Anyone brew a great beer with extract kits?

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ozzy4355

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Know most of you on here are all grain but I'm just getting started with homebrewing and has been using extract kits from northern brewer. Unfortunately my first two beers were sub par, partially due to carbonic bite. Have any of you brewed a great beer with an extract kit, something that if you tried it in a store you would be glad to purchase it?
 
I've always had good results with extract kits. I've done a couple from NorthernBrewer, but most of the ones I did were from austinhomebrew.com.

I'm not sure why yours aren't that good- carbonic acid shouldn't be an issue at all as a beer should be carbonated. What seems to be wrong with it?
 
I've brewed five or six kits from Northern Brewer and they have all turned out excellent. I liked my beer better than what I could get in the store (Though I am a littled biased).

You'll have to give us more information about what the off taste is like and your process if you want help solving the problem.
 
I'm guessing by carbonic bite you meant the beers were over carbed, not carbonic acid? I've had good luck with extract kits I've done thru Midwest supplies. I have found however that the standard 5 oz bag of corn sugar that comes with most 5 gallon kits isn't always appropriate for every style. It could be if you are just using the full amount include with the kits, the beers are coming out more carbed then you prefer. Look online for calculators to tweak the amount I corn sugar you want to reach a certain carb volume. That may solve your problem.
 
Know most of you on here are all grain but I'm just getting started with homebrewing and has been using extract kits from northern brewer. Unfortunately my first two beers were sub par, partially due to carbonic bite. Have any of you brewed a great beer with an extract kit, something that if you tried it in a store you would be glad to purchase it?

Definitely. I have brewed over 30 extract batches and all but two turned out damn good. One of the bad batches was due to poor fermentation temps, the other I attribute to a bad recipe. Don't give up hope. You can make great beer with extract.
 
my first kit was a hefe from NB and it turned out AMAZING. easily beats out many craft brewers hefe's hands down. I'm hoping my 2nd batch of hefe turns out as good
 
My opinion is that extract rarely results in lower quality beer. It only limits the variety of beer you can make since some ingredients just can't be used correctly without mashing.

With that said, you can make great beer with extract. When I was making extract batches, some of my favorite batches were kits from Austin Homebrew. I was particularly impressed with their Cascadian Dark Ale.

If your beers have been sub par, my wild guess would be fermentation temperature. A rough guideline is that you need to ferment the beer under 68 degrees. Keep in mind if the temperature in the room is 68 degrees, the fermenting beer could be well above 70 degrees!
 
My opinion is that extract rarely results in lower quality beer. It only limits the variety of beer you can make since some ingredients just can't be used correctly without mashing.

I agree. If you have good technique...sanitize well, pitch the proper amount of healty yeast, and control fermentation temps, extract can make great beer.

As KISSbrew points out you are limited in the ingredients you can use so you are somewhat limited in the brews you can make.

But if you are doing extract with steeping grains a simple switch to partial mash will open up a lot more brews that you can make.
 
Extract brewing is pretty straightforward, but it also gives you the opportunity to hone your techniques, like Beergolf said. If you're getting overcarbonated beer, it could be that you bottled it too early (still a lot of active yeast and unfermented sugars) or used too much sugar to prime it. Patience is the hardest lesson to learn when brewing because, well, BEER! But you have to wait if you want something solid.

The extract kits I've used are from Brewer's Best and www.ebrew.com (my LHBS)
 
I recently made my first extract kit. It was the Irish Red from Northern Brewer. I could not have been more pleased with the results. I was shocked how good it was. Of course, I am bias, but everyone I shared it with also loved it. After I've tried some other stuff, the Irish Red will be near the top of my "to brew again" list.
Sweet Stout bottled 12 days ago, haven't tried one yet. Caribou slobber nearing it's 3 week in primary, will bottle then. I hope they are great too.
 
Give us some more details and perhaps we can help with that bite.

I've been brewing with extract for the last 3 years, only one bad batch and that was a recipe malfunction (kit came with, I kid you not, 10oz of spices for a 5 gallon pumpkin beer - it smelt like a scented candle when we were done).

The kits have been Brewer's Best, the local homebrew shop (Brew Hut), and pieced together following Jamil's book.
 
Well of course... for about 10 years until when recently I moved to all grain.... BUT I alway steeped 3 pounds of "something" (usually crystal, roasted barley, oatmeal) for my 5.5 gallon batches... Most of the good extract brews I have had had some steeped grain...But I know people who don't and just play with the different Malt Extracts and they have it down to a science and brew tasty stuff... BUT they make sure when using LME that it is fresh...
 
I've done around a dozen extract recipes now, and they've all turned out good. With and without specialty grains. I grow each time in the hobby, and on the past two I've started doing late additions. I want to move on though to at least partial mash if not BIAB or all out AG.
 
I've done a number of extract kits (almost all through Midwest), and generally have had pretty solid results. Some beers were good, a couple were great. Only one kit didn't turn out well (I think that had more to do with poor fermentation temperature control than anything else, so I won't put that on the kit).

Two things I keep in mind when going with an extract kit:

1) make sure it has at least some steeping grains. Even 8 oz of something can make a difference.

2) fresh yeast is key. One advantage of ordering a kit through an online supplier is that you can specify fresh(er) yeast. Kits sold in LHBS might be fresh, might be somewhat more "shelf-bound." If you buy a kit from a LHBS, try to figure out dates (if that is at all possible, which sometimes it isn't).
 
Just finished my last bottle of Brewer's Best Australian IPA, a GREAT extract/mini-mash kit for under $40. It has 2 lbs of steeping grains as well as a total of 4 oz hops, infused an ounce at a time throughout the boil. Also, the usual DME and LME :)

Beer tasted fantastic, good head retention, and overall a treat to savor. Try it if you can still find it... it's a limited seasonal if I recall.
 
Everything I've brewed so far has been Extract from Northern Brewer...Bourbon Porter, Sinistral Warrior IPA, Black IPA, Nut Brown Ale, and RyePA. All turned out stellar, but I also never followed the instructions completely...I add something or fiddle with it somehow. as for a the carbing issue, I'm not sure what you mean...I just add a 5oz bag of corn sugar with 16oz of waater and boil. seems to work every time!

oops, I also did a Rogue Dead Guy batch that we bought a LHBS in Sioux Falls, it was the one that Rogue puts their name on...I think it's Craft Brew USA or something like that. That one might be one of my favorites, we tried it as a blind side by side and everyone picked our batch over the pros!
 
The key to making good extract beer is making sure its fresh extract; it's imperative if using LME. Buying from Northernbrewer, Midwest Supply, Austin Homebrew and the like can pretty much assure you that the extract is fresh because of the quantity they sell, on the otherhand you may find your LHBS has extract kits that have sat around their hot store room for a long long time, I'd avoid those.
 
I've done only extract kits for my first 6 batches. All of the beers were pretty drinkable but I also made some modifications. Friends loved them and they tasted great!
 
Just brewed (yesterday) my 12th extract brew, a NB American Wheat. Experimented with late addition, if it turns out well I'll doing that more (easier to control boil).
I've used Austin Home Brew Supply, MoreBeer, NB, and HomeBrew Heaven kits. Like others have mentioned, I think temperature control is a big factor for good results, In my area of Oregon we can get temperature swings of up to 50 degrees. This week we are averaging 40 degrees from day to night. The only room in my house that is now temperature controlled is my brew room ;)
 
As others have discussed,it sounds like instead of blaming the extract just because its extract , that it was from overcarbing them. I hate when i do that myself. Could be a harshness from drinking them too early in the process sometimes too,unless you know its just too fizzy. I have a lot of good extract and partial mashes that have held up to long-term conditoning as well as being great and sometimes better than many of my all grain beers.
 
For what it's worth, my first beer was the Yorkshire square brown ale kit from Austin Homebrew. It is objectively a very good brown ale.
 
Give it a couple more weeks, pop another one and give us an update please. Time heals many wounds. My LHBS carries Brewer's Best kits and they have all turned out great since I started using Star San and paying much closer attention to sanitization.
 
It's been 5 weeks since bottling and the beers still have a little bite to the , to get rid of it I will pop the cap about ten minutes before drinking and then pouring them vigorously into one of my large beer glasses. The beer is good but Its not great. I did some experimenting and added a sample of a milk stout I have in primary to half a glass of the bottled brew and it was pretty tasty
 
ozzy

Have you thought about this being a water problem? If your water is very high in alkalinity/carbonates it can affect the taste of your brew, from what I understand. It's even more important when mashing for AG, but it can also affect your extract brews.

My extract brews have all had a kind of bite to them, or an astringency and after taste. I've decided that it's probably my water which has total alkalinity off the charts at 342. Once I clued in on the water aspect of brewing I realized that this is a problem. So I got a reverse osmosis filtering system and am using the water chemistry primer sticky post guidance.

I brewed a couple of extract kits with the RO water and I'm anxious to see how they turn out in a few weeks. And I've just started brewing AG and I'm looking forward to much better results.

I really wish I'd realized earlier just how much water could affect my beer. That's so often thought of as an advanced topic but for those with extreme water, like me, it's essential, IMO.
 
My First Kit was an American Amber from Brewer's Best and it was, still is awesome. I've had several people try it and they all loved it too. Since then I've moved on to some recipes from the book Clone Brews but I'm really considering making a Kolsch from Midwest on my next batch and don't really have any concerns that it won't turn out great.
 
Like many, started with extract and made some nice beers - until I made the All Grain version of one of the extract kits I had done. Difference was night and day - even my taste-testing kids noticed it.. Could be the kit, could be I have developed as a brewer, not sure. SWMBO is glad she has the kitchen back, though, and I miss the whole house smelling like hops.
 
Can good beer be made with extract kits? Definate yes, the individual who won the long shot contest at the great american beer festival made his Dunkle.....from an extract recipe....it can be done. When it comes to extract though I have found that the fresher (if that's a valid term) the extract the better the beer does turn out....
 
I only brew with kits and I have found then ALL to be great. I use Coopers, muntons, brewferm as they are available here in Ireland. One key I find is to try to use all malt rather than just dextrose for most kits. My favourites are Coopers European lager when aged for at least 2 months in bottles after a long time in primary and muntons St Peters red ale.
 
I've brewed from extract and its turned out great. I haven't used an actual 'kit' though. I started by showing up at my LHBS and asking them what to get and they put together all the various ingredients and instructions on what to do. Was this more expensive than an on-line kit? Most likely. But the great part about going the brick-and-mortar route is that the store owner is a brewer with a vested interest in my beer turning out well. Every time I go in, my LHBS guys even remind me that if I have any questions, to call them so they can help troubleshoot. Capitalism at its finest..

So, if you have the option in your area, I encourage you to support your LHBS. The owner will most likely be happy to give you advice so your beer turns out well, so you come back and buy more stuff. Call me old fashioned, but I really like the brick-and-mortar experience and the ability to talk with the live humans instead of ordering in-line. Forums like this are great, but a face-to-face conversation with an experienced brewer can make a world of difference.
 
I've not had awesome beers with all extract except on a few occasions. I think at least, some steeping grains or partial mash is a bid step up. For me, all grain is a money saver and though it takes much more time and patience, it's worth it for me.
 
Been a while but the dry Irish stout kit from NB was one of my best dark beers. Are using RO water when doing the kits? That will likely solve your problem, along with fermentation temp control and appropriate pitch rates.
 

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