All Grain Kits

I just discovered that there are quite a few all grain kits available out there from places like Northern brewer and Morebeer. Does anyone have any experience with these??

I bought a couple from Morebeer. I am not to happy with the crush. I am just going to take the plunge and get my own mill.

I have a two-roller crank-n-stein mill, so that's not a problem. Were you happy with the overall selections of grain/hops/yeast for the styles that you bought, i.e., were the recipes ok??

Yes, I thought the recipes were fine. The yeast does not come with the kit.

The minimash kits from Northern Brewer have a nice decent crush. They even crushed my grains together. I'm sure they have good AG kits as well, and they come with the yeast. BTW, the NB kits were put together specially for my order.

Are you talking about Northern Brewer's ingredient kits or their equipment kits? I've only tried one of the ingredient kits and it was pretty good. I've used the standard false bottom and sparge arm deal they have for a couple beers and have been very impressed with the increase in efficiency over my previous homemade setup.

I have been making my own recipes, although there are styles I've never tried. I figured that an AG kit from one of these places might make for a good intro. . .

Kaptain Karma poses a good question. He addresses the issue of equipment kits.
I doubt if I saved any money by making my own some of my own equipment and would probably have been better of buying an equipment kit to begin with.

I've bought several all grain ingredient kits from Midwest Home Brewing in Minnesota and have been quite saisfied. Whether you buy a kit or grains in bulk. they will grind the grains for free or you can grind them yourself. Their kit recommends what yeast to use and gives you a choice of dry, Wyeast or White Labs Yeast all at various prices.

Do these kits seem to be relatively "true to style" for whatever beer you are making?? It seems quality is not a concern from what I'm reading here. Thanks!

Don't forget about Austin's..... they have an INCREDIBLE amount of kits, not sure of the crush.... but they do have a system where people can post commends on the recipes. Thinking about buying from them soon (they have free shipping after $60).

I've never been to Austin's before now. . .looks good. . . bookmarked it for future reference.

I haven't been able to figure out what grains exactly are in the Austin's kits though. . .NB and Morebeer at least let you know what's in it, I've found. I do like Austin's descriptions.

Yeah thats the one thing I need to email them before ordering kits... I'm at the moment doing infusiion so I need to know whats in the kit. They certainly have many more kits then other places though.

I guess Austin's want to keep their recipes "proprietary." Half the fun of a kit IMO is that you can replicate it or expand on it in the future.