Kits I Wouldn't Brew Again

[Daz72]

Tinsel Toes - Bought 2 kits las year - Big mistake.
"A wintery dark ruby beer with sweet, fruit flavours and hints of Christmas pudding. A smooth fusion of roast malts with rich fruit characterstics ABV - 4.5%"

Not what I'd call a Christmas Ale. Had that thin watery taste. No feel. Just a hint of spice. Perhaps would have worked as a 4 gal/18l (5.5% ish) kit. I put the 2nd kit into Imperial Stouts.

Agree, very watery with little spice taste, don't waste your time or pennies on this one.

 

[Kit-brewer]

I made Cwtch...cloudy, over hopped (I always reduce the amount of hops it says,m and this was still way over), and nothing like the real thing.
Also, not found a decent cider kit ( I hate fruit ciders so will only try apple kits.) Night just try supermarket juice cider.

 

[Wherrypuzzled]

Tinsel Toes still not Red .

So far had 3 small 1/3 glasses of it and not struck on taste of it but time may enhance colour and taste , though it didn't with the CWTCH mentioned above

 

[Wherrypuzzled]

I wouldn't buy TT again. It's not Red and in fact paler than Wherry

I'm trying a St Peter's Ruby now having done it twice before and remembered it was reddish and tasted ok

Hopefully it will be my go to , but will still do an odd other kit looking for a Barnsley Bitter alike

 

[Wherrypuzzled]

I made Cwtch...cloudy, over hopped (I always reduce the amount of hops it says,m and this was still way over), and nothing like the real thing.
Also, not found a decent cider kit ( I hate fruit ciders so will only try apple kits.) Night just try supermarket juice cider.

I agree . I don't know if I did this correctly but should have reduced the Hops as it was far too bitter for me

I realised how bad it was when in Newport I went to Tiny Rebels Tap and had a couple of CWTCH and they were great

 

[marshbrewer]

Muntons Connoisseur Lager. Or was it pilsner? Can't remember. It was absolutely dreadful in every way possible. Brown not golden and more twang than Brenda Slaggs knickers.

 

[Heveilius]

St Peters Honey Porter: cloyingly sweet

 

[Graz]

St Peters Honey Porter: cloyingly sweet

I didn't like this one either, just tasted artificial. The other weird thing about it was that I had it in a keg and force carbonated it. When poured it had zero head despite being fizzy. Really weird. As usual I had to put a few litres of it into bottles with priming sugar to take up the difference between the 19L keg and 23L kit, these poured with a head, bizarre.

 

[gSmith]

Ultimate Brewery Classics Surfers Reward Cornish Ale Beer Kit​

Suggested by my local HBS and was undrinkable. 2 tubs of malt extract and a sachet of hop extract and not cheap so was really hoping for a good beer. I’ll be avoiding this one in future, and my local HBS to some extent

 

[dowden87]

Ultimate Brewery Classics Surfers Reward Cornish Ale Beer Kit​

Suggested by my local HBS and was undrinkable. 2 tubs of malt extract and a sachet of hop extract and not cheap so was really hoping for a good beer. I’ll be avoiding this one in future, and my local HBS to some extent

Not good it was undrinkable :-( I brewed this one and really enjoyed, especially after a month in the bottle. What was undrinkable about it ? Cheers Pete

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Not good it was undrinkable :-( I brewed this one and really enjoyed, especially after a month in the bottle. What was undrinkable about it ? Cheers Pete

I guess like with all things its down to personal taste, a couple of good reviews in the old thread below -

now then i had a bottle of this the other night just as a little tester to see how it was getting on was almoth clear after only a week in bottles and i tell u what it was bloody crackin a bit young reminden me of the woodfords wheary a bit nice little fruity tast and good body and a head that lasted vertualy all the way down the glass so i will leave it some were cold for a few weeks and it will be even better will post pics when its done

This has to be one of my favourites to date. Which means I'm either easily pleased and happy with the end result, or, I need to do some experiment with some more kits. I think the latter sounds better

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...s-reward-cornish-ale-review.25297/post-278136

 

[micklupulo]

Agree that personal taste must play a big part as must a mistake made in the brewing process that is not apparent by an obvious factor such as an infection. I would never again brew the Dark Rock Aussie Gold in the session series which received excellent reviews. For my taste it was far too bitter though in that regard it was no different to most kits that rely on copious dry hopping. I am sure I made no errors and it looked great. On the plus side it got me back onto all grain!

 

[Bjorn Toulouse]

Any of the gone with the wheat range, bogging. I only brew kits and there are some belters out there. I predominately brew Coopers Euro lager, lovely after 3 months conditioning. Basically every month I get a coopers euro and whatever is on special. Most are darker than the picture on the tin. The brewferm raspberry as mentioned above... I agree with the poster. With the exception of Coopers Euro I tend to stay clear of "lagers". Most (to me) just taste of home brew kits from Boots of yesteryear.