Pimping A One Can Kit

[Godsdog]

As the title asks,share your ideas and experiences on how you improve a one can budget kit, how you avoid the homebrew twang and make it a drink that you would happily offer to your guests without fear of embarrassment a tall order but in my opinion achievable

A few months back as an experiment I got hold of a wilko hoppy copper £10 and used it as a base, I decided to attack it without DME or BE trying to keep the costs down so I duly mixed it up with 500G of brewing sugar and a 750G of morrisons golden syrup squeezie which works out at 600G of fermentable sugar, followed the 2 plus 2 rule on the fermentation cycle and the second week after the activity had more or less died away i dry hopped it with a 20G tea bag of citra which I simmered for 20 minutes on the hob first tipped in the juices and hung the tea bag in a cut off sterilised end of the wifes old tights (yep I did it like that :whistle: as i couldn't find the muslin socks) having a conicle fast ferment I just stretched the end over the neck weighted the bag down into the wort with a couple of SS spoons and left it for the second week. When I came to cornie keg it it smelt so potent a bit like cat wee. :lol: Anyway around a week or so ago me and a few lads went to a real ale meet and had some fine real ales on the night and upon returning home it was late I invited them in for a quick one (we are all neighbours) they don't brew and decided to crack the cornie for the first time and ran the ale thru the chiller and WOW what can I say every one was in agreement that although a pretty strong citrus flavoured ale with no hint of the homebrew twang it was the best drink of the night, high praise indeed from my real ale aficionados and I am now loving every drop of it.
I now have another wilko hoppy copper on the go in the conical and this time i have brewed it with two morrisons golden syrup squeezies and dry hopped it on Thursday again after a week this time with a cascade tea bag not too dissimilar to the citra tea bag, i now have the muslin sock :lol: and am hopeful of another powerful single hop type brew.
If you like citrus flavoured pale ales then I highly recommend the first one I will report back on the next one. The hoppy copper really does serve well as a base to build on
so over to the forum kit brewers, any recommendations? it must be a one can job that's the remit :

 

[IainM]

Two successes. One a Cooper's stout brewed to 19L with 1kg of Youngs brew enhancer, 500g dark DME and half a tin of treacle, the other a Coopers Canadian Blonde brewed to 21L with Falconers Flight 7Cs mixed hop pellets in the boil, as well as a tea and a dry hop two days before bottling, plus 1kg extra-light DME and 400g dextrose. Both of these I'm very happy to give to others. For the other half's family, they've been most impressed with the straight Coopers Mexican Cerveca - it is very bland and goes down like water. They are lager drinkers. An other one I've done, but isn't ready yet, is a Coopers Wheat with 1kg wheat DME, 500ml home-made amber candi syrup (=500g sucrose), brewed to 20L with Brewferm Blanche yeast, and flavoured with bitter orange peel and crushed coriander. I had high hopes for this one but I must admit, the trial jar at bottling wasn't very pleasant. In the fv at the moment is another Coopers Stout, but brewed to 18L with 1kg dark DME, 1kg Youngs BE and 250g lactose. I plan on adding some two 20ml Prestige creme de cacao essence bottles before bottling to give it some vanilla chocolate flavour.

 

[huwb]

Was thinking of doing something similar with a ritchies simply kit i recently did but i didnt add the citra hops i had bought. So i may just pop into wilkos and give this one a try ill let you know how i get on.

 

[Godsdog]

just a footnote to my opening post,i have brewed the wilko hoppy copper once before and followed the instructions to the letter and used a kilo of BH and have to say that it was a thin wishy washy brew that I promised myself I wouldn't do again.i believe they are 1.5 kg cans as opposed to a coopers 1.75 kg.anyway its amazing what you can do with a brew.ey up I think I found my handle

 

[MyQul]

The coopers site has some great recipes and ideas for tweeking a kit. Enjoy.

http://store.coopers.com.au/brewing-info/recipes.html

 

[Godsdog]

The coopers site has some great recipes and ideas for tweeking a kit. Enjoy.

http://store.coopers.com.au/brewing-info/recipes.html

that's a great linky to add in Myqul cheers : hopefully we shall get some of our other more adventurous brewers to try them and recommend them

 

[Covrich]

I think most kits could be improved by replacing the yeast with a better strain.

A lot of brewers treat yeast as an afterthought and kit manufacturers are probably the culprit supplying yeast often unknown and in a quantity not really supporting the amount of beer they suggest to make. Along with poor aereation this is why in particular a lot of kit fermentations stick and the underpitching can stress the yeast and cause by products and fusel alcohols.

 

[MyQul]

I agree with Cov here. I don't think most kit brewers even consider looking at liquid strains of yeast for one reason or another (I certainly didn't when I brewed kits). A liquid strain can can elevate a beer immensely.

 

[Godsdog]

I agree with Cov here. I don't think most kit brewers even consider looking at liquid strains of yeast for one reason or another (I certainly didn't when I brewed kits). A liquid strain can can elevate a beer immensely.

I still have a fair few bottles of evildog ipa left to drink and was thinking a week or so ago to see if I can harvest the yeast out of one as it should be a better kit strain,but as ive never done this I would have to tread carefully I think

 

[dad_of_jon]

As the title asks,share your ideas and experiences on how you improve a one can budget kit, how you avoid the homebrew twang and make it a drink that you would happily offer to your guests without fear of embarrassment a tall order but in my opinion achievable


so over to the forum kit brewers, any recommendations? it must be a one can job that's the remit :

brewmaker ipa from lakeland £14.99 - 1kg of brew enhancer or dme and change the yeast.

dried yeast is 10/11g the pack you get in a can would be about 6g and how long has it been on the shelf for?

make a hop tea if you like hops.

Tom caxton with the above enhancements was good too. golden syrup is better than plain old sugar 'cos it's partially inverted. (easier for the yeast to chew on :-) )

 

[MyQul]

I still have a fair few bottles of evildog ipa left to drink and was thinking a week or so ago to see if I can harvest the yeast out of one as it should be a better kit strain,but as ive never done this I would have to tread carefully I think

Its actually quite easy, a little time comsuming, but easy. (when I say time consuming making up th DME and adding the yeast doesn't take much time at all, it's the 2-3 days of each step up then 2-3 days of crashing that takes time)

Have a look at my bottle culturing guide

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53567

When culturing up from one of your own bottles there's far more yeast in there than a bottle cultured bottle of commercial beer so you can miss out the first two step and start from the 250ml step.

 

[terrym]

I think most kits could be improved by replacing the yeast with a better strain.

A lot of brewers treat yeast as an afterthought and kit manufacturers are probably the culprit supplying yeast often unknown and in a quantity not really supporting the amount of beer they suggest to make. Along with poor aereation this is why in particular a lot of kit fermentations stick and the underpitching can stress the yeast and cause by products and fusel alcohols.

The dreaded Wherry stuck fermentation is a classic example of above. The first one I did with the kit yeast stuck, although I did get it going again. The second I did with a GV12 didn't stick and produced a much drier beer and was an improvement on the first.
Nonetheless I am quite happy with Coopers yeast, having done six different kits from their range I have found they are all consistent, and have not had a bad yeast based problem with any of them.
Other kit yeasts I am not so confident with.

 

[MyQul]

The dreaded Wherry stuck fermentation is a classic example of above. The first one I did with the kit yeast stuck, although I did get it going again. The second I did with a GV12 didn't stick and produced a much drier beer and was an improvement on the first.
Nonetheless I am quite happy with Coopers yeast, having done six different kits from their range I have found they are all consistent, and have not had a bad yeast based problem with any of them.
Other kit yeasts I am not so confident with.

Coopers yeast has quite a good reputation. I think it has got a high temp tolerance too

 

[terrym]

In reply to Godsdog's OP I now dry hop all the one can kits I do, and use a micromash of pale malt, torrified wheat and crystal malt to help them along.
I have moved from Coopers AuPa to Coopers Real Ale as my base. The RA is much more hoppy and suits my palate more. I tried the Canadian Blond but found it really bland, even when boosted.
I recently made up a Burton Bridge Bitter kit (a Christmas present) with a micromash and dry hopped with Celeia, but the key was the use of a 1698 yeast cultured from a bottle (thanks to MyQuls method), and this is beginning to shape up to one of the best brews I have done, and for me is superior to a Wherry which is often put up one of the best bitter kits.
I also use Holland and Barrett's liquid malt extract to add malt to one can kits (including the BB bitter) and have found this is OK for brewing and often on offer (like at present). Last year I did a Hoppy Copper with a jar of H&B malt brewed short to 15l and dry hopped it with First Gold and it turned out fine, although was better for keeping.
We all have our favourite recipe for Coopers Stout, mine uses 500g of Dark DME, 500g Golden Syrup, 100g Dark Muscavado sugar and three shots of strong Italian coffee, and brewed short to 19l. No change to the additions next time but I have a can of the Coopers Irish Stout to use to compare to the Original Stout.
Next experiment I do will be an extract brew using H&B malt to use up some Target hops I have, and I may also try a hop tea as well as a dry hop late on, using some more Celeia. In the meantime there is a Festival Landlords Bitter to get going with more of the 1698 yeast.

 

[LarryF]

In reply to Godsdog's OP I now dry hop all the one can kits I do, and use a micromash of pale malt, torrified wheat and crystal malt to help them along.
I have moved from Coopers AuPa to Coopers Real Ale as my base. The RA is much more hoppy and suits my palate more. I tried the Canadian Blond but found it really bland, even when boosted.
I recently made up a Burton Bridge Bitter kit (a Christmas present) with a micromash and dry hopped with Celeia, but the key was the use of a 1698 yeast cultured from a bottle (thanks to MyQuls method), and this is beginning to shape up to one of the best brews I have done, and for me is superior to a Wherry which is often put up one of the best bitter kits.
I also use Holland and Barrett's liquid malt extract to add malt to one can kits (including the BB bitter) and have found this is OK for brewing and often on offer (like at present). Last year I did a Hoppy Copper with a jar of H&B malt brewed short to 15l and dry hopped it with First Gold and it turned out fine, although was better for keeping.
We all have our favourite recipe for Coopers Stout, mine uses 500g of Dark DME, 500g Golden Syrup, 100g Dark Muscavado sugar and three shots of strong Italian coffee, and brewed short to 19l. No change to the additions next time but I have a can of the Coopers Irish Stout to use to compare to the Original Stout.
Next experiment I do will be an extract brew using H&B malt to use up some Target hops I have, and I may also try a hop tea as well as a dry hop late on, using some more Celeia. In the meantime there is a Festival Landlords Bitter to get going with more of the 1698 yeast.

I love what you're doing with the kits Terry. With the hop additions I've been using 30g of whatever hop I use depending on what I've got. I boil them in 2L of water for 20m and then add the tea and the hop bag to the FV (I use the hop tea to rinse out the tin)and I love the results. I've never used the H&B malt extract, I think it's time I checked out their website.

 

[terrym]

I love what you're doing with the kits Terry. With the hop additions I've been using 30g of whatever hop I use depending on what I've got. I boil them in 2L of water for 20m and then add the tea and the hop bag to the FV (I use the hop tea to rinse out the tin)and I love the results. I've never used the H&B malt extract, I think it's time I checked out their website.

The good thing is there are so many kits, so many types of hop available, grain to add and other bits and bobs, you are almost spoilt for choice, plus, plenty of advice on here, sometimes contrasting to make you think a bit about what you are doing.

 

[Bigcol49]

I also use Holland and Barrett's liquid malt extract to add malt to one can kits (including the BB bitter) and have found this is OK for brewing and often on offer (like at present). Last year I did a Hoppy Copper with a jar of H&B malt brewed short to 15l and dry hopped it with First Gold and it turned out fine, although was better for keeping.

Hi, Terry,
I tried Potter's malt extract from H&B in a Scottish Heavy kit, along with a tin of treacle. There is a distinct licquorice flavour which I attributed to the treacle; it's quite a pleasant drink.
I used Meridian malt extract, again from H&B, in a kit tin that had lost its label - most probably a lager kit. Strangely, it has a background liquorice flavour. I thought it may be the malt extract.
Have you noticed anything similar when you use H&B extract?
Colin

 

[terrym]

Hi, Terry,
I tried Potter's malt extract from H&B in a Scottish Heavy kit, along with a tin of treacle. There is a distinct licquorice flavour which I attributed to the treacle; it's quite a pleasant drink.
I used Meridian malt extract, again from H&B, in a kit tin that had lost its label - most probably a lager kit. Strangely, it has a background liquorice flavour. I thought it may be the malt extract.
Have you noticed anything similar when you use H&B extract?
Colin

No nothing noticeable with what I used. I think H&B do another 'malt extract' that contains barley syrup perhaps that's what you used. The one I have used is as far as I know all malt extract. and is this
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-malt-extract-60004303

 

[chub1]

Did a Wilko Velvet stout with spray malt, beer enhancer, black treacle and hops and brewed short to 18 litres, dry hopped with Willamette. Ok first impressions, better after a week or so and getting much much better now:thumb:
Just bottled a Harvest bitter treated in a similar vein minus the treacle, first impressions ok, a tad bitter but quite drinkable, expect it to improve with time as the stout has done.:)
Now have my own extract mini brew bottled, and on the go now is a Hoppy Copper Bitter, again treated in the same way as the first two above, plus additions of Carahell and Cryastal Malt and well hopped.

 

[terrym]

I've not long added this to an earlier post on the Coopers Real Ale thread if anyone is interested.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31818&page=6.