Fresh Wort Kits

[Fatgodzilla]

In a thread I made the comment that fresh wort kits are available in Australia and someone expressed surprise. Can you buy them in the UK ? Below is a picture and the advertising blurb about one supplier's range. I have no association with the supplier, just using as an example.

More importantly, if you cannot buy something like this in the UK, does anyone know why >

artisanale04.jpg (6.98 KiB) Viewed 1371 times

All grain quality, can kit convenience

Our handcrafted kits are as easy to use as an old fashioned canned beer kit but are of much higher quality. They are not evaporated to a concentrate which destroys most of the great flavour and aroma of malt and hops. They are a liquid base in a 17 litre cube to which water, malt and hops can be added, if desired, to change colour, flavour and aroma creating particular beer styles. Ask us at the shop for tailored recipe suggestions or they can be brewed straight from the container.
A DCL (Saf) yeast of your choice is included in the price or you can upgrade to a Wyeast for an additional $10.

Type 1
A pale low bitterness base suitable for making a Munich Helles, low bitterness European or Australian lager, brown ale, mild, Scottish Ale or Oktoberfest, Marzen and similar styles. It has an original gravity of 1060 and is made with a blend of Australian and imported pale and Vienna malts. 28 IBU with bitterness provided by a mild neutral hop and a small late addition of German Hallertau.

Type 2
A pale high bitterness base suitable for making higher bitterness lagers such as Pilsner and Dortmunder,and ales such as British and American Pale Ales and Stouts. It has an original gravity of 1060 and is made with a blend of Australian and imported pale and Vienna malts. 45 IBU with bitterness provided by a mild neutral hop and a small late addition of German Hallertau.

Type 3
A pale wheat base suitable for making German Wheat beers and Belgian Wits. It has an original gravity of 1060 and is made with a blend of Australian Barley and Wheat malts (60% Wheat). 21 IBU with bitterness provided by a mild neutral hop.

Type 4
A pale high gravity base suitable for making German Bock or Doppelbock, British Barley Wines, Imperial Stout and Scotch Ale, or Belgian Tripel, Dubbel, or Strong Golden Ales. It has an original gravity of 1080 and is made with Pilsner malt and with 10% of the gravity being provided by pale Candi sugar. 25 IBU with bitterness provided by a mild neutral hop and a small late addition of German Hallertau.

[steve_flack]

I've only ever seen them sold by Aussie stores. We don't get them here.

[Aleman]

I must admit that I've been thinking about making something like that for some time (years ), and have found a couple of wholesalers who are interested in taking them . . . Just have to jump though the hoops of environmental health and HSE . . . customs are not so much of a problem as its not fermented wort . . . . it would mean that I can have my 2.5BBL plant and make some money with it without going the whole hog and trying to get beer into pubs . . . which round here are mostly tied . . . OK not to breweries any more but to pub companies . . . that are 'owned' by the group that also owns a couple of breweries

[Fatgodzilla]

I am a little surprised. While this is not a big market in Australia, mainly due to the cost, it is still an important player in the game. (At $40-$50 its two to three times more expensive than kits but its full AG). But as I said in a recent cooling thread here, from this principle comes the idea of saving your boiling wort to a cube with minimal airspace to allow it to cool at your leisure. Only a guess, but I'd say 20% of AG brewers in Australia use this method of cooling their wort (the rest own some form of wort chiller). Its a fairly recent trend, but so much in home brewing is.

I actually thought that in cold climates such as the UK and the USA this would be ideal. Do your boil at night, cube the wort, shove outside overnight into the semi frozen air and pour to your fermenter next day. The best alternative most Aussies get is to chuck the bloody thing into the swimming pool ! Surely someone in the UK has thought of this ?

[steve_flack]

Given the choice using some sort of chiller would produce a better wort (better cold break, less DMS if using pilsner malts). Admittedly 'natural' cooling uses less water which is possibly of more concern to Australians than rain soaked Brits.

[Damfoose]

You seem to be forgetting one vitally important thing here. Us lot in the UK wear tweed jackets and anoracs..... But more to the point the few of us that brew are classed as an oddity by others as brewing you own cant be any good can it ! or the other its faster and cheeper to buy it from the shop why do you want to go to all the hastle of brewing that muck .......

Only us in the know have any idea...

[pantsmachine]

Takes all the fun and artistry out of it.(aye,pissartistry). Might as well just buy beer from the shop.