IPA improving body, correct carbanation

[aeddon]

Brewed up 5 gal muntons IPA bout a month ago, added 1kg light spray malt and boiled some hops up.

When I bottled it I did a little experimentation by differing the amounts of spray malt, 1tsp, 1/2 tsp and 1/4 tsp per pint. The 1tsp was too much carbonation more suited to lagers and the 1/4 too little, but maybe needs a bit longer to mature but the 1/2 tsp was nice. only problem is it really lacks body. It had a good hoppy aroma and a decent taste, just a bit thin.

Are kits limited to the amount of body you can get? I wont have my micron-brewery up for a while so am after ways of improving the body of kits and extract brewing.

advice and tips most welcome

 

[BrewStew]

try a two tin (3kg) kit... they dont need any extra additions. The one's i've tried were quite well bodied :thumb:

 

[aeddon]

cheers, will give em a try. I found a john bull master class kits on offer somewhere, buy 2 for £14 or £12 each

 

[BrewStew]

2 for £14 that's a bargain!!!

I've done the John Bull Masterclass stout. was very good!

 

[aeddon]

7 quid a pop, that'd be nice, nar there buy two mater class then each cost £12 each, so £24 for two. wish they were that cheap!!! i'll pop up the link when I can find it

 

[aeddon]

Been drinking a bit more of this and its making me think about beer, funny that aint it guess its a harsh review of sorts.

When poured it didnt have any head to speak of, not that IPA is renowned for a bit head, but were talking zero. the bubbles are, well, very bubbly, what you would expect from a larger, or a can of coke, but not ale. It did retain fizzyness for the duration of half a pint but pancake flat after that. The sediment at the bottom was very loose and broke into chunks when moved even slightly. I dont expect crystal clear clarity and it was acceptably misty in my judgement.

yes its alcoholic and nicely so, not so strong but not so weak. But its very watery and thin, not like ale at all. but does have a good hoppy taste, proberbly the inclusion of extra hops, but it tastes, well, just like homebrew. I hope to improve taste with more chemistry and water analysis.

Like i said, I brewed it up with extra hops and 1kg of spraymalt so gods knows what it would have been like if I had used white sugar, further more i only made it up to 4.5 gallons not the 5 recommended, not that it would have a massive difference. I wouldn't recommend this kit to anyone, it has no good qualities apart from the satisfaction of playing around and doing it for myself. But without the experience i wouldn't know how to improve it: more body, smaller bubbled (if thats possible), better taste etc...

If your desired outcome is a briefly acceptable alcoholic drink that when drunk progressively gets better and works out at about 65p a pint then fair enuf, but i dont think i'll do this again.

EDIT: i will drink a bottle week to see how it develops, maybe it will get better with time.

 

[BrewStew]

sorry to hear it's not turned out as expected.

Don't give up though! try a Woodforde's or John Bull kit and see what you think to those. there are of course many others, but those i've tried alot of and been happy with them :thumb:

 

[Kingclay]

You could try a couple of tablespoons (100 g or so) of dried wheat malt in addition to the rest of your dried malts for a better head.

 

[aeddon]

give up, no no no no, dont be silly

more beer, more experimenting. I got some wheat spraymalt, so will give that a go. just wanted to give a honest review, wasnt impressed with it at all.

have heard great things bout woodfordes, next on my list, but have some boilers arriving soon so kits will be a thing of the past

cheers guys :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

but have some boilers arriving soon so kits will be a thing of the past

and so, you're journey to the dark side begins :twisted: