Cheap v expensive kits

[wbosher]

Also rather than swapping to the cheapest kit have a look at other ways to save on brew day.
Di-San from Aldi is $2.49 a kg, and makes an awesome cleaner.
Reuse your yeast multiple times (assuming you are not using the kit yeast)
Buy your LME in bulk packs
Order hops online. http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com does 2oz bags. You just need to order up a lot (3.5lb) to make the postage viable.

The other thing AG ingredients can be a lot cheaper than a decent kit. My house Aussie Gold is about $10 a batch if buying ingredients in bulk.

Or our very own Yob may be able to get you a good deal on hops.

 

[technobabble66]

Or our very own Yob may be able to get you a good deal on hops.

Yeah. Check out Yob's site for hops & dry yeast:

http://www.hopdealzaustralia.com/

If you're here in Melb, that probably your best option for quality & price at this stage - postage will be cheap & v quick.

 

[Canuckdownunder]

Over here we have a beer called Tui, on the label it calls itself an "East India Pale Ale"...carbonated cats piss. About as bitter as a woman receiving the Cullinan diamond on Valentine's day. I wonder if the Black Rock kit tries to emulate that delightful drop?

I had a buddy who gave me a bottle because he knew I was working on making an awesome pale ale. The stuff tasted like Tun Bitter! Absolutely let me down :icon_vomit:

Also I've been working on trying to make a decent Pale Ale out of the Coopers APA. Currently in it's 5th attempt I've sparked it up with 500g crystal 60, 1kg LDME, 100g dex and Amarillo/Cascade hops at 15/5/dry. I'm absolutely in love with the tastes I'm getting from the hydrometer tube samples can't wait to keg it it's gonna be well waiting to tap it!!! :wub: :wub: :wub: and the thing only cost me $32 so all in great beer for not a bad price!

 

[yum beer]

Your APA should go nice with the Amarillo and Cascade, I would not have used so much crystal but see how it turns out.
I've made some cracker Pales with the Coopers APA hit, 1kg LDM and a combo of cascade, centennial, simcoe and chinook.

 

[manson81]

One of my favourite beers I like to make is pretty cheap:

Can of Coopers APA ($13.75)
1kg LDME ($8 odd)
20g Cascade steeped 10-15 mins (maybe a buck or two worth)?
Dirty Kit Yeast - free!

No need to steep any crystal, or even get US05 (which I do normally use for my ales). This just works out so ******* nice. Maybe dry hop another 10g of cascade after fermentation.

 

[DU99]

Black rock is made by lion nathan in New Zealand..trying a golden ale with there can's of malt..

 

[RobboMC]

The better cans do make better beer, in general and IMHO. Having written that, how much better can depend on the exact can in the range. I have brewed most of the different Muntons cans, and while the Bitter and Pilsener are hardly better than the Thomas Coopers cans and not worth the money, I would say the Yorkshire Bitter and Nut Brown Ale are superb and worth every extra cent. Some of their 3kg kits at around $50 are also not worth the money IMHO.

One of my best recipes is Muntons Yorkshire Bitter and a can of Morgans caramalt LME, Simple, easy and great beer.
The Muntons yeast also seems to be a cut above the others, so remember you are paying for more than just the can.

I reckon the Thomas Cooopers range is worth the extra, I brew pretty much with those always as my base kit now as a minimum, except when I make dark beer with Muntons Nut Brown.

In the end it depends if you are aiming to make lawn mower swill for a hot day, or a world class beer worthy of competition entry.

 

[brente1982]

I guess it could also come down to the age of the kit aswell. How long its been sitting on the shelf for. You can generally expect cans in a supermarket/department store to have been there for quite some time as opposed to the cans in a brew shop.

 

[Kingrat]

The better cans do make better beer, in general and IMHO. Having written that, how much better can depend on the exact can in the range. I have brewed most of the different Muntons cans, and while the Bitter and Pilsener are hardly better than the Thomas Coopers cans and not worth the money, I would say the Yorkshire Bitter and Nut Brown Ale are superb and worth every extra cent. Some of their 3kg kits at around $50 are also not worth the money IMHO.

One of my best recipes is Muntons Yorkshire Bitter and a can of Morgans caramalt LME, Simple, easy and great beer.
The Muntons yeast also seems to be a cut above the others, so remember you are paying for more than just the can.

I reckon the Thomas Cooopers range is worth the extra, I brew pretty much with those always as my base kit now as a minimum, except when I make dark beer with Muntons Nut Brown.

In the end it depends if you are aiming to make lawn mower swill for a hot day, or a world class beer worthy of competition entry.

Robbo - Have you made Munton's Scottish style heavy ale? How did you go? Any enchancements? I have a can and 1kg of 50/50 dark/light DME.
Do you rehydrate the kit yeast before pitching? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[sluggerdog]

I also agree the coopers pale ale is a great base kit. I've brewed about 10 of them this year always with added hops and steeped grains creating anything from a 'lager' (saaz / halleratu hops but using us-05 so technically an ale) to many apas and even a few dark ales.

I won't bother using anything else from now on, I tried a few more expensive kits but they didn't follow though flavour wise for me. I'd rather spend the money on the added hops, grain and a good yeast.

 

[damoninja]

I was going to post something similar... I've got 2 batches bottled now, both from decent kits coupled some some grains, DDME, LLME, extra hops and better yeast...

But I decided to run the gauntlet and go as cheap as I possibly could from a kit point of view. I picked up a tin of coopers real ale on special for $9.50 and a cheap 1kg white sugar for $1. I stuck to the kit yeast, no additional adjuncts, planning to prime with white sugar.

All 3 of these brews should be of "acceptable" conditioning quality around about the same time so it ought to be interesting at taste time (although, the more expensive brews are stout and red ale vs a cheap ass ale)

 

[Forever Wort]

I am very curious how that cheap kit turns out. $10.50 is about as good as it gets.

 

[spog]

Over here we have a beer called Tui, on the label it calls itself an "East India Pale Ale"...carbonated cats piss. About as bitter as a woman receiving the Cullinan diamond on Valentine's day. I wonder if the Black Rock kit tries to emulate that delightful drop?

You have Tui,we have Tooheys,spelt differently,pronounced the same,and yep tastes the same. ...cheers...spog...

 

[damoninja]

I am very curious how that cheap kit turns out. $10.50 is about as good as it gets.

At first I was a little skeptical, the kit smelled almost a little sour (it definitely wasn't off though) possibly the contents were affected by the tin?

As I'm assuming this is a coopers sparkling ale type kit due to the red lable (purely speculation) I used the spreadsheet to calculate an OG of 1.049 and estimated FG of 1.007 to get alc content to 5.8%.

I tested it last night and read 1.020, naturally it still tastes a little sweet but the strange sourness is now minimal and I think it will be gone when the fermentables are all eaten up.

I think it's gonna taste alright!

 

[hughesyp]

I have brewed plenty of these and they have become my "signature" beer, and the best according to my mates who have a tendency to drop in for a freshie out of the keg:

1 x Homebrand Draught can - (Yes thats right I said Homebrand. At about $8.30 a can you aint gunna get much cheaper)
1 x BE2 - You can use a BE1 if you really want to keep the cost down but come on people!
12 - 16G Galaxy hops - Steeped for abount 10 mins prior to cooling the wort
Add some Dex if you want it stronger!.

At about $13 for 23 litres I challenge anyone to make anything better for the price

 

[damoninja]

I have brewed plenty of these and they have become my "signature" beer, and the best according to my mates who have a tendency to drop in for a freshie out of the keg:

1 x Homebrand Draught can - (Yes thats right I said Homebrand. At about $8.30 a can you aint gunna get much cheaper)
1 x BE2 - You can use a BE1 if you really want to keep the cost down but come on people!
12 - 16G Galaxy hops - Steeped for abount 10 mins prior to cooling the wort
Add some Dex if you want it stronger!.

At about $13 for 23 litres I challenge anyone to make anything better for the price

I'll keep this in mind for my next cheap-ass brew!

 

[Diggs]

Best kit I ever made was a Coopers Pale Ale I fermented in the cupboard (around 20c), that being said it was a Coopers recultured yeast.
If you aren't doing something along those lines, shell out for decent yeast.

 

[HBHB]

It's all relative to the brewer, one man's pride is another man's piss.

If you're into beer without any flavour, then they might just like X brand lager. For the next bloke who likes a traditional style English Bitter or Porter, then they might prefer say, a Mangrove jack's Craft Series Kit.

At the end of the day, you are the one who decides if a beer is for you. By that, I mean a $10.00 kit from a supermarket brewed on a benchtop at 28 degrees C with a kilo of sugar might be just what you're looking for, whereas most guys eventually grasp the concept that what makes or breaks beer is the quality of the ingredients and what you do with them. Temperature control during fermentation with a good yeast, good malts and style depending, maybe some hops - will all contribute to making better beer of various styles.

What I can say is that once a brewer explores temperature controlled fermentation in an old fridge with a digital controller & with a better kit, adding more malt than simple sugar and maybe even add some hops, very few turn back.

It's your beer, made to a level of quality you get to determine - good or bad.

Open up a tin of the latest American Pale Ale by Black Rock and you get greeted by hops flowers smiling back at you. Frankly, it ain't half bad when done on US05 with a bit of Cascade or Nelson Sauvin finishing hops and a kilo and a half of decent malt.

Their golden ale is about on par......do it up with some cascade and nelson sauvin finishing hops and a kilo/kilo and a half of malt.

Mangrove Jacks International Kits and their Basic Australian line-up are IMHO up there with the best available for the styles they've created, better still, step up into the Tradition series and pair the brew with the right yeast and malt.

What price is reasonable for a beer? Many guys want to make a beer for $20.00 .....for 2.5 cartons by volume. So break it down to $7.50 a carton, would you expect quality from Uncle Dan's at $7.50 a carton? I think not.

Good quality Kit $20.00
Malt $12.50
Yeast $4.95
Chemicals and general $1.00
Bottle caps $1.50
Hops - go hard $3.50

For under $45.00 you get 23 Litres (2-2.5 Cartons) of something with colour, flavour and aroma that tastes pretty damn good at under $20.00 a carton.

Going all grain, you'd make it for a fair bit less.

You get to choose, because it's about what you like and what you can afford/justify.


Martin

 

[damoninja]

Best kit I ever made was a Coopers Pale Ale I fermented in the cupboard (around 20c), that being said it was a Coopers recultured yeast.
If you aren't doing something along those lines, shell out for decent yeast.

I've heard these kits are pretty good actually...

 

[damoninja]

Good quality Kit $20.00
Malt $12.50
Yeast $4.95
Chemicals and general $1.00
Bottle caps $1.50
Hops - go hard $3.50

For under $45.00 you get 23 Litres (2-2.5 Cartons) of something with colour, flavour and aroma that tastes pretty damn good at under $20.00 a carton.

This is what I've been doing, but I didn't want to knock the cheap shit without seeing if it was actually shit!

If I can figure a decent enough brew with the cheap kits I'll do it on occasion...