best kit to start with?
- Thread starter islaybrew
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
MickDundee
Landlord.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2016
- Messages
- 5,404
- Reaction score
- 3,929
I did Woodforde's Wherry as my first kit and it turned out wonderfully. It's neither like Hobgoblin nor a lager though, it's a red ale/bitter.
But you can turn Wherry into a very close Hobgoblin clone.
Large pan of water (a few litres if possible) boiled then cooled to around 65C, steep the following for 30mins
÷ - 150g Crystal malt
÷ - 100g Chocolate malt
Strain into a stock pot, make volume up to 5L and boil the following for 15 mins
÷ - 10g Fuggles
÷ - 10g Styrian Goldings (Bobek)
Turn the heat off, wait for 10 mins for temp to drop below 80C and steep the following for 30mins
÷ - 14g Fuggles
÷ - 14g Styrian Goldings (Bobek)
Strain that into a fermenting bucket and add the Wherry kit and water to the nomal volume. I'm drinking this at the moment.
Word of warning with Wherry (and other kits made by Muntons), ditch the kit yeast: there's not enough of it, resulting in these kits often ending in stuck brews. Get a pack of Gervin Ale Yeast from Wilcos for 1.75 and use that instead.
Large pan of water (a few litres if possible) boiled then cooled to around 65C, steep the following for 30mins
÷ - 150g Crystal malt
÷ - 100g Chocolate malt
Strain into a stock pot, make volume up to 5L and boil the following for 15 mins
÷ - 10g Fuggles
÷ - 10g Styrian Goldings (Bobek)
Turn the heat off, wait for 10 mins for temp to drop below 80C and steep the following for 30mins
÷ - 14g Fuggles
÷ - 14g Styrian Goldings (Bobek)
Strain that into a fermenting bucket and add the Wherry kit and water to the nomal volume. I'm drinking this at the moment.
Word of warning with Wherry (and other kits made by Muntons), ditch the kit yeast: there's not enough of it, resulting in these kits often ending in stuck brews. Get a pack of Gervin Ale Yeast from Wilcos for 1.75 and use that instead.
Welcome to our forum.
If you are thinking about starting with beer kits you might find this useful, http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57526.
As MickDundee has suggested Wherry is a good start but I and others recommend that you change the kit yeast and substitute a proper ale yeast, say a Wilko Ale yeast, because the kit yeast often 'sticks' or stops fermenting before it should.
And the Festival range of premium beer kits also have a good account on here, and may give you something near to what you are looking for.
Elsewhere Coopers one can kits are predicable and reliable although a bit uninspiring sometimes.
Failing that have a look at the reviews on here of which there are plenty.
My advice is keep it simple to start with and then build on that.
If you are thinking about starting with beer kits you might find this useful, http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57526.
As MickDundee has suggested Wherry is a good start but I and others recommend that you change the kit yeast and substitute a proper ale yeast, say a Wilko Ale yeast, because the kit yeast often 'sticks' or stops fermenting before it should.
And the Festival range of premium beer kits also have a good account on here, and may give you something near to what you are looking for.
Elsewhere Coopers one can kits are predicable and reliable although a bit uninspiring sometimes.
Failing that have a look at the reviews on here of which there are plenty.
My advice is keep it simple to start with and then build on that.
Clydebrewer
Well-Known Member
I've only recently started brewing with kits and can recommend the Festival kits and the Young's American Ale kits ,AAA and APA were the ones I started with. All of the info on the link above is solid especially regarding extra time and patience. The Young's kits were very drinkable quickly which is good when you start off. I'm now on Cooper's kits and they seem to be fine as well.
Pick what you think you'd like to drink and work from there.
Welcome
Pick what you think you'd like to drink and work from there.
Welcome
LarryF
Brew Numpty
Coopers English Bitter or Stout are good starter kits as they're very drinkable very early. The John Bull IPA or Best Bitter are very nice kits too, you'll pick up all or most of these in the next Tesco Sale. The Youngs Harvest Pilsner is a nice kit to start adding hops to, be it a tea or a dry hop added five days before bottling or kegging or both. The Youngs Beer Enhancer for ã3.75 per kg is very good value.
MickDundee
Landlord.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2016
- Messages
- 5,404
- Reaction score
- 3,929
When I did my very first kit, I was told that the first commandment of Homebrewing was "Thy shalt not **** with thine Wherry"!
keat64
Landlord.
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2015
- Messages
- 518
- Reaction score
- 150
I've just done a Festival Suffolk Strong Ale, and up to press i'm not impressed with it.
I'm finding it very harsh, athough it still is a bit young so it might mellow.
My only issue is, I'll need another keg in about 3 weeks, so do I buy one, tip the Festival out and use the keg, or maybe i'll bottle one instead.
I'm finding it very harsh, athough it still is a bit young so it might mellow.
My only issue is, I'll need another keg in about 3 weeks, so do I buy one, tip the Festival out and use the keg, or maybe i'll bottle one instead.
wheazy_joe
Landlord.
I was really impressed with the double chocolate stout kit I did. It was by Easter brews. I liked the fact that they give you options in the instructions depending on how hoppy you like it. Very tasty.
Duplicated - weird
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2013
- Messages
- 645
- Reaction score
- 288
Rather than a lager kit I would recommend the Coopers Australian Pale Ale. Even though I have done 92 brews and am now on All Grain brewing, myself and my fellow brew club members always fall back on this kit when time is at a premium as it is a cracking little kit when 500g of spray malt is added. For best results chuck a handful of hops in after initial fermentation such as Citra, Cascade or Simcoe for that american ipa taste. Bought one this week to get my stocks up and to allow me to condition my AG beers as I drink them faster than I can make them!
Just goes to show how people's tastes differ ... I have returned to this kit several times as it was so nice and have had great reports for those bottles I've given away!
In fact, I would heartily recommend any of the Festival kits and everything is included in the kit, but going back to the original question, quite a few people say that Woodfordes Nog is similar to Hobgoblin.
Muntons oaked ale was very nice but don't use the yeast provided - that turned out like a cross between hobgoblin & guiness with a touch of vanilla.
or if you want to try ipa's brewmaker ipa available from lakeland was very good.
whatever you choose best wishes for your brew and may the brewing bug firmly bite!
or if you want to try ipa's brewmaker ipa available from lakeland was very good.
whatever you choose best wishes for your brew and may the brewing bug firmly bite!
Well what a great reception to my question, really chuffed with the answers you have all given me and looking forward to trying them.
i think i will give the coopers Australian pale ale a shot and maybe go for a wherry when that is bottled. also i like the look of that adjustment to the wherry darrellm, could give me a good first step to using hops.
thanks again everyone and you have made the transition to the dark side that bit less confusing to me as there is so much to learn!
i think i will give the coopers Australian pale ale a shot and maybe go for a wherry when that is bottled. also i like the look of that adjustment to the wherry darrellm, could give me a good first step to using hops.
thanks again everyone and you have made the transition to the dark side that bit less confusing to me as there is so much to learn!
To be fair, though, I do like the look of the Hobgoblin tribute.
The steeped malts will add body and sweetness, balanced by some flavour hops. Very little needed by way of extra kit and this is a way forward from "just" kit brewing.
Which hops you use are, in the first instance, driven by what you can get at a fair price. There is some snobbery around hop varieties, I feel.
If you are doing an English sort of beer, then there is a lot of inter-changeability between the hops, as they have all been used over a very extensive past for the same general purposes.
Similar threads
