How fast did you abandon kits from the brew stores?

[Ol' Grog]

OK, I'm one of the "never done NOTHING but kits" band wagon. I've tried a lot of them....morebeer, brewers best, AHS, etc. etc. One thing I've noticed and even with the same style, they all have different ideas as to what is suppose to be in them. I'm still doing extracts and will stay on this course for a long while, just don't have the time to spend all day brewing. However, in my research from when I did devise my own receipes, I have found out that the kits are WAY cheaper for the same ingredients than buying seperate. That's why I've stayed the course on kits. They have been good, but that is to me and not in comparison to other styles.

 

[APendejo]

I have only been at this a couple of years, because of space limits I do only extract/grains and mini-mash brewing. While relatively new to brewing have brewed my allocated legal limit every year.
I have found some of the boxed/packaged kits from retailers to be very inconsistant from batch to batch, others I have found to be the exact same every time. I have a few go to's, especially a local vendors Best Bitter kit and anothers Scottish Ale that I keep in regular rotation. I have tried to piece these kits together from individual ingredients but cannot match the price of the packaged kits.
I have also mixed up some of the Coopers prehopped cold stir kits, and ya know what, you hot rod those cans with some DME boiled up with some additional hops and you can make decent beer with them. You won't win no prize with it but people will drink it and say "Damn, you actually made that?" One of my OL's favorite beers I ever scooped out of a can was a Coopers Bavarian Lager that was fermented at 75f and came out smelling like Humboldt County at harvest time. It tasted like a PBR on steroids, Hey! I happen to like Pabst!
I will continue to do extract brews as I am completely satisfied with my results. When the time comes that I have the space for all grain brewing I will most likely jump into that with the same entusiasm I have for extracts.
AP

 

[max4677]

I do kits put together by homebrew shops like NortherBrewer and Austin Homebrew. I also do regular recipes as well. I'm not picky of the source as long as the results are good. I did switch away from extract kits and get the AG equivalents the majority of the time.

 

[Vels]

My first was a extract + steepbag. Second brew was AG and never looked back.

I love to put together beers and play with the ingredients.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

My first brew was the canned kit that came with my equipment. I haven't used a kit since. I think I only did about half a dozen extract + grain brews before moving to AG. Haven't looked back.

 

[kenb]

I look at it like making a kit beer is like making macaroni and cheese out of a box. Personally i get no satisfaction from it.
Making an extract beer and steeping specialty grains is like making a pizza, but using a pre-made frozen crust. (frozen crust = extract) It can be quite good, but can also be better.
And going all grain and formulating your own recipe, is like making a gourmet pizza from scratch, including your own crust.

 

[Ol' Grog]

Interesting comparison. I'm curious. Exactly WHAT is it that you former extractors to AG'ers made you "not look back?" Is there THAT much of a taste difference? There was an article on BYO that talked about extracts and how they are getting really good and starting to win some awards.

 

[rdwj]

Interesting comparison. I'm curious. Exactly WHAT is it that you former extractors to AG'ers made you "not look back?" Is there THAT much of a taste difference? There was an article on BYO that talked about extracts and how they are getting really good and starting to win some awards.

There is a difference in taste, but the REAL advantage is control. Once you learn how to make spagetti sause from scratch, Ragu just doesn't cut it anymore.

 

[Fingers]

I did a bunch of extract kits with grains when I started last winter just until I went all grain this summer. I've been on a clone kick because I get all giddy when I think that I have 10 gallons of something that is very close to xxxx. I expect the novelty will wear off soon and then I'll work on a personal house ale, but until then I'm having a lot of fun with the clones. Of course I absolutely HAVE to tweak the recipes a bit.

I may have to do some extract kits over the winter if I can't get my indoor setup going. It's pretty difficult to brew outside in extreme weather so I may just do a few extracts, but they will likely be my own recipes.

 

[Vels]

Interesting comparison. I'm curious. Exactly WHAT is it that you former extractors to AG'ers made you "not look back?" Is there THAT much of a taste difference? There was an article on BYO that talked about extracts and how they are getting really good and starting to win some awards.

The steepbag in an extract brew makes a big difference to taste. AG makes an even bigger difference. It just taste better and I have 100% freedom to twist and tweak taste of my favorite recipes by adjusting grain bill.
Another side effect is price. When you have brewed enough AG, even concidering equipment cost, it will outweigh the added cost of extract - not that this was a deciding factor for me - more of a free upside to it.

 

[FSR402]

I did 3 extract kits then I went AG and no kits. No need to do them anymore. :rockin:

 

[feedthebear]

SWMBO bought me two when I first started out. I did the first one according to the instructions. I added peaches to the second one.

Those are the only two I've done.

 

[SpamDog]

Never done a Kit per se. My first brew however was a recipie that someone else made that I got with my equipment kit. My second brew I tweaked a recipie that I found on line.. since then I have made all my own recipies.. tho sometimes I look online for inspiration of what to make or what ingrediants to use.

SpamDog

 

[Redweasel]

Only used one kit and then used a recipe from this board and now I'm in the experimental phase researching and tweaking combining different recipes.

 

[Junebug]

I did four kits and then began branching out.

 

[Beerthoven]

About half my beers have been kits, the remainder are recipies I followed to a T or modded slightly.

I like using kits for the extract batches I still do from time to time because I don't want to keep a stock of *ME in the house.

I don't think there is anything wrong with using kits, even for AG brewing. Kits are just pre-assembled recipes, and some of them are damn good.

 

[JohnA111]

I gave up on the first kit but would try again with some more knowledgable analysis of the contents. I got burned on my first kit. It was a drinkable robust porter, but bland and simple. Can't remember the brand but its all my LHBS has in stock. I remember it being:

3.3lb LME
1lb DME
1oz Northenr Brewer
.5lb Chocolate
Priming sugar
Muntons Dry Ale Yeast

It was missing any instruction or inventory of contents, so I assume it was also missing some ME and Spec Grains? Whatever, it did get the ball rolling. Looking at a thousand recipes gave me the edge to devise my own.

 

[Beerthoven]

I gave up on the first kit but would try again with some more knowledgable analysis of the contents. I got burned on my first kit. It was a drinkable robust porter, but bland and simple. Can't remember the brand but its all my LHBS has in stock. I remember it being:

3.3lb LME
1lb DME
1oz Northenr Brewer
.5lb Chocolate
Priming sugar
Muntons Dry Ale Yeast

It was missing any instruction or inventory of contents, so I assume it was also missing some ME and Spec Grains? Whatever, it did get the ball rolling. Looking at a thousand recipes gave me the edge to devise my own.

I think your experience highlights the major issue with kits. Some of them just plain suck, and there isn't any way for the novice homebrewer to know this before hand.

Its important to get your kit from a reputable source, like Austin Homebrew Supply and More Beer. There are a few others, but those are the only two kit vendors I use anymore.

 

[Evan!]

I've done, oh, I dunno, zero kits.

 

[CBBaron]

2 extract + grains kits, one kit that I modified to a partial mash. Since then I have be brewing AG from scratch. Most recipes have been slight variations of recipes I have found. A few have been different enough to call original and a couple have been almost exactly from the recipe.

Craig

 

[rurounikitsune]

I just bought an AG kit from NB because the kit was substantially cheaper than the sum of its parts.... also supposedly contains hops which were "out of stock." We'll see when it gets here! Anyway the price was right and I needed something to tide me over before my big bag of malt gets here next month.

 

[wedge421]

Everything I have read said to give it about 10 extract kits and then you should be ready to move on. I am at #5 and I feel pretty comfortable with the whole process but definetly not read for AG, but I did just order a mini mash kit so we'll see how that goes.

 

[web250]

First two were kits, a weizenbier and an APA.

Third batch (should brew next week) is my own personal choc/sweet stout.

 

[tom777]

Just a noob here yet. Have stuck with the Muntons/Coopers/Brewmart can kits so far with 5 batches done and 3 brewing now along with a couple batches of Apfelwein. Will probably try a Brewers Best kit sometime soon. But, with work, 3 kids and other hobbies (golf, bowling and photography), I don't have the time or ambition to try anything more complicated than that. Maybe someday...

 

[Ooompa Loompa]

My first two batches were kits, the rest have been recipes formulated by me.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

4 kits for me then I moved to all grain

 

[Arneba28]

one Irish Stout kit then to PM

 

[PeteOz77]

I am such a loser

I have been brewing for 2 1/2 months and I still am not an AG brewer.

Seems like half of the replies here are like "I thought about brewing for about 15 minutes, then I opened a brew pub!!"

 

[CBBaron]

I am such a loser

I have been brewing for 2 1/2 months and I still am not an AG brewer.

Seems like half of the replies here are like "I thought about brewing for about 15 minutes, then I opened a brew pub!!"

No problems Pete. Extract is much quicker and requires considerably less equipment. Plus it produces excellent beer. Whats the problem?
I was curious about the process and wanted to save money on ingredients, plus after studying up on it I realized how simple AG could be. I would have probably had fewer questionable batches if I stuck to extract but I do enjoy the brewing process.
When and if you are ready to go AG only you will know. There should be no pressure to make the step. The friend of mine that got me started on brewing has been doing extract + grain for years and produces excellent beers.

Craig

 

[Beerthoven]

I agree with CBBaron completely. There is no reason to rush into AG just because of what some people say on this forum.

 

[abracadabra]

Never brewed a kit. I started out with some AG clone recipes from the BYO 150 clone magizine

 

[eschatz]

bottom line, it doesnt matter if you extract or all grain, get Ray Daniels book Designing Great Beers and you'll leave your kits behind immediately. It will allow you to make your own recepies really quickly and confidently. Cheers

 

[ArcaneXor]

Started with four Mr. Beer kits, moved on to a couple of small batch recipes, and now have a small batch recipe (Koelsch) and two 5-gallon kits from AHS coming up - one extract, one mini-mash.

 

[Moonshae]

My LHBS sells "recipes" with all the ingredients, and they're cheaper than simply buying the ingredients separately. That's all I brewed for about 8 months, until I found this website and the recipe trove here. I haven't bought one of their recipes since, although they do have some good ones that I might do again.

 

[NWernBrewer]

I brewed one kit that my original equipment came with. A couple of years before I started brewing I had been going down the path to beer snobbery - beer festivals, Hops and Props in Seattle, WABL events. Talking to brewers and gathering info. My second batch was an extract with steep of my own formulation and I havn't looked back. I don't really brew to "style" but I brew what I like.