B&M kits

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I bought one of these for adding my hops after putting pellets straight in fv and having bits floating everywhere. Not used it yet but I certainly won't be putting pellets straight in fv again.

I use the exact same thing mate, once i've sterlilized it i then give it a swirl around in starsan once the hops are in it to make sure any dust is gone. Then I put it in a hop sock, overkill maybe, but I get no debris at all in the brew.
 
Would it be possible to dry hop the B&M Bitter a couple of days before bottling to give it a different taste?
Just thinking in a creative flavour sense.
 
I have tried a few B&M kits now and all have been good.

The Real Ale one I am sampling now. This time I chucked all hops in at the start as a bit of an experiment as I ferment under pressure using a fermentasaurus. It seems to have come out ok.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Sorry my post should have been clearer. I meant dry hop the brew with other hops than what are provided in the kit? Something different to provide a different pleasant taste?
 
Yes you can, that's the beauty of kits - if you can find a decent one, you can then tweak the hell out of it to give different tastes
There are a few online retailers now doing a large range of different hop bags - 25 and 50g tea bags - so you can play to your heart's content with dry hopping


I have one IPA kit left to put on, I think a grapefruit IPA is on the cards this time!
 
Thank you for the reply.

My next question would be do you guys with a lot more knowledge recommend for a nice taste to a bitter?

And how much would I use for a 2 or 3 day dry hop gram wise as not to under or overpower the taste.

Thank you.
 
Thank you for the reply.

My next question would be do you guys with a lot more knowledge recommend for a nice taste to a bitter?

And how much would I use for a 2 or 3 day dry hop gram wise as not to under or overpower the taste.

Thank you.

I have minimal knowledge, but experience of trying stuff to see what happens.
I've dry hopped three or so bitter kits.
Once I added 50g and that was too much, it threw the malt and bittering levels off kilter for me, it no longer resembled a bitter at all but a cross between a pale ale and a poor mans ipa.
25g worked for me, for a 20-23L brew and to my taste, East Kent Goldings worked a treat.

Not that I always follow my own advice LOL, but I have always found that erring on the side of caution with regard to dry hopping will still give you a nice beer and an idea of the hop characteristics. Helpful for the future.
 
Have had a look through the hop lists and have ordered 50g Saaz & 50g Ekg.

Have 2 x B&M bitter/ale kits, i think i will try 25g of one in 1 x kit and 25g of the other in the other kit and taste the difference?
 
Was in my local B&M yesterday and they still had plenty of real ale kits, a few tequilla & lime and the bottles and starter kits, all reduced. Picked up a real ale kit and started it yesterday afternoon. I'm going to be away for 8 - 10 days, but should be back in time to dry hop. Will do this one as per instructions, have another in the cupboard, which I can tweak and compare.
 
Not sure why no one is mentioning which stores but as of yesterday, both Reading stores had Real Ale, Bottles and fermenter kits. The store next to Morrisons also had a few Tequila and Lime lagers..

Hope this helps someone..
 
Well folks! Just thought id share my misery! Ive done the ipa kits on 3 seperate occasions all 3 times ive tied a spice tea bag to the syphon at the FV end, syphoned into a keg or straight to bottle with no issues! Today i tried to do the same with a real ale kit and the hop pellets mustve been hop dust or something cause it kept clogging the bag. Tried alsorts, to the point where id sloshed it about that much i was clearly getting trub. In the end i just cut my losses and ditched at least 6lts. aheadbutt

Hopefully if i leave the 32 bottles i managed to fill long enough any trub or hop particles will settle out with the yeast!
:thumbsup:
 
Would it be possible to dry hop the B&M Bitter a couple of days before bottling to give it a different taste?
Just thinking in a creative flavour sense.

Dry Hopped with the B&M Hops as per Instructions and added 50g of Perle Hop Leaf (in a bag) with an AA of about 9%. Result has been a really "bitter" Bitter! Luckily, it's starting to mellow so it tastes better already.

Tried alsorts, to the point where id sloshed it about that much i was clearly getting trub. In the end i just cut my losses and ditched at least 6lts. aheadbutt

Hopefully if i leave the 32 bottles i managed to fill long enough any trub or hop particles will settle out with the yeast!
:thumbsup:

OUCH! to ditching 6 litres of a brew!

You need one of these on the end of your syphon tube.

Copper Syphon Tube.jpg


I cut a small "V" into the bottom of the copper tube to allow the brew to flow. If the filter clogs up (it's done it occasionally with hop pellets which is why I normally use hop-leaf in a bag), all I do is lift the tube, let the brew back-flow into the FV to clear it out, wait a couple of minutes and then re-start.

The filters are available from here ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M74BJW3/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

... and they fit a standard Wilco Syphon tube ...

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-syphon-pack/p/0022573

... if you don't wish to use a copper one.

With regard to your 32 bottles don't worry as "Time + Gravity" will clear them. athumb..
 
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I place the hops in this

5pcs 100 Micron Nylon HomeBrew Food Grade Grain Hops Boiling Filter Bag 15X 20cm batch Homebrew Beer Wine Coffee Bucket Filter

http://s.aliexpress.com/a2am2YBn

Though I've just ordered some filters as they'll help me with my Christmas ale..
 
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Put my b&m IPA on last night, brewed as instructed with bottled water. Been bubbling away niceley. I may add the hops with my Chinese tea strainer tho rather than Chuck em in.
 
Tried the 4 way split IPA I did with these a few days ago and they ranged from ok to myihhh. All bottled for about 8 weeks. To put this in comparison my friends gave these kits far better scores than a few experimental extract batches we tried this weekend. Some scored much worse and one mate thought they tasted of paraffin.

I'd scoop them up again for 5.99 but I was expecting a little more.

Kits are great for the times where you want tea, toast and 20 Bensons for tea, then bosh on the kettle and wave around the Wilko spoon in the air and magically you've got 40 pints of proto-booze, still time to smack the kids and have a game of Mario Kart before the one that stares gets in from bingo.
 

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