best budget kits.

[truemay]

I just finished a keg of youngs scotish heavy.made with a jar of H&B and 500 gms of brown sugar.really malty full bodied ale.Supposed to be a budget kit didn't seem like it, in fact I was so impressed I've order the Yorkshire bitter and mild kits.In this time of recession any one else been impressed by any so called budget kits?

[Pinto]

Impressed, no...sliightly disappointed, yes.

Brewed a Geordie Lager a little while back - promised a lot at bottling, but didnt come through with the goods on conditioning; the flavour was there but the flavour just wasnt assertive enough to make a nice lager (With hindsight, I think that brewing short (30 instead of 40 pints) and going with a proper lager yeast at lower fermentation temps) that kit would deliver some excellent results at a very cheap price.

[cwrw gwent]

I reckon all the Geordie kits are good - except the lager. I found it was lacking in body and favour. As Pinto says, perhaps it would be fine brewed short and fermented with real lager yeast. My favourite Geordie kit is the Yorkshire Bitter made with at least 500grams light hopped spraymalt.

[Pinto]

Prices are very good on the BrewFerm kits at the moment (can have most of them for around a tenner) and the beers made are probably amongst the best you can make from a kit - just need to have patience as they all need long conditioning (3-6 months is the norm) but the produce is well worth the wait

[HantsBrewer]

The Geordie mild is pretty good, but strangely better young.

[winka]

I just tried a Geaordie Scottish Export the other night, been in the bottle a couple of weeks and it was great, 2 jars H&B malt and 1 squirty bottle of Lyles Golden Syrup.

Only down side is I ballsed up my bulk priming and it is totaly flat and I find it hard to drink really flat ales, its nice but too flat for me, guess I might need to add a bit of lemonade to sparkle it up a bit.

Deffinatley will do the kit again, but correctly next time

Cheers

[cwrw gwent]

The Geordie mild is pretty good, but strangely better young.

I find that too. Unlike most kits, Geordie kits don't seem to get better as they age though they are good after only ten days in the bottle.

[Pinto]

The Geordie mild is pretty good, but strangely better young.

I find that too. Unlike most kits, Geordie kits don't seem to get better as they age though they are good after only ten days in the bottle.

+1

The lager tasted like flat Carlsberg Export going into the bottles and tasted like watered down Skol coming out after conditioning doesnt get better with age either - only got 6 litres left to go

[winka]

Shit

Best get to work on the 39&1/2 pints of that flat stuff then

[Cully]

John Bull IPA is absolutely cracking when made with Beer Kit Enhancer. The only other John Bull I tried was the traditional English Ale and it was minging, like something from the late seventies! Mind I made it with sugar instead of BKE, so that might have swayed things a bit.

[woblylegs]

i agree the brewferm kits are excellent value for money and make a great brew.
coopers stout is another thats worth brewing also. it makes a lovely stout

[Haggis]

[quote="Cully"]John Bull IPA is absolutely cracking when made with Beer Kit Enhancer. The only other John Bull I tried was the traditional English Ale and it was minging, like something from the late seventies! Mind I made it with sugar instead of BKE, so that might have swayed things a bit.[/quote]


I like the John Bull IPA and the traditional ale made with BKE or malt and brewing sugar. I especially like the fact that you can brew it to 40 pints. ( I found brewing it to 30 pints or 20L produced beer which was a little too bitter for my liking ).

My favourite so far has been a Coopers English Bitter made with a kilo of light DME and a mug of sugar, it really was lovely.

Question is really when does a budget kit become a premium kit??

If you buy a kit for say £14 and add a kilo of extra malt and consider a better yeast the price you will pay is certainly not a kick in the arse of two can kit.

For me, it is Coopers, most of their range comes in at £11.25 at a homebrew shop in Glasgow.

[Cully]

I made the Coopers (I think European) lager with 1kg bke and it was a lovely golden colour, clear as a bell and tatsed of absolutely... nothing. No bitterness, no malt, no hops. Was like drinking water with a head.

[jabbathehut]

Im in Ireland get my kits from www.brewsmarter.co.uk / http://www.homebrewwest.ie ...cheapest around. A coopers ipa or real ale with a good whip of hop tea. made with bke or 50/50 dme/brewsugar.........sneak in under the 20 euro barrier. kit / malt/ hops = much better than 3kg alone kit. 3kg kits need hops too.

[chaz1975]

I've done a couple of the Youngs Harvest kits , Bitter , lager and Mild and they've been ok and the John Bull Brown ale was better but i think my favourite have been the Coopers Old English and Real Ale kits , in fact i'm thinking of going the other way , because i've tried the so caled budget kits i'd like to try a Premium kit so i think i'm gonna try the St Peters Ruby Red but like another poster mentioned if your paying £12-14 for a kit then Beer enhancer/spraymalt on top , you're not that far off £20