Few Alterations

[RBennett]

Good afternoon, just a couple of more questions...
My favourite at the moment is punk ipa, I really like citrus tasting beers like that.
If I was wanting to make my beer taste a bit citrusy like that, what can I add the ready made beer kits to do this? I appreciate its hard to make it taste anything near without mashing all your own stuff but just thought there might be a bit of an easier way.
Also if I want to make a beer a little stronger alcohol wise, is it simply just add a little more sugar to the mix, or can this alter the taste by a lot?
cheers
Ryan

 

[wheazy_joe]

Hi Ryan,

I presume you are making kit beers at the moment?

To answer you first question the way to do this is to add hops. Find out which hops are used in the beers you like and give them a go. Dry hopping is a great way to seriously up the hop profile of your beers. Funnily enough there is a hop called Citra that really give that citrussy flavour. M&S currently have a single hop IPA using Citra that costs £2.40 per 500ml bottle, well worth a try.

To up thr ABV yes you could add sugar but most will advise against simple sugars. At the very least you want to use brew enhancer or even better malt extract (either liquid or dry). Alternatively you could steep some grains but if that's a step too far go with the BE or ME.

 

[RBennett]

Hi Ryan,

I presume you are making kit beers at the moment?

To answer you first question the way to do this is to add hops. Find out which hops are used in the beers you like and give them a go. Dry hopping is a great way to seriously up the hop profile of your beers. Funnily enough there is a hop called Citra that really give that citrussy flavour. M&S currently have a single hop IPA using Citra that costs �£2.40 per 500ml bottle, well worth a try.

To up thr ABV yes you could add sugar but most will advise against simple sugars. At the very least you want to use brew enhancer or even better malt extract (either liquid or dry). Alternatively you could steep some grains but if that's a step too far go with the BE or ME.

Yes mate iv got a pale ale in a cool place for the next 3 weeks at the moment, just planning my next one really.
Ill look into what hops are used, when you say dry hopping.. at what point of the brew do you add your hopps?
thanks

 

[wheazy_joe]

No problem Ryan. You want to dry hop somewhere between 3-5 days before bottling, but certainly after the most vigorous part of the fermentation has completed. Don't leave them in for much longer than 5 days as you can get off flavours (although I ended up leaving hops in my last batch for seven days as I just didn;t get round to bottling it). I always use a muslin bag when dry hopping, just chucking them straight in can be a bit messy but plenty do it. You can add a mixture of different hops or stick to one type to get a real good idea of exactly how each one tastes.

 

[lagerfeld]

Hi RB

I have also got into Brewdog Punk ipa, they have a website and it tells you which hops are used for each beer.

This one uses Chinook, Ahtanum, Amarillo, Cascade, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin

Good luck :smile:

 

[Tony1951]

Citra, Centennial and Cascade are really very nice hops. I put them in the order of my preference, but they are all great in my opinion.

Wheezy Joe gave you good advice about upping the abv. Really - AVOID just dumping sugar into it, and I would say don't use brew enhancer - Use malt. That is what beer should be made of. Malt extract is as easy as sugar if a bit dearer.

Steeping grain is the best way to go and I promise you - you will get so much more satisfaction out of your beer, because you took a raw commodity and made it into something great. It's a bit like the difference between buying raw ingredients and spices and making a brilliant curry and giving it to your friends or sitting them down to a takeaway curry. The one you made yourself will give them and you much more pleasure.

Steeping grain is not hard and not expensive. Best of all, you will be nearly making all grain beer. I would never go back. The beer is better and the satisfaction is huge. Also, I am making 6 - 7% abv beer with real body for about a tenner for five gallons. If it is a really hoppy APA it might cost me £12.50 for five gallons.

 

[hoptoit]

Sorry to jump in on this. But what amount/weight of hops would you use for a full fv of 40 pints? I take it you would just mix the hops to what you want to a total weight.

 

[terrym]

rbennett:-
If you like citrussy AIPAs, Youngs AIPA is really good and I would recommend you try it, and it doesn't need any 'extras'.
hoptoit:-
First, it's useful to know how going to be hoppy your beer is going to be before you add hops AND what you personal taste is AND what hop or hops you intend to use.
Assuming you do know all of that I would say start at 25g dry hop to enhance what's there already, moving up to perhaps 100g max which is the dry hop quantity used in the Youngs AIPA kit and gives a major hop hit, even too much for some.

 

[RBennett]

Brilliant thanks for the feedback, I think ill give it a whirl on the next one. And thanks for that question hoptoit as it was my next one :)