Hop-rodding!

[WWC]

Hello everybody

Firstly, just to say, I’m very new to the world of homebrew (half a brew and one demijohn of apple wine in!) so any feedback welcome!

To cut to the chase I want to create a strong (6.5%ish) intense (grapefruit, passion fruit, tropical etc flavours) ‘craft IPA’ style brew from a kit.

Ok so this is probably a long shot but as the beers I like are at least £2 a throw if I can pull something drinkable off that’s in the broad area I’ll be chuffed.

My simplistic and naïve brain says start with a kit like Razorback IPA or Evil Dog Double IPA, add some extra brewing sugar to the malt to beef up the alcohol then dry hop with a combination of:

Centennial
Saphir
Amarillo
Simcoe
Cascade

Gut feeling is the standard kits err on the side of caution so extra hops will help with the flavour?

How stupid is this as a plan and how can I tweak it?

Cheers

Will

 

[sdt7618]

Hello everybody

Firstly, just to say, I’m very new to the world of homebrew (half a brew and one demijohn of apple wine in!) so any feedback welcome!

To cut to the chase I want to create a strong (6.5%ish) intense (grapefruit, passion fruit, tropical etc flavours) ‘craft IPA’ style brew from a kit.

Ok so this is probably a long shot but as the beers I like are at least ��£2 a throw if I can pull something drinkable off that’s in the broad area I’ll be chuffed.

My simplistic and naïve brain says start with a kit like Razorback IPA or Evil Dog Double IPA, add some extra brewing sugar to the malt to beef up the alcohol then dry hop with a combination of:

Centennial
Saphir
Amarillo
Simcoe
Cascade

Gut feeling is the standard kits err on the side of caution so extra hops will help with the flavour?

How stupid is this as a plan and how can I tweak it?

Cheers

Will

Will,

The Evil dog kit is way above 6.5% mate as it stands at 7.1%. Having done the kit I found it sweet but tasty, there is a good thread on it if you search. There was plenty of hops in it for a dry hop and I wouldn't have been wanting anything more in it.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=40775&highlight=evil

 

[terrym]

There is usually no need to boost a premium kit.
Youngs American IPA has all the stuff you need (including 100g hops for dry hopping) and should produce a beer with an ABV above 6.0%.
Festival kits also come with their own hops, including the Razorback.

 

[WWC]

Cheers both, will maybe try a couple of different approaches.

Appreciate the input though.

 

[Clint]

Youngs aipa...leave it as long as it needs to ferment out...up to 4 weeks..cold crash after dry hopping if you can... a big tasty beer. Enjoy carefully. ...

 

[Pavros]

Youngs aipa...leave it as long as it needs to ferment out...up to 4 weeks..cold crash after dry hopping if you can... a big tasty beer. Enjoy carefully. ...

And I would add the Youngs American pale ale and red india ale to that as well. All three are cracking kits with a lot of dry hops included.

 

[WWC]

Cold crash?

 

[GerritT]

Hello everybody

Firstly, just to say, I’m very new to the world of homebrew (half a brew and one demijohn of apple wine in!) so any feedback welcome!

To cut to the chase I want to create a strong (6.5%ish) intense (grapefruit, passion fruit, tropical etc flavours) ‘craft IPA’ style brew from a kit.

Ok so this is probably a long shot but as the beers I like are at least �£2 a throw if I can pull something drinkable off that’s in the broad area I’ll be chuffed.

My simplistic and naïve brain says start with a kit like Razorback IPA or Evil Dog Double IPA, add some extra brewing sugar to the malt to beef up the alcohol then dry hop with a combination of:

Centennial
Saphir
Amarillo
Simcoe
Cascade

Gut feeling is the standard kits err on the side of caution so extra hops will help with the flavour?

How stupid is this as a plan and how can I tweak it?

Cheers

Will

A kit for 40 pints would cost about £25? How much ingredients would that buy? All you need is the proper recipe. And a kit is nothing more but ingredients, a recipe and profit margin. And convenience, of course.
But how much would for instance this recipe cost?

 

[Jakeyboi]

Cold crash?

It's a term homebrewers use to chill the beer down in the bucket to 1/2C for a few days. It helps to clear the beer. It would require a temp controlled fridge/freezer to do. Sometimes the garden shed is just about the right temp just be careful of cold snaps.

 

[LarryF]

It's good advice that the premium kits are so well made that they don't need tweaking and they will make you a cracking beer. The single tin kits do open the door for tweaking. A 1 tin kit brewed with 1kg of Brew Enhancer will give you about 4%, with this as a base you can bump up the ABV with an extra fermentable of your choice. You can also hop the bejasus out of it with a boiled or steeped hop tea and load up on the dry hop or not, as you choose.

 

[WWC]

Hi again

The ½ brew I referred to in the original post is, in theory, ready for bottling.

BUT it’s currently more of a hop soup (the Festival didn’t use the teabag method and I added more).

I tasted a bit last night and it’s actually ok for a first attempt, I don’t think the additional Equinox hops were the right choice but once it’s bottle conditioned and chilled I think it’ll be ok.

Sooooo…what to do?

- Rack into a new FV using the hop filter bag over the syphon and wait for it to settle?
- Bottle using hop filter bag?
- Leave as is for another week and risk ‘over-hopping’?
- Another option?

 

[WierdFish]

Agree with the above on the premium kits. Have made a few of the Young's and they are a very nice beer, plenty of hoppy flavour and some are over 6% without any tweaking.