Excuse a little bit of maths for a second but I'm just thinking about kits in general. For the most part they are OK but under normal circumstances holding back the water, even just a little, helps them out MASSIVELY. Would doing the alternative have the same effect? What I mean is, rather than adding less water... what about adding more extract?
I understand that a kit is basically liquid malt extract that's already been hopped? In that case, what about adding some more extract to the mix to take up the slack rather than brewing short.
Working example...
1.7kg kit = 1.7kg of liquid extract
Instructions say good for 23L
Reality says good for 20L
If 1.7kg in 20L = good beer then that would mean that mean that 2kg in 23L would = just as good beer?
Does this sound plausible? Obviously the additional extract wouldn't be hopped but for me this has never been the drawback of the kits, it's more the watery sensation/taste and slight lack of body (same with cider).
One of the kits that desperately needed to be brewed short was the Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit. If I was doing that again I would brew it to 19L to the kit.
Applying the above logic I could keep it at 23L if I added 0.35kg of LME rather than holding it back, thus getting my full 40 pints.
Taking it one stage further, I think it's widely accepted that LME is made up of approx 80% DME, that being the case I could just multiply the 0.35 by 0.8 to get the amount of DME that would be required.
Last Working Example:
1.7kg Coopers Cerveza Kit
Brewed to 23L with additional 300g of DME
1KG of additional brewing sugar added
Would be the same as:
1.7kg Coopers Cerveza Kit
Brewed to 19L
1KG of additional brewing Sugar
Is this correct? Thoughts? The next time I do a cider kit I'm going to water it down to 19L and add 4L of apple juice, to see what the difference is :)
I understand that a kit is basically liquid malt extract that's already been hopped? In that case, what about adding some more extract to the mix to take up the slack rather than brewing short.
Working example...
1.7kg kit = 1.7kg of liquid extract
Instructions say good for 23L
Reality says good for 20L
If 1.7kg in 20L = good beer then that would mean that mean that 2kg in 23L would = just as good beer?
Does this sound plausible? Obviously the additional extract wouldn't be hopped but for me this has never been the drawback of the kits, it's more the watery sensation/taste and slight lack of body (same with cider).
One of the kits that desperately needed to be brewed short was the Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit. If I was doing that again I would brew it to 19L to the kit.
Applying the above logic I could keep it at 23L if I added 0.35kg of LME rather than holding it back, thus getting my full 40 pints.
Taking it one stage further, I think it's widely accepted that LME is made up of approx 80% DME, that being the case I could just multiply the 0.35 by 0.8 to get the amount of DME that would be required.
Last Working Example:
1.7kg Coopers Cerveza Kit
Brewed to 23L with additional 300g of DME
1KG of additional brewing sugar added
Would be the same as:
1.7kg Coopers Cerveza Kit
Brewed to 19L
1KG of additional brewing Sugar
Is this correct? Thoughts? The next time I do a cider kit I'm going to water it down to 19L and add 4L of apple juice, to see what the difference is :)
and well worth checking with a 5ltr bottle of water and recalibrating with a black marker pen :lol: 
