BeerBorg

recently purchased a brew demon, 2 gallon. have what came with unit, two cans pilsner, my local brew store wants me to buy fresh ingredients instead. as a former executive chef, that is the best way. but being new to brewing, should i use the packaged items first or go for the fresh?

What came with it should make decent beer. Fresh stuff can make better beer. But there is no reason to not use what came with it.

A big part of brewing is learning the process. Part of the process is sanitation, pitching the yeast at the right temperature, fermenting at the right temperature, etc. What came with the kit will teach you those things, and isn't an additional investment at this point.

You can buy the freshest, best ingredients on the planet and make nasty beer with it, if you don't have good process otherwise.

So, I think a lot of us would recommend using the cans - since you have them - and make sure that you nail down those things, then next batches start to push the envelope further.

If it turns out bad, then you can tell us what seems wrong here and we can tell you what might have gone wrong in the process. If it turns out good, then you have beer! Either way you win.

First brew, get your process down with the hopped malt extract that came with the kit, from there you can use fresh ingredients. Welcome to the Borg and ask questions if you have them, lots of great people here willing to help.

rickr11 wrote:...my local brew store wants me to buy fresh ingredients instead. as a former executive chef, that is the best way. but being new to brewing, should i use the packaged items first or go for the fresh?

Fresher is better. I cannot disagree, but even with the freshest ingredients I can in no way prepare food as well as an executive chef. I don't understand the individual ingredients, how they work together, process, etc.

Same with brewing. Give it some time.
Welcome to the hobby, BTW.

They want your business. Ignore them for now. Fresh HME(hopped malt extract) is what you have. They likely sell it also, probably Mr. Beer brand and/or Coopers.

Natural progression is to:

- Brew maybe 1/2 dozen HMEs
- Brew more plus steeped grains, and maybe some added LME or DME (unhopped malt extract in liquid or dried form)
- Now brew more with added hops too
- After about 6 months I switch to steeped grains, LME, plus hops - no more cans. . Been there for 2 1/2 years, making great beers

And by the way...

Welcome aBorg!

Hello and welcome to the site! Be sure and check for the discount that BrewDemon gives to us. As others have already said, fresh ingredients probably will be better but you can still make good beer with the HME from BrewDemon and Mr. Beer. Get experience brewing with those and then move on or not to using steeped grains, and or all-grain. It's all good.

Welcome!
Start small, take steps at your own pace. Study and practice, look forward to the day your friends say with wonder "You made this? It's better than beer I pay for!"
I think most of us started with canned recipes. There is enough to do and learn without adding steps yet. Please keep us up on your efforts.

John Sand wrote:Welcome!
I think most of us started with canned recipes. There is enough to do and learn without adding steps yet. Please keep us up on your efforts.

Absolutely! Even though many of us use other seemingly more advanced methods to brew, I for one often simplify things for the sake of getting something brewed quickly and easily.

In fact, as I've mentioned in another thread, my pipeline is sorely lacking right now so I need to do some quick brews to get it back into shape for the holiday season... So...

No time for All Grain, Brew In A Bag or Partial Mash so I'm gonna drop two cans of Brewferm Abjib (Abbey Dubbel) today for a 5 gallon batch with the Lallemand Abbaye yeast instead of what comes in the cans (cause they are way old in my case).

It will be fine for me and I'll be done in a half hour!

Nothing wrong with that!

BigPapaG wrote:I'm gonna drop two cans of Brewferm Abjib (Abbey Dubbel) today for a 5 gallon batch with the Lallemand Abbaye yeast instead of what comes in the cans

Yum!

Have a couple cans of One Evil Pilsner and a Twisted Monk after the next couple AG batches I might have to mix one of these up to fill some keg space.

Welcome to the Borg! Looks like everyone already has you on the right track. Keep asking questions and let us know how your first batch turns out!

Welcome to The BORG
Ask questions as needed, a lot of good brewing knowledge here and we all like to help to make good beer.
Good Luck and Happy Brewing

Welcome. What everyone said above. Some people jump right into the advanced brewing and others stick with what they are happy with. It all comes down to 2 things, how much do like to brew beer and how much money do you have to spend. I started with 2 Mr. beer kits and went to 8, Had an infection that spread to all my other kegs and bottles, threw it all away and went straight to all grain. I now have more kegs than I can keep up with, 2 fermentation chambers, and 2 kegerators. Now trying to open a nano brewery.