Brewer's Choice Dry Kits

[Jerry Cornelius]

Just thought I'd say this about these kits...

I've only brewed five kits so far, three have been 2 can premium kits and two were Brewer's Choice dry kits, all the 2 can kits have stuck at 1.020 and although they have gone on to be good pints, they have all tasted a bit sweet.

The two dry kits have not stuck, the first is now bottled (1.013) and is four weeks old and has no home-brew tang at all. I don't think it's fully matured yet; only been in the bottles for nine days, but is tasting very promising.

The second is still in the FV, and after eight days is still dropping, currently at 1.017 (1.019 yesterday) - used Safale04. Until I move to AG, I think that this looks like the way to go. Must admit that I am tempted to try a Coopers kit (Ditch's Stout, probably!) before I get all the extra gear i need...

Just my thoughts

[brewin_bear]

After a number of one and two can kits I was thinking of the Brewers Choice kits but then thought it was only a small step away from that to extract brewing. That's the way I went as you have total control over what your are brewing - for good or bad

I simply converted a FV to a boiler using 2 kettle elements and that was it - total cost £10 - as I already had a spare FV. It is a lot more fun than kit brewing (which is really only disolve some cans in water, throw in some yeast and wait a while). And it would be quite simple to move from this to FG (just would need a mash tun really) and more time

[thatscolder]

I've got a brew choice IPA which went into the keg last Saturday. This was my first brewers choice effort (option 2). The OG was 1.050 and it finished at 1.012 roughly 5%. It did seem quite cloudy with a few bit floating around when I transferred to the keg so I hope it's ok. I'll move it from the kitchen to the garage this weekend. Then wait a few weeks before trying it

[martyn142]

Hi Jerry - which option did you go for?

[arturobandini]

Spray Dried Malt gives a lot less chance of "twangy" and "tinny" flavours than canned extract is my experience. That's why I think single can kits (Coopers are good) made up with 1kg of Spray Dried Malt knock the spots off any Muntons/Woodfordes efforts.

[Jerry Cornelius]

Hi Martyn - I went for 1kg of dry spray malt - it seems fine, maybe a little thinner than liquid extract, but nothing to worry about. It's what Chris-x1 recommended to avoid the infamous 'sticking' and is seems to have done the trick

Brewin bear I've been looking around for cheapo kettles that I can get the elements from, but I haven't had any luck so far I've started to look at immersion heater elements - an 11 inch one is about £15. I might try that. Are plastic FVs a bit flimsy to fill with boiling wort? That's been concerning me...

[arturobandini]

Plastic buckets are a good cheap option for a boiler and are not flimsy when full of boiling wort. All the major supermarkets seem to do a budget kettle from £3-£5 and there are plenty of threads in the equipment section on how to convert them. I wouldn't put an immersion heater element in a plastic boiler as the hole is quite large for it to get a good grip at the best of times and on plastic it would probably snap or seal poorly.

[Jerry Cornelius]

I wouldn't put an immersion heater element in a plastic boiler as the hole is quite large for it to get a good grip at the best of times and on plastic it would probably snap or seal poorly.

Hmmm, never thought about that. Back to asda then...

[brewin_bear]

I'm just using a Young's plastic FV as the boiler with 2 Tesco Value cordless kettle elements (about £5 each). You will alo need 2 Euro electric cords to plug into the element once you remove them from the kettle (these are the same sort you probably have going to your power supply on your PC).

Took about 30 mins start to finish to make up the boiler. And works really well.

First brew I did was in the kitchen, but that got really really steamy, even with the windows open So now I brew in the garage

[brewin_bear]

Couple of picys....





I tidied up the light cables since then a little.

[Jerry Cornelius]

I'm inspired, I'm going to give it a go.

Can you plug both elements into the same circuit? is there any danger of overloading it?

[brewin_bear]

Just plug in as you would two kettles. I use an extension lead to the garage now, but in the kitchen had plugged into a two plug socket. You must ensure that you replace the fuses in the mains cable with 13amp fuses (they probably have 5 amp in from the PC (or whatever). You can use the fuses that came in the kettle plugs.

You could also just use one element, but 2 gets it boiling quicker. Once you have reached a nice rolling boil you switch off one element.

[arturobandini]

Probably best to run them on two different rings or at the very least two different sockets. Also only use a rated cable to run them on. PC Cables are not rated for kettle use and they will potentially cause accidents. I know it sounds like namby pamby health and safety bull but at the end of the day it's your kitchen! The rated cables are the ones with the notch cut out of the bottom much like you find on "old school" kettles or wallpaper strippers. I know it's confusing that they're all called Kettle elements but they aren't really.

[brewin_bear]

You'll be fine on the same ring main - in fact to get to separate rings you'll probably need to go to a different part of your house for each cable

Good point about the PC cables. Mine ARE rated at higher current (they are the thicker ones) and forgot that some may use lower rated (thinner) cables - especially laptops.

[Jerry Cornelius]

Thanks for the tips chaps. I need to find some kettle leads as well, then...