Williams Kits

jonctd · 04-04-2007, 08:21 PM

Hi,
I was given a bunch of home brewing stuff from a friend who doesn't HB anymore(I do have to keep him in beer once I get my fist batch done)
I have a question about Williams beer kits.
Are they worth it?
If not where can I get a simple beginners kit to get my first batch done?
I have the following
Bottle tree
Wort chiller
SS pot, hydrometer, thermometer, fermenting bucket ,caps,bottles,etc.

Thanks for the replies.
Great site!!

**TheJadedDog** · 04-04-2007, 08:33 PM

I find the Williams kits to be a little on the pricey side. Check Northern Brewer or Austin Homebrew Supply, they have great kits for beginners.

c.n.budz · 04-04-2007, 08:43 PM

This is where I get my kits from, the store is Maltose Express. The owners wrote Clone Brews and Beer Captured. Their prices are pretty good, and the ingredients/yeast are always very fresh

http://www.maltose.com/Beer/beer_clonekits.htm

**johnsma22** · 04-04-2007, 08:47 PM

The quality of the William's kits are very good, albeit pricey, but my complaint about them is that they do not label the hop additions with the name of the type of hops in the kit. The sealed bags of pellet hops are labeled A, B, etc.. as it pertains to the recipe.

So if you like the recipe it may be difficult to duplicate, unless you call Williams and see if they will tell you the 'secret'. The person I talked to when I asked just simply stated that they didn't know. I was then told I would receive a call, I never did, but I didn't pursue it.

Alembic · 04-04-2007, 09:59 PM

I agree that Williams is a little pricey but the quality of the product is good.

I also have the same complaint that you don't know specifically what kind of extract / hops you are using. I called and talked to Bill Moore himself (the owner of the company) to ask what type hops they were in the kit I had. He was very polite and courteous but declined to reveal that info due to proprietary reasons.

So as a beginner, I like the kits because you get very good results but when you want to start deconstructing recipes to find out how they tick and and tweak them to your personal tastes then HomeBrew shops like Northern Brewer are much better.

good luck!

c.n.budz · 04-04-2007, 10:55 PM

One of the things I like about the Maltose Express kits is they tell you exactly what everything is, so if you want to brew it again you don't have to buy the boxed kit so the batches get cheaper if you buy stuff in bulk.