Best tasting beer kit to make

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wannabrew

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I've brewed two cooper's kits, the canadian blonde and the lager.

They're pretty good but they still taste different then the liquor store beer.

Are there other kits out there that are better or is it in my process (basically following the package instructions)?
 
There was an article on BYO that said that stouts have smiled upon the extract brewer. I have found this to be correct.
 
I've brewed two cooper's kits, the canadian blonde and the lager.

They're pretty good but they still taste different then the liquor store beer.

Are there other kits out there that are better or is it in my process (basically following the package instructions)?

Try some kits from austin homebrew supply. If those don't taste good to you then it's your process. My kits from there have been awesome.
 
Try some kits from austin homebrew supply. If those don't taste good to you then it's your process. My kits from there have been awesome.

I think they taste good. I just wonder if I buy something other than the cheapest kit if anyone thinks it is better. Is there something notably different about the austin kits?
 
+1 on austin kits. I am drinking the double chocolate stout kit I got from there and so far everyone who's tasted it loves it. It is supposed to be close to Young's chocolate stout. From what I remember it is pretty close. Went and got a bottle and going to do a side by side taste this weekend. After tasting it my wife went to their site and started picking out more kits for me to order.
Their kits are reasonably priced and as foolproof as they could be with easy to follow instructions. The only negative comments I've seen on their kits are people that tried to alter the recipes too much.
 
Try some kits from austin homebrew supply. If those don't taste good to you then it's your process. My kits from there have been awesome.

Never tired any of his kit but have always heard good things, and you can get 3 maybe 4 for right around 100usd shipping

austin home brew shop google search will get you to him
 
When I started brewing I used the extract kits from Northern Brewer. I think the ones that I enjoyed the most, and thought to taste the best, were the American Wheat kits.

I think this is due to the fact that Wit is so simple in ingredients; and can play so well with late additions like sweet or bitter orange peel/etc.
 
I've gotten two kits from Austin Homebrew that have both been superb. I highly recommend the Kalamazoo IPA if you like IPAs (it's a Two Hearted clone that was pretty dead on as an extract kit).
 
NB Petite Saison d'Ete was good to me. My last extract batch was NB Caribou Slobber Brown Ale, to which I added a black mission fig puree. It was delicious.
 
Kits from Austin & Northern Brewer are usually going to have fresher/higher quality ingredients than a Coopers kit. My favorite has been Patersbier from NorthernBrewer. So simple yet so good!!!!
 
A couple things to look at with the canned kits, cut down on the amount of dextrose or corn sugar and substitute more or all light dry malt extract instead. You could also consider swapping out their dried yeast for one of the other dried yeast manufacturer's products or even a liquid yeast if you wanted. Another thing to look into is adding small amounts of steeping grain or late flavor and aroma hop additions. Now, this will take the cost of the basic kit up. However, it can be a way to save time with the quick and easy canned kits and up the quality at the same time.
 
Kits from Austin & Northern Brewer are usually going to have fresher/higher quality ingredients than a Coopers kit. My favorite has been Patersbier from NorthernBrewer. So simple yet so good!!!!

I've got the Patersbier kit sitting on my shelf right now (Along with 4 others after that latest NB sale) waiting for a slot in the rotation but we're killing Innkeepers as fast as we're brewing them. Doing a double NB batch this weekend with the Wee Heavy kit (plenty of aging time) and another Innkeeper.
 
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