Did I mess up before I even began?

[FreakinA]

Ok first things first, this forum is Awesome! Ok on to business, I am becoming a home brewer currently, and as we speak my brew kit is on its way from RI down to southern AZ to be used very often by me. Im very excited about that part and have been telling everyone I come into contact with about my new favorite hobby I have never tried. I ordered this kit Monster Brew - Maestro Homebrew Kit and Auto Siphon mostly because I wasn't sure about my skill with the regular siphon(They also have a 5.99 flat ship rate and ship orders sameday!) ANYWAYS, along with my brew kit, I ordered Monster Brew - True Brew Continental Lite Homebrew Ingredient Kit . If you are too lazy to click the link, it is a Continental Lite extract kit. I have just finished reading section one of John Palmers book( Im struggling through the all grain brewing section now) and he says Lagers need to ferment for looong periods of time at very low temperatures(45-55 degrees[How to Brew - By John Palmer - Lower Temperatures ]) and Im not exactly sure if my kit is an Ale or a Lager type beer.I can do the very long time thing, but the 55 degrees would be near impossible for me to maintain for my beer in southern Arizona so I have begun to worry that once my kit comes I wont even be able to use it. If anyone knows more about the fermentation about this beer, that would be super helpful. Could it be as simple as ordering a ale specific yeast? Any help would be appreciated as I would really like to RDWAHAHB but I cannot yet.

 

[tedski]

According to the ingredients list in the link you gave us, its an Ale. This is indicated by the included Ale Yeast

 

[FreakinA]

And Tedski comes to save the day with some fine reading skills. Sometime I wish I had those. Ahh well I guess Ill just RDWAHAMB.

edit: and while I have all my beer info posted, that seems like a pretty acceptable kit for a virgin, eh? I Read the extract section of How to brew, and will likely read it again before the big day(10.20.08) anything specific to those ingredients where a caution flag arises?

 

[sterling214]

That kit will make beer. It won't be the best beer you've ever had, but it will be beer. With the amount of corn sugar the kit has, the beer will probably be on the lighter side for most of the board members tastes. I would suggest a Brewers Best kit for your second batch. Most of the BB kits have higher quality ingredients, and will give you a better idea of how to make a beer you can be proud of.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Just as an FYI, even if it came with lager yeast you could still brew it at higher temps, it will just won't have the same character and it might not be as clean. Anchor Steam is made with a lager yeast fermented at higher temps.

 

[david_42]

The gripping hand: most lager kits can be brewed with a dry, neutral ale yeast like Nottingham or Safale-05 and give you good results.

 

[FreakinA]

That kit will make beer. It won't be the best beer you've ever had, but it will be beer. With the amount of corn sugar the kit has, the beer will probably be on the lighter side for most of the board members tastes. I would suggest a Brewers Best kit for your second batch. Most of the BB kits have higher quality ingredients, and will give you a better idea of how to make a beer you can be proud of.

Thanks for all the help everyoe who posted. A Brewers Best kit you say. This will be done.

Edit: Ok I found a few sites dealing the BB kits and they do look and sound really tasty. Thanks for the tip, Sterling.

 

[STAD]

Also, if you are interested in an easy begginers kit, 7 Bridges sells organic kits!

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

If you are down with flat rate shipping you could check out northernbrewer.com They have a lot of kits and the ones that I have done are pretty tastey and I have no complaints about their shipping or service.