Next kits, variation and knowing your sugar limits?

[kwakamat]

Hi all,

First off I've only been doing this a short while and have really loved some of the results you get with the standard coopers kits and brew enhancers etc. I'm nowhere near AG nor likely to be for a long time although I am learning by reading here.

Search as i might I haven't been able to find out how some masterminds on here can happily comment as "....200g of x + 500g of x would give you an OG of .042 and FG of 1.004" HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THESE THINGS AND WORK THEM OUT? The forecasting side I'm talking about so you can plan a brew with mouthfeel, ABV or whatever matters to you. of course I have been documenting everything I have made to see where variations are but before I have put anything on I don't know what to expect and don't want to bee adding too much in and making a manky brew :-(

4-5.5% brews are enough for me and everything I have made has been in that tolerance. i'm going to use a couple of kits i have left over tonight, the coopers original lager and the canadian blonde.

I'm interested in knowing of any suggestions you guys may have to recipes not involving hops ie. just sugars/malt extract etc.

Coopers lager -originally calls for a BE1, I was going to use a 1kg BE2 (more malt) and brew short to 20ltrs so it goes straight into a corny keg. How can I forecast what ABV this is likely to have?

Canadian Blonde - originally calls for a BE1, I have 500g of extra light dry malt, was going to combine this with 500g of either tate and lyle table sugar or 500g brewing sugar (muntoons i think?) and again brew short to 20 ltrs to corny keg it.

I know it may not seem very adventurous to a large amount of you guys I'm just trying to piece together what does what and where I can use it so I learn more about what i like and how i can create more personal beers/ales in the future.

Any advice appreciated - I have read up on liquid malt extract and will try one day but the dry malt extract seems to win most people over from what I've read.

Cheers
Matt

 

[RobWalker]

Hahah, right...

Number 1 - calculators. with a little googling, you can usually find the OG of a kit made to instructions. You just plonk malt/sugar up to that reading into a beer calculator, then edit as neccessary. FG can't be determined, just estimated.

Kit modifying is easy, Coopers have a good recipe database for their kits on their website too! What do you like, what would you want to make? Most things are relatively achievable with kits as most of them are a pretty stripped down version of the beer they're meant to be. That way you can steep in aroma hops, steep some malts for flavour and colour, use different yeasts etc. It's really up to you what.

Google says, made to instructions, coopers lager will be 4.5%. Brewing to 21L that works out at about 4.9%. It will be very slightly weaker due to the inclusion of malt in BE2 instead of dextrose, as dextrose ferments out entirely and malt will add non fermentable sugars leaving you with a higher FG.

500g DME/sugar for your canadian blonde is basically like adding BE2. You'll get a good result again though, brew enhancer instead of sugar and 21L is my standard kit method, I just made a John Bull IPA that tastes pretty good brewed this way :thumb:

 

[mmaguy41]

i just google up beer recipe calculator there are a few where you can enter ingredients and it will give you approx abv etc. Ive used them before to alter kit recipes and they work quite well

 

[ScottM]

OG = 1 + (solids in grams/volume in ml)*0.36

The FG is WAY more complicated if you want accuracy. Most of the time people just base the FG on 75% of the OG.

 

[PD]

The FG is in the lap of the Gods. Its the mysterious aspect of beer making !
You can determine the SG and alter it by adding subtracting sugars and other things so as to give a certain type of beer/ale to our taste and preference.Finally we add our yeast which will have certain characteristics according to its type and heritage. We then wave the brew away on its long journey towards being beer.
Although we maintain the brew cleanly within certain temps etc. The brew is an independent thing, apart from letting us know of our mistakes and errors, by turning into vinegar or getting off flavours It will do its own thing... see sugar convert to alcohol... leave unfermentables floating behind. die and drop to the bottom.
Now all being well things will go according to plan and beer will be produced. Whether its to our wants and needs is a different matter. This is where the " unfermentables " come into play... Our bittering hops our aroma hops the type of sugars we have used will all play a part in the final taste and style of the brew.
All these have pretty determinable effects on beer and can be guessed at or pointed at by experienced brewers, or by programs designed specifically to work these things out. Adding a certain bittering hop that's boiled for a certain length of time will release certain amounts of flavours over that time etc. An aroma hop will release certain amounts of aroma molecules.
All these can be changed and altered when AG brewing that's its appeal for the AG brewers you decide alter and change the brew, using experience or following a set path from a brew calculator, or even seat of the pants brewing.... what the hell chuck it in.
To a certain extent this can also be done with extract brewing. BIAB or what have you.
Kit brewing is more limited. The wort has been made for you by the kit maker, to their wants and to the style of beer they are trying to emmulate.
We then make the kit up by adding waters sugars and then let the yeasts do there thing. Although kit brewers can still make some alterations dry hopping adding different ingredients etc the basic style is determined by the type of kit.
It makes for an easy brewing experience and allows us to faithfully make beers. The kit makers have got it all off to a tea and we can as a result make nearly every type of beer, which I guess you could call Clones of beers, without too much worry.
Knowing how and when to add ingredients so it affects the IBU's or what have you is the art of brewing and comes with experience or by following certain pre planned additions...
Remember beer " designers " those making a new style of beer for example will also make a lot of bad beers or ones that are not to their liking before hitting the right recipe which we can all follow..... and then muck about with.