Brew kits in the 80s

[brewpete]

Hi does anyone remember how bad the beer kits were in the 80s and do you think home brewing has ever recovered from the bad name it name it had then

[Jim]

Yes, I remember it well. I have to admit that in those days I went for cheap kits and put up with less that perfect beer for the sake of the cost; that all changed once I discovered grain brewing, thanks to David Line's Big Book of Brewing.

I would say it did take a long time for home brew's reputation to recover from that. When I started in the 70s everyone was getting into it, with the aim of making the beer as strong as possible by adding even more sugar to the already thin kits. Yuk! After a few years most of those people gave it up and never went back to it. It was only when the internet came along that more people got into brewing quality beers and things recovered.

[brewpete]

I agree and bottled and canned beer cost a lot more iin respect than it does now off license s on the side of pubs only means off getting beer to take out means people got into brewing for one bad reason it was cheap??

[Hairybiker]

Must admit in the 80's I was a lover of the Boots Strong Ale series (can't remember the name now). That was my go to drink for many years.(Served from a Boots Aluminium keg) Couldn't stand the cheaper tins, tasted like cheap cider. Then in the 90's I moved to BIAB then to 3V and now a Grainfather.

[brewpete]

80s brewkit 40 pint plastic bucket syphon tube 20 Alpine pop bottles 40pint boots budget bitter kit 2lbs sugar bag not really craft brewing is it?

[rpruen]

Hi does anyone remember how bad the beer kits were in the 80s and do you think home brewing has ever recovered from the bad name it name it had then

Its about when my father started brewing, so yes I remember it well. Though not a surprise he went all grain, because some of the kits where just dire, he used to turn out a reasonable bitter though.

[Dennis King]

I never brewed kits, after a few extract brews went into AG, but my Dad brewed Boots kits and the beer was awful.

[sandimas]

The start of my homebrewing "career" was in 1981 with a Boots Lager kit at my mates house, fermented in his mum's airing cupboard - wasn't bad bearing in mind we were 15 at the time I remember having these little plastic bottle caps that popped off if you got too much pressure in the bottles - saved a few bottle bombs. We used to go past his house on the PE cross country run and pop in for a crafty pint - fun times. Didn't touch homebrew for another 30 years.

[orlando]

1974 and Boots were flogging Beer Kits, not just the condoms I really went in for. Couldn't afford real Beer so me and a mate went "why not"? Boy did we find out! I'll never forget one drunken bottling session late one night using one of those single handled crown cap corkers using the heel of one of his platform shoes as a hammer. Didn't end well we had the neighbours banging on the door to complain about the racket. Nor did the Beer, bloody awful. I realised I would just have to work harder to afford the real thing.

[cwrw gwent]

There's no doubt that kits have improved no end compared to 40 years ago but they have to, as the quality and choice of beer in pubs and supermarkets is far better - and the price is now ridiculously cheap in supermarkets.
One thing that has helped kits a lot is the availability of dried and liquid malt extract - and for those who like to tweak their kits, the availability of different hops and sugars.
Back in the 1980s I was a fan of Boots Irish Stout - I didn't think much of the other Boots kits at the time so usually made Geordie Bitter or Tom Caxton. Both these kits today seem to be an improvement on the originals.

[Dave1970]

I used to make the Boots kits from when I was about 16. Had the odd one that tasted OK, a lot that tasted pretty ropy. Not surprised they weren't great, used to ferment in the airing cupboard at God knows what temperature

[Fuggled Mind]

Fantastic stories. We've come a long way haven't we

[Nitro Jim]

Whilst the Boots kits may have been crap, their range of equipment was good. I am currently using two Boots fermenting buckets which are good quality.

[brewpete]

Anyone remember them breerkits that used to look like a sponge pudding tin mighty mo or something like that they were called they were rotten

[Horden Hillbilly]

Anyone remember them breerkits that used to look like a sponge pudding tin mighty mo or something like that they were called they were rotten

Yes, although I didn't brew one myself. The owner of the home brew shop I used to go to when I first started brewing in the 80's told me that those kits were popular with people who worked in the middle east. They used to take the labels off & replace them with the steam/treacle pudding labels to avoid scrutiny.