# New mangrove jack craft series kits



## Memnoch (10/2/17)

So has anyone tried the new mangrove jack craft series kits

Pink grapefruit IPA
Red Irish ale
Elder flower and lime cider?

Dunno if you Aussie boys have them yet but available in NZ

I have the IPA one but yet to put it down, doing it this weekend


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## Brewnicorn (10/2/17)

Have seen them online - keen to hear what you think! Irish red ale sounds good.


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## mongey (22/2/17)

I just ordered the pink IPA myself to put on this weekend. A fan of Elvis juice so shops be interesting. 

Keen to hear how yours goes. It sure if I should up the dry hop level over what they give you


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## Lowlyf (24/6/17)

Memnoch said:


> So has anyone tried the new mangrove jack craft series kits
> 
> Pink grapefruit IPA
> Red Irish ale
> ...





mongey said:


> I just ordered the pink IPA myself to put on this weekend. A fan of Elvis juice so shops be interesting.
> 
> Keen to hear how yours goes. It sure if I should up the dry hop level over what they give you



Boys, how did these turn out? I'm interested to hear about both the Irish Red and the Grapefruit IPA


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## mongey (25/6/17)

Lowlyf said:


> Boys, how did these turn out? I'm interested to hear about both the Irish Red and the Grapefruit IPA


The grapefruit IPA came out really good. I only used the dry hops they give you and it had a good hoppiness. It was actually fairly close to the brew dog beer. 

I'd make it again for sure.


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## Lowlyf (25/6/17)

mongey said:


> The grapefruit IPA came out really good. I only used the dry hops they give you and it had a good hoppiness. It was actually fairly close to the brew dog beer.
> 
> I'd make it again for sure.


Struth really? I'm strapped for time today and I'm thinking of putting this one down. What was the process? Tip extract in fermenter, fill with water and ferment?


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## mongey (25/6/17)

Lowlyf said:


> Struth really? I'm strapped for time today and I'm thinking of putting this one down. What was the process? Tip extract in fermenter, fill with water and ferment?


Yeah. And dry hop when ready. 

I also cold crashed for 4 or 5 days


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## PaulG79 (26/6/17)

My LHBS said to add a kilo of LDM as well, but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet, you think that would add to the Grapefruit IPA or make it too malty?


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## mongey (26/6/17)

PaulG79 said:


> My LHBS said to add a kilo of LDM as well, but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet, you think that would add to the Grapefruit IPA or make it too malty?



whoops forgot that

yeah I added 1kg LDM as well instead of the sugar or their enhancer in the instructions


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## Lowlyf (26/6/17)

mongey said:


> whoops forgot that
> 
> yeah I added 1kg LDM as well instead of the sugar or their enhancer in the instructions



Shit mate. WHAT THE HELL! Haha all good. Alright 1kg of LDM. I'll brew it this weekend


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## PaulG79 (27/6/17)

How do you guys think the Mangrove Jacks craft kits stack up in general? Like against Coopers? Any picks for best kits? I'm keen to give them a go. I've just got back into brewing and have been mostly brewing Coopers kits n bits.


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## Lowlyf (27/6/17)

PaulG79 said:


> How do you guys think the Mangrove Jacks craft kits stack up in general? Like against Coopers? Any picks for best kits? I'm keen to give them a go. I've just got back into brewing and have been mostly brewing Coopers kits n bits.



Give one a go and report back?


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## PaulG79 (28/6/17)

that's the problem, I can experiment much faster than I can drink  need another fridge and a cellar for all the bottles


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## Lowlyf (28/6/17)

PaulG79 said:


> that's the problem, I can experiment much faster than I can drink  need another fridge and a cellar for all the bottles



Yep I completely understand. I have the same issue


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## Lionman (28/6/17)

I have a brother who visits every couple of months and drinks everything. EVERYTHING.


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## PaulG79 (28/6/17)

That's rude hey. I have a mate I sometimes send home with a crate full of tallies, but that's on MY terms  the last pissup we had, someone got into the amber ale I'd just bottled that day... I didn't get around to labelling it. Rude! But surprisingly it got good reviews so that's something.


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## Lowlyf (29/6/17)

Jesus it still would have been green Paul!


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## mongey (29/6/17)

PaulG79 said:


> How do you guys think the Mangrove Jacks craft kits stack up in general? Like against Coopers? Any picks for best kits? I'm keen to give them a go. I've just got back into brewing and have been mostly brewing Coopers kits n bits.



I've done the pink grapefruit IPA , aussie pale ale and the Helles. the APA and Helles were presents 

the pink IPA was the best one by far . Other 2 were drinkable but nothing special . no better or worse than a standard coopers tin with a kg of LDM an some dry hops


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## PaulG79 (1/7/17)

That's good to know. They tend to charge a bit more and have classier looking marketing, but I didn't want to let that trick me into thinking they'd necessarily be better than Coopers. Although MJ's have better yeast and sometimes include hops so that's something.


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## Reedy (1/7/17)

Have done the elderflower & lime cider for the missus & she loves it. She's also a fan of the raspberry & lime cider variety.


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## mongey (3/7/17)

PaulG79 said:


> That's good to know. They tend to charge a bit more and have classier looking marketing, but I didn't want to let that trick me into thinking they'd necessarily be better than Coopers. Although MJ's have better yeast and sometimes include hops so that's something.



its true on the yeast and hops. I never use the coopers yeast and pretty much always dry hop so that adds to the cost 


on the negative for the MJ kits I find the pouch to be a messy pain to deal with . tin is way eaiser to get the dregs out without getting sticky crap everywhere


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## PaulG79 (5/7/17)

I totally agree with that. Haven't done an MJ's yet but I've been doing some craft ROTM's from Coopers and those little malt pouches are a massive pain compared to the tin.

From my calculations the Coopers selection tins and/or any decent recipe done using them ends up costing a bit - so it probably works out about the same if you're dry hopping or adding grains etc. Initially I got back into brewing to save money, but I'm less bothered about that now. If I can make a decent beer - 23litres for say $50 that's still loads better than buying a carton of War Hog - for which I'd have to draw back on the mortgage


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## Lowlyf (5/7/17)

PaulG79 said:


> I totally agree with that. Haven't done an MJ's yet but I've been doing some craft ROTM's from Coopers and those little malt pouches are a massive pain compared to the tin.
> 
> From my calculations the Coopers selection tins and/or any decent recipe done using them ends up costing a bit - so it probably works out about the same if you're dry hopping or adding grains etc. Initially I got back into brewing to save money, but I'm less bothered about that now. If I can make a decent beer - 23litres for say $50 that's still loads better than buying a carton of War Hog - for which I'd have to draw back on the mortgage



$50 is a bargain! I brewed an IPA and total cost came to $90!!!


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## Digga (5/7/17)

Lowlyf said:


> $50 is a bargain! I brewed an IPA and total cost came to $90!!!



Wtf! How did that come about you must be buying your hops at a inflated rate or something.

Try brewman.


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## PaulG79 (6/7/17)

$50 was for a stout. Seems like stouts are an easy beer to do well with kits n bits. A lot of the AG and extract/kit recipe packs for big IPA's seem to be around that $90 at some of my local HBS's. Unless they're only using one type of hops. I've heard Yakima valley in the US is good for bulk hops - might look at Brewman too. My local store tends to be a bit pricey. Any other stores I should know about? 

Ended up ordering the Pink Grapefruit plus a grain pack so I'll see how I go.


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## Aussie Mick (7/7/17)

I use this fella:

mashout.com.au 

He's based in Perth, but happy to post. Great prices and great service.......


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## DU99 (7/7/17)

take a look at this site.


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## Hambone (14/9/17)

I've done the Raspberry and Lime Cider for the wife. Turned out OK. But next time I will up the lime by using zest I reckon. Not enough lime flavour in the kit.


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## SnailAle (14/9/17)

Can I jump on this thread with another question.

My missus wants a cider and given I don't have apples or a crushed I figured a kits the go. 
She doesn't like really sweet cider so is there a way with the mangrove jacks apple cider to make it less sweet? 

Haven't tried it but from what I've read it's a sugar bomb.


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## Hambone (14/9/17)

The raspberry and Lime cuts through the sweetness pretty well.


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## homebrewnewb (14/9/17)

yeah can advise the pear goes well - nice and dry when no back sweetener added


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## SnailAle (14/9/17)

homebrewnewb said:


> yeah can advise the pear goes well - nice and dry when no back sweetener added


So as long as you don't add the non fermentable sweetener it doesn't turn out too bad pretty much?


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## homebrewnewb (14/9/17)

that's it, i think it might be lactose or another non fermentable that the MJ ciders come with.


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## Lachlan Helbig (3/5/18)

Just put down the MJ craft series stout with 1kg dark dme, 200g of steeped roasted barley, 100g of steeped Carapils (I add this to everything these days, the head it creates is just amazingly creamy) and a goldings teabag steeped for 2 minutes then added to fermenter. Pitehed the included m43 new world strong ale yeast. Will keep you lads posted.


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## peterlonz (4/5/18)

Well I was put off after the LHBS recommended their "craft" cider, which turned out to be very average.
Also expensive. 
Granted good cider is damned hard to make, mostly the result never tastes like traditional cider should.
As for their yeasts, difficult to sort the best from the general run of the mill average. 
Mostly kit beers use a robust, "never fail" yeast which will ferment anywhere between 20 & 28.
If you have control of ferment temp just use the Fermentis US 05 at about 18/19.
BTW this yeast can be reused at least several times just collect the lot, refrigerate, & slowly allow to come to about 22 before pitching. I try to store for not more than 2 weeks. Results have been indistinguishable from as bought. I don't wash the yeast & don't fuss greatly about re-hydration; after all it's already hydrated>


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## Moonlight Tiger (28/5/18)

The limited edition Red I.P.A was good


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