1 can Vs 2 can?

[Crin]

Just curious as to who is pimping the one can kits with extravagant ingredients and who cant be arsed, and go for the pre packed, 2 can approach?

I started on the singles (because I'm tight) but soon couldn't be bothered to even find and add the extra DME and sugar to my virtual shopping cart, let alone my fv, and started on the 2 can kits. I've actually found they work out the same price by the time you've bought the extra fermentables and you get a guaranteed good pint at the end of it. Not that I've had a bad 1 can brew.

Or maybe you do both?

 

[Slid]

Started just doing one can kits and was very pleased with the results, after drinking supermarket Alsace beers in 250ml bottles for years.
After a while it dawned on me that 2x1.5kg Wilko kits were pretty decent doubled up.
Then it was a 1 can kit plus a stove-top mash using 2.5kg of grain to get a full 23L brew.
Sort of a journey to AG.

 

[obscure]

I mostly do small batch all grain but occasionally do kits as well. I have a fondness for Youngs Harvest kits tend to do them with Malt extract (and even horror of horrors dextrose for a low APA mild I find this works quite well) but tomorrow will be brewing the Barley Wine kit, with 2.5kg Maris Otter plan to mash it, then do a 30 minute boil to sterilise it, hoping it will work out.

As for two can kits I do like the sheer convienence, just add to the bucket add boiling water mix and top up. Handy when I want to bring up my stocks.

 

[West wind]

I do both. With the premium kits I brew to the instructions and mix it up a bit with singles. I like to hunt out a bargain tin or pouch occasionally then look what fermentables I have lying around or can find cheap. I ordered a couple of Richies Simply range kits for £9.95 each from B2B and got decent results using 50/50 brew sugar and spray malt.

 

[terrym]

If its a cheap 1.5kg kit and a 1kg bag of table sugar you brewed to 23 litres you get what you deserve.
If its a bigger one can with extra DME, less than 50% sugar, perhaps a grain steep or even a minimash and certainly extra hops and maybe brewed short, that's completely different. However that takes time, organisation and costs more.
But if you can't be arsed getting it together but still want a decent pint that points toward premium kits, although some are better than others.

 

[obscure]

It’s being a while since I brewed a one can kit with just dextrose, so I may be misremembering, but for a very light bitter or mild I do think they can make something drinkable, but it is unquestionably a marked improvement if you swirch to malt extract.

 

[Didge]

Many moons ago, before CAMRA & craft beers really took off, bland beers were common place in pubs. There are generations of drinkers who grew-up on this stuff and would probably be quite happy, and possibly even prefer the thinner mouth feel & subtle flavour of 1 can kits brewed with dextrose.

I appreciate a richer and more flavoursome beer so I generally use the expensive kits. The recipes have come a very long way in the past decade so I find myself reluctant to play about with them too much.

I am also a bit of a tweaker, so I also enjoy using single can kits when experimenting with other ingredients. I've made good brews using different yeasts, hops, malts, home grown fruit, supermarket juices, liquorice & even coffee. My experimental brews tend to be in 15 litre batches, so 1 can kits are ideal for this.

If I want to impress my mates with my homebrew, then I will usually pull-out bottles made with the 2 can kits; however there must still be a lot of demand for 1 can kits because the homebrew shops sell tonnes of them.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Many moons ago, before CAMRA & craft beers really took off, bland beers were common place in pubs. There are generations of drinkers who grew-up on this stuff and would probably be quite happy, and possibly even prefer the thinner mouth feel & subtle flavour of 1 can kits brewed with dextrose.

I appreciate a richer and more flavoursome beer so I generally use the expensive kits. The recipes have come a very long way in the past decade so I find myself reluctant to play about with them too much.

I am also a bit of a tweaker, so I also enjoy using single can kits when experimenting with other ingredients. I've made good brews using different yeasts, hops, malts, home grown fruit, supermarket juices, liquorice & even coffee. My experimental brews tend to be in 15 litre batches, so 1 can kits are ideal for this.

If I want to impress my mates with my homebrew, then I will usually pull-out bottles made with the 2 can kits; however there must still be a lot of demand for 1 can kits because the homebrew shops sell tonnes of them.

Come on mate, there was nothing wrong with Hofmeister Lager.

As far as I know the only two can kits sold in Australia would be imported from the UK.
I don't know of anywhere locally that sells them, and being to tight to pay postage I haven't bothered.
Personally I'm a one can kit, LDME, steeped grain, and hops kind of brewer. With temperature control.

I think my beer is better than my work colleagues who does a kit & Coopers Brew Enhancer in a cool part of the house.
He thinks his beer is better than his golfing partner who does supermarket kit with a kilo of sugar in the back shed.
I know a couple of blokes who do the supermarket stuff just up the road. They're not short of cash, but it's what they do.