Hopping a premium kit

[munkian]

lo !

I have a Wherry kit sitting about and fancy tweaking it a bit.#

i'm very much into hoppy ale at the moment so addinh hops seems to be the way to go.

I know dry hopping just adds aroma and boiling the hops at different stages adds bitterness and flavour but I've also heard boiling a pre made kit can ruin the hop flavour already there.

So.. would it be best to add spray malt to boiling water THEN add the hops to the boil at different stages then add this 'wort' to the kit contents in the fv ?

Sorry if this is a little long winded.

 

[Slid]

Basically, yes.

500g of DME and whatever hop schedule should work.

 

[munkian]

Cool, cheers for that

 

[DaveM]

Hi Munkian

Can I ask what hops you are planning to use, and how you are going to use them (boil, steep, dry hop etc)? I've got a Wherry kit that I fancy tweaking as well.

Cheers

Dave

 

[winelight]

Personally after having tried both boiling schedules and simply dry hopping, I now only ever dry hop premium kits (and use 100g a time - you can get wonderfully hoppy beers this way). Of course your tastes may vary so it's worth experimenting rather than take my word for it.

 

[munkian]

Doesn't dry hopping only affect aroma though ?

Ill dig about and see what hops I have and post when I figure something out

 

[devexwarrior]

Is dry hopping simply a case of shaking the bag into the beer? I have 19L of honey boosted Wherry on the go and a bag of Goldings. I plan on adding 50g of the hops for the second week of fermentation. Muslin bag? Pair of the wife's old tights (been a while since I ripped the tights off her) or just sprinkle away and watch for bits when bottling.

 

[Duxuk]

Dry hopping, in my opinion, gives a fresh hoppy charachter but adds no appreciable bitterness. I've never understood why people say it adds aromo, as if that is all it adds. I think it's an over simplification. I often dry hop with Citra, which, as the name suggests, adds a fesh citrusy edge. Traditional hops are likely to be less emphatic, but definitely worthwhile. I have always just chucked them in. They sink and float but don't cause syphoning problems after a week of soaking.

 

[rodwha]

My understanding is that aroma adds to the taste as in your brain computes it that way to a degree.

I have doctored up kits a few times and have used DME in a 20 min boil and added hops at 20 and 5 mins to increase the flavor, and then adding the can. It has worked fairly well, though a few of those kits were barely expired but not kept properly and tasted like molasses.

 

[Brew2Day]

Interesting thread. I was gonna dry hop some saaz in my wilko pilsner. As the kit has already started I wonder if I can launch them in the brew in about 4 days?

 

[munkian]

Sounds right to me

 

[Slid]

Interesting thread. I was gonna dry hop some saaz in my wilko pilsner. As the kit has already started I wonder if I can launch them in the brew in about 4 days?

Yes - sounds a good plan to me, too.
I've just put a Wilko Pilsner on with ~25g of Saaz, just brought to a boil plus 500g DME and chucked in the FV with everything else. Dry hopping might be slightly different on taste profile, I'm experimenting myself, too.

 

[Brew2Day]

I used some Muntons Brew Enhancer instead of sugar so hopefully will help in taste. I'll see how it tastes and the next brew I will boil up some Saaz and Hallertau and see what happens!

 

[tippseyTony]

Interesting thread. I was gonna dry hop some saaz in my wilko pilsner. As the kit has already started I wonder if I can launch them in the brew in about 4 days?

That's sounds great , I did enjoy the wilko pilsner .did you brew short ?

 

[Brew2Day]

No it's still on the go I've had it on since Thursday and bubbling like mad! How long did you keep yours in primary? Never done lager so I'm just gonna go by the instructions.

 

[tippseyTony]

No it's still on the go I've had it on since Thursday and bubbling like mad! How long did you keep yours in primary? Never done lager so I'm just gonna go by the instructions.

7 days primary then secondary for a few days then bottle , teaspoon of sugar per bottle cleared ok . I used light malt and 500g of sugar brewed short to 20 lt 5.5%

 

[Brew2Day]

In terms of sugar did you use granulated or brewing?

 

[Brew2Day]

For the bottling I mean

 

[tippseyTony]

For the bottling I mean

I've always used normal sugar . Tate lyle .