Adding to homebrew kits

[advisabledata]

hey guys

as some of you know I have only been doing brews from kits, and was wondering how good or bad would my brew go if I was to add extras to my brews just so I can get to grips and slowly move on to grains ect brews.

 

[MyQul]

What do you mean by 'extras'?

Have a look at this thread, another execellent one by Darth Clibit

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52938

Before you know you'll be fully AG and he'll have converted you to the dark side without you even realizing it (Can you hear those lightsabres buzzing?).

 

[dad_of_jon]

hey guys

as some of you know I have only been doing brews from kits, and was wondering how good or bad would my brew go if I was to add extras to my brews just so I can get to grips and slowly move on to grains ect brews.

I pimped my first kit up with DME for extra body and abv & a hop tea cos i'm a hop head and quickly ditched standard kits.

before you fall for the dark side you could try extract brews with speciality grain additions.

I think dme and hops to a fairly neutral kit will only make it much better. you will have to do a least a small boil to sterilise the dme. (IMO)

 

[advisabledata]

What i mean is basically adding hops or something to my kit brew to add to the flavor or aroma.

 

[McMullan]

Add whatever you like, mate. There are no rules. It's all down to personal taste. That's what makes brewing your own so great :thumb:

 

[advisabledata]

Yer I understand there's no rules as per say but i dont really want to ruin my beer as i dont brew for my self i brew for friends as well

 

[cornyandy]

My advice would be to start with a Woodfordes Wherry, maybe a bit pricey to play with but a very rewarding kit. So steep perhaps 250 to 400g of crystal malt in barely simmering water for 45 mins, this can be done in an ordinary saucepan. Strain out the grain and add the liquid to the fermenter. Make the kit up as usual and then sling in a muslin bag (sterilised in boiling water) with a good hand full of Goldings into the wort while it ferments. From there go on as you are used to. Perhaps you could ferment with a different yeast too (perhaps a cheap gervin from Wilkos or Boyes) But I would change one thing at once to get the idea of what is going on. I see you are from Great Grimsby (My late Father taught at Hereford school and I was indoctrinated into the "Great") there is a great homebrew shop there they will advise you if you ask.

 

[Maxxyjazz]

My advice would be to start with a Woodfordes Wherry, maybe a bit pricey to play with but a very rewarding kit. So steep perhaps 250 to 400g of crystal malt in barely simmering water for 45 mins, this can be done in an ordinary saucepan. Strain out the grain and add the liquid to the fermenter. Make the kit up as usual and then sling in a muslin bag (sterilised in boiling water) with a good hand full of Goldings into the wort while it ferments. From there go on as you are used to. Perhaps you could ferment with a different yeast too (perhaps a cheap gervin from Wilkos or Boyes) But I would change one thing at once to get the idea of what is going on. I see you are from Great Grimsby (My late Father taught at Hereford school and I was indoctrinated into the "Great") there is a great homebrew shop there they will advise you if you ask.

I have always dry hopped in the second FV after fermentation. I have never done it during fermentation. I just assumed this was the way to do it? Does it even matter when you do it I wonder?

M

 

[advisabledata]

Well I have a American India Pale Ale I.P.A waiting for my Fermenting Bin once my Ruby Red is finished.

 

[cornyandy]

If you post details of the kit, maker etc we could probably help more. If it is a new kit, especially a 3 or more KG one I would leave the first try alone then think what you would change, malt flavour, more bitterness, more hoppy aroma.

 

[cornyandy]

I have always dry hopped in the second FV after fermentation. I have never done it during fermentation. I just assumed this was the way to do it? Does it even matter when you do it I wonder?

M

That's the way I do it when I modify a kit, I doubt it matters much

 

[stevey]

My understanding is if you want more aroma from hops then the later the better (dry hop), If bitterness is required then the hops need to go into the boil or early into fermentation. I could be wrong on that though, I'm only just starting out on my own hop experiments, I'm sure there will be more knowledgable people to advise you.

 

[advisabledata]

My advice would be to start with a Woodfordes Wherry, maybe a bit pricey to play with but a very rewarding kit. So steep perhaps 250 to 400g of crystal malt in barely simmering water for 45 mins, this can be done in an ordinary saucepan. Strain out the grain and add the liquid to the fermenter. Make the kit up as usual and then sling in a muslin bag (sterilised in boiling water) with a good hand full of Goldings into the wort while it ferments. From there go on as you are used to. Perhaps you could ferment with a different yeast too (perhaps a cheap gervin from Wilkos or Boyes) But I would change one thing at once to get the idea of what is going on. I see you are from Great Grimsby (My late Father taught at Hereford school and I was indoctrinated into the "Great") there is a great homebrew shop there they will advise you if you ask.

yes i know the shop there when i get my kits and everything from. and i have learnt a lot from them when i went last time for a new kit to brew and after nearly two hour of chatting i eventually bought the kit ect haha

 

[advisabledata]

the beer kit that i have is a American IPA

 

[stevey]

Well I have a American India Pale Ale I.P.A waiting for my Fermenting Bin once my Ruby Red is finished.

I don't think you need to add anything to Youngs AIPA. I usually try to tweak kits, but brewed this one to instructions and was very impressed with my first tatse of it.
Just got to try and leave it to condition a while before I quaff the rest :

 

[cornyandy]

Honestly I would leave that alone the first time you brew it. It is a high quality kit with a lot of the additions I would make already made. Once you get to this standard of kit you start trying to reinvent the wheel. Okay if you decide you want to give it more hops once you have tried it fairy nuff. I wouldn't throw anything in a kit cost round about 24 squid. If you want to play grab a cheaper, less sophisticated kit and go for it.

I really don't want to rain on your parade but I don't think you could improve much on that.

 

[advisabledata]

so im a bit confused whats the different to extract and kits ?? as i have seen posts about extract and not many about kits, are the the same thing ??/

 

[cornyandy]

Extract brewing is brewing from unhopped malt extract then adding hops to make a beer. Kits are already hopped extract that just need water and yeast adding to make beer. Extract (DME or LME) can be added to kits to improve flavour and body but I would restrict this practice to cheaper kits (either1.7 kilo ones leaving out the sugar or the cheaper end of the 3 Kilo ones.

 

[advisabledata]

oh ok that sort of makes sense haha ok i will try on my brew after my IPA then i might get a cheaper kit and add something.

Do with the price difference from kits to All Grain how bad can it be???

 

[MyQul]

oh ok that sort of makes sense haha ok i will try on my brew after my IPA then i might get a cheaper kit and add something.

Do with the price difference from kits to All Grain how bad can it be???

Yes a lot. Thats why I switched to AG. 1 kit plus 1kg of DME = £20 ish. 23L AG about £10 depending on what you make. I'm quite partial to Mild and can do 23L for about £7