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TheMoose

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So i was just wondering, are can beer kits bad? My LHBS sells a reasonably priced starter kit with reasonable accessories, but comes with a can kit. Should I go down there and try to get the kit without the can? Or just throw the can away? Or is the can worth brewing?
 
dont buy a kit, i just bought mr. beers kit and im not buying some glass carboys before i even finished.
 
Muntzster said:
dont buy a kit, i just bought mr. beers kit and im not buying some glass carboys before i even finished.
WTF? :confused::drunk::D

Kits that provide liquid malt extract, or dried malt extract and boiling hopps are the better kits. But making your own beer from any kit will be good and get you started in a great hobbie.

Cheers!
Justin
 
I personally like dried malt extract over liquid. You can just dump 3# worth of DME into boiling water and it sits in top while you mix it in. The liquid tends to sink to the bottom of the water in a big old clump and will burn if not immediately stirred. The liquid is also harder to work with cause its got the consistancy of silly putty.

As far as kits... they make excellent beer usually!! You're probably looking at ~6-7lbs malt extract, hop pellets, possibly specialty grains that are boiled in a grain bag, and dry yeast packets. Its like making mac n cheese. Boil the water, dump the stuff in, and make sure it doesnt boil over. At the end, cool it down and put in your activated yeast. If you can boil water, look at a clock, and read simple instructions... you can make excellent beer.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
There's nothing wrong with the kits for a beginner.:D

Be forewarned though, in time you will probably want to expand your knowledge and usage of DME or maybe even go all grain.

Thats what i meant to say idk why i said what i said earlier.
 
Well I certainly dont see anything wrong with a kit. But that being said.... I can't actually say that I have ever used one. I have always used LME or DME with grain and chose my own hops. Started with one of the first recipes in The complete joy of homebrewing and just never saw a reason to use a kit.

Here's what I would do..... what is in this kit? Is it hopped? What kind of beer are you thiking of making? Give us these answers and we'll steer you in the right direction of some grain to steep and make sure your using a good yeast. Those are the two greatest and simpliest things you can do that will dramaticly effect in a positive way how your beer taste.

Any good book you get will have a LOT of recipes. A book like Homebrewing for dummies or The complete joy of homebrewing will give you soo many recipes good for a beginner you won't know what to do with all of them:)
 
the_bird said:
Yeah, we've had an infestation lately.

Sounds like he wants to use the right ingrediants.... right process... right equipment (excuse me for the use of the word right.... I dont mean that there is necessarrily a "wrong" way).... sounds like he does not want to be spoon feed but be steered in the direction to make beer. I can't see anything wrong with putting him on the path.

Let me put it in another way... you go to Borders and want to get a book on Hydroponics. Will you find one. Maybe. And this is a real strong maybe... chances are.. no. You wont. Well they have them... your just in the wrong section. See you need to go to the right section to find a book on hydroponics and realize where the right section is too and the drones wont be too much help unless they hit it rigth in the computer. See you need to go to the Marijuana section of Borders. Yes there is a Marijuana section in Borders. A rather large one at that.... you will find everything you will ever dream of on Hydropnics right there.... perhaps a dozen... two dozen books on the subject. You go to a Hydroponics store and of course nobody who buys from a Hydroponics store grows Marijuana right? Yeah right...half the people buying there are growing Marijuana and half of that half are probably high right there while they are buying it too.

Not too different from our hobby here really... how many stores sell distillation equipment? Doesn't matter what age you are in this area... it's illegal to distill(still can't figure that out though) here in the U.S.

Any Homebrew store owners here? So you get a kid who comes in the store. He's not hiding anything... "I'm 12." He plops two cans of malt, hops, yeast, perhaps a variety of other things, and a beginners equipment package on your counter top. What exactly are you going to do? He is not buying one thing thats illegal at any age to buy. Now this kid might go home and combine it all in a way to produce alcohol, but thats not really any of your business is it? For all you know, he could be buying it for a dad......

I don't know... I'm just rambling I guess. Thoughts?
 
You know, I don't know about it. Honestly, some of the kids don't both me too much, other do, but what it comes down to me is not doing anything that might expose any of the people who run the site to any liability, or endanger the site getting shut down because some overzealous Attorney General decides to wage a campaign against underage brewing. I don't know, but it seems like there ought to be some kind of policy; either it's all good, or no kids allowed.
 
Any comments here are protected under the first amendment. This is an open forum for anyone with internet access. The process is fairly easy to understand and complicated to master. That being said, the information is out there. If you have a moral problem with providing information to minors, that is your prorogative. But I do not belive that the opporators of this site could be held responcible for getting minors drunk.
 
LME is good stuff.

Take yer pot (that stainless steel thing...not the stuff you toke!) off the flame for 5 minutes then pour and stir with mom's spatula (one hand pouring/one stirring) for 10min and you'll be fine.
 
It depends on what country you're in though. I'm 20 but I live in Australia where the legal drinking age is 18 so i'm overage. But if I lived in the USA I would be underage since the legal drinking age is 21.
So there may be a lot of young brewers here but not all of them should be considered underage.
 
Mishkin said:
It depends on what country you're in though. I'm 20 but I live in Australia where the legal drinking age is 18 so i'm overage. But if I lived in the USA I would be underage since the legal drinking age is 21.
So there may be a lot of young brewers here but not all of them should be considered underage.

Thats a good point, however, remember the stuff you or anyone else buys is not beer. A far cry from it. Leagally purchasable at any age.
 

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