Advice

[Dai123]

Currently have woodfordes wherry in the fermenting bucketmy 1st brew now looking at getting another on the go was looking at the wilko IPA and perhaps using part sugar part spraymalt not sure on quantities and perhaps adding some dry hops to it but not sure which or when any advice would be great or if you have suggestions on better kits etc cheers

 

[crowcrow]

Sounds great. Early on in my brewing I did a wilko ipa, with 500g brew sugar and 500g medium dried malt. Then I added 25g of hops for the final 3 days in the bucket before bottling. I can't remember the hops, pretty sure I just picked one of the cheapest from crossmyloof or a similar site. But the malt and the hops definitely made it all the better.

Any British hops will be good for this, you won't need a lot, but could double that amount if you really want a strong flavour.

I think the taste of the wilko ipa is good if just made totally 'plain' though, it is a good kit beer, but def even better tweaked.

 

[Dai123]

Cheers thanks for the reply will definitely try this one

 

[Pete Mc]

When I used to brew with kits I enjoyed the results with the festival home brew kits, they included everything needed for a brew.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Apparently a simple but really a big question

More sugar means more alcohol

Very roughly e.g. 1kg sugar will increase final ABV by about 3%

More alcoholic but pure sugar has no taste - so although the beer will be stronger it will taste "thin"

The same amount of spray malt will increase the ABV by about the same amount

The trick is maintaining the balance of flavours hence as crowcrow says equal amounts of both

Hops - another big question, there are over 2500 varieties of hops, but I wouldn't advise putting them all in

The key question is how hoppy you want it - when looking at hops look at the % number the bigger the number the heavier hop taste

A classic english hops e.g. Fuggles is 5% - if you want a real hop hit look at something like Citra at 15% might what to look for

 

[Dai123]

Thanks for reply will definitely go half and half on sugar and malt but don't want it over hoppy

 

[Ezza]

1kg DME and dry hop with 50g Cascade.

 

[Dai123]

What day should I dry hop?

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Thanks for reply will definitely go half and half on sugar and malt but don't want it over hoppy

Do you know what hops the lit comes with?

If you are increasing the malt content by X% increase the hop content by X% as well

 

[Dai123]

No hops come with kit was just trying to tweak it a little as read lots do this with this kit and want a more full bodied flavour

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Dry hopping is primarily about aroma, I would dry hop at the end of the boil. Leaving it later may produce a different result depending on the variety but seeing as you are experimenting I suggest that you keep it as simple as possible at this point

 

[Ezza]

I dry hop 4 days before bottling

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

No hops come with kit was just trying to tweak it a little as read lots do this with this kit and want a more full bodied flavour

No hops come with kit

I have no experience with this kit but are you sure?

Full bodied might mean maltier or more hoppy - as you have already said that you don't want it over hoppy, I suggest that this means more malts and malts than have been more modified e.g. crystal

 

[Ezza]

It's just a single can

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

It's just a single can

Ok - understand now

 

[Ezza]

I've made this kit a few times and with DME and a dry hop is really very quaffable.

 

[Dai123]

If I add hops to this to I just put straight in FV or do I put hops in bag first ?

 

[Ezza]

Bag em its it's easier

 

[Ale House Rock]

If you decide to bag dry hops, make sure you use a BIG bag cos they will swell up like you woundt believe. If bag is too small, you won't get the hoppiness you crave. FWIW, I put them straight in. Personal choice.

 

[labrewski]

Check out hoplist it gives u info on flavours on different types of hops and suited styles