Kits are bad mmmkay

[Partridge9]

There is a third option here - extract - its a nice hoping stone between kit to all grain - and its a natural progression for people who make kits.

You are used to boiling a kit - consider extract a kit with hops  - and maybe a little crystal occasionally 

[Stitch]

There is a third option here - extract - its a nice hoping stone between kit to all grain - and its a natural progression for people who make kits.

You are used to boiling a kit - consider extract a kit with hops  - and maybe a little crystal occasionally 

It is when I am doing the extract that I would know out a kit. Getting 27 litres of water to boil takes a while. Getting kit out can be done (with steeping) in just over 30 minutes.

[hayzer]

1st post - I can identify with this. I brewed about 3 kits and 5 or 6 extract batches when I started, and wasn't happy with any of them, with the exception of one hopped-to-bejaysus IPA. It's not fussiness, they just tasted off.  Tried to tie down the reason by changing all the variables but no luck. Got to the stage where I just got fed up and stopped, for 18 months.

At which stage I decided to go again, and go all-grain. Drinking my first batch now and am delighted with it. My 2nd batch is ready for bottling and tastes good too. It annoys me that I wasn't able to produce good kit or extract beer, and I still don't know if it was the ingredients or the process (i.e. something I was doing wrong). I've heard you can make great kit beers and I don't doubt that.

Regardless, I'm delighted I took the AG plunge, and would urge anyone who's tempted to do the same