Ag Vs Wort Kits

[maltedhopalong]

Hey guys, can anyone tell me how you would compare a wort kit to AG brewing?

I'm talking taste here, and I'm talking about just adding 5 litres to a wort kit and fermenting it out...

 

[Stuster]

Wort kits are all grain, so they're an easy way to try out an AG beer. You still need to ferment it. Choose a good yeast, decide if it needs some dry hopping etc. Very easy and good beer.

 

[geoffi]

Wort kits are great. Cost a bit, but you get AG flavour, for kit effort (in fact less than kit effort).

Make sure you use a quality yeast to get the most from it, though. No shitty kit yeast for these babies.

BTW, there are wort kits and wort kits. I find the gravity on some a bit low. In contrast, I think the NNL kits are great value if you can get 'em, as the gravity is higher than others, so you get more after dilution.

 

[andreic]

Hi,

Wort kits are AG brews without the effort. I have done a few fresh worts from ESB in Sydney and they were all excellent beers. I did 2 Pilsener fresh worts with a Czech pilsener yeast (WLP802), lagered them for 2-3 months, and bottled. A couple of months later they were the 2 finest beers I have ever "made". I have been AG brewing for 6 months now - I will not go back to can kits. If I need to do some more kit brews to build up stocks without the effort I will definitely be doing fresh worts only.

I am soon going to attempt some AG czech pilseners. If I can make them as good as those 2 fresh wort pilseners then I will be a happy brewer....

cheers,

Andrei

 

[MSR]

I brewed an Artisanale fresh wort kit from G&G, its bottling at the moment. It was dead simple just boiled a few hops up and threw into the fermenter and added wort. Can't wait to taste it, only heard good reports.

 

[glennheinzel]

I agree with Geoff that some freshwort kits are a bit low on the gravity side for my taste (around 1.042 to 1.044 OG whereas I would prefer 1.050+), however they do taste good and they are quick/easy. My favourite is the ND Brewing Porter (keep up the good work Gerard).

I suppose you could add dextrose/malt extract to top it up... Does anyone know if this will work or could it negatively impact the work that has already been done to create the beer?

Just had a bottle of 3 monts (and not in the shower as seems to be the norm according to a different thread ;-)). Not bad... I love the first line of someones review from the ratebeer website "I broke my cheap cork screw on this one."
www.ratebeer.com/Beer/3-monts/7321/

 

[geoffi]

I suppose you could add dextrose/malt extract to top it up... Does anyone know if this will work or could it negatively impact the work that has already been done to create the beer?

www.ratebeer.com/Beer/3-monts/7321/

Anything you add will change things. But a little extra to boost gravity shouldn't hurt. One thought though is that adding too much extra gravity without considering the hops side of things could adversely affect the balance. But I don't think it would end the world.

You can also use these as a base and add extra colour malts, hops etc to create your "own" beer.

 

[simonl75]

I'm unable to compare a fresh wort kit to AG brewing as i'm not an AG brewer but can I echo the postive remarks above about the fresh wort kits, they do make a great beer - actually I haven't done a K&K since my first fresh wort.

As much as I'd love to have a crack at AG I don't have the time so these fresh worts are the perfect alternative.

 

[geoffi]

One thing I always do with these kits is to ferment them undiluted, and dilute on bottling. I'm on tank water here and will not put it unboiled into fresh wort. Also, my feeling is that fermenting the wort at full strength gives extra protection against nasties due to the high alcohol and bitterness.