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I live in Melbourne, and want some good kits but not your ordinary run of the mill brands. My local HB store (Nth Melbs winemakers) doesn't have a particularly good range of beer kits... just wondering what some of the good harder to find kit brands are.

I've made Coopers and Black rock.

I find Muntons to be pretty good

I've found ESB to be the gear. Costs a bit more but it is a 3kg kit instead of a 1.7 kg so you get around 4.5-5% with no added fermentables. I've only tried the bavarian so far but it was the gear. I've got a ESB stout with another week to go before I try it. Difficult wait. ESB also do 15 litre fresh worts. I haven't tried them yet. Has anyone?

Morgans:

Pilsener (Both types)
Blue Mountain Lager
Stockmans Draught

Morgans make a quality kit

Coopers Sparkling Ale 'Premium selection',just following the recipe on can makes a lovely malty beer.

Cheers

Boonie

I'm with Gib,

ESB rocks!
Have done 2 of their Stouts, 2 Bavarian Wheat - awesome especially after 6 months (found a stout the other day that I had forgotten about)

The wheat was the fav at a HB night I had a few weeks back - though i did add 1kg Dex, 500g honet & 150g light grain steeped.

Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection, available from HB outlets, but not supermarkets.

Followed by Coopers International Series (Bavarian Lager, Aust Pale Ale, etc), then Coopers Australian Original Series.

Malt Shovel appear to have dropped in quality. Once, but no longer, a fan.

ESB quite good, but seem to be in short supply. Seem to recall reading somewhere, quite recently, that production had been suspended/halted. Can anyone confirm/deny?

Local HB man is a fan of Muntons. Might take this path shortly, just to see where it leads.

gibovski wrote:I've found ESB to be the gear. Costs a bit more but it is a 3kg kit instead of a 1.7 kg so you get around 4.5-5% with no added fermentables. I've only tried the bavarian so far but it was the gear. I've got a ESB stout with another week to go before I try it. Difficult wait. ESB also do 15 litre fresh worts. I haven't tried them yet. Has anyone?

Havent tried the ESB but have tried the ones Grain & Grape sell, 17Lt fresh wort kits, they are fantastic!!!!!!

ESB 3kg kits are indeed back!! Ive got a Bavarian Pilsner bubbling away @ 13c right now.

Ive tried the pilsner and the american pale all.. both TOPS. Similar to the wetpacs...

Its all extract with some added hops... ~ $28

Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection, available from HB outlets, but not supermarkets.

i've se one or 2 of these in our local supermarket not a huge rage of them though

Yeah, the Tommy Coopers are pretty good. I'm not wild about the ESB stuff myself.

The 2 M's: Muntons and Morgans are by far the best IMO. You can use the Brewcraft kits as well because they are made by Muntons.

I think the most overrated kits are the Black Rock ones. I've tried 3 or 4 with very mediocre results.

Swear by my HBS own brand Deliverance.

An excellent product.

TCB Wet Packs are the only kits I still use.

Cheers,
Greg

gregb wrote:TCB Wet Packs are the only kits I still use.

Cheers,
Greg

By the time you pay postage you may as well buy a fresh wort from your local hbs. However i have yet to try a wetpac so maybe i should lol

They have Wet Packs at my local, might have to try one in the near future.

Morgans and Muntons are the 2 best value for money beers.
Brewcarft and Beermakers are good.
Blackrock is okay, but given they also make Tooheys, and my last 2 were ordinary worries me.
Thomas Coopers is good, but does not deserve to be downgraded by placing it on a Supermarket shelf.
Coopers and Tooheys are overpriced. Buy homebrand instead.
ESB, very good brew, though I have only had one.
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I still think the best kits are Brewferm. Grain and Grape stock those if you are willing to travel.

hbg wrote: Thomas Coopers is good, but does not deserve to be downgraded by placing it on a Supermarket shelf.

I'd buy it if I saw it there. There is nothing wrong with the supermarket. HB shops are nearly always overpriced.

No, supermarkets are UNDERPRICED whenever they want to compete with local shops. Once the local shops have been driven out, watch the prices soar- especially on "specialty" items like HB.

I know a former butcher who has spent the last 5 or so years trying to find the best snags in Melbourne.

His conclusion, the Woolworths. No shit. And they're acutally made by the supermarket. Coopers just happen to resell their kits to the supermarkets. And personally, I hate the BrewCraft kit converters. I like to know what I am doing to each brew, so I can modify it later, not the mention their instructions which usually lead to the novice boiling the grain, and the crappy tannin taste. But thats a personally choice. My best brew is a Coopers, albeit with crystal, Cascade, and all malt. Pretty much all the Brands are identical IMHO, the only real difference is the bittering (how much and iso or real hops). What you add to the can is far more important, so long as it is to your taste. And even then some of the old prejudices are altering. Belgian Candy is really popular at the moment, but it is the same as invert sugar, which you can buy at the supermarket, and is very similar to Golden Syrup and Honey. And the only difference from sucrose is that it has been hydrolysed before the yeast can get to it, but the esters can still be produced (which are due primarily to the presence of fructose, which is still there in invert)