3 Kg Beer Kits

[Mclovin]

Whats the go with the bigger 3 kg beer kits as aposed to the 1.7 tin?

 

[pokolbinguy]

I have never seen these, would love to be enlightened

 

[Dave86]

I've still not used one, but have a couple down in the garage to try out on the old man. (I can't be bothered doing AG's for him at the moment). The 'go' is simply use like a normal can of goo, but there's no need to add any other fermentables (that doesn't mean you can't of course ) AFAIK, ESB are the only producers and I've heard good things about them, so trying them out on the old man after he drinks his FWK's.

Hope that helps

Dave

Edit: Try here for reviews on the different three kilo kits available

 

[samhighley]

I've tried a couple of the 3kg ESB's (wheat and APA) and I think they're fantastic.

Sam

 

[ando1712]

3kg kit are just add water to 20-21 litres. I prefer the 1.7 plus whatever you want to add , malt , hops etc.

They are OK though. Have a go & see if your own mixes are better

 

[PostModern]

Best kits I ever used were ESB 3K paint tins. I still have the can from the Extra Special Stout floating around my brewery full of crown seals or something.

 

[MVZOOM]

Best kits I ever made...

 

[bconnery]

+1 for these kits. I used the wheat a few times as a base for things.
An English mate of mine used to use the Traditional bitter all the time, loved it.

 

[joshuahardie]

Has anyone tried their 3kg Bavarian Smoked Ale?

Is it any good

 

[mckenry]

The ESB American Pale Ale was the best tin I ever did. I still added a bit of cascade though. Country Brewer also have them in what i think (from memory :huh: ) was their 'wet pack' ? They def do sell them though.

 

[vchead]

They are great. I did the Czech Pilsenser. Comes with good quality yeast. Just add water. Excellent body and hop flavour. I have heard that American Pale Ale is great too.

Added bonus is that you are left with a handy sized tin for the garage. Give any of them a go,

Rodders

 

[Steve]

The ESB American Pale Ale was the best tin I ever did.

+1

Ive done most of them and they are great. Much better (and cheaper) than the ESB fresh worts that had an underlying similar taste to them. Its a shame they didnt make the ESB Fresh Worth Irish red into a 3kg Tin too.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Mantis]

Did an ESB Bavarian Wheat today and mixed it with a couple of liters of hot water and bought up to a simmer. It had real hops floating on the surface.
Do ESB put real hops in their kits. Silly question maybe but I was suprised

 

[Bribie G]

I'm drinking a Czech Pilsener right now and it's subtly different in flavour to a kits n bits. It's about as sweet as a Melbourne Bitter so not overly sweet and the hops are excellent and herby without the iso "twang" you get with some beer kits. The malt flavour is much truer to an all grain beer and doesn't scream "malt extract". Very nice and I'll definitely do another one.
However a Czech Pilsener it aint - in fact more like an English Real Ale bitter. However it could be an old pack as it is quite dark. Probably right at the end of the supply chain here in SEQ. I'm going to try to see if I can get an English style brew from ESB, I reckon it will be a ripper if they do one.

A few points re above posts:

1. Yes, lots of hop pellet in the mix. Primary krausen looks like a slimy green English duck pond but it all settles out. It looks absolutely feral in the bottles to start off with but everything settles out nicely after about 3 weeks.

2. Beware the yeast. Yes it's a Saflager (22 or 33 or something). I brewed it at the same time as a Morgans and a Coopers. I was a teeny bit unsure about the seal on the fermenter but it seemed to attenuate at the same time as the K&Ks so bottled it at the same time. 3 weeks later I have a volcano brew but have gradually leaked off the excess pressure - one advantage of using PET - it's still a bit lively. Obviously not a quickanddirty regular kit yeast.

3. At about 25 bucks it's about what I would spend on a Kit and bits anyway. I'll definitely do some more ESBs if I can find them.

 

[goomboogo]

BribieG, a response to a couple points you've made. The ESB 3 kg kits do use hop extract for bittering (the pellets in the tin are for aroma purposes). In terms of the absence of a character that screams of malt extract, the substance in the paint tin is still liquid malt extract. And it is the same malt extract found in many other kits on the shelves of your local HBS or supermarket.

As others will point out, an aspect of these kits is the absence of adjuncts such as cane sugar, glucose or corn syrup. The beer you make will be derived from malted barley and wheat (depending on the kit) and have the added bonus of some late addition hopping. The concept is sound - lots of malt and some hop character. It is far, far better than the idea of a tin and a kilo of sugar.

 

[Bribie G]

Fair point, that the 'homebrew' taste I was ascribing to malt extract in kit beers is probably more related to the corn syrup or whatever they may put in plus additives like dex. For example Brigalow kits quite unashamedly list 'cereal extracts' on their can. I'm actually going to make my 1970s (what my old Dad and I used to make in the UK) 'plain old pom' bitter as my next brew with just malt extract, crystal malt and very well hopped with goldings/fuggles plus a UK ale yeast so interested to see what flavour profile I get compared to a kit. I bet it will turn out more like an ESB, here's hoping :lol:

edit: another point about the value of ESB kits is that to produce an acceptable level of hoppiness in an extract recipe beer it's getting bloody expensive. For example I just bought 90g of UK fuggles pellets for nearly ten bucks, and that doesn't do too many batches if you are boiling them in the wort then dry hopping in addition.'

 

[Bribie G]

What I meant was that with the ESB kits you probably get more bang for your buck with the hops supplied in the kits and to replicate this level of bitterness in a recipe brew you would end up spending a lot more at LHBS retail prices (compounded by the hop shortage) for the same hoppyness. Actually I love a hoppy UK beer. The Newcastle beers of my era were rather mild and Scottish like, and in my 20s when I first ventured south of Watling Gap armed with an English phrase book h34r: to the West Country, Kent etc the beers were a real flavour hit. I remember my first taste of Wadworths 6x was so beautiful I nearly cried into the glass, and some of the other old West Country ales such as Starkeys (long gone) were totally Hop Nazi :blink: Then I actually got to the West Side of the Pennines for the first time and Boddingtons (in those days) was spectacular.

On topic I note from the ESB site that they do a British Ale and I've emailed them to see who the QLD distributors are.
Happy brewing days ahead.

 

[Mclovin]

The ESB 3kg Aussie draught kits are great. I used white labs californian ale yeast and 150g of amber malt enhancer as recomended on their website. Nice drop indead. The white labs yeast is one very clean yeast, brings out the hop flavours very well. Medium flocculation with 80% attenuation and very versatile.

 

[Mantis]

Just pulled the first of the above mentioned Bavarian wheat ESB that i did with no addatives at all and it is very hoppy and good. Different,yes, yes different yes good yes good nice yes nice

 

[Dave86]

I got around to putting the aussie draught in today, was suprised by the aroma when I opened the can... It smelt like hops! Unusual for a kit, definitelty a bit of pellet sludge there too. I don't think this one will turn out much like an aussie draught, it'll have too much hops flavour