How fast did you abandon kits from the brew stores?

When I first started brewing, I definitely followed and used kits. While OK, I found them too......formula. Not very adventurous.

So, with my background as a chef, I worked to learn quickly what did what to produce what end result. Since then I love looking at other's recipes, especially if it is a new style of beer, but I'm constantly reading into it to see what I would like to make a beer more to my liking. But more then likely I am just writing it out myself.

So, after about 3 or 4 kits, I went solo.

Sez you?

bruscar said:

after about 3 or 4 kits, I went solo.

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Ironically, I'm the exact opposite.

I began with a kit and hated the results, so I began going with my own recipes and buying individual ingredients to make ones I see here...

It got so expensive with such little benefit that I've been brewing kits again for the last few sessions.

Mainly, I'm brewing kits because I can expect, in some way shape and form, the end result. With that in mind. I'm using the kits to pinpoint what I like in terms of style and in terms of specific ingredients.

I used the kit that came with the equipment that SWMBO got me, ordered one extract kit from Williams Brewing, and have been researching recipes ever since.

My first beer was a kit, after that AG and no kits since.

I brewed one kit, and that was because it was free.

One of my better brews too, I must say.

However, it's just too boring to me if I can't spend the week before hand researching and pinpointing my recipe.

This upcoming Saturday will be only the second time I'm brewing something that I didn't create.

People start with kits? j/k

Though I'm a total noob, from my reading I kinda figured I'd just start with a few clone recipes from beers that I like. That way, I can modify a given recipe slightly, and gain an appreciation for how those modifications change the end product. Just like learning to cook, starting with a proven recipe is the way to go, but boxed mac-n-cheese isn't going to help you learn much beyond how to boil noodles.

I started with Mr. Beer - did that for about a year - after that I started with five gallon batches but I always just followed recipies and bought the ingredients at the LHBS

My LHBS doesn't sell kits and since I live in Hawaii buying the kits online are cost prohibitive

I started AG with my own recipe. But the more fermenters I get, the harder it is to keep them full. So I've got a couple kits to brew in between AG sessions now, since the time it takes is less than half.

I did only a few kits (maybe 3 or 4) before i came up with my Blood Ale. After that, I pretty much made my own recipes. I still brew clones and some kits but I usually end up changing the recipe a bit.

I did one batch of the Mr. Beer thing.

Then, when I really got into brewing I just used recipes off the net and tweaked them a bit myself. It just seemed more interesting to me that way and like I had more control over the product.

Kits? People actually use those things?

I started off with a custom recipe on my first batch and never looked back. The closest to a "kit" that I've done is following a BYO Clone recipe. Mostly, I make my own recipes in ProMash. That's gotten me into trouble once or twice (way too much roasted grains), but it's worth it (you learn from your mistakes)...making my own recipes is one of the most fulfilling parts of brewing. Kits to me seem so...hamburger-helper (no offense)

I used 3 or 4 boxed kits before I just got up and went AG. Never bothered formulating extract recipes on my own.

Assuming you are talking can kits, I've done one. But, after 7 years and over 100 batches, I still order clone kits from various suppliers. I also do my own AG recipes, PM, etc. Clone kits are a great way to sample craft beers you can't get locally.

Ive been at it for 6 months and I still use the canned kits. They are very quick and simple to use. I think the reason I havent moved on yet is because I like the finished product I have enjoyed every batch of beer I made except one - and the stout that i didnt like so much my friends loved it.

Think in the new year im going to make a few extract recipies - just to try it out for somthng different.

prehopped can kits - brew 2

I still grab an AHS kit here and there when I don't feel like tooling up a recipe or want a clone like david_42...same ingredients I would use in my recipe so the whole box cake/hamburger helper analogy doesn't really fit.

Not a single kit yet, when I bought my kit I asked Anita at Great Fermentations if they had a sweet stout kit, she said no and pulled a recipe for me and supplied the ingredients, my last batch was my first "all me" recipe.

www.greatfermentations.com

Never touched a kit. Brewed 3 extract batches, then went A.G. Haven't looked back yet.

I do both kits and other recipes. Of course I work part time at my LHBS so I need to be able to talk about the products. I plan to still do kits even when I start doing all grain next year. I'll probably do a kit or extract based recipe and a all-grain each brew session.

I've never brewed from a kit but have brewed plenty of clone recipes from various sources. Majority of the time though, I brew my own AG recipes formulated in Promash or Beersmith.

My first 3 batches were Muntons kits. The first was totally by the directions with 1KG of dextrose and only 1 week and then into the bottles. The next 2 were with DME instead of dextrose and they were actually pretty good. I went to PM after that and was AG brewing within 4 months. I've never ordered a clone kit or anything like that, all my own recipes or ones I've found on here. I've done a couple of the BYO clone recipes too.

First 6 batches were extract kits from a few different online suppliers.AG ever since(45 batches).
Cheers

mummasan said:

I started with Mr. Beer - did that for about a year - after that I started with five gallon batches but I always just followed recipies and bought the ingredients at the LHBS

My LHBS doesn't sell kits and since I live in Hawaii buying the kits online are cost prohibitive

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I just came from Hawaii and feel your pain. Are you on Oahu? Just heard something recently that Hawaiian Style Homebrew might be going out of business, which is really going to make life rough for homebrewers out there.

And to answer the origninal question: I've never used a kit. I've used various recipes from different sources, and a couple of my own. But, there are some kit beers that do interest me, and I might give one a shot someday.

I guess it depends what you call a kit.

To me, anything that I can buy as a complete recipe is a kit. It doesn't matter if you're doing pre-hopped, canned extract kits or getting a kit that includes all of your hops and milled grain.

I make my own recipies and buy AG kits from AHS with milled grain.

I have made three kits I think. The time savings is nice compared to AG or PM


Yesterday I whipped up EdWorts Haus Pale (PM) in right about three hours total after a long weekend full of other things. I doubt I'll do another kit anytime soon since the Haus Pale was so quick and easy; but someday I might. For a little while I am going to make Haus Pale over and over with different hop varieties.

2 or 3 kits then i went all grain, did one single infusion mash and then started doing decoction mashes. my single infusion mash beers always come out decent but my decoction mash beers always come out awesome!!!

not a huge fan of the kit they are expensive, you can purchase all grain ingredints for a 5 gallon batch for around 25-27 dollars and the same kit will run you 30+

I switched on my second batch. The first batch was fine, but it wasn't as much fun as I wanted it to be. I like to cook and design my own recipes, so that's what I wanted to do with beer. Nearly fifteen years later, and I haven't opened a can since the first batch.


TL

I did 2 kits and went to PM recipes since then. It is as much fun researching recipes and formulating them as it is brewing.

Never brewed a kit.

My first brew was an All Grain Clone S/N Pale Ale recipe from BYO magazine. The second was a Clone New Castle Brown Ale recipe also from BYO. After that I started to formulate my own recipes.

I never did it myself....thanks to eGullet. My first batch was all extract, then the second one was extract with specialty grains, and now I'm in on the all grain. (Or off the deep end on the AG, yet to be decided). Four weeks into homebrewing and I've already built a MLT from an old cooler...I think I see the beginnings of a problem...

My first batch was AG. I like doing clone recipes from time to time, but about half of them are clones I've attempted to formulate, with varying degrees of success.

-D

Two or three, IIRC. After that, I formulated my own. However, it took me nearly eight years to go AG.

When I bought my equipment kit my LHBS recomended doing a pre-hopped extract beer first and then a kit with steeping grains second. So, two kits.

I did a kit when I first started, and someone bought me a kit later. After the first kit I started using the recipes in Palmer's How To Brew, before I started foumulating my own.

2 kits, 1 partial mash, then after feeling like i was still cheating i took the AG plunge and never looked back.

I did a kit from the LHBS and a couple from Midwest or Northern. Then all on my own since then.

First recipe was pulled from the recipe "trapper keeper" at the homebrew store McKBrew mentioned. Had LME by the barrel and gave it to you in a plastic bag so it made it seem less like a kit I guess =) Shame to hear it may be goin out.

My first was a kit from Midwest that I got along with my equipment. After that I mentored SWMBO through a porter kit she picked out from AHS. All the other batches have been either recipes I found elsewhere or standard recipes I've tweaked by swapping specialty grains.

I did one kit..hated the results..then went to formulating recipes and doing extract batches. Results were better but not good enough. After about 8 extract batches, I went all grain and will never go back!

I did one kit, Muntons Gold, and it didn't come out like I expected at all. I didn't like not having control over my brews and went into extract and making my own recipes after that . Then on to partial mash where I presently am. After 20 brews or so, I am now awaiting my new MLT and SS brew pot to start AG. (Took me a while to convinve SHMBO that we have room in our apt.)

I've done two kits but not tasted the results yet - both were from my the LHBS and got me started in the hobby. I have two AHS Gold Seal kits that I will use up over the next couple of weeks, but then I expect to start planning ahead a bit and using recipes from here, how to brew, etc. and getting the ingredients together. In fact my LHBS positively encourages leaving the kits after a few batches to explore the whole world of options.

I've found the kits (extract + hops) easy to get into things, and hopefully rhe AHS kits will have some speciality grain input to get me the next step along the path. When I first got into this (fully two weeks ago), I figured I would never go AG as it just looked too complicated. Now I'm not so sure and when I see Bobby_M and friends kicking it old school this weekend I might end up completely hooked on the AG route. My major problem is going to be justifying a new huge brew kettle after using the initial 23 qt one 4 times

One point about kits - which someone mentioned early in the thread, is that the prices for kits that I have seen, notably from AHS, seem very competitive to the kind of prices I'd pay for individual ingredients - is this more a feature of being Extract rather than AG? (I see the AG option on the kits is a price reduction). Would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.