Kit Beer Bos At The Nationals

[Stagger]

I had a beer with Dan last night, and we got to talking about our beers in the nationals. Dan to my surprise told me that his beer (RIS) that won BEER OF SHOW at the nationals was made from 3 kits, this was Dans last kit before he made the leap to all grain. I must admit I was a little taken back but now know that a good kit beer can easily perform better than a crafted all grain beer.

I think this is a fantastic result for brewing, all the best Dan and the kit brewers out there.


Stagger

 

[Bazza]

What's the recipe? Or is it a trade secret ?

Until I get space/time for AG I must stick with kits, so any ideas on recipe improvements for kits wll be welcomed..

 

[Stagger]

He told me it was 3 kits in 20L of water.


Stagger

 

[bigfridge]

I had a beer with Dan last night, and we got to talking about our beers in the nationals. Dan to my surprise told me that his beer (RIS) that won BEER OF SHOW at the nationals was made from 3 kits, this was Dans last kit before he made the leap to all grain. I must admit I was a little taken back but now know that a good kit beer can easily perform better than a crafted all grain beer.

I think this is a fantastic result for brewing, all the best Dan and the kit brewers out there.


Stagger

While Kits can and do make excellent beer, I think in this case the BOS could have resulted from BBB (Big Beer Bias). The judges were obviously impressed with this excellent beer, but unless you re-taste all the winning beers in a seperate Best Of Show round it is difficult to say that it was the best beer.

The only thing that you can say is that the judges who tasted this beer awarded it the highest marks recorded in the comp. It may have been an extraordinarilly good beer, or equally you could say that they were just generous judges.

Without a seperate BOS round you really can't be sure.

 

[warrenlw63]

Having judged on numerous occasions I don't see this as an abnormal occurance whatsoever and is probably not paying enough homage to extract beers.

Higher gravity brews, particularly RIS and Barley wines don't really suffer one iota in extract form compared to to their AG contemporaries IMO.

Provided the kit/malt extract is fresh and well handled and most probably augmented with some small amounts of AG and spec. malts there's no reason why this is not a more regular occurance.

In fact it wouldn't surprise me if there's not several AG brewers out there with limited mashtun capacity doing exactly this.

I wouldn't point any fingers at overly generous judges, this is just begruding the beer. Perhaps the brewer in question be he extract or all-grain just knows his/her/their onions.

Warren -

 

[Stagger]

Spot on!!

As i said i think it's great. :beerbang:

Stagger

 

[Beerpig]

Does this mean the AG brewers have to run around the room with their pants around their ankles?

Cheers

 

[barls]

i think a few of them should after some of the comments. it just goes to show you can make good beer no matter which method you use

 

[Stuster]

Does this mean the AG brewers have to run around the room with their pants around their ankles?

Cheers

I fell a few times but I think I'll be alright.

It doesn't really surprise me. As warren says, for stronger styles especially, kits/extract can make very good beer. Also true for darker beers. Judging the kit section at the Castle Hill show the dark lagers were noticeably more consistent than the lighter beers which tended to have lots of acetaldehyde. There was one light lager that was good though, and one really excellent dark ale. I think we'd all have taken another glass of that one. :chug:

 

[user 384]

BEER OF SHOW at the nationals was made from 3 kits....... I must admit I was a little taken back but now know that a good kit beer can easily perform better than a crafted all grain beer.

Cool, a pointless AG vs Kit beer thread, we haven't had one of these for at least 6 months (even if you didn't mean it to be this type of thread, it's how it will end).

Now to kick off the festive arguments I will respond to the following:

it just goes to show you can make good beer no matter which method you use

Bollocks! And stop being condescending to our second class brewing citizens. It just shows that a high alcohol, very dark beer that just happened to be made from 3 kits , was given the highest score. If it's true that there was no BoS round, then it's a hollow victory. Also as already has been pointed out, certain styles, read nothing subtle or delicate, can be made well with extract. However this is far from the universal of being able to make good beer from extracts. You can make a few good styles, maybe, but to generally be able to make good beer, fresh grain, fresh hops, good water, healthy yeast and sound sanitation is needed. Like anything you only get out what you put in and extract is over-processed boiled downed malt of unknown origin. Go ahead and whack it into your beer, but just don't offer me a glass.

Let the war of words begin h34r: .

Cheers
MAH

 

[Borret]

:lol:

amen...

 

[barls]

BEER OF SHOW at the nationals was made from 3 kits....... I must admit I was a little taken back but now know that a good kit beer can easily perform better than a crafted all grain beer.

Cool, a pointless AG vs Kit beer thread, we haven't had one of these for at least 6 months (even if you didn't mean it to be this type of thread, it's how it will end).

Now to kick off the festive arguments I will respond to the following:

it just goes to show you can make good beer no matter which method you use

Bollocks! And stop being condescending to our second class brewing citizens. It just shows that a high alcohol, very dark beer that just happened to be made from 3 kits , was given the highest score. If it's true that there was no BoS round, then it's a hollow victory. Also as already has been pointed out, certain styles, read nothing subtle or delicate, can be made well with extract. However this is far from the universal of being able to make good beer from extracts. You can make a few good styles, maybe, but to generally be able to make good beer, fresh grain, fresh hops, good water, healthy yeast and sound sanitation is needed. Like anything you only get out what you put in and extract is over-processed boiled downed malt of unknown origin. Go ahead and whack it into your beer, but just don't offer me a glass.

Let the war of words begin h34r: .

Cheers
MAH

id like to point out that im one of those so call second class citizens as you put it and i think the world would be quite boring if we all were sheep and did as one what we all get told we should be doing. we are all different and by that we have different tastes. i personally dont have any plans to go all grain anytime in the future and quite get sick of being told i should at least one a week on this forum hen i ask for help with a recipe

 

[DJR]

Who cares, if you make good beer that's what matters.

Personally i get more consistent, better results with AG but whatever floats your boat and works.

BBB wasn't there in the case of BOS at the NSW champs - it was a 3% Berliner Weisse!

 

[deebee]

I had a beer with Dan last night, and we got to talking about our beers in the nationals. Dan to my surprise told me that his beer (RIS) that won BEER OF SHOW at the nationals was made from 3 kits, this was Dans last kit before he made the leap to all grain. I must admit I was a little taken back but now know that a good kit beer can easily perform better than a crafted all grain beer.

I think this is a fantastic result for brewing, all the best Dan and the kit brewers out there.


Stagger

I haven't waded into an AG v kit debate for literally years, but I just woke up in the mood today, so Congratulations to Dan.

There are plenty of posts on this forum to attest that you can make good and even very good beers with extracts. And equal numbers of gainsayers and shitstirrers. But a warning to anyone who thinks a good kit beer can be made by following the "recipe" of someone else who once made a good one. It's all down to good brewing techniques: pay more attention to good fermentation, pitching rates and so on, leave it on the yeast cake for plenty of time, use fresh extract, supplement with some malt or specialty malts, careful use of finishing hops and don't try and make anything too subtle. In fact you could almost say a brewer who makes a good beer out of a kit may have demonstrated better brewing techniques in a few areas than the brewer who made a comparable beer with AG. In fact I just did say it.

And I agree with Stagger, a fantastic result for brewing.

 

[Steve]

For f*&cks sake, Stagger was only congratulating a fellow brewer that managed to score BOS...end of story.

 

[AUHEAMIC]

I wonder at what point do some brewers loose sight of the friendly home brewing community and become beer snobs.

It is not important how it is made. It is not important what it is made from or who made it.

You enjoy making and enjoy drinking it. Its that simple.

Let's just say well done Dan and move on.

 

[warrenlw63]

Does this mean the AG brewers have to run around the room with their pants around their ankles?

Cheers

:lol: :lol: Absolutely... All running around worrying their peckers don't conform to BJCP guidelines.

Warren -

 

[user 384]

Who hoo! First catch of the day.

i personally dont have any plans to go all grain anytime in the future and quite get sick of being told i should at least one a week on this forum

Don't worry Barls, I was also like you , a second class citizen who hated being told that AG was the pinnacle of brewing. I swore till I was blue in the face that I could make good beer from extract. In time I too came to understand that AG is the only true way. If you open your heart to the brew gods, they'll show the chosen path to AG heaven. Come on join us, you know you want to.

Cheers
MAH

 

[warrenlw63]

Go ahead and whack it into your beer, but just don't offer me a glass.

Let the war of words begin h34r: .

Cheers
MAH

S'pose it would be akin to casting pearl before the swine.

Warren -

 

[PostModern]

id like to point out that im one of those so call second class citizens as you put it and i think the world would be quite boring if we all were sheep and did as one what we all get told we should be doing. we are all different and by that we have different tastes. i personally dont have any plans to go all grain anytime in the future and quite get sick of being told i should at least one a week on this forum hen i ask for help with a recipe

Hang on. Are you sugesting that grain brewers are sheep because they don't make their beer by emptying gloop from the kit maker's can??? Whoa, back up, turn around.