Good kit for hop addition?

mmaguy41 · Jul 14, 2012

can anyone suugest a good kit for a hop addition? i have only done basic kits so far, i have a brewers choice country mild to do next that comes with grain and hop teabags. Whats a good kit to do an actual hop addition and what hops would you suggest? Thanks guys

RobWalker · Jul 14, 2012

it's really not a case of which you can add, it's what you want to add to it.

English ales, try adding fuggles or east kent goldings.
IPA's, try adding Cascade, Centennial, Citra.
Lagers try adding Saaz, Hallertauer.

Just buy a decent kit, and we'll tell you where to go from there

mmaguy41 · Jul 14, 2012

Rite ok, so if i bought a st peters IPA would you do a full 60 minute boil with multiple additions even though its pre hopped or would you just do a shorter boil for aroma and flavour?

calumscott · Jul 15, 2012

No, you shouldn't ever boil a kit - all the boiling and breaking should have already been done and you just risk changing the flavour profile.

If you want to hop it up you have a couple of choices:

1) Boil up your hops in the water that you will then cool and add to the kit
2) Dry hop

For an IPA (and especially a good one like the St Peter's) you should have a nicely balanced bitterness in there already. Go with a nice citrussey dry-hop. I'll add Chinook to Rob's list because I love it!

There have been a couple of very recent dry hopping threads which should give you all you need to know!

RobWalker · Jul 15, 2012

Yeah you'll only want to go aroma hops, you won't be boiling enough water to utilize hops to a decent level. But it is a good way to get an idea of how hop aroma changes a beer.

That's the other one, any of the american C's are great for citrus aroma :p I'd recommend cascade to start off with, it's a very unique and delicious hop.

You will do well to steep your hops in a few litres of water at about 70c. That should give you plenty of flavour. Use about 40g to make it obvious - dry hopping is even more obvious.