), Young's American IPA, and Muntons Gold Old English Bitter. I've recently done my first "cheat's extract" (10 minute boil in water) Summit / Cascade and it has turned out very well.

the corpo · 06-01-2016 5:45pm

Ta, some nice sounding kits there.

My favourite beer when out and about these days is Buried at Sea, though only on draft, found the bottle version too sweet. On draft though, think it's staggering. Not noticed a chocolate beer kit anywhere, do they ever come up, or is that more for those hero's dreaming up their own recipes?

Padraig Mor · 06-01-2016 11:29pm

the corpo wrote: »

Ta, some nice sounding kits there.

My favourite beer when out and about these days is Buried at Sea, though only on draft, found the bottle version too sweet. On draft though, think it's staggering. Not noticed a chocolate beer kit anywhere, do they ever come up, or is that more for those hero's dreaming up their own recipes?

Yeah, there's a couple around. Buddy of mine has a Bulldog Easter Chocolate Stout kit ready to do, and recently bottled a Young's Mocha Porter (alright, not quite chocolate, but along the same lines).

Keedowah · 07-01-2016 11:15am

For me it is:

Youngs American IPA
St Peters Ruby Red
Coopers Wheat Beer (with Orange and Coriander)

Mesrine65 · 07-01-2016 11:26am

Davy Crockett's Hop Rocket Double IPA was a surprise for me, outstanding results.

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/davy-crocketts-hop-rocket-double-ipa-40-pints-42-kg-p-2524.html

the corpo · 07-01-2016 2:59pm

I splurged on a St Peters Honey porter kit, looking forward to it!

poitinstill · 07-01-2016 11:00pm

St peters are top top notch.
Coopers are great but need a mod ( except maybe the stout straight with all malt) .
Younds APA is absolutly astoundingly good.

you have done well with st peters . havnt made the honey porter but have had the red /ipa and stout and all 3 are commercial quality after 2-3 months so hold tough on them.

Chuppa Siopa · 08-01-2016 10:26am

poitinstill wrote: »

St peters are top top notch.
Coopers are great but need a mod ( except maybe the stout straight with all malt) .
Younds APA is absolutly astoundingly good.

you have done well with st peters . havnt made the honey porter but have had the red /ipa and stout and all 3 are commercial quality after 2-3 months so hold tough on them.

Sounds great, I have the Youngs APA in the FV for the last couple of days, its bubbling away nicely.

prionnsias · 11-01-2016 11:47pm

As Mesrine65 said earlier the davy crocketts double ipa is very good quality and value for money. The bulldog kits are quite good also. I've done a good few kits over the last year, I find the ones that are a bit higher priced tend to get slightly better results.

the corpo · 03-02-2016 6:10pm

Bottled the Honey Porter the other day, smells *amazing*

the corpo · 17-05-2016 2:11pm

Update on this, the honey porter still smells utterly delicious when opening and drinking, but the actual beer is only ok. Hard to put a finger on what's not great about it, it's just a bit.....plain.

the corpo · 02-06-2016 3:15pm

Have the Davey Crockett brewing away for 14 days now, still bubbling like a demon! The hops smelled *gorgeous* when adding them, quite excited for this one!

Rather than adding half a tea spoon to each bottle, I'm thinking of making a primer in a spare fermenter, 20 full spoons of sugar to a small saucepan of boiling water, then siphon the beer into the new fermenter on top of the boiled sugar. good or bad idea?

BeerNut · 02-06-2016 4:28pm

the corpo wrote: »

good or bad idea?

Good idea. You can also calculate a more accurate amount of sugar for the carbonation you want using this. I usually go for 2.3 or 2.4 vols of CO2 which is a nice gentle carbonation.

the corpo · 02-06-2016 10:29pm

oh wow, that recommended a lot more sugar than I was anticipating, 850g!

the corpo · 02-06-2016 10:29pm

ah, that'll be because I said I was bottling 40 gallons.....

tommiet · 03-06-2016 8:00pm

BeerNut wrote: »

Coopers Traditional Draught always came out great for me: far cleaner and hoppier than a kit has any right to be.

how do you make this kit..

BeerNut · 03-06-2016 8:50pm

tommiet wrote: »

how do you make this kit..

Kilo of spraymalt. Water. Everything else is supplied.

the corpo · 04-06-2016 11:20am

This is almost ready, down from 1050 to 1008. Will give it a couple more days. Smells great, but had a sip of the tester, and it's a *little* bit bitter. Can anything be added at this stage to lighten it a little, or will the primer add enough sweetness?

BeerNut · 05-06-2016 8:53am

Priming sugar won't add any sweetness because it all ferments out. The beer will probably mellow a bit over time.

the corpo · 12-07-2016 9:55pm

Just to update, the Davy Crockett has been a roaring success, really delicious. Keen to give another of theirs a go now!

ian_m · 15-07-2016 4:41pm

the corpo wrote: »

Just to update, the Davy Crockett has been a roaring success, really delicious. Keen to give another of theirs a go now!

+1 on this they are a very handy kit. I have done a few of the range and always came out great.

That_Guy · 20-07-2016 10:16am

Anyone used the Festival Kit 'Razorback IPA'. Got a voucher for my birthday and splurged on it.

As for favourite kits, St. Peter's Ruby Red Ale is absolutely gorgeous.
Muntons Premium APA kit is equally as gorgeous.

I am also fond of Coopers IPA kits but I've always added in extra hops for myself to enhance the taste.

supernoob · 14-10-2022 11:52pm

Hi folks, great to read all the reviews.

I am hoping to get back into brewing after a gap of many years, any kit recommendations ?

I'd prefer to order locally but it's not a deal breaker if stocks are low ..

Thanks a million, looking forward to hearing how your brews have gone :)

Trigger Happy · 12-01-2023 2:50pm

I have brewed a few of the Woodforde's kits over the past 12 months.

Woodfordes Wherry

Woodfordes Bure Gold.

They are 2 can solutions so only sugar you add is at bottling/barreling. They are good solid beers IMO. Easy to drink. Easy to make. Forgiving for novice mistakes etc.

Your favourite kit

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