How to make a kit "your own"

[DaveGerard]

Here's a great way to take a homebrew kit and give it a little bit of your own personal brewing style. Order 2 kits, a honey brown ale and a british bitter. Put the smack packs in the fridge. Brew up the honey brown, but instead of grabbing the correct yeast pack for it, be an idiot and grab the one for the bitter. Smack it and let it get all swole up before you notice. Oh well, I'm sure it will still make good beer.

 

[CBBaron]

So what was the yeast you pitched in the brown? I would expect both kits to come with similar yeasts or at least the two yeast to readily interchanged.
If I had to guess the Brown was a clean American yeast like 1056 and the Bitter was an English style. Brewing the Brown with the Bitter yeast will result in a little more fruity esters and English character. Not a bad thing to my taste. Now a Bitter with a clean yeast may seem a little uninteresting, so you might consider getting a replacement yeast for the Bitter and saving the yeast you currently have.
Now if I'm wrong then ignore my recommendations.
Swapping yeasts can make for some interesting beers. I recently brewed a Belgian Dubble with Wit yeast. It turns out the yeast are not that different but the result is a little more spicy/citrusy than the normal fruity Abbey yeast.
Craig

 

[DaveGerard]

The brown got a british ale yeast (wyeast), I figure that won't be too bad. The other pack just says "American", think that will be bland? I'm a fan of straightforward beers, I figure I will give it a try, and I'm sure I'm going to end up re-ordering both kits anyway in the future, so I'll get to do a taste comparison.

 

[CBBaron]

The brown got a british ale yeast (wyeast), I figure that won't be too bad. The other pack just says "American", think that will be bland? I'm a fan of straightforward beers, I figure I will give it a try, and I'm sure I'm going to end up re-ordering both kits anyway in the future, so I'll get to do a taste comparison.

I'm guessing the American is 1056 which is a clean dry yeast. This lets the character of the hops, specialty grains and/or additives (like honey) be more noticeable. The British Ale yeast will provide more yeast character and is very appropriate to a Bitter. English Bitters have more restrained malt and hops flavors and the yeast is a major component of the flavor of the beer. Making a Bitter with 1056 will probably result in a fairly neutral beer. If you like American Macro beers then it may suit you. If not consider getting some more British Ale yeast for the Bitter and order an American Pale Ale kit or Porter kit without the yeast. These types of beers work well with 1056.
This is of course just my opinion. I am still fairly new at brewing, I don't like BMC type beers, and my favorite styles are strong stouts (Russian Imperial, Foreign Extra, American) and IPAs.
Craig

 

[david_42]

Or lose the hops that came with the kit and brew with whatever.

[They're probably at the bottom of the freezer under the spare turkey.]

 

[DaveGerard]

Good advice, I have a bunch of NB Gold and Amber LME that I ordered just to have, I would just need to grab some grains and I could use the American with that. I'm don't have a spare bucket for the bitter right now, so that would give me plenty of time to get a new pack.

 

[cheezydemon]

Or get real crazy and forget to even order the kit, go down to your lhbs and buy some crazy ingredients, blindfold yourself before driving home and hope that you are still alive when you begin to brew!