Reccomend me a kit and make me a list

[chris68]

I'm going over to Leyland Home brew tomorrow, I have decided to start another kit and to put it into PET bottles this time, so, as it says, can you recommend me a kit and also any other stuff a newbie may need.

I'm thinking of long the lines of stuff to help with stuck fermentation etc, things I should have: Decent yeast, yeast vit, stuff for making a sterilisation mix for my odds and sods, Spaymalt, brewing sugar?anything you can think maybe useful folks

Cheers

Chris

[J_P]

Hi Chris

I really liked the Brupaks Almondsbury Old kit I brewed up a while back. The Coopers IPA comes highly recommended round these parts too, I haven't tasted it yet but I have some conditioning in the shed. You'll need either a kilo of dried spraymalt (light) or 700g of spraymalt and 300g of brewing sugar to make that one up. Stick with the coopers yeast as Daab reckons it's good stuff.

If you're up for experimenting why not try dry hopping whichever kit you choose by throwing some hops into a fine mesh bag and lobbing that into either the primary after initial fermentation has occurred or into the secondary fermenter for the duration. This helps to restore hop aroma lost during the condensation process. My personal favourite is the East Kent Golding, it's the one that gives summer lightening it's wonderful floral taste. I've just finished a Great Eastern dry hopped with EKG's and it was really good beer.

I'd also recommend getting hold of a few extra sachets of yeast too, if you're bottling then I'd recommend Safale S04 it sticks to the bottom of the bottle like the proverbial to a blanket. Yeast vit is a preventative measure you can take to stop stuck ferments.

Whatever you chose to do or brew enjoy it.

[mysterio]

Coopers IPA is the only kit i've felt the need to brew more than once, although my experience of kits is very limited. The only 'quality' ones i've made are the Muntons Gold range which I don't particularly care for.

[chris68]

Cheers Chaps, I have started the Coopers IPA, the shop recommended the 50\50 mix of spray malt and sugar they mix up so I have tried it with that, I have a pack of the East Kent Golding as well, just wondering if this can be put in whilst it is in primary? I started the kit off and ran ahead slightly then came and read the instructions for the hopping, seems like I have buggered up somewhat?

Chris

[Stonch]

A 50/50 malt/sugar mix should produce decent results. All malt is a touch better but then you can judge that for yourself once you've been sucked in to homebrewing and have tried for yourself every permutation known to man!!!

[guest5234]

I can highley recommend Brupaks Fixby Gold with 500gms of medium spray mallt, I used safeale 04 and the finished beer was excellent, the best kit beer I have ever tasted.