Mangrove's jack grapefruit pink ipa limited edition

[Eight Ace]

Got round to getting this kit on this evening. All went relatively smoothly! You can definitely smell and taste the grapefruit which is a good sign.

However, my OG came to 1.08 . Now, I was given a 1.2litre pouch of Mangrove Jacks LME as a substitute for their brew enhancer but still! Looking at 8%+, or my sampling method is wonky! (Hydrometer appears to be accurate). As long as it tastes fine I'm not too fussed though.

Im going to be adding an additional 50g each of Citra and Amarillo to the dry hop pellets supplied. Cannot wait!

 

[kodak79]

I've not been using kit yeast recently but I assume that since Mj's are a yeast supplier the provided yeast will be good to use on this kit?

 

[Eight Ace]

ItsI my first experience with MJ but see any reason why not. Still waiting for mine to take off, but yeast does seem active, has spread over the top and smells, well, yeasty! Pitched mine dry so expecting a slight delay.

 

[soupdragon]

Got one of these on the go at the mo. Took 36 hrs ish to get going. Have used that yeast before so knew what to expect

Cheers. Tom

 

[kodak79]

So did you go with the additional 1.2kg LME or dextrose?

 

[Eight Ace]

Was given a free pouch of Mangrove Jack's LME with the kit, so in that went!

 

[kodak79]

Lucky you. It just cost me an extra £5.

 

[Eight Ace]

So after a few days this has taken odo like a rocket! To the point where the airlock was overflowing. So off that went and on came a temporary covering of sanitised foil (its a wilkos wide neck fv). All good, until I came come this evening and as I'd secured it too well, the pressure had popped it off leaving the wort exposed . I think a larger fv is required, or a blow off tube!

Hopefully should be okay, all appears well so just have to keep my fingers crossed that nothing nasty went in.

 

[kodak79]

I wouldn't worry about it. I brewed for years without an airlock, just lifted the edge of the brew bucket lid.
I'm a bit more careful now but still am more blase than most - but never had a bad one yet.

 

[Eight Ace]

Airlock replaced this morning. Doesn't appear to be any activity so measured it. Already down to 1.02 within 6 days, impressive! The trial jar was very pleasant and rather fizzy. There is a thick layer of sediment on top so wonder if that's causing the co2 to remain in the beer and for the airlock to remain still.

 

[Eight Ace]

Thrilling update. Bubbling away nicely again now. With a bit of luck I can get the dry hops in for a good few days before the next cold snap hits and can cold crash it before racking off. (Oh for a brew fridge.....)

 

[Eight Ace]

Dry hops are now in. Added an additional 50g each of Citra and Amarillo so looking forward to this.

Gravity down to 1.016 which is around what I'm expecting. Taste is odd though, like shandy bass. Let's see how the hopping goes....

Thinking about it, it kind of makes sense with it being rather fruity.

 

[Eight Ace]

Bottled today. Disappointing haul of 17 litres plus a few stragglers due to not using muslin bags for the hops but hey ho.

Decided to break out the tea strainer and have a pint with the leftovers. Already this is very, very good! Taste wise its almost bang on to Elvis Juice, though the grapefruit is not quite as strong. (Bear in mind I added an additional 100g of hops following Brewdog's recipe).
This might beat the Young's AIPA :fart:

 

[HappyVernon]

Hello,

I have just set this up as my fourth brew, i went to Worcester home brew shop especially for this (only 50 miles from home but I was kind of passing) as I liked the sound of it.

I have had a go at cwtch x 2 and golden stag previously with mixed results. Not yet happy enough to share any with my friends.

The smell of grapefruit was noticeable at the initial stage and there has been some action in the FV in the first 4 days so looking good.

How is everyone else getting on so far as you appear to be a little ahead of my brew. Any further advice?

 

[soupdragon]

Just cracked one of the bottles left over from filling a corny and my official taster (the Mrs) said "nom nom". It definitely has the base flavour of Elvis juice and Belhaven twisted grapefruit ipa but not quite as pronounced.
Definitely a good one though. I'm not a regular kit maker but this will certainly be one I'd do again.
I will be ordering some of Rob's cold pressed grapefruit extract to have a play with :smile6:

Cheers Tom

 

[Eight Ace]

Would love to see how that'd turn out :thumb:

As for my brew, despite it only being 3 days I decided to crack open a bottle, cause that's the kind of maverick I am! (That and it was one full of hop detritus so no loss). I'd love to give more feedback but I'm full of cold so couldn't taste it properly. However it has carbed a treat and the yeast does appear to stay put. Shall leave it for another week or so and will give my thoughts then.

 

[Eight Ace]

One week later, this is glorious! As good as anything I've had in a while off draft and bottle. Granted its had an extra 100g of hops but for a kit this is genuinely superb and better than the Young's AIPA imo. (However I did bag the hops in that one which did have an affect). £30 well spent!

 

[Kenboy]

I brewed this too. Must say I was disappointed at not realising I needed to add additional sugar until I opened the pouch.

Lessons learned I guess, but I prefer a kit to have everything you need, luckily I had a local Wilko to go to and I added malt enhancer rather than dextrose. I also added a sachet of brew enhancer

I waited till the gravity was about 1.022 then added the hops in a muslin bag.

Managed to get the FG down to 1.010 with no effort then bottled after two weeks. Its now been carbonating for 2 weeks and is about to go into the garage. Bottles already look to be clearing, so I guess I'll be drinking sooner rather than later.

 

[HappyVernon]

Hello,

A little update on my brew. I add an extra 50g Columbus hops, the only ones I have.

I had 3 weeks in FV and the bottled and they have now had 2 weeks in bottle under heat so intend to take the heat away Monday and leave alone for a couple of weeks. I have a couple of bottles in clear glass, it appears to be an bright / strong orange colour. It's is settling. Does the colour match others brews? Regards

 

[halfpint]

I just started this kit 2 days ago, and it's just started to bubble in the airlock. So, in every ones opinion it needs more hops that the 50g that it came with.
If I double up both the simcoe & cascade will this be enough ? or should I go for more. This is my first IPA so I haven't a clue what it needs.