Whats Your Favourite/best Kit Can

[Nick JD]

As it is a weight to volume dilution you need to first multiply by your kit's weight, then divide by volume.

I.e: 270(ibu) X 1.7(kg) = 459 Then 459/23 = 19.957 IBU

It's per kg, not per can?

 

[bum]

That is definitely correct for Coopers kits.

 

[Bribie G]

I've had quite a bit of success pimping up Cerveza and Canadian cans. Someone gave me a tin of Cerveza a year or so back and it made a good lawnmower with no kit twang. I cereal mashed a kilo of polenta with half a kilo of BB Ale malt, did a mini BIAB in the stockpot and boiled the results with some Galena, and brought the whole thing up to strength with some dex.

 

[tricache]

And here I was thinking it would a rubbish kit...looks like a good "foundation" kit

 

[drsmurto]

Prior to moving to AG the last dozen kits i brewed were all using the same base kit to which i added specialty grain and hops and used a good dry yeast.

The base kit was Coopers Lager. I brewed english ales, APAs, stouts and porters. I actually won a competition with a kit beer and beat several AG brewers. The judges were gobsmacked that the beer that won and the others i entered that placed were kit beers.

Recently i snuck a kit beer, the first i had brewed in 5 years, into a local case swap. I didn't tell anyone that it was a kit beer and received a lot of positive feedback. It was a sneaky attempt by me to get some blind judging and unbiased feedback on a kit beer. A lot of brewers on this site will poo poo kit brewers but very few would actually be able to pick it in a blind tasting (at least, that is my current theory). When i let the cat out of the bag (airlock) the lads were a little shocked. I did use Coopers sparkling ale as a base instead of the lager, added extra extract, crystal malt and roasted malt plus colombus hops. And a liquid yeast.

What may surprise people more is that the result of this has me thinking that when i am time poor (more often than not), I will happily brew another kit beer. I have ordered the extract already.

My golden ale started out life as a kit beer and the recipe for it is in the notes section below the AG recipe - Link

I noticed yesterday that the recipe for it and my Landlord are in ianh's kit spreadsheet, something i was not aware of.

 

[tricache]

Prior to moving to AG the last dozen kits i brewed were all using the same base kit to which i added specialty grain and hops and used a good dry yeast.

The base kit was Coopers Lager. I brewed english ales, APAs, stouts and porters. I actually won a competition with a kit beer and beat several AG brewers. The judges were gobsmacked that the beer that won and the others i entered that placed were kit beers.

Recently i snuck a kit beer, the first i had brewed in 5 years, into a local case swap. I didn't tell anyone that it was a kit beer and received a lot of positive feedback. It was a sneaky attempt by me to get some blind judging and unbiased feedback on a kit beer. A lot of brewers on this site will poo poo kit brewers but very few would actually be able to pick it in a blind tasting (at least, that is my current theory). When i let the cat out of the bag (airlock) the lads were a little shocked. I did use Coopers sparkling ale as a base instead of the lager, added extra extract, crystal malt and roasted malt plus colombus hops. And a liquid yeast.

What may surprise people more is that the result of this has me thinking that when i am time poor (more often than not), I will happily brew another kit beer. I have ordered the extract already.

My golden ale started out life as a kit beer and the recipe for it is in the notes section below the AG recipe - Link

I noticed yesterday that the recipe for it and my Landlord are in ianh's kit spreadsheet, something i was not aware of.

That is actually very good to hear. I thought about if that was possible to basically combine the schools of brewing and as I have found there aren't that many rules when it comes to brewing; if you dream it, you can brew it.

 

[RobboMC]

When my last child was very young and my wife worked nights I was extremely time poor. Still am mind you.
In the immortal words of a fellow brewer; " better to have bottles full of kit beer than empty bottles and nothing to drink"

I used to make a batch of 'dump and stir' Dark Ale on the kitchen bench in 20 min while I cooked dinner. The Muntons 3kg kits are pretty good as well, though not cheap.

And it's amazing what you can do with a single kg of steeped grain folowed by a 15 min boil, and a kit.

I once got a Highly Comended at a brew comp with a Nut Brown Ale kit beer; and I've just bottled a new NBA recipe
that is even better than that one.

There's a long way from a simple dump and stir to a full blown 'kits n lots of bits' masterpiece, but masterpiece's that include a kit are a shortcut to success.

 

[hirns]

I've had quite a bit of success pimping up Cerveza and Canadian cans. Someone gave me a tin of Cerveza a year or so back and it made a good lawnmower with no kit twang. I cereal mashed a kilo of polenta with half a kilo of BB Ale malt, did a mini BIAB in the stockpot and boiled the results with some Galena, and brought the whole thing up to strength with some dex.

Bribie, what yeast did you use when you did this!

 

[Blitzer]

Is the Cooper Canadian Blonde a lager or an ale?

 

[Orangewhip]

I'm only a rank amateur but my best k&k has been the Cascade Spicy Ghost (draught) with half dme and half dextrose after 12 weeks in the bottle.

 

[ash2]

Glad i found this thread some good ideas here for a brew or two,my pic is a TC.Pils using the Czech Pilsener recipe on Coops website it is a nice drop going to be putting my 3rd down this week.

 

[yum beer]

Thats a nice picture Ash.

 

[JakeSm]

:icon_offtopic: how exactly is polenta used in the mashing process and does it give any flavours or self convert into sugar??

cheers jake.