Noob Plan For New Brew ...

[snakebräu]

We have one of these kits http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/featured/ ... r-kit.html

(if not it's at least similar and by the same folk ..)

We now have a Coopers IPA kit for our next batch (http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/ind ... ucts_id=14)

Also bought the Cooper's Beer Enhancer 2 and some Morris Hanbury 8.0% Hops after a brief discussion wae the wummin' in the shop. I told her I like pales, lights etc and also told her the main reason for hops was "we hadn't used them yet" (how exciting eh?). So that's what I was advised to get as well as how to add hops to the brew.

I've also read a few different forums etc. a few folk seem tae throw "rice syrup" intae brews and also ma pal's dad has told us tae never bother wae "Beer enhancer" when there's perfectly good granulated sugar out there ...

So our plan for our next brew is (I think) :-

Use the kit as normal but use a third of the hops, throw that in first, followed by the beer enhancer, possibly more granulated sugar and rice syrup and finally the kit itself. Then finally (obviously) the yeast ...

Does anybody forsee any problems .. (I'm hoing for a 4%+ "summery" tasting light IPA out of this, unless the rice syrup, makes it less pale) or have any advice. Looking to get underway Tuesday/Wednesday

 

[RobWalker]

Brew enhancer is better. Adding extra sugar will result in a drier beer, whereas beer enhancers are formulated to keep your final gravity around the same - so it'll be the same sweetness, just stronger.

Rice Syrup is for american beer, they use it in budweiser and it increases the ABV. don't worry about it, it's pretty ****, I wouldn't bother.

Your IPA already has the hops in the malt syrup and it registers around 33 IBU. You can add more hops but it's already pretty hoppy.

I would add 0.5oz of hops at each 60 minutes, 15 minutes and 5 minutes. Hops at 60 minutes will bitter the beer. 15 will add flavour, and 5 minutes will add aroma. What AA% are you hops? At 4.5%, that will leave 44.5IBU, which is nice for an IPA.




You want to go like this;

Bring the kit to the boil in a few gallons of water.

Add your extra ingredients in when boiling and start to follow the hop schedule.

After 60 mins, transfer to fermentation vessel and allow to cool.

Pitch yeast and ferment.


That should cover it but throw any more questions my way.

 

[klaus]

I am just amazed at the prize of starter kits these days ....

If you have a kit I would stick with it without making lots of modifications, your first aim should be to produce a few brews to a consistent level of quality.

Good luck!

 

[snakebräu]

Brew enhancer is better. Adding extra sugar will result in a drier beer, whereas beer enhancers are formulated to keep your final gravity around the same - so it'll be the same sweetness, just stronger.

Rice Syrup is for american beer, they use it in budweiser and it increases the ABV. don't worry about it, it's pretty ****, I wouldn't bother.

Your IPA already has the hops in the malt syrup and it registers around 33 IBU. You can add more hops but it's already pretty hoppy.

I would add 0.5oz of hops at each 60 minutes, 15 minutes and 5 minutes. Hops at 60 minutes will bitter the beer. 15 will add flavour, and 5 minutes will add aroma. What AA% are you hops? At 4.5%, that will leave 44.5IBU, which is nice for an IPA.




You want to go like this;

Bring the kit to the boil in a few gallons of water.

Add your extra ingredients in when boiling and start to follow the hop schedule.

After 60 mins, transfer to fermentation vessel and allow to cool.

Pitch yeast and ferment.


That should cover it but throw any more questions my way.

Having never used hops before do I have the right thing?, it's packaged like so (http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... g_4oz.html) with a "Harvest Alpha: 8.0%"

Let's hope beer can't be too hoppy (hopy (sp?) - Woman in shop said take a third of this and boil it in a pot and then strain into the FV (check me using abbreviations, fitting in and that). Do I need to have this on a boil for an hour ?

 

[RobWalker]

Most brews are boiled for an hour once you're past the kit stage. That's how long it takes to get the bitterness out of them.

That method will work now, but it's not the greatest if you want to learn the process properly.

At 1 hour, your hops will add bitterness. At 30-15 mins they'll add flavour, and at 10 and below they'll add aroma. This might be too much to bother with at the moment, so just go for boiling 1/4 of them in a few litres of water for an hour, cool it down, and add it to the vessel like she said. With rough calculations, you're looking at a nice bitterness in your beer. Don't worry, you'll need a LOT of hops to push the bitterness to the extreme!

Later on you'll boil your malt (extract or grain) in a large quantity of water with the hops going in as scheduled. That's how you make the wort - but it's something to do later on, maybe your next brew :)