using two cans

[jimjamjamie0]

Hi I went to my local homebrew shop in doncaster, to purchase a stout kit i saw some unlabelled kits going cheap, i decided upon the mild. i was gonna make it up with some dsm and glucose but the fella in the shop suggested using two cans and no sugar??
i have never heard of doing this, i thought the two can kits that you can buy were two differnet tins, but can you make up any one tin kit just using two of the cans with no other additive to make a better brew???


jamie

[trucker5774]

Yes, it can be done.............BUT...........It's not the same as using a kit can plus a can of extract. The 2nd kit can with have all the ingredients the 1st one has, including the bitterness. There may be some experimenting to be done. Two cans of bitter may be a bit much, but 2 mild may be ok. Noe mild and one stot may be interesting. If it is very cheap and you have the time give it a try. If not, stick with one can and use spray malt.

[jimjamjamie0]

thanks for the speedy reply, thats cleared up what i thought about the two can kits, think i will just do like you said with the spray malt, i bought to cans but think it would be better try the first can if good then do the other, or if not so good look at adding more or change brew length ect.

thanks again


jamie

[trucker5774]

Jamie, just to clarify.............don't confuse using two cans with a specific kit which is a true "2 can kit" A kit which is designed to be used as 2 cans can be split into half sized brews (about 11 litres each)

[MightyMouth]

As has been said above you will double the bitterness using 2 cans but there are many very bitter beers around and if you use something which is not so bitter you may wind up will a perfectly drinkable beer particularly if you were to steep a handful of nice aroma hops in some of the wort for 10 minutes before adding it back to the brew. You might wind up with a good approximation of an IPA.

[Lillywhite]

....that's cleared up what I thought about the two can kits....

A proper two can premium beer kit will have the right amount of bitterness. However, what you were sold was two single cans and I would have expected the home brew shop guy, if he was worth his salt, to have mentioned the problem regarding doubling up single cans regarding excessive bitterness.

[RussDeBuss]

i started a thread about this the other day to pass on my experience.

i had a can of edme german style lager. i thought i would do the same as you, kind of. and made it half volume, equivilent to 2 cans in a full 5gallon brew. i thought i would do this instead of adding plain white sugar to try and get a better quality, i had no malt extract of any kind to use.

i forget to take into account that these are pre hopped so i have basically made a lager that is twice as bitter as it should have been, and i think it may have quite a bitter kit to start with because i tried a bottle the other night and its difficult to drink cos its so bitter. its still early though, had just over a week priminh, and just over a week in the fridge so it might mellow out, if not i will have to try with lime, lemonade or soda water to make it a bit more drinkable.

it could be do-able on a kit that is quite light normally, or maybe using 1 can at 3/4 or 2/3 volume and adding a bit of sugar or malt extract to bring the og up so the beer isn't too weak, but you definatly need to consider the bitterness.

i will report back in about 3 weeks when i try that brew again to see if it has mellowed, but i can't see it getting that much better

[jimjamjamie0]

Jamie, just to clarify.............don't confuse using two cans with a specific kit which is a true "2 can kit" A kit which is designed to be used as 2 cans can be split into half sized brews (about 11 litres each)

right yeah i get ya now, i was thinking it was literally one can of hopped and one can of extract.

still think i am gonna do one can with the spray malt and see how it goes


jamie

[jimjamjamie0]

....that's cleared up what I thought about the two can kits....

A proper two can premium beer kit will have the right amount of bitterness. However, what you were sold was two single cans and I would have expected the home brew shop guy, if he was worth his salt, to have mentioned the problem regarding doubling up single cans regarding excessive bitterness.

to be honest i think hes just inteseted in moving stock