John Bull Beer Kit

My little brother sent my a Jon Bull IPA Beer kit today. I have never brewed a beer kit before. Reading the instructions it seems that it is very simple. I am more worried if it will be worth the time and energy. Opinions anyone?

Never brewed from a kit; everyone I ever talked to said it wasn't the way to brew (maybe it's a machismo thing). I guess it couldn't hurt, but maybe there some things you could add (specialty grains, etc) if the kit is really basic. Consult your local HBS. (If you do decide to go ahead with it, please post your results as I think I smell some kits under the tree for me this year).

Yes it will be worth it, You can make good beer from extract kits, better than served in a lot of pubs.
Forget all the rubbish in the books that say you must boil kit extract. If it's a good kit and it says no boil then don't boil it. You'll drive if all the hop aroma.
It takes about half hour to brew some kits so it's well worth the effort. If your water from the tap is not so clever I'd use bottled water or boil it and let it cool. John Bull make good kits. I'm drinking a porter at present and it's definatley much better than the standard brewery slop servered around here.

Only real complaint with John Bull kits is they make 2-1/2 to 3 gallons instead of 5. Sometimes simple fits the bill with a short or no boil kit. Really, anything you brew should turn out better than the standard grocery store beers.

Genghis77 said:

Only real complaint with John Bull kits is they make 2-1/2 to 3 gallons instead of 5. Sometimes simple fits the bill with a short or no boil kit. Really, anything you brew should turn out better than the standard grocery store beers.

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The ones we get here make 5 uk gallons (6 us gallons)

The .9kg one require .9kg of LME or DME.
Some of the kits are supplied complete bar the water.
It may be worth buying a fresh sachet of dried yeast or at least have a spare ready if you need to repitch.

Thanks for the input guys. I think that I will go ahead and make it. I also just noticed that it has expired. It says to use before March of 2005.

I agree with Orfy, I've made several Brewers Best kits and most of them have come out pretty dang tasty. Probably the worst thing about them is the dry yeast instead of liquid. As long as they have actual hops or hops pellets instead of having them mixed in the DME you should be in good shape.

billybrew said:

I agree with Orfy, I've made several Brewers Best kits and most of them have come out pretty dang tasty. Probably the worst thing about them is the dry yeast instead of liquid. As long as they have actual hops or hops pellets instead of having them mixed in the DME you should be in good shape.

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Depending if it's a "Masterclass" or not it'll be a brewers wort reduce with whole hops all ready used so it's "ready to go" if it's a cheaper kits, it'll probably use hop extract. But either way, they are all ready added.

As for out of date, the older the extract the darker it gets but that's not a problem and the hop aroma may be lost, but It's still gonna be good.

If you like a hopy drink, you could allways add a little yourself.

Brew it, expired or not...you will be pleasantly suprized!

Fortunately, expiration dates on beer extract are unlike milk. If stored properly it can go for years past that time. I think it would be worthwhile to add whole or pellet hops to enhance the brew.

Reading the can it says "100% Malt Extract; Iso-Hop Extract." Hmm....Iso-Hop I have never made a beer that I did not have to boil. This is very strange for me. I am going to make it after I brew my Heffy next week. Looks like it makes 40 pints or 5 gal. I think that I may just add some Cascade for the finishing hops to bring it up a little.

Have you brewed it yet?...I have mixed opinions about John Bull Kits, is it in the large can with the purple lable, if so I have tried that and it was great, however I also made up a porter from the same range an it was aweful. To make matters worse I also made up their Executive Bitter and it got an infection and I had to open 40 bottles and pour them down the sink.(Not John Bulls fault to be fair)

I used to enjoy a beer made from a 1.8 kg JB Kit best bitter kit made up with 500g drymalt extract and 500g brewers sugar. It took about a month to reach its best and although it wouldn't win any awards it made a refreshing bottled beer that was good to drink chilled on a hot day, infact having just remembered that, i'm going to buy that kit tomorrow so i've got something to fill up the empty bottles after the holiday season.

I make 3 john bull 5 gallon kits quite often, jb brown ale, country cider & stout and they are very tasty although my favourite beer kit is also one of the cheapest at mt local hbs "Brewmaker Bitter" it costs 15 pence a pint and the flavour & deep brown colour is fantastic. Needless to say I've been busy brewing lots for the "winter solstice" period coming up.

Have a nice time everyone!