A simple kit to start with?

Hi all

Ive been interested in my making my own beer for a while and have been wondering what is the simplest and tastiest beer to start brewing for a complete beginner :

-bud

I started with the Coopers Australian Lager, now onto the European Lager and then the Cerveza once this is complete

I started with Woodforde's Wherry, a popular first Ale kit I believe.

Two and a half months on it tastes good!

Coopers IPA I started with. Good beer.

i would say a brewferm kit.

Thanks for all the help :thumb: , ive looked into the brewferm kits and they seem to be something i could try out and not worry if it all goes wrong!

Brewferm kits need a long conditioning time to come good: 3 months minimum IMHO. If you want something more instant, try one of the other suggested kits. Don't get me wrong the Brewferms are good, just need a lot of patience. :thumb:

darrellm said:

Brewferm kits need a long conditioning time to come good: 3 months minimum IMHO. If you want something more instant, try one of the other suggested kits. Don't get me wrong the Brewferms are good, just need a lot of patience. :thumb:

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that is true but worth the wait, do a brewferm kit first then but a few quicker kits on to give the brewferm chance to be at its best and start to get a back stock. im not sure but the brewferm wheat kit is quick i think

iceo said:

darrellm said:

Brewferm kits need a long conditioning time to come good: 3 months minimum IMHO. If you want something more instant, try one of the other suggested kits. Don't get me wrong the Brewferms are good, just need a lot of patience. :thumb:

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that is true but worth the wait, do a brewferm kit first then but a few quicker kits on to give the brewferm chance to be at its best and start to get a back stock. im not sure but the brewferm wheat kit is quick i think

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The Brewferm Wheat kit is six weeks conditioning so while a good kit and would definitely recommend, not the quickest.

I would say give a Wilco Golden ale kit a whirl, cheap two can kit, easy as they come to make with excellent results :hat:

I am halfway though my first homebrew kit - well the first kit in over 25yrs - and have taken advice and have bought a Coopers Real Ale kit. Depending on the finished result I will either stick with other Coopers brews for a while or have a go at Woodfordes Wherry which always get's good reviews. :drink:

Paul Narramore said:

I am halfway though my first homebrew kit - well the first kit in over 25yrs - and have taken advice and have bought a Coopers Real Ale kit. Depending on the finished result I will either stick with other Coopers brews for a while or have a go at Woodfordes Wherry which always get's good reviews. :drink:

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The Coopers Real ale was my first kit too. Turned out very nice, but like most kits it gets better with age. I think it was at it's best around 3-4 months after bottling, although only a couple of bottles had such a life span.

I think a good beginners kit is probably any 2 can kit. It can't get simpler, just add water. However, I quite liked the idea with a one can kit that you can make a few changes... use brew enhancer from Coopers, or malt extract etc... You can still do that with a 2 can kit, but i'd be less inclined to as they tend to offer a good enough quality without the need of any additions. A 1 can kit and just 1kg brewing sugar can be a bit lame.

Don't let Paul Narramore see this thread he will whip you with library books!!!

On a more serious note I started my first kit on Sunday.

Woodfordes Wherry

Seems simple enough!!

Good Luck!!

Make sure you get all the treacle out the can though!! unlike me :rofl:

Woodforde's Wherry is only £15.20 at Wilkos at the moment.

I would go for the whoodfordes wherry too.

It was my first brew, couldn't be simpler and tastes great.

Andysbrew said:

Don't let Paul Narramore see this thread he will whip you with library books!!!

On a more serious note I started my first kit on Sunday.

Woodfordes Wherry

Seems simple enough!!

Good Luck!!

Make sure you get all the treacle out the can though!! unlike me :rofl:

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No need for a library book, Andy, with that kit as all the instructions are on the can. But I shall definitely tinker with any I make in the future. As I like hoppy beer, I shall be trying dry hopping. I'm just off to fit a waist-high shelf in the garage to place the keg on for the last seven days of conditioning before trying it. I never liked bottling, far too fiddly for me. Yes, the beer begins to get flat towards the end so I shall simply have to share it with friends and/or drink it faster. :party:

Paul Narramore said:

I am halfway though my first homebrew kit - well the first kit in over 25yrs - and have taken advice and have bought a Coopers Real Ale kit. Depending on the finished result I will either stick with other Coopers brews for a while or have a go at Woodfordes Wherry which always get's good reviews. :drink:

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Last night I poured my first pint and - what a disappointment. The first thing I noticed, it's ain a cask, was that no beer came out when I opened the tap. I slackened off the filler cap and it started to pour. So no natural pressure. Whilst the beer tasted fine, nice and bitter, it was definitely pretty flat. Let me tell you how I made it and see if you can see anything wrong.

Coopers Real Ale kit. Brewed in a fermenting bin and just about followed the instructions to the letter. 1 kg sugar. Fermenting bin placed by a radiator for seven days. SG taken and beer added to the cash with 80gm of priming sugar solution. Cask left by radiator for a further seven days. Cask then put in a cold garage for a final seven days.

I wondered if the cask had leaked? Perhaps the filler cap was loose? It wasn't. I shall make another batch but with 100gm of priming sugar and perhaps miss out the middle sevendays against the radiator, so fermenting seven days, then into the cask and straight out to the garage.

What do you all think? No, I don't want to go the Sparklets route. I used that in a previous life and found that there was sufficient natural gas to keep the beer in decent condition, at least until halfway down the cask.

Sounds like a leaky cask! Is it a Wilko's cask? They do have a sealing problem, you need to ensure that you have liberally dozed the threads with Vaseline and then don't over tighten them.

Not all is lost, you can re-prime again with 5g/1L then put into bottles and keep warm for a couple of weeks then in the cold for as long as your patience will let you.

p.s. you might consider getting a priming bucket for the latter operation.


To bring this back on topic.
I'd recommend the Wherry, it generally gets consistently good to excellent ratings on here, I have to say I like it too, its one of the best 2can kits.

The two tin kits are very good. My favourite is St Peters Ruby Red. The Wherry is also good but always needs a stir on the 3rd or 4th day.

any two can kit would be a good choice like woodfords, milestone, muntons, wilko 2 can kits, st peters.
coopers kits are good aswell. brewferm kits are excellent but they do take a long time to mature.
I've got five bottles of brewferm diabolo left from last july now 7 months old.

LeithR said:

Sounds like a leaky cask! Is it a Wilko's cask? They do have a sealing problem, you need to ensure that you have liberally dozed the threads with Vaseline and then don't over tighten them.

Not all is lost, you can re-prime again with 5g/1L then put into bottles and keep warm for a couple of weeks then in the cold for as long as your patience will let you.

p.s. you might consider getting a priming bucket for the latter operation.


To bring this back on topic.
I'd recommend the Wherry, it generally gets consistently good to excellent ratings on here, I have to say I like it too, its one of the best 2can kits.

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Well that's pretty crappy, isn't it? I checked the cap and I had Vaselined the rubber seal but I had done it up fairly tightly. I have added some more priming sugar and will leave it for a week or so before trying some again. I can't really take it back as they'd only offer me a replacement. Also there's nothing visible wrong with the cap or top.