N00b in need of help

[Rik.cooper88]

Hi everyone, I'm totally new to homebrew. I have all the gear but not really any idea. All I'm wanting to know is how much of everything I have to put in my brew. I've looked all over and one says one thing another says something else. I'll show you exactly what I have in pics and a list. If somebody could please look at what I have and make it really simple for me because I'm totally lost!

Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=106gdNtyatL7YC8ZK8UiJ65qLIYJSDEWt
Ritchies Simply 40 Pint Beer Kit - Lager
Mangrove Jacks 600g Pure Malt Enhancer
Muntons Light Spraymalt 500g
Wilko 1kg Brewing Sugar

 

[AXW123]

You don’t need all of the above. The instructions for a Ritchies kit say to Add the sachet of liquid malt contained in the kit plus 1kg of dextrose brewing sugar or for improved results 1kg of beer enhancer. so you should either add 1kg brewing sugar or any combination of malt enhancer and spray malt which are 1kg in total. The kit isn’t strong enough without the additions. It is kind of a matter of choice which additions you include. Use the kg of brewing sugar if you want to keep it simple or a mixture of the other additions to improve flavour.

 

[DocAnna]

The short version is follow the instructions on the kit. However, it does depend on what you'd like out from the kit in terms of style of beer. The lager kit + 1kg brewing sugar in a fermenter made up to 23 litres with tap water and a couple of kettle fulls of boiling water will align with the kit for a 4.4% light lager. If you want to make it stronger in alcohol and with more body then add the malt enhancer before making up the liquid level. You could add everything in but that would be a much stronger beer and less lager like.

Ferment in a cool dark place in the house, ideally low teens of temperature assuming it's a lager yeast provided with the kit.

Anna

 

[Random Badger]

Also depends what ABV% is wanted. I have recently been told that to reach the advertised ABV for Ritchie's kits they assume you use 1KG of brewing sugar rather than malt extract. If it was me I would probably go with the kit, the sugar and the 500g of light spraymalt and save the liquid malt extract for another brew.

 

[Rik.cooper88]

Cheers for the replies guys awesome So I'm wanting to create a pretty strong lager around 5.5-6% really...and I want it to have a decent body too it. I really love really hoppy lagers like a helles style or dry hopped lager. Which is where I will be going after doing this first batch but I don't want it to be rubbish and drinkable as I hate weak lagers like carling n fosters and the like. To achieve these results what would you recommend with what I've got or is that impossible to achieve with the ritchies kit, maybe I shouldve mentioned that!

 

[Rik.cooper88]

My thoughts were the 500g of light spray malt 500g of brewing sugar and the liquid malt to bring up the abv??

 

[Random Badger]

My thoughts were the 500g of light spray malt 500g of brewing sugar and the liquid malt to bring up the abv??

Down to individual taste. For me I think that could end up with a bit too much body/sweetness for a lager, hence why I would go with the 1KG sugar and the light spraymalt.

 

[Rik.cooper88]

Down to individual taste. For me I think that could end up with a bit too much body/sweetness for a lager, hence why I would go with the 1KG sugar and the light spraymalt.

Cool cool! Does the spray malt increase abv?

 

[Rik.cooper88]

The short version is follow the instructions on the kit. However, it does depend on what you'd like out from the kit in terms of style of beer. The lager kit + 1kg brewing sugar in a fermenter made up to 23 litres with tap water and a couple of kettle fulls of boiling water will align with the kit for a 4.4% light lager. If you want to make it stronger in alcohol and with more body then add the malt enhancer before making up the liquid level. You could add everything in but that would be a much stronger beer and less lager like.

Ferment in a cool dark place in the house, ideally low teens of temperature assuming it's a lager yeast provided with the kit.

Anna

Thanks for the advice I've got myself a nice little temperature controlled cupboard in my garage/bar should be perfect!

 

[Gerryjo]

Personally if it were me and your first time just stick to the basics and get your head around it.It's all so easy to bump your ABV but getting the process right is first and foremost as if not it's a total let down at first.

 

[Random Badger]

Cool cool! Does the spray malt increase abv?

Yes it's a fermentable so it's similar to adding more sugar. However it won't ferment out as completely as sugar and should add some body and flavour as opposed to the drying/thinning effect of just adding sugar to get more alcohol.

 

[Rik.cooper88]

Yes it's a fermentable so it's similar to adding more sugar. However it won't ferment out as completely as sugar and should add some body and flavour as opposed to the drying/thinning effect of just adding sugar to get more alcohol.

Great stuff man! Thanks so much for the help makes it alot clearer! I'm going to go with the 1kg of sugar and the spray malt! What would you recommend using the liquid malt for? Something like a helles lager or something heavier like an IPA?

 

[Dicko]

Also depends what ABV% is wanted. I have recently been told that to reach the advertised ABV for Ritchie's kits they assume you use 1KG of brewing sugar rather than malt extract. If it was me I would probably go with the kit, the sugar and the 500g of light spraymalt and save the liquid malt extract for another brew.

I agree with badger.
I've never made the richies lager as I use the coopers European lager and go with something similar. I go with the kit plus 500g of light spray malt and 700g of sugar, brewed to 21L with a 50g saaz dry hop at the end of fermentation. It come out at around 5.4%. Its a nice brew.

Cheers Dicko

 

[RustyV8]

Great stuff man! Thanks so much for the help makes it alot clearer! I'm going to go with the 1kg of sugar and the spray malt! What would you recommend using the liquid malt for? Something like a helles lager or something heavier like an IPA?

Hi Rik- the liquid malt is just a liquid version of spraymalt and can be used in various recipies.
I’m pretty new to all this too with only 5 brews under my belt. So the only thing I’d say would be to slow down and read a bit because it’s REALLY easy to loose the run of yourself with this hobby
If you haven’t already read it, there’s a good sticky post in this section about enhancing basic kits - also, the Coopers main site has some nice recipies all using off the shelf kits. It’s a good way to experiment a little and still staying fairly safe so you end up with a drinkable beer in the end.
Best of luck, and welcome to the madness

 

[Rik.cooper88]

I agree with badger.
I've never made the richies lager as I use the coopers European lager and go with something similar. I go with the kit plus 500g of light spray malt and 700g of sugar, brewed to 21L with a 50g saaz dry hop at the end of fermentation. It come out at around 5.4%. Its a nice brew.

Cheers Dicko

Awesome man will keep this in mind

 

[Rik.cooper88]

Hi Rik- the liquid malt is just a liquid version of spraymalt and can be used in various recipies.
I’m pretty new to all this too with only 5 brews under my belt. So the only thing I’d say would be to slow down and read a bit because it’s REALLY easy to loose the run of yourself with this hobby
If you haven’t already read it, there’s a good sticky post in this section about enhancing basic kits - also, the Coopers main site has some nice recipies all using off the shelf kits. It’s a good way to experiment a little and still staying fairly safe so you end up with a drinkable beer in the end.
Best of luck, and welcome to the madness

Cheers buddy...ive got the simple lager in now close to bottling now going to try a helles next I think