Kits vs. recipe

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cclloyd

cclloyd

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Looking for a weigh-in here - at what point did you go from kits to recipes - or have you at all?

I did a kit for my first batch (a Coopers Wheat kit) and once I was hooked (at about the 10 second mark) I have been using some web resources to formulate recipes based on what style I want to brew. I have my 8th batch in primary and have yet to repeat a recipe - or style for that matter. I love formulating recipes (I use the calculator at tastybrew.com) and trying to match my end result to what it "should" be. I am partaking of a "Happy Ass Hefeweizen" right now mulling over what to brew next. I just bottled a Dunkelweizen and will be freeing up my primary tomorrow - moving an IPA to secondary.

Part of this may due to the fact that my LBSH is less than a mile from my office and they carry bulk LME in addition to kits and canned LMEs. Kinda opens things up when you can get specific weights of the different LMEs as needed.
 
My first real batch was a recipe (other two were brews(u)cks) and all three of the brews in the queue today are AHB PM/AG kits. I do my own recipes for very specific purposes. Something like the Bent Rod Rye, which doesn't represent any style, but worked out exactly how I wanted it: a small, hoppy ale for hot weather. Quality PM kits are fun and make for great variety.
 
ive never done a kit, i always started with recipe but thats how my brother-in-law did and I learned from watching him
 
My first brew was a kit, and I only did half of it, so my second brew was the other half of the kit. Other than that only one othre brew has been a kit and that was a gift. My first recipes were from John Palmer's book.
 
Hit the ground running with recipes.Hell, only did 3 extract before I went AG, and took about 4 batches to get the system bug's worked out. Strange to look back after a few years and remember the new paranoia's.
 
Never used a kit either went right to recipes after 7 batches went to all grain
 
The first beer I made was a Munton's porter kit. I did't like it at all, but everyone told me it was awesome (Again, that whole argument about how people won't tell you the truth, they just say it was good and then won't drink anymore). From that first one I moved onto recipes using PM brewing style. My next beer is loosely based off a recipe I seen on-line. I tweaked it to fit my current brewing process and what I wanted out of it (Color, Hops, etc). I don't think I'll ever go back to a kit, but they are conveniently put together. If you do go with a kit, my advice would be to spend the $ and buy fresher yeast!
 
I never used a kit, just went straight to recipes. Took 2 batches of extract with steeped grains before I switched to partial mash. My 5th batch was the first beer I wrote my own recipes of, and I look forward to more of my own recipes in the future. :)
 
First was an all-grain kit. Vienna Lager. Delicious. I have since experimented with canned kits. Not bad, not great.

Formulating your own recipes is the best though. Mainly because it's *mine* :rockin:
 
First brew was a kit. Second brew was a kit but I added peaches to make it interesting. Everything since has been recipes.
 
I've mixed it all up- some kits, some recipes I found online, some original recipes. It depends on what I'm looking for and if I'm staying true to a style. I figure if someone did all the work already and I like the recipe, I'll do it that way with minimal changes. Sometimes I start with a recipe I've found and gradually changed it into something totally different!
 
I started out using kits to see what kind of style I and SWMBO would like. Once I narrowed it down to a couple, I went to recipes. Now, I'm going to just say this and will probably get scorned from others based on freshness, but when I formulated a certain style brew, like an American Amber, added up all the cost to make 5 gallons, the kit was WAY cheaper. The brews I made with recipes and a la carte ingredients, really didn't taste that much different. I'm doing extracts and will only be using this methodology for some time. Just don't have the time to dwelve into AG. I look at it like this....extracts just do more of the work for you. Sure, there are good extracts out there and crappy ones. But, over time, you'll figure out through tasting, which ones you can stick with. Most of the Brewers Best kits have used Coopers LME and Nottinghams dry yeast. Not the worst ingredients but maybe not the most top notch ones either. Still, the brews taste great as atested by SWMBO and a couple of select neighbors.
 
Ol' Grog said:
I started out using kits to see what kind of style I and SWMBO would like. Once I narrowed it down to a couple, I went to recipes. Now, I'm going to just say this and will probably get scorned from others based on freshness, but when I formulated a certain style brew, like an American Amber, added up all the cost to make 5 gallons, the kit was WAY cheaper. The brews I made with recipes and a la carte ingredients, really didn't taste that much different. I'm doing extracts and will only be using this methodology for some time. Just don't have the time to dwelve into AG. I look at it like this....extracts just do more of the work for you. Sure, there are good extracts out there and crappy ones. But, over time, you'll figure out through tasting, which ones you can stick with. Most of the Brewers Best kits have used Coopers LME and Nottinghams dry yeast. Not the worst ingredients but maybe not the most top notch ones either. Still, the brews taste great as atested by SWMBO and a couple of select neighbors.
Click to expand...

ditto, right now just having fun with the kits and I sometimes switch it up a bit with my own twists like more wheat DME, fruit, extract, ...etc.
not enough time to go AG and I'm having fun trying all the styles. Same thing I found when I used to build my own computers, once you add up all the costs it is just as economical to buy one that comes with a warranty. Same with the beer kits. Learning what goes in styles of beer and having fun.
 
cclloyd said:
Looking for a weigh-in here - at what point did you go from kits to recipes - or have you at all?
Click to expand...

When I wanted to brew beers that had specific flavors or attributes...formulating the recipe to achieve those goals was the easiest and most effective route.
 
To me, the kits have been a godsend as when I started doing this, I didn't know squat about it. Luckily the kits give you an idea. After reading more and joining this forum, I've learned that the kits are close to a particular style, but it isn't exactly perfect. But, I have learned the following from using kits:
I am not a hop head and stay away from anything over 40 IBU's.
Don't like the Irish styles.
Don't like the chocolate malts.
Don't like the darker brews.
Brewing a full boil does taste better than partials.
You don't need a grain bag to steep.
From some of that information I can look at kits now and will be able to tell if I'm going to like it or not. They also taught me how crushed grains make a brew taste better.
 
My first 3 were kits, and then moved to recipes. I may do more kits in the future. It's kinda nice to have everything measured out already and it's usually cheaper to get a kit that all the ingredients separate (non-bulk).
 
My first 5 or 6 batches were from "kits" put together by a LHBS not just a "kit in a can" so I dont feel bad at all about it since they were recipes and had seperate ingredients. Now what I do isnt much different since I just bring a list into my LHBS and they put it in the same brown bag they put their "kits" in.

No biggie...your making beer either way.
 
My first 3 or 4 batches were kits. Since they were my first and I don't have any experienced brewers to brew with I wanted something simple. The following dozen or so batches have all been recipes, most from the internet or the LHBS but some of my own creation.
 
My first 6batches were kits, the next 16 were partials and the last 24 have been AG.
I'm a baker by trade and I work for a large company, so I can not create my own recipes. But when I brew it's all in my control(for good or bad).
 
I just bought kits(batches) 3 and 4 from Northern Brewer. I started with AG and have been working on getting it down pat before I start tooling with recipes. Since I'm new to brewing...and good beer drinking, I have been buying a different style kit everytime. I started with a Bavarian Hefeweizen and then did an Oatmeal Stout. Hopefully, when I get home tomorrow I'll have the Irish Red kit and the Honey Brown kit I ordered along with the yeast and sugar to do a couple batches of EdWort's Apfelwein (I guess that qualifies as my first recipe) Also, I live in an area where the closest HBS is almost 2 hours away and I have not had the money to buy a grain mill yet. I could order just the grain but it would have to be pre-crushed and thus wouldn't keep long enough for me to brew with it.

I also haven't really figured out what grains cause what flavors in different styles of beer so formulating my own would be a crap shoot at this point.
 
Started at my LHBS not even knowing what to do, but kits looked boring. So I picked up a copy of Brew - the one with the 150 recipes - and went from there and did a Bear Republic clone as my first. I did one kit after that - the direction sheet that it came with has been priceless as far as a handy brewing guide. Even though I'm a mere extract brewer, crafting the recipes, or following someone else's recipes, has an added air of excitement.
 
All my five gallon batches I have followed recipies...the first three called for LME plus some steeping grains, my fourth was a partial mash recipie and all the rest ware AG recipies.
 
CollinsBrew said:
I just bought kits(batches) 3 and 4 from Northern Brewer.
Click to expand...

NorthernBrewer is awesome because they tell you exactly what is in the kit so, even though you aren't formulating the recipe, you get the same knowledge as though you had.

Some HBS try to hide the recipes from you and I would strongly urge everyone to avoid those types of kits. You're paying about the same for the grain, so do you want to know what you're buying? Or do you want to never know what went into the batch that you loved/hated?

Personally, I want to find trends among the beers I like. This requires me to know the recipe.

Again, I'm paying for the grains either way. Do I want the knowledge too? Or don't I? It's an easy call as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, there are kits I have deliberately not bought from certain vendors because I knew I wouldn't be able to tweak it in the future...
 
My first was a LHBS kit. After that I did recipes from everywhere and my own creations. Now that I've found AHS's Clone kits, I'll be doing some of both.
 
AHS has the biggest selection of clone kits that I've been able to find. They are still a bit pricey.....but still way cheaper than buying 50 some bottles of something like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale which runs about $8.50 for a six pack around here. I really want to do a Newcastle Brown Ale clone. That stuff runs almost $11 for a sixer!!...and I love it.

I have to agree with DamnSquirrels on the Northern Brewer ingredient listings. It's nice to be able to see exactly how much of each grain is in the kit. They also give mash and boil instructions even though you can do those however you want. I have used that sheet to write all of the brew day details on and file away....such as temps, OG's and times for everything.
 

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