Why do ALL of my can kits taste bad?

[Digga]

I love carbonara!

 

[Adr_0]

I wonder if a lot of people at your LHBS use sodium met, and heaps of it, as a sanitiser. As in some of the early posts, this is a way to remove chlorine and chloramines.

I've had many good chats with my LHBS owner who swears by it, but in the past when I've used it as a sanitiser I've had 50:50 results... probably worse than that actually. Since moving to Starsan I've had no issues with sanitation.

SO... I thought maybe I just wasn't using enough. If people dump a fair bit of powder in or a few tablets, swirl it around, then add their tap water it has likely sanitised and also left enough to dechlorinate. If in an area with chlorine only, one or two tabs is probably enough but this might not be enough for chloramines. I now use vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) which rocks.


Regarding your AG being ok, it I'm not sure how you do it. There is a stark difference between chlorine and chloramine - in terms of persistence. There is a heap of chloramine in the Gladstone water, but the Rocky boys up the road only have chlorine (gassed). I made a bitter a few batches which was totally ruined because I forgot to dechlorinate my sparge water (2/3 of the water) and I'm now particularly sensitive to bitter, plasticky, bandaidy chlorophenols. So if your local water uses chlorine rather than chloramine, your sitting/heating prior to dough in may have been enough. Your pouring of the water into the goo + adding yeast shortly after may not have been.

 

[peekaboo_jones]

Not sure Michael Burton...
As others stated the only pattern is your change to all grain is much better for you.

Some of my early kit brews were certainly bland but not un drinkable. I've made some partial mashes and they were a great step up.
I entered Vicbrew recently with a Coopers Mexican cerveza, 1kg dry malt, kit yeast and 100g dry hops and it came 10th. One packet of kit yeast too.
Malt flavour was very low though...
Hops give a fair bit to KnK brewing

 

[megabyte]

I entered Vicbrew recently with a Coopers Mexican cerveza, 1kg dry malt, kit yeast and 100g dry hops and it came 10th. One packet of kit yeast too.
Malt flavour was very low though...
Hops give a fair bit to KnK brewing

I think I'm seeing a trend that most brewers that are happy with their K&K's are using dry malt instead of BE2?

 

[peteru]

Yep, I've only ever used the pre-packaged "brew enhancers" twice. Once with the original Coopers brewing kit when I did my first ever batch decades ago. Then one more time when someone gave it to me because they decided not to brew any more after about 30 stubbies exploded in the back seat of their car.

There is absolutely no point in using that stuff. You are much better of buying a 1.5kg can of light malt extract and pouring that in.

 

[jackgym]

Since my comeback to home brewing I've put down about 14 brews, all with Cooper's kit and kilo.
The first 2 or 3 weren't that great,using the can and BE1 or BE2. After changing to light dry malt
instead of the BE and US-05 yeast things improved out of sight. Adding extra hops to your fancy
also improves the brew. If you want a really nice kit beer try the newer Cooper's Family Secret
with 1kg of LDM and US-05 yeast. No need to add anything else. You won't know you're drinking
home brew.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Since my comeback to home brewing I've put down about 14 brews, all with Cooper's kit and kilo.
The first 2 or 3 weren't that great,using the can and BE1 or BE2. After changing to light dry malt
instead of the BE and US-05 yeast things improved out of sight. Adding extra hops to your fancy
also improves the brew. If you want a really nice kit beer try the newer Cooper's Family Secret
with 1kg of LDM and US-05 yeast. No need to add anything else. You won't know you're drinking
home brew.

They wont believe you

 

[ekul]

I think the main issue with kit beers is that you dont really get enough malt in the can and the amount of yeast is about half of what you would require. Plus kits always have tasted tinny to me.

I've tried quite a few of those MJ pouches recently from friends who have just started brewing and I have to say, i think its the can that is the main issue. You can still taste the weird bitterness you get with isohop in the MJ kits but it is greatly reduced. If you pump a MJ pouch up with some spec malts and a short hop boil you can make a very drinkable beer. Not as good as all grain but good nonetheless.

 

[Goose]

Saying that all kit beer is crap is nonsesne and just not true

even crap golfers hit the once off amazing shots, but they never achieve consistency.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Golf...the impossible game

 

[Goose]

Golf...the impossible game

a bit like consistent beer from kits

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

a bit like consistent beer from kits

How so.....I know people who do consistent kits, but are really shit at golf

 

[Goose]

How so.....I know people who do consistent kits, but are really shit at golf

I'm afraid we differ on the first part.

I was shit at both.

 

[MastersBrewery]

How so.....I know people who do consistent kits, but are really shit at golf

It's the shitty f@#ken white ball that ruins what could be a nice walk with a few mates and brews.

 

[Grott]

I'm afraid we differ on the first part.

I was shit at both.

You differ on the first part only because you haven't met someone that does consistent kits, but there are people that do.

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

Plenty of people do decent kit brews - even half of the kit haters on this site used to brew beers by that medium for a protracted period of time before they ascended to joining the All Grain Gods and never stepped back again. I do both as I am time-challenged and can not always find a half of a day to put on an all grain brew. If I am really time-poor I will get a fresh wort kit and just bung it on. I still have a few kits that were stockpiled before I started AG and I do still brew them with steeped crystal malt, a kilo of LDM and about 60 - 80 grams of my favourite hop additions - preferentially twenty minutest in to the the boil, at flameout and then at day four as a Dry hop addition. I like the beer a lot over and above the shit that Dan's tries to sell for $4 a stubby...

 

[jackgym]

There's really no excuse for not making a nice beer from kit and kilo.

When I came back to brewing I made sure I couldn't fail. I bought a Coopers fermenter and all the stuff that came with the kit. I bought a new bar fridge (the wife didn't want a crappy old one inside) and made sure the fermenter fitted inside. Ebay supplied me with an STC1000 temp. controller and a mate wired it up. Ales are brewed at 18% and lagers at 12% (I haven't bothered with lagers yet). I substitute the brew enhancer with 1 kg of light dried malt. I don't bother taking a hydrometer reading, just leave the beer in the fermenter for 14 days. That gives it a few days for the yeast to drop out and clear. If I'm not brewing the new Cooper's range, I use the Aust. pale ale as a base and add different hops (steeped in boiling water) according to which recipe, like a 150 Lashes clone or a fruit salad ale. The 11g US-05 yeast is tried and true for ales, not the 7g kit yeast which is flat out turning the brew over. EASY AS.

A tip for mixing the malt.
Pour about 1.5 - 2 kilos of hot water into the fermenter and tip in the malt. Leave the spoon in and swirl the fermenter around and watch the malt dissolve without any lumps.

 

[danestead]

Ales are brewed at 18% and lagers at 12% (I haven't bothered with lagers yet).

Bloody hell, your parties must be a heck of a lot of fun.

 

[Goose]

You differ on the first part only because you haven't met someone that does consistent kits, but there are people that do.

well my prognosis is that those people that do, have a supply of consistent quality kits. guess I don't

There's really no excuse for not making a nice beer from kit and kilo.

I can think of a few actually. but best we don't go there.

 

[Lecterfan]

My uncle in WA makes great kit beer, best kit beer I've tasted, in fact (some of Yob's came close). I drink it happily and in great amounts when I visit him. It still tastes like kit beer, though, lets not kid ourselves on that front. There is no value judgement here, however: for some, the slightest residue of the kit taste is annoying because they want total (or as much) control over their product (as they can get)... the sort of control that only AG gives. Either go AG or enjoy the excellent results that you can have within the parameters of kit beers. Four pages and no war has started. Not fussed if this post starts one. Triangle test me and most decent give-a-shit-about-process brewers who have been at it for 5 years or more and the difference will be detected. Don't kid yourself that it is just water or the stage of the moon or what you had for brekkie.