Secondary Fermentation

[Brodystag]

Evening all, I am looking at increasing the ABV of my IPA pack for the 1st time. I have a few queries about how to do this.
I am looking at completing the primary by following in the instructions by using 1kg of brewing sugar, but changing the yeast to a more versatile one.
I would then hope to transfer to a second vessel and adding another 1kg of DME, but would I have to add more yeast to really pump it up?
Also taste wise would it be better to use brewing sugar or DME first.
This is the first time I am experimenting with a kit but I still don't want it to fail too much. Any help please.

 

[Clint]

Adding either sugar or malt will increase the abv of your kit. Malt will be the better choice as just sugar will result in a "thinner" beer but it'll still be drinkable.
Personally I'd not bother transferring to a secondary vessel...put all your fermantables in together at the start.
As for yeast...it can be quite specific for the style of beer you want to brew and kit yeasts are generally suitable.

 

[Brodystag]

Thanks Clint, so would doubling the instructed DME as well as adding extra hops have the desired effect?

 

[Clint]

What abv do you want to reach? Kits are already hopped and some come with extra hops to finish them off.
What kit are you intending to use?

 

[Brodystag]

I will be using the Wilko First Gold IPA kit that normally finishes off at 4%, but I wanted to try to create an imperial with it, bringing it up to around 6%.

 

[Clint]

I've had a quick look at your kit..£15,you probably need approx 1kg of dry extract to give you an extra 2% abv so at Wilko prices that's another £10. You mention extract hops,these vary a lot in price and could clash with whatever is used in the kit as also increasing the abv could change the balance. So,if you bought 100g of hops it could be as low as £4,this makes your purchase getting on for £30. For my money I'd buy a premium kit.

 

[IceQueen]

Hi,

If you want **** arround with it anyhow, why not buy an extract kit? Where you get to biol ALL hops with it and you can just get more of them? All you need is a big pot, sieve, scale, spoon and timer. Making a decent dinner from scratch is more complicated than that.
Boiling the dme powder and all.

LG Maddy