Rip off kit

Every once in a while I get lazy and buy a kit brew. Up to this point I have always used Brewers Best kits and I have been pleased with them. The other day I was on the road for business, which took me right by a HBS. I made a quick stop there and picked up a True Brew kit. I thought I'd give it a try. The beer box said it was german light, they also had german dark. When I got to my destination I cut the tape and opened the box, I could not believe what I found in there, 3.3 lbs of light LME, 1 pound of corn sugar, 1 pound of rice solids, 1oz. of cascade pellets, caps, priming sugar and Muntons dry yeast. Sounds like a formula for Bud light. For $39 bucks I was not happy. I stopped by the shop and picked up a few more ingredients needed to make beer out of it.:cross:

Sounds like a wonderful kit if you like Bud Light. Did you look at the ingredient list before you bought it?

Yeesh. $39?

If it's any consolation, I stopped by an LHBS to browse one day on the way back from a roadtrip. Ended up walking out with a bunch of little things, like a stopper, a few clamps, priming sugar, etc. Didn't listen to the total at checkout, just went about my merry way.

Got home and looked at the receipt. Dextrose was $5/lb, and I'd bought 5#. $25 for priming sugar! NB charges $8 for 4#. Midwest charges the same.

I guess you know where not to shop again, as do I.

bds3 said:

Sounds like a wonderful kit if you like Bud Light. Did you look at the ingredient list before you bought it?

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The ingredients were not listed on the box as Brewers Best does. Of course the box was very nice with pictures of grain all over it. A general list of ingredients was on there that might go into making any beer, and some claim as to how each kit was well suited for the style of beer that it made. This one was German Style Light, Should have had emphasis on the LIGHT!

After my first disaster with a kit like that I went to all grain and have never looked back. Of course the kit was a Mr Beer, but geez for the price I paid it should have been 90 proof bourbon. Now I use the beer software and make my own grain bill and buy whatever specialty I need to go with my base grain frim my stock. I bought a high dollar seal a ,eal macjine and always buy and extra pound or two of specialty grains and seal them up an place them in my cooler box. I have managed to get a good selection of specialtied, hops and even some smack packs just in case I ever "need" something at the last minute. I'm kind of anal about spare parts, I always buy a little extra of whatever I am doing from force of habit in the electronics experimet lab. It has carried over to brewing nicely and saved my brew day a couple of time when I substituted hops or needed an extra pound of 2 row to hit my OG as predicted. Definately a great idea if you can afford the extra little bit everytime you place an order. I generally use Midwest and Austin too, because their stuff has always been fresh and was well ground before I got a grain mill built.
Wheelchair Bob

Think of that expense as tuition for the school of hard knocks. If you learned from it the money wasn't totally wasted. If you continue to return and buy that same kit again and again, then you are a slow learner.

Poke around on Ritebrew.com I usually order 2-3 kits from them at a time and shipping for the 2-3 kits is around $12. I LOVE the belgian white and oatmeal stouts using dry yeast.

Isn't a German anything simply barley, hops, water, and yeast per the Reinheitsgebot?

Not a German beer brewer, so I won't claim expertise. Just thinking...

Yikes. That sounds like the kits they sold back in the '80s. And rice solids? What the heck is that--a pound of Minute Rice?

Thanks for the heads-up...I'll steer clear of the True Brew stuff.

Try Midwest or Northern. Good ingredients and reasonable prices. And they state what's inside the box.

My first kit after my recent return to homebrewing was a True Brew Oktoberfest kit. The worst thing about it was that the directions ran contrary to everything I knew previously and what I'd read here. So I brewed it my way and it turned out OK. Not great, but OK. The first and last True brew kit for me, and the LHBS stopped carrying the entire line after they sold what they had in stock.

Like my lhbs with Cooper's stuff. I liked being able to run over there for the basics. But they said they had a falling out with the distributor,& now carry Munton's cans instead. But they always did carry the Munton's DME's,which I nearly always use. Good selection of hops & yeasts.
So now I have to order the Cooper's cans if & when I need them. My latest from a member uses the Cooper's Heritage Lager can,their most expensive one @ $25. But it should be god the way I've brewed it.
They're better in recipes than by themselves,in my experiences thus far.

For about that price the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits include jug, thermometer, tubing, racking cane, hops (the IPA had 6 different varieties to be added at different times of the boil) a bag of mixed grains, dry yeast, and instructions. Not only were they quality ingredients (that made a lovely beer btw) but it was an all-grain kit! The difference between this and true brew is staggering.