Are the high quality kits now as good as mashing etc?

[Drunken Horse]

Lots of people big'in up the fresh hops in the kits. Nice. But what about the fresh malt in the AG. It's the major ingredient really, so why wouldn't that make a difference. Fresh malt + fresh hops with yeast (fresh or dry) = braw beer...

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DirtyCaner

Possibly but from the A.G. I drunk it was definatly the hops I noticed the difference from. Not saying the malt might not have been better but if it was it was masked by the improvement in hops flavour.

 

[Drunken Horse]

As much as I'd love to do all grain I really dont have the time. I had a a couple of hours free each weekend. Not enough time for an A.G. set up, And its not like kits are awful if done right and given time they are better than the beers you can buy in the supermarket. Maybe when my kids are older I'll move to A.G.

As for it not being your own beer well that depends on how much you play with it. You follow the kits instructions then you just have coopers (or whoevers) beer. But as soon as you start changing the fermentables or adding other flavours its you own (just like deviating from a recipe in a cookery book).

Besides which its not as black and white as that I see plenty of A.G. clone recipies, surely the closer they get the less they are brewing "their own" beer. Same goes for following another A.G. recipe to the letter.


All grain is undoubtedly what everyone doing this hobby wants to get to do in the long run but time and space to do it are the biggest boundaries preventing that, nothing wrong with kit or extract brewing until you are in the position to move to A.G.