so im pretty new to homebrewing, and i'm wondering what you guys think are the best extract kits? i like all kinds of beer, so as long as its good for it's style, i'll enjoy it. post away!
When I first started I had great luck with kits from Northern Brewer. Their extract has a high turn around and is high quality and makes great beer if your yeast pitching and temperature control are good.
I would think that if you have a good LHBS, that might be a good way to go. If they have high turnover, the extract will be about as fresh as you could ask, which is one of the biggest ways to get good extract beer. PLus you don't have to worry about shipping and handling, and the conditions of either. If you go mail order, then yes, Northern Brewer is probably the way to go, depending on where you are located.
In general, the best extract kits, use the freshest ingredients like others have mentioned. They should also only include base malt extract and then build the recipe the rest of the way with specialty malt. What this means is that even if you make a stout, the extract should still be pale and all of the color and caramel should come from the grain. This means you have more control over the final product and it will be closer to the way you like it. Also, look for recipes where you have options on hop varietals and yeast strains. Kits that include a packet each of "bittering" and "aroma" hops don't tell you a whole lot about the ingredients you are using.
Northern Brewer does an excellent job of putting together extract kits. And since they have high turnover you are assured of having fresh ingredients. Peruse the list of kit beers here:http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits Each kit also has an inventory sheet (Recipes and Instructions) which is available online; just click the Additional Information tab. Cheers! P.S. They also typically provide an option of brewing with liquid yeast or dry yeast (your choice).
Why? You're just going to throw a bunch of crap into it anyway without knowing what you're doing. Both Northern Brewer and Midwest have good quality ingredients, and since they now share distribution I imagine that the turnover of one reflects the turnover of the other as well. There are a few places closer to you that you may be interested in such as Keystone. Recently MoreBeer opened a distro center in PA also, so shipping should be a short journey.
OP, the less you have to do to make a beer the better, especially for your first one. Look for one with less timing. That is, one that you don't have to mix so many different ingredients at different points of time. I did a NB Stout w/ specialty grains and it required very little in terms of timing ingredients and it turned out VERY good. There are plenty others out there. Good luck, have fun and beer ready for when neighbors stop over to see what smells sooo good!
I used a Cooper's Stout kit this weekend because I haven't quite gotten to the point of mashing my own grains and adding hops. However this time I added 4 liters of Briess dried dark malt extract Lovibond 30 in this batch. Let's see how it goes.
Dry-spicing with black cardamom and fennel pollen. Hadn't thought of serving it through a randall, though, good idea. I might also eis a portion as well.
I ordered the All-grain Irish Red Ale from Midwest but accidently ordered an extract and an all-grain package. I brewed both and according to family and friends they loved it. Also, its very adaptable (different yeast strains or hop schedules) **Awesome avatar, my favorite beer
I think all of the major online retailers, Austin Homebrew, Midwest Supplies, Northern Brewer, More Beer, etc put together thoughtful kits that make sense. Some of them have the shipping warehouse on premise (Keystone) and are amendable to making changes to some grains in the kit if you'd like and also have choices in yeast (Midwest)
Most Northern Brewer kits have a lot of reviews with a link to those reviews next to each kit. That would be a good place to start.
