Which kit would be closest to...

[hatman]

Hello JBKers.

Not being a beer drinker I took a chance and bought the youngs brew buddy lager kit (with FV, hydrometer etc) from Tesco for the bargin price of £7.96. After making a turbo cider for practice (turned out very nice) I made up the lager kit and it's now conditioning in the shed.

to find a beer that I like I have been sampling a few beers from my local Morrisons and am really enjoying the Marston's EPA. For my next brew I would like something similar. Does anyone know if there any kits out there that would get me close to the EPA?

Cheers
Carl

[Geezah]

A coopers IPA, John Bull IPA or a Coopers APA with some fuggles hops steeped as a hop tea will be somewhere along the lines.
Make sure you use a kilo of DME or a tin of LME to get the malty body of a pale ale rather than using sugard to make up your fermentables.

[Shrunken Reaper]

In a random note... that's a bloody good deal for £8!

[Bert]

What tesco store was that in?

[hatman]

Thanks for that Geezah. I think i'll try the APA first and use the dme rather than a bke or sugar. Might leave the hops for now though, i'd like to see what the kit tastes like without extra hops first.

Tesco in telford. I bought it last spring/summer. I had to take the box to customer services to check that it wasn't a mistake. they are back to normal price now though.

[rootsbrew]

...I think i'll try the APA first and use the dme rather than a bke or sugar. Might leave the hops for now though, i'd like to see what the kit tastes like without extra hops first...

IIRC, EPA is amber coloured? So, use pale extract. Amber/medium extract is too dark. Extra pale extract would probably work well too, but would have aromas more like honey than nutty-malt.

To get the texture of an ale like that, expect to leave it conditioning for some time.

[cellone]

In a random note... that's a bloody good deal for £8!

Maybe Tesco's are being extra careful about ingredient infomation and have found out that if they give the yeast and extract away free they can't be had for the contents.

[Geezah]

Thanks for that Geezah. I think i'll try the APA first and use the dme rather than a bke or sugar. Might leave the hops for now though, i'd like to see what the kit tastes like without extra hops first.

Tesco in telford. I bought it last spring/summer. I had to take the box to customer services to check that it wasn't a mistake. they are back to normal price now though.

You might find the APA kit a bit like the first taste step from lager to real ale, so I would promote the use of extra hops & grains when adapting this kit to reproduce something your looking for.

This is a good guide to take away your apprehension of messing with kit adaptions...
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