Brew No. 2 - Extract / Pimping a Kit

[chuffer]

Yesterday SWMBO kindly took the kids out for a few hrs which gave me the opportunity to progress on my HB learning experience. The last one I did was a kit and I wanted to move up to extract. I've tried the kit below at our LHBS and was impressed but on reflection thought it would be even better with more a citrus twang to it.



The kit includes 2 cans of hopped extract (barley and rye malt), 6g of un-named yeast and a sachet of "hop enhancer". So straight away I'd spotted options to improve it and swapped the yeast for 11g of Notts.



I've also put the "hop enhancer" to one side after popping down to the LHBS and purchasing some appropriate hops they had available. They had plenty to choose from but I wanted something fruity and in that ballpark they only had Liberty (Lemon/Citrus), Styrian (Lemon/Lime/Floral) and Cascade (Floral/Citrus/Grapefruit).



Fear not! I didn't intend to use the lot, just a small amount of each at the later stages of the boil. Haven't got my head around IBU calcs yet but, based on John Palmer's guidance/recipes I opted for around 4-6 AAUs at the finishing stage. My calcs may well be off but I estimated this to come in around 10g Liberty, 7g Styrian and 7g Cascade. However, the idea was to split batch so that half would be added with 15mins of the boil remaining, the other half to be added at flame-out while cooling for a few mins.

I also had some hop pellets leftover from Brew No1 (Youngs APA kit) which I'm led to believe were Columbus and centennial.



Measured this to be around 13g - this would be getting used up at the start to add a bit of bitterness to the brew. I know the original kit is already hopped but personal experience of this kit (along with anecdotal reports from others that it's good but also "lacking something" ) is that the extra bitterness could make for an improvement (I could also be very wrong but I guess we'll see in a few wks time....)

Since my 1st brew is currently conditioning, I had nothing with which to satisfy the 1st rule of home-brewing. So instead had to settle for 2nd best:



The night before I'd pre-boiled 3 gallons of water and treated with half a campden tablet, set this aside in the sanitized FV:



Next I needed to boil 3 gallons of water. I've yet to get a propane burner and so this bit is a bit of a pain at the moment. Basically I've got to heat smaller batches on the camping stove and then add to my large pan so that it can be heated by the 4 rungs of the electric hob. I've tried just doing it on the hobs but it just takes too long.



Meanwhile, it was time to re-hydrate the yeast. Boiled water in a sanitized jug, waited for it to cool down to room temp and added yeast.



After 15mins, added some pre-boiled (and cooled) sugar solution. After 30mins it was reet frothy:

 

[chuffer]

Next, the 2 cans of extract were added to the boiling water:



And the first hop additions went in via muslin bag:



After 1/2 hr the wort smelled lovely with the bittering hops cooking nicely. After 45 mins it was time to add the first batch of aroma hops:



After the full 60 mins it was time to cool the pan in the icebath:



After realising I'd run out of muslin bags the final aroma hops could only be dunked using a sanitized strainer:



The trouble with these pellets is that the fine bits still manage to get through the muslin bags and so you get a bit of crud in your wort as you can see. Once cooled down to room temp I strained the wort best I could into the FV so it could mix with the 3G of water set aside:



Stirred that baby all frothy before pitching the yeast:



FV in garage connected to brew-belt and Inkbird to keep at 20 degrees:



All wrapped up in a thermal jacket for 2 weeks:

 

[marlon]

You've gone to a great deal of trouble Chuffer, I'll be really interested in your results. I think St. Peters RR is good, but, for me, it lacks body. I'll hold fire on my next one of these until you've reported in. Good luck...!

 

[chuffer]

You've gone to a great deal of trouble Chuffer, I'll be really interested in your results. I think St. Peters RR is good, but, for me, it lacks body. I'll hold fire on my next one of these until you've reported in. Good luck...!

Cheers. My main worry is that it'll be too bitter as the original lacked "something" as you say but prob didn't need too much.....but this was as much a learning experience rather than necessarily expecting it to be the holy grail of beer creation. The OG was 1.040 so it won't be particularly strong (slightly <4% if it comes down to 1.010) which is fine.

 

[donchiquon]

Hi Chuffer

Looks like a good set of hop additions!

I've got the same kit sitting on a shelf waiting for me. I was thinking about beefing it up with about a kilo of DME and using EKG and maybe some Progress to give it an English hop tang.

Having said that I love the citrus hops and have a bag of Mosaic waiting to be used....!

Let us know how it turns out. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Covrich]

You do realise by boiling the original kit you would have boiled away a lot of the original hop flavour?

You have also probably darkened the wort too..

It may still turn out great but I think you may have just been better going for plain extract since you have bought a premium kit and pretty much not used it

 

[Covrich]

Hi Chuffer

Looks like a good set of hop additions!

I've got the same kit sitting on a shelf waiting for me. I was thinking about beefing it up with about a kilo of DME and using EKG and maybe some Progress to give it an English hop tang.

Having said that I love the citrus hops and have a bag of Mosaic waiting to be used....!

Let us know how it turns out. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the original recipie or the hop power that comes with the kit is EKG. sounds good anyway :thumb:

 

[chuffer]

You do realise by boiling the original kit you would have boiled away a lot of the original hop flavour?

No I didn't....eek....well actually that may not be a bad thing as I was worried my mods may have made it overly bitter...

You have also probably darkened the wort too..

Really? balls....this I am concerned about as the whole point was that I wanted a Ruby....oh well, lol

It may still turn out great but I think you may have just been better going for plain extract since you have bought a premium kit and pretty much not used it

I understand what you're saying but I wanted the beer to be a Ruby and I couldn't find the right commercially available plain extract (or combo) that could do that.

 

[chuffer]

I think the original recipie or the hop power that comes with the kit is EKG. sounds good anyway :thumb:

Yes the hop powder is EKG....not sure what hops are in the extract though.

 

[Covrich]

No I didn't....eek....well actually that may not be a bad thing as I was worried my mods may have made it overly bitter...



Really? balls....this I am concerned about as the whole point was that I wanted a Ruby....oh well, lol



I understand what you're saying but I wanted the beer to be a Ruby and I couldn't find the right commercially available plain extract (or combo) that could do that.

You'll probably still have a decent beer

As you wen down the extract route what you could do is steep some specialty grains in your water for 30 mins.. remove then add your extract before boiling.

 

[chuffer]

Had some TOIL today so used it to bottle/barrel this brew which has fermented quicker than anticipated (was down to 1.006 after 6 days and was the same today 4 days later).....this tastes absolutely lovely.....at this stage my first brew (the Youngs APA kit) tasted a bit "green" but eventually turned out great.....but this one tastes bloody great already - just flat, can't wait to see what it's like after carbing/conditioning!

 

[chuffer]

The bottles have been in the warm now for a week so I thought I'd test one out for carbonation. Noted the following:

- Initial first few mouthfuls suggested it was well carbonated
- The above quickly reduced as I got into the beer, this suggests to me it could prob do with at least another couple of days in the warm
- Couldn't believe how clear it was already, gobsmacked by this - the yeast was the Nottingham one, not sure if this is universally known for it's flocculation but it's worked a treat on this brew - much better than the US one I used for my first Pale Ale (which is still really cloudy btw!)
- Tastes awesome, could have prob have done with being slightly more malty/sweet to balance the hop character but that could easily be rectified if I were to attempt again

Will leave to condition for another week or two (the latter in the cold) and try another (with pics this time!)

 

[chuffer]

A week later and its clearing up well and the bitterness has subsided. What's left are strong toffee notes (which is nice but unintentional!) and a well balanced beer but without the fruity zing I was hoping for. I should have dry hopped with the cascade and let my hops sit for longer at flame out to get more fruit/aroma out. Oh well, you live n learn!