Coopers IPA with a little experimentation

[bonobo]

Got hold of a Coopers IPA kit, it seems to get very good reviews.

Made a few changes to the kit instructions:

- Boiled 20g of golding hops for 10 mins, then steeped another 20g in the boiled water for about 15.
- Sieved this into my fermenter.
- Dissolved the contents of the can into this and substituted 1kg light spray malt for the 500g dme and 300g dextrose in the instructions.
- Shortened the brew length from 5 to 4 gallons.
- Used rehydrated yeast from the kit.

OG was 1.051, hoping for an FG in the range of 1.012.

This this sound ok? It's my first time deviatingfrom the kit instructions.

Also it's my first time using an immersion heater. The power cord goes through a hole in the bung and isn't exactly air tight. Do you think this will be all right or should I try and seal it with something? Also I like to see my airlock bubbling away which presumably wont happen if the C02 is escaping somewhere else.

bonobo :

 

[Wez]

The adjustments sound good, you could also try dry hopping in the keg (if you are kegging)

The c02 will find the easest way to escpape, personally I would try to seal it up if you can, it'll stop any interested flies from getting in there and will also give you an indication of fermentation, as you say, by getting the airlock bubbling.

Hope the brew turns out well for you :

 

[bonobo]

I really am quite new at this so I hope you don't mind a few questions.

1. I'm not going to be kegging, but could I dry hop in a secondary fermenter before bottling?

2. Apart from increasing the OG and alcohol content what other effects will reducing the brew length have on the beer. e.g. the IBU for this kit without any added hops is 33.8 at 5 gallons, what affect will the reduction brew length have on this component as well as others?

3. Am I right in thinking that dry hopping has more affect on the aroma, and hopping during the boil has a greater affect on the flavour?

Thanks to anyone who can shed any light on these. :thumb:

 

[Wez]

1. I'm not going to be kegging, but could I dry hop in a secondary fermenter before bottling?

Yep

2. Apart from increasing the OG and alcohol content what other effects will reducing the brew length have on the beer. e.g. the IBU for this kit without any added hops is 33.8 at 5 gallons, what affect will the reduction brew length have on this component as well as others?

They say that it can throw the kit out of balance, but experiment I say!

3. Am I right in thinking that dry hopping has more affect on the aroma, and hopping during the boil has a greater affect on the flavour?

Yes.

 

[Vossy1]

Hope the brew's a good un bonobo :thumb:

 

[bonobo]

Cheers Vossy1, and thanks for answering my questions Wez.

I find that all the kits I've brewed to instructions (regarding the brew length) have turned out 4%ish, which is a bit weak for my taste.

I don't know if there's any kind of resource that lists the estimated abv of kits, but I guess this a good reason to try and work my way up the brewing ladder!

 

[banjokat]

Your plan sounds like a good one.

I've got one of these kits to put on as well. I'll be adding 915g of spraymalt to mine and maybe 100g of dextrose (just because I have some). I'll probably brew to 22 litres. I'll put 1/2 a hop tablet in the secondary fv before bottling too.
If you're wondering why 915g spraymalt - the other 85g went to prime the keg in a batch of York Terrier!

We can compare how our kits turn out!

 

[MEB]

Experimenting is good guys-get stuck in. Just remember to make sure you sterilise the bejesus out of anything that even has the chance to be in the near vicinity of your brew.

Also-Wez is a hop fiend. Did you know that he sprinkles fresh hop cones onto his cornflakes in the morning? :shock: He does-don't believe him when he denies this. He's a fibber. :P

Reducing the brew length of a kit beer isn't advised IMO. It throws the balance out quite a lot. I've done it though. The beer was bloody awfull for 6 weeks. Got to the point where I wanted to bin it. Next day it was great. Strong as deer **** but fun nonetheless. If your going to add hops, add sugars. :thumb: Doing both is a proper experiment. But you won't learn anything about brewing if you don't try different things and test your palate. I just brew what I like to drink now. But I do enjoy having a bit of a play when I can. :

 

[bonobo]

Well it's been abut 24hrs since pitching and it's fermenting like crazy. It's got a behemoth krausen which has made it all the way from the 4 gallon mark into my airlock.

The wort temperature's 26C while the ambient temperatures 20C. Should I try and cool it down? Coopers say the range is 21-27C, but i'm thinking fermenting at the higher end will produce more off flavours?

Also can someone recommend an amount and type of dry hop to add for a mild hoppy aroma?

Sorry for all the questions (this is my last one), but does anyone know of any kits that aren't stupidly expensive, which generally produce a beer of 4.5% or higher abv?

Cheers :

 

[banjokat]

I recently brewed a Fixby Gold with 500g hopped spraymalt added - that came out around 5% for 23 litres. Haven't tried it yet though, it's conditioning in bottles for Christmas

 

[fivetide]

It all sounds just fine bonobo - carry on as you are, I say!

 

[Wez]

I'd try to get that temp down, fermenting at 26c may cause you some off flavours.


Try dry hopping with 10g Goldings in a sterlised muslin bag for 5 days in the keg.

 

[bonobo]

Cheers Wez.

It's down to 1.014 already and the temperatures now under control.

Tastes pretty good too for a two day old brew!

 

[Wez]

Lovely :

Enjoy :drunk: