Review the Pre-Hopped Kits (lazy man's beer)

[dwhite60]

I find it really interesting how kits are so popular in England, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand but get almost no respect here in the states.

I brew all grain but just ordered a Coopers Australian Pale Ale kit to try. I'm sure a lot of people have their judgement skewed by all the bad press kits receive.

May not end up being my regular brew but if it's good it could fill in when I don't have time to do all grain.

 

[derekp83]

I've done, I believe, 2 kits so far. A Coopers IPA about a decade ago that I don't even think I realized was hopped til after the fact, and I put an ounce of cascade in it for an hour, and probably boiled the kit for that hour, too. A friend loved it!

I tried a Muntons Irish Stout about a year and a half ago. I just used the kit and kept it to 2.5 gallons and it turned out amazing, especially after several months.

The only drawback to these kits is the underwhelming yeast packet of 7 grams. Since I paid for it, I'm gonna use it. I'd have no problem pitching the slurry from another batch, but I don't have any right now. I plan to ferment 4 gallons and that should fix the shortage of yeast cells problem.

They're fun to play with and make good beer. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Riley Henderson]

I only brew the pre-hopped kits due to mainly time restraints and currently have 6 batches in the works, I recently did a Coopers Real Ale with 2 LBS of sparkling Amber DME and about a cup of Dextrose just to bring the OG up to about 1.042. I let this one age longer then any of the other ones I have done before and absolutely loved it. That was a beer I wouldn't only serve to my friends but would be willing to pay for if it was in a store. Now I know that taste is really subjective. But I would give this 3.5 - 4 stars in my opinion. Definitely going to make it again.

 

[derekp83]

I only brew the pre-hopped kits due to mainly time restraints and currently have 6 batches in the works, I recently did a Coopers Real Ale with 2 LBS of sparkling Amber DME and about a cup of Dextrose just to bring the OG up to about 1.042. I let this one age longer then any of the other ones I have done before and absolutely loved it. That was a beer I wouldn't only serve to my friends but would be willing to pay for if it was in a store. Now I know that taste is really subjective. But I would give this 3.5 - 4 stars in my opinion. Definitely going to make it again.

What's your take on the yeast? Do your brews ferment dry enough? I plan to do 4 gallons to compensate for the 7 grams.

 

[Riley Henderson]

What's your take on the yeast? Do your brews ferment dry enough? I plan to do 4 gallons to compensate for the 7 grams.

For the Coopers real ale kit I believe I just used the supplied yeast (didnt keep the best records when I started that batch), but I started going to abit better HBS and getting better yeasts depending on the beer type. I found the 7g packet did the job but could of been better. I believe I did use less then the full 5 gallons though, probably between 4-4.5

 

[derekp83]

You know, I have a packet of Nottingham I've been meaning to use. I may use it for one kit and then put the 7 grams packets from two kits into one batch. Question is, Nottingham for the Muntons Premium Pilsner or Canadian Style Beer? New thought to ponder!

 

[PetteriSeppanen]

I have brewed a ton of prehopped kits and 100% spraymalt brews.
By far the best bang for buck have been the Thomas Coopers kits and Real ale of the classic kits.
My process is to put the DME in a 10L boiling pot and boil flavor hops for 25min and aroma hops for 15min then cool the wort in a kitchen sink with running cold water and occasional stir with a paddle. The LME kit is added straight to the fermentor and the can is rinsed with a 1L of boiling water, then follow with another 1L of boiling water to the fermentor. The LME wort is cooled rapidly by adding 3-4L of cold tap water. After the DME wort is cooled and added through a meshfilter, I add water to the 25L mark so I get 3 full cases of 24x0,33L bottles.

I have added 50-100g of hop pellets for aroma (Pale ale) and 25g of hop pellets for flavour (lager).

When conditioned for three months these recipes usually end up in the 4-5 star category and taste pretty excellent and get better the longer they age in the bottle.

 

[derekp83]

I have brewed a ton of prehopped kits and 100% spraymalt brews.
By far the best bang for buck have been the Thomas Coopers kits and Real ale of the classic kits.
My process is to put the DME in a 10L boiling pot and boil flavor hops for 25min and aroma hops for 15min then cool the wort in a kitchen sink with running cold water and occasional stir with a paddle. The LME kit is added straight to the fermentor and the can is rinsed with a 1L of boiling water, then follow with another 1L of boiling water to the fermentor. The LME wort is cooled rapidly by adding 3-4L of cold tap water. After the DME wort is cooled and added through a meshfilter, I add water to the 25L mark so I get 3 full cases of 24x0,33L bottles.

I have added 50-100g of hop pellets for aroma (Pale ale) and 25g of hop pellets for flavour (lager).

When conditioned for three months these recipes usually end up in the 4-5 star category and taste pretty excellent and get better the longer they age in the bottle.

That's excellent to hear you have had great results! I like your hop additions. I ended up being more conservative the other night, adding Crystal hops for 10 mins to the Muntons Premium Pilsner, but it took me a while to cool, so it steeped for a good 20 mins afterward.

I for one don't like the idea of pouring boiling hot wort into a plastic fermenter. Leaching and melting are my concerns. My buckets can handle 180 degrees F. I've yet to put anything above 160, and that's with cold water already in the bucket.

 

[Riley Henderson]

I recently started Mangrove Jacks Chocolate Ale craft beer kit.
Just tried 2 yesterday and HOLY COW!!!
Delicious, not much of a chocolate flavour, its more nutty, I would place it almost at a hazelnut. But I highly recommend that kit. It comes with Empire M15 Ale yeast and I used 2 LBS of Amber DME and just shy of 5 gallons RO water. Definitely a do again!

 

[derekp83]

I recently started Mangrove Jacks Chocolate Ale craft beer kit.
Just tried 2 yesterday and HOLY COW!!!
Delicious, not much of a chocolate flavour, its more nutty, I would place it almost at a hazelnut. But I highly recommend that kit. It comes with Empire M15 Ale yeast and I used 2 LBS of Amber DME and just shy of 5 gallons RO water. Definitely a do again!

I've taken a look at these kits before. A bit pricey for me, but I'm glad to hear they result in some good beer!

 

[PetteriSeppanen]

That's excellent to hear you have had great results! I like your hop additions. I ended up being more conservative the other night, adding Crystal hops for 10 mins to the Muntons Premium Pilsner, but it took me a while to cool, so it steeped for a good 20 mins afterward.

I for one don't like the idea of pouring boiling hot wort into a plastic fermenter. Leaching and melting are my concerns. My buckets can handle 180 degrees F. I've yet to put anything above 160, and that's with cold water already in the bucket.

There is no worry of melting and my brewing buckets are ok with boiling water.

 

[derekp83]

Update and tasting notes on the Muntons Premium Pilsner that I brewed in late April. I kept it in primary about 15 days and bottled. Tried a bottle this evening (still sipping it) after about 12 days, including 1 day in the fridge, and here's what I got:

Tasted the first bottle on 5/15/20. Put it in the fridge for a day I believe. It's been bottled for less than 2 weeks, and it's got decent carbonation already with a small head that sticks around, so that's good. The aroma is nice, a little sweet, grainy, maybe some sweet corn, a little subtle, and a hint of sulfur in the back. It's a little sweet in the taste, but not bad at all. I'd imagine a few more weeks and this will taste pretty nice, and sharpen up a bit. In the case that it's still too sweet at that point, I'll consider making this again with some additional bittering hops. This is a good base, though.

Altered the estimated hops in the recipe because there's no way it was "way hoppy" as my estimate was suggesting before tasting. I cut it down to 1 oz and the bitterness to gravity ratio seems way more reasonable ("slightly hoppy").

Here's the recipe, if interested. The hops are of course, my best guess (in terms of the pre-hopped content), and after tasting, I think it's a pretty good estimate. I think it's on the money SRM/color wise. I think this can make for a solid, standard pseudo-pilsner that one can experiment with. Remember, do not add the "Generic - Muntons Pilsner" hops (good luck finding them on the market anyway, lol) to the wort as that's my best guess on the pre-hopped content:

Muntons Premium Pilsner (souped-up!) - German Pilsner (Pils) (2A)
================================================================================
Batch Size 5 gal
Boil Size 1.5 gal
Boil Time 10 minutes (don't boil the pre-hopped can!)
Efficiency 70%
OG 1.042 sg
FG 1.008 sg
ABV 4.4%
Bitterness 24.4 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 4.0 srm (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Muntons Premium Pilsner (LME) Extract 3.300 lb No Yes 78% 5.0 srm
Muntons DME - Extra Light Dry Extract 1.500 lb No No 95% 3.0 srm
Corn Sugar (Dextrose) Sugar 8.000 oz No No 100% 0.0 srm
Total grain: 5.300 lb

Hops
================================================================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Generic - Muntons Pilsner 5.3% 1.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr Pellet 21.7
Crystal 3.6% 0.500 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 2.7

Yeasts
================================================================================
Name Type Form Amount Stage
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Dry 2.23 tsp Primary

Notes
================================================================================
According to Kegland.com -

Typical Analysis:
Solids: 80-82%
Colour EBC: <8
Bitterness IBU: 17-31
OG: 1036° - 1040°

For bittering hops, I'm just taking an average of their IBU window.

 

[RM-MN]

Carbonation happens pretty fast. I've opened a beer that had one day room temp after bottling, then chilled 24 hours. It was carbonated but wouldn't form a head. After a week the next bottle would form a head but it wouldn't last long. At 2 weeks the head retention was better. At 3 it held a good head. That to me is the basis for suggesting that a person should wait 3 weeks before opening a bottle. As the amount of alcohol gets higher it will take longer than the 3 weeks and a darker beer like porter or stout will take longer to smooth out. I prefer the flavors of the darker beers better with 3 months or more of bottle time.

 

[derekp83]

Carbonation happens pretty fast. I've opened a beer that had one day room temp after bottling, then chilled 24 hours. It was carbonated but wouldn't form a head. After a week the next bottle would form a head but it wouldn't last long. At 2 weeks the head retention was better. At 3 it held a good head. That to me is the basis for suggesting that a person should wait 3 weeks before opening a bottle. As the amount of alcohol gets higher it will take longer than the 3 weeks and a darker beer like porter or stout will take longer to smooth out. I prefer the flavors of the darker beers better with 3 months or more of bottle time.

I agree, although I've had some strange situations, like a pale ale I made that's still not quite carbed up, and it's been about 3 weeks, yet it's been basically in the same environment, with the same conditions and temperature as the pilsner I referenced earlier. The beer is very good, but still not quite carbonated enough. I've also noticed that dark beers take longer to condition. It's funny, sometimes I'll open a brown ale or stout after 2 weeks, and the first half of the beer tastes finished, but the last half is a different story, as in still a little green.

I think there's something to be said for the fast turn around of these prehopped kits. I've had a few examples, all Muntons, where they're basically ready to bottle in 2 weeks, and ready to drink in another 2, which is faster than normal extract and 60-minute-bittering-addition recipes.

 

[Marks262]

Great info on this thread, so thanks. I have a question. Has anyone ever made one of these kits with 1/2 the water? Or, used two cans to make a 5 gallon batch? My aim is get the OG up a bit and have a higher ABV when finished. I've made a few of these and that's really my only complaint is that they all finish in the 4.5-5% ABV range and I'd love to try and get one closer to 7%-8%. Just curious on your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[Rish]

Reducing the water will increase ABV but will also boost IBUs if you're using pre-hopped kits. I'd keep that in mind as you're looking at doing this.