homebrewandbeer.com

Hello all, and greetings from the frigid US east coast!

I've been brewing for about 9 years, and have enjoyed it immensly. I've made some great beers using all methods - kits, extract, partial-mash, all grain.........AND I've made some real stinkers, too!!

Right now, due to time constraints with family, work, etc, I've gravitated to no-boil "can kits", Coopers in particular. They make some great beers, and they are probably the #1 kits here in the US. From what I've read here and on other websites, you guys "down under" are avid homebrewers, and in many, many respects are way ahead of the rest of us.

When I started brewing, Morgans kits were readily available in the US, and I had some good luck with them, in particular the smoked ale and the Golden Saaz Pils.

My question is, now that I'm back to kit brewing, Morgans has disappeared! They are nowhere to be found in the US. Yesterday I ordered a Blue Mountain Lager kit from a firm in Canada! Can anyone tell me what happened to their exports? I've e-mailed them twice, with no response.

By the way - EVERYTHING Aussie is hugely popular here. I'd love to visit some day!

Thanks!

All of my favourite K&K brews were Morgans kits with an extra kilo of applicable Morgans Spec Malt and some fresh hops in the boil. I found Coopers had too much variation in their kits and I could never rely on them to give me the same result every time I made the same recipe. Muntons also make some excellent kits, and the new Morgans Chairman kits come with speciality yeast and the range is quite good. Not sure why there is no one importing them to the US, but I doubt it has anything to do with Morgans wanting them to be sold there.

When in doubt, blame Walmart.

Chris wrote:When in doubt, blame Walmart.

I don't think Walmart sells HB... at least they didn't when i lived in the US. It is actually not really sold anywhere outside of the few select HB shops we have there. Beer is so cheap there is no real demand except for craftbrewers whom wish to make good beer rather than drink the megaswill Bud, MGD, Coors, etc.

I hope you're not defending Walmart! Walmart is more evil than dry enzyme!!!

Chris wrote:I hope you're not defending Walmart! Walmart is more evil than dry enzyme!!!

I only defend Walmart to sing... "Blame Canada, Blame Canada..."

...and make a point that HB in general is hard to find in the US...

Nope, this time we can't blame WalMart! Actually, Walmart did have a "cheap" homebrew kit available in some stores several years ago.

HB is not easy to find in the US on the retail level. There are specialized HB shops - not as many as there was maybe 10 years ago. The good ones have survived, and internet sales are going strong. Some of the bigger HB shops are Northern Brewer, Midwest Homebrewing, and Williams Homebrewing. But it's true, I have the impression that HB kits are much more readily available in Canada, the UK and Australia on the retail level than they are here. For example, my "local" HB shops are......well, let me do some calculations........48 KM and 80KM away, respectively.

By the way,, what is a "K & K brew"?

K&K = kit and kilo: a kit can plus a kilo of another fermentable, such as sucrose, dextrose or dry malt extract.

Ah......OK, I got it. Thanks. Sorry about that!

Ahhh! So Walmart produced a cheap kit, drove everyone else out of business, and then stopped making them!

Bloody Walmart!

Ok, so maybe Walmart isn't behind everything bad in the world... yet.

Hey Parrothead,

Is that name because you are a Jimmy Buffet fan.

Cheers, Pete

You could also try mail order such as the Country Brewer.

Cheers,
Greg

Peter Bradshaw wrote:Hey Parrothead,

Is that name because you are a Jimmy Buffet fan.

Cheers, Pete

Pete, guilty as charged. I've been a fan since way back in the early 70's.........which pretty much gives away my age [51].

Parrothead,

Been a fan almost that long myself. I have a 21 year old son who can't get enough of him. He reckons nobody sings drinking songs like JB. Leaves a copied CD at every party he goes to. If I could get him to drink Home Brew he'd be the perfect child.

Cheers, Pete

Parrothead wrote:Nope, this time we can't blame WalMart! Actually, Walmart did have a "cheap" homebrew kit available in some stores several years ago.

HB is not easy to find in the US on the retail level. There are specialized HB shops - not as many as there was maybe 10 years ago. The good ones have survived, and internet sales are going strong. Some of the bigger HB shops are Northern Brewer, Midwest Homebrewing, and Williams Homebrewing. But it's true, I have the impression that HB kits are much more readily available in Canada, the UK and Australia on the retail level than they are here. For example, my "local" HB shops are......well, let me do some calculations........48 KM and 80KM away, respectively.

By the way,, what is a "K & K brew"?

I find that amusing cos i actually get a fair bit of stuff from the US ( mainly equipment) because i either cant find it here or if i do its way to expensive, shipping from the US is obviously the dear part but even with that added into the equation i can still get things from there cheaper than what i can here so i would have figuered it would be alot bigger over there than it obviously is

Please don't let me give you the wrong impression on the availability of HB supplies here. I can order just about anything [except those Morgans kits ] on the Internet. But actual brewshops, where I can physically go and purchase supplies, ask questions, "hang out", hide from the wife & kids are far and few between. Maybe I am wrong, but I just get the impression that it's differant in places like Australia and the UK.

"Been a fan almost that long myself. I have a 21 year old son who can't get enough of him. He reckons nobody sings drinking songs like JB. Leaves a copied CD at every party he goes to. If I could get him to drink Home Brew he'd be the perfect child.

Cheers, Pete"

That's funny! My 18 year old is a big Buffett fan too. I guess he had no chance or even a choice in the matter.

My Grandmother dragged me along to a Buffet concert a few years back. I didn't really get it... though everyone else seemed to be having a great time! He did a few songs I had heard before and they were enjoyable anyway.

Got a question re. the Morgan's Chairman's Selection kits, thought I could recycle this thread.

The "Scharl's European Lager" kit comes with a "European Lager Yeast" - anyone know what strain it actually is?

Cheers
Chris