Extract brands

[jpeebs]

I've done 3 extract kits so far, all have turned out pretty dang good. 2 from Brewer's Best (English brown ale, and holiday ale), and one from Homebrew.com (Yukon scotch ale). The LHBS only carries Brewer's Best, which is fine, but I was curious if any of the other brands (midwest brewing supply, northern brewer, etc) are better than the others. I imagine they're close to the same, but was curious anyway.

 

[menerdari]

You will be told by others that Brewers Best kits sit around too long because of the companies size. I don't buy it and have had great results from their kits. Northern brewer and midwest supplies kits are packed when you buy them from ingredients that are sitting in their facilities. 6 of one half dozen of the other.
Midwest is great to deal with but shipping charges are a bit steep.
Both Northern brewer and Midwest have partial mash and all grain kits, something Brewers Best does not have.

 

[unionrdr]

I've come up with a way to make good beer from Cooper's cans. But brewer's best & midwest are good too. Midwest has some great stuff-quick 20 minute extract kits,extract/steeping grains,partial mash,& all grain. Many different styles of beer too. Northern brewer is a good one too.

 

[jpeebs]

Actually, I have a Coopers i'm doing soon. Gonna try to add something to it to awesome it up a bit. Any suggestions?

 

[menerdari]

Actually, I have a Coopers i'm doing soon. Gonna try to add something to it to awesome it up a bit. Any suggestions?

depends on what style of beer but there are a number of options,
hops, steeping grains, honey, fruit or fruit extract and the list goes on.

 

[dmashl]

I brewed a few Brewers best kits and had them always turn out real dark. I think the kits my LHBS had old kits. I have been ordering from Austin Home Brew Supply, and the kits are turning out real nice in flavor and color. I am going to continue to order from Austin.

 

[Yooper]

One of the things I really like is the fresh LME at Northern Brewer. Not only is it fresh, but they have far more varieties than in a Brewer's Best kit. They have rye LME, Munich LME, and wheat LME and DME. Freshness is important, but so is getting the right extract for the recipe.

 

[signpost]

+1 on Yooper's comment.

I like the variety of LME offered by Norther Brewer. I need to try that Rye LME at some point. Although, a couple of my NB kits have used DME instead of LME and they've turned out well.

I haven't tried a Brewer's Best kit, though. I like knowing what all of the ingredients are before I buy a kit, and I feel weird about opening up a BB box at the LHBS and inspecting the contents. Maybe the BB website lists all of the ingredients? Anybody know? I'll go check after posting this.

Edit: Yup, I checked and they have the ingredient/instruction sheets available. So maybe I just have to look through those before heading over to the LHBS. Then I'll know what I'm looking for.