First Couple of Brews Update

[forextc]

Thought I'd give a quick update here to say thanks for the help I have received on this forum for my newbie questions.

Well I took the plunge and got my all grain brewing system. After much deliberation I went the Grainfather route. I got a good deal and was swayed by a few things, but the main appeal was the app - I work from home and this I think will free up some time for me on future brews.

For the first brew I was very hands on. I relied more on the app on the second brew. While I didn't want to leave things too unattended, it did mean I could spend time getting on with stuff in the other room while simultaneously brewing

I guess as with most things costs have inevitably run up beyond what I had initially calculated to get set up - but hey ho, I've now got everything I could possibly need to keep me going. That is of course until the next must have purchase! Coming from a cycling hobby I understand how these types of things can get addictive!

I've now done two brews and one bottling session. Both kits were from Geterbrewed - the first a single hop Amarillo and the second their American IPA kit. The APA has yet to be bottled, though I tested it today and it's at 1012 FG with a target of 1011. So bottling is imminent.

Current taste tests so far have the APA far in the lead for my tastes, though my old man (who now increasingly pops round!) prefers the Amarillo IPA at this stage. It'll be interesting to see how things work out a few weeks along.

I do love hoppy beers. I found that neither of these really had that strong hop taste. I'm thinking of beers like Deya 'The Very Hoppy Caterpillar', Beavertown 'Lupuloid' etc. I guess there are plenty of clones out there, but wondered if anyone had come across any kits that deliver that 'hop bomb' taste? I'm not sure I'm quite ready to put something together myself just yet.

 

[BeardedMag]

I'm about to start my first kit a youngs APA very basic but everyone starts somewhere. "The Very Hoppy Caterpillar" is the exact flavour route I'm wanting to go down so be interesting to share ideas once I'm out of my noob state and ready to progress onto AG from the kit. Loads of quality help on here too so I'm just waiting for the time and prepping my room to the best of my knowledge!

Thought I'd give a quick update here to say thanks for the help I have received on this forum for my newbie questions.

Well I took the plunge and got my all grain brewing system. After much deliberation I went the Grainfather route. I got a good deal and was swayed by a few things, but the main appeal was the app - I work from home and this I think will free up some time for me on future brews.

For the first brew I was very hands on. I relied more on the app on the second brew. While I didn't want to leave things too unattended, it did mean I could spend time getting on with stuff in the other room while simultaneously brewing

I guess as with most things costs have inevitably run up beyond what I had initially calculated to get set up - but hey ho, I've now got everything I could possibly need to keep me going. That is of course until the next must have purchase! Coming from a cycling hobby I understand how these types of things can get addictive!

I've now done two brews and one bottling session. Both kits were from Geterbrewed - the first a single hop Amarillo and the second their American IPA kit. The APA has yet to be bottled, though I tested it today and it's at 1012 FG with a target of 1011. So bottling is imminent.

Current taste tests so far have the APA far in the lead for my tastes, though my old man (who now increasingly pops round!) prefers the Amarillo IPA at this stage. It'll be interesting to see how things work out a few weeks along.

I do love hoppy beers. I found that neither of these really had that strong hop taste. I'm thinking of beers like Deya 'The Very Hoppy Caterpillar', Beavertown 'Lupuloid' etc. I guess there are plenty of clones out there, but wondered if anyone had come across any kits that deliver that 'hop bomb' taste? I'm not sure I'm quite ready to put something together myself just yet.

 

[Fil]

:thumb: enjoyed your post right til the last sentence..

I'm not sure I'm quite ready to put something together myself just yet.

Poppycock!! and in the style of a pantomime audience i can hear the whole forum shouting back at you 'OH YES YOU ARE!!'

May i suggest you start with one of the kits you have bought and liked, but found lacking in the hop aroma area, and buy a pack of the aroma hops used, then double the flame out and dry hopping masses used by the kit. If still not the BOMB your after well brew again and add more hops.. Hop Bombs are not cheap to brew, some have ridiculous hop schedules, the maddest ive seen weighed in @ 500g!!!! But to get the punch in the nose impact you will need to pack em in..

a g/f mini brew kit allowing you to easily brew 11l volumes might be prudent if you really go to town with the hops. after all its going to diminish with time, so better you run out of beer than the beer running out of aroma.

and when it comes to building your own recipes grab some brewing software, there are free offerings like brewmate and pay for options such as beersmith thats almost sophisticated enough to talk the mrs into letting you brew on your aniversary for you but not quite..
Or one of the many phone apps.. any one will let you build a recipe and reflect the expected abv and ibu, and even the colour as you add the ingredients or change them, start playing and it will all fall into place in no time...


continue enjoying

 

[forextc]

:thumb: enjoyed your post right til the last sentence..



Poppycock!! and in the style of a pantomime audience i can hear the whole forum shouting back at you 'OH YES YOU ARE!!'

Haha! Yes that was my thought - start 'modding' an existing kit and see where it takes me. I guess it's just a confidence thing. I need to take a look around and see what grains and hops are being used and then start experimenting from there.

I've got a single hop Amarillo kit in the cupboard so might start with that as a base on which to build. :thumb: