Esb Australian Draught Any Good?

[BjornJ]

Hi all,
bought a ESB Australian Draught kit today, when stopping by Dave's Homebrew.
I came with S-04 english ale yeast.




I see it gets great reviews at the hb kit reviews

I did a bit of a search on here but didn't find a lot of comments on it.

Is there anyone on here who has tried it and don't mind commenting on how it turned out?


thanks
Bjorn

 

[BjornJ]

well,
that cleared that up.

Kit beers have a homebrew twang I don;t get in any of my AG beers.
Not saying my AGs are great in any way, but I don't get the stale "kit twang" like I remember from all my first brews and instantly recognised in this one.
Temperature control, 2 packs of S-04, well aerated wort, fermented at 18 degrees for 12 days and 3 days at 20.




Hope this doesn't come across as trying to be snobby and saying all grain is a must.
But there clearly (to me) is a difference, some kind of staleness that perhaps is from the liquid malt extract not being fresh?
Maybe I have just been unlucky and bought an old kit every time.

The good news is that it should be easy to fix by adding some specialty grains and some hops.

My last kit beer for a while.

Bjorn

 

[mwd]

Know what you mean as a Kit and bits brewer I 99% get a slight twang which is hard to describe but not able to cover totalyy even with lots of hops and speciality steeping grains. Latest kit is a Barons Amber Ale which is technically classed as a FWK so no obvious twang in this one,

 

[Cog's]

I stick with coopers draught kits. Got rid of the twang by investing in a keg setup, not sure how but.

 

[STEVENALI]

[quote name='Cog's' post='745558' date='Feb 26 2011, 01:24 PM']I stick with coopers draught kits. Got rid of the twang by investing in a keg setup, not sure how but.[/quote]
you got that right cobber, coopers draught amber malt bit of kent goldings so4 7 days at 22c 7days at 4c keg, gas, drink, no b/s no off taste no drama,no cloud $50 bucks 45litres,keep it simple

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Bjorn, I just did a Coopers Pale ale, Brew enhancer 2, a small mini mash (500g of ale malt) 60g of (aged) Cascade split between a boil and the cube. 17 litres of water. Needed someting in bottles as I have no time to AG. First sample a month ago (at 4 weeks in bottle) and I thought TWANG. A month later and the brew is actually quite drinkable - nothing exceptional but drinking well (the cascade hides the imperfection well). No noticeable twang.

I reckon (and it's only my impression) that the thinner you make a kit beer, the more the twang. A K & K effort is always thin tasting to me and twangy. Aging seems to have some affect, but a thin beer will not find body no matter how long you need it. I've had some great tasting two can efforts that you wouldn't pick from AG - indeed some have won Australian championships. I reckon it has to do with the amount of body you leave in the brew, whether by water reduction, added malt or low attenuating yeasts maybe.

My 2 cents worth. And your brewing aint that bad!