Kit Ingredients

[Shed]

Can anyone tell me what is in a basic kit beer concentrate? (e.g a Coopers Lager can)

Is it just Malt and Hops or have they added 20 secret herbs 'n spices in some special brewing method?

Without going to an AG setup, do you need to start with the kit? or could I just buy a few kilo's of LLME and boil it up with hops for bittering, then dry hop for aroma?

If you don't really need the kit, I would like to make a few 'Mini brews'... say, 5 litre batches (I'm going through this huge experimental stage! :unsure: ) I figure, why make 23 litres of something that could turn out to be something not quite to your liking. This way I could fairly quickly get the bulk of the experimentation out the way and settle on, say, half a dozen core recipes.

 

[GMK]

Experimentation.

Most cans use ISO HOP bittering Extract...they dont use hops at all.

This is where Extract brewing comes to the fore.

Get a program called Promash...Shareware available on the internet..this helps with recipees and calculating hop bitterness.

Use LME and boil for 30 mins minimum adding hops as you go.

You can also steep/mash speciality grains as well.
I have posted a Database file of recipees on the site that might give you some good starting points...

 

[RegBadgery]

I don't know what's in Coopers kits but I know that the ESB 3kg extract kits contain malt extract, iso hop for bittering + some hop flowers for finishing.

You can make up your own brew by purchasing malt extract, adding bittering, flavouring and aroma hops. You can also steep freshly crushed specialty grains to get some additional character. Dryhopping is a good idea (if you wait long enough for the hops to drop out of suspension).

Whether you purchase a kit and make some additions or start out from scratch I'm sure that you'll enjoy the flavour improvements.

cheers
reg