Let me start a debate here
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ChandlerBang
Well-Known Member
I prefer any that are from an actual LHBS even if it's on the interwebs. Lemme clarify, Austin or Midwest kits (in my opinion) are much fresher and come with better instructions for newer brewers than a Cooper's or Brewer's Best kit.
amandabab
Well-Known Member
#1: Austin Homebrew Supply.
you can customize the kit and get all DME.
#2: any of the other big high-volume retailers.
Midwest, Williams, Norther Brewer, they will usually be LME kits. some customization and they move enough product to be fresh.
last: Brewers best and Coopers.
preboxed, no customization or yeast choice and the least favorable option for fresh ingredients.
you can customize the kit and get all DME.
#2: any of the other big high-volume retailers.
Midwest, Williams, Norther Brewer, they will usually be LME kits. some customization and they move enough product to be fresh.
last: Brewers best and Coopers.
preboxed, no customization or yeast choice and the least favorable option for fresh ingredients.
If you're going to buy a boxed kit from your LHBS, I like Brewers Best. Midwest has some nice kits, but I don't like paying shipping. I will say that some of my favorite beers were not from kits. If I do use a kit, (usually a gift from a family member who likes beer), I will add ingredients or use different yeast.
What's lhbs mean since I'm new to this I don't know the brewing slang
I live in Austin and shop at Austin Homebrew Supply, so I've never tried any other brew shop. Before I knew anything about home brewing, I went to AHS and bought one of their kits and some basic equipment and it turned out great. The instructions are detailed but simple enough to follow. You can customize the kit, picking liquid or dry yeast as well as extract or all grain, even when ordering online. In person, you can just get the grain bill, substitute hops, and really make it your own, but there's really no need for that as a beginner. I don't know about their online operation much, but in store, they assemble the kit when you ask for it. They package the LME from barrels or get the grains from their grain room at that moment. I would say the ingredients are pretty fresh since they have a heavy volume of customers when I'm usually there. I imagine they are regularly bringing in fresh ingredients or at least, I have never had a problem with anything turning out bad due to old or stale ingredients.
I've made 3 or 4 of their kits and they all turned out great. I mostly make my own recipes now, but every once in a while I will get one of their kits. Do note however, their kits don't include instructions for a yeast starter when using liquid yeast, which does improve my beer. Plus, they include instructions for the use of a secondary fermentor, which in my opinion, is rarely necessary.
(Edit: sorry if anyone read this early on, I hit send on my phone before finishing my post)
I've made 3 or 4 of their kits and they all turned out great. I mostly make my own recipes now, but every once in a while I will get one of their kits. Do note however, their kits don't include instructions for a yeast starter when using liquid yeast, which does improve my beer. Plus, they include instructions for the use of a secondary fermentor, which in my opinion, is rarely necessary.
(Edit: sorry if anyone read this early on, I hit send on my phone before finishing my post)
My first few were Brewers Best. Then I came across Midwest Supplies and prefer them a lot more. I usually try to order multiple kits to save on shipping costs(at least in the long run). 1 kit costs about 12 bucks to ship, 3 kits cost only about 3 bucks more for shipping.
Clonefan94
Senior Member
Yeah, Brewers Best are hit or miss. I hate to bash them, because that's what I satrted on myself, but their freshness can be very hard to judge and depends a lot on what kind of traffic your LHBS or online store gets. I will say though, Of the ones I did, more turned out good than bad. I only had one that definitely had freshness issues. The other thing i dont' like about BB Kits is that they come with stuff you might not need. Therefore get charged for it. I don't bottle, so the option to leave out priming sugar and caps would have been nice. Plus, two of the kits, I ended up buying a different yeast for, because what they were supplying US-05, didn't really fit the style of the beer it came with.
All that being said, yeah, if you are planning, Northern Brewer, Austing Homebrew are great places to buy from. Especially if you are looking for a specific style to brew. Brewers Best kits though, if that's what they carry at your local shop can still make very good beer. It just all comes down to that trade off. Do you want to make good beer, or the best beer you can?
ChandlerBang
Well-Known Member
This is basically what I've found from their online selection. Solid kits, really fresh, customizable and cheap shipping. I did a couple extract kits from them then a couple partial mash kits. Then I got a couple of their all grain kits before I was comfortable formulating my own recipes. It was a great progression.
ChandlerBang
Well-Known Member
Oddly enough... I've found AHS prices on single ingredients to be too high compared to other sources, but their kits are a decent value. Go figure.
One of the LHBS I frequent has many recipes and "kits" available, you pretty much grab the recipe you want and start weighing you steeping grains then grind, weigh out (only what you need) and package your hops then grab your dme/lme and yeast your good to go, If you want the "KIT" they'll charge you more for putting together for you....
Brew2: where are you located, and is there a local homebrew shop nearby that you go to?
Keep in mind that a kit is just a pre-packaged version of an established recipe, maybe with bottle caps and a few other items to go with it (e.g., hop bags). If you have a good recipe, and access to a LHBS that sells the ingredients separately and will crush the specialty grains for you, you can bypass the kits entirely by purchasing the specific ingredients for the recipe. While a kit is useful for starting out with, experimenting with your own recipes quickly becomes more interesting to most homebrewers.
There are books and databases full of extract-based recipes, not the least of which being the one here at HBT. True, there are probably as many if not more AG recipes, but many of those have "extract with specialty grains" versions. With practice, you can start working out recipes of your own fairly easily, especially if you use a program such as BeerSmith to do the heavy lifting. Even with existing recipes, you can find things to do that you couldn't with a kit, such as Charlie Papazian's world-famous Goat Scrotum Ale, which has dozens of variations and is never the same brew twice.
Keep in mind that a kit is just a pre-packaged version of an established recipe, maybe with bottle caps and a few other items to go with it (e.g., hop bags). If you have a good recipe, and access to a LHBS that sells the ingredients separately and will crush the specialty grains for you, you can bypass the kits entirely by purchasing the specific ingredients for the recipe. While a kit is useful for starting out with, experimenting with your own recipes quickly becomes more interesting to most homebrewers.
There are books and databases full of extract-based recipes, not the least of which being the one here at HBT. True, there are probably as many if not more AG recipes, but many of those have "extract with specialty grains" versions. With practice, you can start working out recipes of your own fairly easily, especially if you use a program such as BeerSmith to do the heavy lifting. Even with existing recipes, you can find things to do that you couldn't with a kit, such as Charlie Papazian's world-famous Goat Scrotum Ale, which has dozens of variations and is never the same brew twice.
