What is the best beer kit to make is a question we are asked regularly and it's not an easy answer.
There are a lot of beer kits out there in so many styles, so firstly it depends what type of beer you want to make and then it depends on what kits are available in that style.
But, lets ignore style of beer for the moment and look at the types of beer kit that is available in all good homebrew shops. The beer kits can be categorised as follows:
All Grain Beer Kits
Liquid Malt Extract Beer Kits
All Grain Beer Kits mean you can brew just like a brewery. You have to cook the malted barley in water for an hour at about 65°C, then rinse the barley to wash out all the sugar, then boil all the water (now called wort) for an hour, adding hops, then quickly cooling to 20°C before adding yeast and fermenting the wort into beer. Brewing from grain usually takes between 4-8 hours depending on your equipment and the quantity of beer you are making. The fermentation from wort to beer usually takes 7-10 days.
Liquid Malt Extract Beer Kits make it very easy to make beer. The manufacturer has already cooked the malted barley, has already boiled it and added the hops. They have then removed pretty much all the water from the wort to leave a treacle like glupe and then packaged it up, so all you have to do at home is add water and the yeast and ferment the wort into beer. Brewing from malt extract beer kits usually takes around 20-30 minutes. The fermentation from wort to beer usually takes 7-10 days. So you can see why many people use LME beer kits as they are easier to make.
Under Liquid Malt Extract Beer Kits there are various types of kit available and these are the ones we are asked which beer kit is best. Again, the beer kits in this category can be further categorised as follows:
Single Can Beer Kits
Pouch Beer Kits
2 Can Beer Kits
You'll also see something called Liquid Malt Extract. This is where malted barley has been cooked and then the water concentrated. No other flavours or hops have been added. Liquid Malt Extract (LME) is used to enhance a beer kit by adding more concentrated wort to increase the malt flavours and body in a beer kit. If you are making a beer kit that calls for extra sugar to be added, you can use LME instead of sugar. Just replace 1kg of sugar with 1.2kg of LME.
We always recommend using LME with a beer kit as it helps enhance the body, flavour and mouthfeel.
The only exception to LME in beer kits is when making a lager or pilsner that calls for extra sugar. Then we recommend replacing the sugar with Beer Enhancer. Beer enhancer is a 50/50 mix of brewing sugar and spray malt. Spray malt is a powdered form of LME. This means that you are adding some extra body to the lager kit, but not too much. The 50% sugar means that you still have that crisp light lager, but the 50% spray malt means the final lager wont be watery.
Single Can Beer Kits are simply a single can of concentrated wort. To this you will need to add either Sugar, Beer Enhancer (50% brewing sugar & 50% Spray Malt), Spray Malt (powdered liquid malt extract) or extra Liquid Malt Extract (this is wort that has not had hops added).
Single can beer kits usually come in 2 sizes, 1.5kg and 1.8kg.
Pouch Beer Kits are a foil pouch of concentrated wort similar to the can above, but in a foil pouch. Again you will need to add either Sugar, Beer Enhancer, Spray Malt or extra Liquid Malt Extract.
Pouch beer kits usually come in 2 sizes, 1.8kg and 2.5kg
2 Can Beer Kits have 2 x cans of concentrated wort. You do not need to add any sugar to these kits as they have everything in the cans.
2 can beer kits usually come in 2 sizes 2x1.5kg can and 2x1.8kg cans.
Price
The smaller single can beer kits and pouch beer kits tend to be the cheapest kits available, so if you are on a budget, these make a lot of sense, especially when you add 1.2kg of Liquid Malt Extract instead of sugar. This still works out cheaper than a double can kit and you'll get a good quality beer.
The double can kits are more expensive, but this is because you are getting 2 cans of concentrated wort at the right recipe, rather than 1 can at the right recipe and then another generic can.
Generally speaking, the more concentrated wort, the better the finished beer. So, the 2 can beer kit with the 1.8kg cans should make the best beer. Full of flavour, body, mouthfeel.
But, if you use a 2.5kg pouch beer kit with a 1.2kg pouch of liquid malt extract, then in theory you can make a better beer.
But, if you use a1.5kg single can beer kit with 1.5kg can of liquid malt extract, is there really that much difference to the 2 can kits?
See why I said it's not a simple answer. It's complicated?
Here's the basics, If you buy a single can or a pouch beer kit, then you need to add something to it. Here are Brewbitz we recommend adding liquid malt extract to make that beer kit the best it can be.
If you just use sugar, it will be thin, lack body, lack mouthfeel. Great for a traditional mild or bitter, but not so good for an IPA, pale ale, a New England IPA or a stout.
Here are some basic rules to buy the best beer kit:
1 - Buy a beer kit you want to make because you like the flavour - it's your favourite beer style!
2 - If it says it needs sugar, buy Liquid Malt Extract instead (Beer Enhancer if it is a lager)
3 - Purchase a beer kit at the price your budget allows. Remember, you will be saving £'s. Even our most expensive beer kit works out at just 77p a pint (Correct as of 12/03/2024) and that makes an amazing American style craft beer.
You can make a great beer with even the cheapest beer kit, just make sure you use Liquid Malt Extract instead of sugar.
However, if you have the equipment and time, then there is nothing like making your own beer from malted barley and hops. The aroma is amazing, a bit like bread baking or bacon frying, its an aroma that fills you with anticipation of tasting it. Using an all grain beer kit is a great way to make a beer that's full of flavour, body and aromas. But saying that, I have made beer kits that have come out just as good as an all grain kit.
So, the best beer kit is the beer kit you want to make!
