Kits revisited

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

geoffi

Well-Known Member
Joined
28/12/06
Messages
1,429
Reaction score
7
Like just about everybody else I started out doing kits. But like many I found myself moving inexorably towards the dark side. It's now been many years since I brewed anything but AG.

But a few months back I tried a couple of kit brews that knocked my socks off (h/t Eddie and Vicki...). Clean, tasty, not a hint of the dreaded 'home brew' flavour.

Finding myself without the time to devote to AG, I decided to take a crack at it over the hols. I bought a Cooper's Draught kit and a 'brew enhancer 2'. I used some cultured yeast from a CPA bottle, and fermented at ~18c from 1.042 down to 1.006 in a week.

Well, the results are in. It's a bloody crackin' beer. Clean as a whistle, crisp without being too dry and nicely bitter. And excellent head retention.

I'm really impressed with this. Mind you, I don't plan to give up AG, but for cranking out a tasty, quick, no-fuss and cheap (OK, not quite as cheap as AG, but still pretty bloody cheap) everyday beer, the kits are definitely back on my radar.
 
HEHE, I did the same thing recently (coopers pale tin + BE2) but fermented it with Beersel Brettanomyces blend from the Yeast Bay.. haven't kegged it yet.
 
I've usually always got a coops green in the cupboard for emergencies.. Or just one for swmbo..

Will be a while till she can have one again though so I should punch it out,

My only complaint about them is the lack of body they tend to have..

Yes, I'm a beer snob, I've earned the right ;)
 
did a mangrove jacks ipa or was it pa? anyway it was really nice although maybe needed some more body too
couldn't believe how fast it was to get into the fementor, dry-hopping a tin with some malt as a ferment able is a good way to get some character quick smart
@yob - swmbo pregguz ?
 
This one I'm drinking now (yes, right now) isn't exactly Sam Armytage when it comes to a 'full body', but for just an 'arvo' type of beer, I've no complaints. Some aroma hops might be interesting, though.
 
I keep an eye on the coopers ROTM each month and if it sounds nice or worth trying I normally give it ago as a quick and easy bottle filler.
 
Recently had my bucks, and renovating a shop and now off to my wedding.. had no time to brew hardly.. thankfully i had a couple of kits around..
did a can of the coopers mexican cerveza, with a belle saison.. just left it in the cupboard.. (fermenting fridge was full) .. tasting good, look forward to drinking that when im back!!

kits can be so damn handy!
 
Kits with brewing knowledge are pretty good really. I had zero time to brew an APA for a mates after wedding party and used a tin with liquid malt extract and some late hops. Using good fermentation practice makes good beer. I AG for the pleasure of it. Results speak for themselves.
 
It's a good point about the process. Compared to when I started out with kits, every aspect will have improved out of sight, temperature control (ie not just trying to get it as warm as possible) and yeast selection (ie getting something decent and using the kit yeast as nutrient...) being top of the list. And of course there's not just tipping a kilo of white sugar in...mmm...'home brew' flavour...
 
mckenry said:
Kits with brewing knowledge are pretty good really. I had zero time to brew an APA for a mates after wedding party and used a tin with liquid malt extract and some late hops. Using good fermentation practice makes good beer. I AG for the pleasure of it. Results speak for themselves.
If your hygiene is tops, processes smooth, have good temp control whilst fermenting, allow 14 days in the fermenter, use malts in preference to raw sugar then I'd say you've got a bloody dam good drinking beer. I brew the Coopers English Bitter as my day to day drink and love it.
Cheers
 
Theres a few guys at work who tried brewing kits once and never did it again because the beer tasted like shit. I gave a few small bits of advice, but I think the damage has been done and they don't want to try again. It's a shame that they didn't do a quick search on basic brewing processes before they started, I helped another mate with his first kit not too long ago and it turned out to be a very nice drop. He's stoked.

I'm drinking a supermarket branded lager kit with bits at this very moment, as 6 months ago I tried to see if I could make the worlds cheapest drinkable beer. It's not an award winning beer, but I am having no problems downing the glasses. $11 for 17L using recultured coopers yeast if you were wondering.
 
When I first got into brewing the WWW was still science fiction, and there was not even 1% of the ingredients and gear available we now take for granted. We pretty much had the instructions on the can and that's about it. These days it's so easy to get the good oil on good brewing techniques that nobody need go through that 'oh God, shitty home brew' experience if they just do some basic research.
 
I only have one fermenting fridge, that happily fits my 60L fermenter. So I've been doing 42L batches to fill two kegs, and rather than do two separate mashes and boils, I do a single strong mash (7 kg) and make up to the full brew with a tin.
The brews so far have been very quaffable.
When the ambient in the brewhouse gets back to below 20 from April I'll go back to using my conical in the fridge for special & comp brews, and drinkin' ales fermented on the floor.
 
brzt6060 said:
I keep an eye on the coopers ROTM each month and if it sounds nice or worth trying I normally give it ago as a quick and easy bottle filler.
I have done the same.
I think you get the cans nice and fresh direct from Coopers, they definitely deteriorate with age.
 
At the end of last year I did my first partial mash using a Koslch recipe from BYO magazine. It turned out OK but quite dark for a Kolsch and over-carbonated.

Following that I made the Cooper’s BeeKeeper recipe – TC Wheat beer tin, 1kg LDME, 350g honey & WB06 and it rules. Two weeks in the bottle and it’s so smashable.

Makes the Kolsch seem like a huge failure…but oh well. Live & learn.
 
Stopped brewing several years ago because I just couldn't fit AG into the weekend. Recently started back on kits and have made some decent beer, it is good to start getting back into the swing of it.
 
Friday I made 45 litres of unhopped low-grav pale wort from a mix of pale, pils and wheat malts with a sprinkle of crystal (my usual AG CPA recipe). Friday night I threw a cube of this into a fermenter with Cooper's Dark Ale can, topped up with water. OG 1.042. Fermented at ~17c with slurry from previous brew (CPA yeast).

It seems to have pretty much fermented out at about 1.006. Tastes flippin' amazing straight out of the fermenter. Might be onto something here.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top