Who's done a kit "all wrong"?

[redshift]

So I'm sitting here drinking some Caribou Slobber that I made from a Northern Brewer extract kit that I did "all wrong". It's honestly quite good - very good according to my critic friends. This is the second extract kit that I've gotten on a "buy this stuff" and "get this stuff free" deal. I normally brew all grain recipes, but since the price was right, I've made a couple from extract. In an effort to "make it better", I did a partial mash with the specialty grains, and a full volume boil. I laughed when my mash had a gravity of 1.014.

I also made their SMASH American Session Ale kit a year ago and added an extra pound of extra light DME, did full volume boil, and used all the hops (more than prescribed). It gave me an original gravity of 1.055 and with the boosted alcohol and higher IBUs than intended. Very yummy!

What else have folks done that varies from the instructions that made some great beers?

 

[d3track]

That's how I started experimenting and moving into building my own recipes. Adding malts, oats, spices, changing yeasts, dry hopping on top of base kits helped understand what changes would mean to the end product.