Most people add sugar or DME (spraymalt) or both (beer enhancer is a mix) to their beer kits. Why not use grains instead? It takes longer, obviously, but it saves money compared to DME (grain is cheap), it makes better beer (much better), and you get a fresh malt flavour and a much nicer head on your pint. You can mash some flavour grains too, to alter the beer. You can even make a stout from a lager kit, by mashing or steeping dark roasted grains.
And, you can boil hops when you do the boil, so you can also get a much better hop flavour than kits usually provide. Boiling hop allows you to also increase the bitterness of the beer if you wish.
Nowadays on the odd occasion I make a kit beer, I buy a one can/bag kit and mash 1-2kg of grain to replace most or all of the sugar/DME I used to add. Mashing (soaking) grains and adding the wort to a kit or to some extract is called a mini mash, or a partial mash.
In a nutshell
You soak 1 - 2kg of grains in water at 65-70C, remove the grains, boil the wort produced for an hour, add hops to the boil, then add this to the FV with the kit and cold water, and stir thoroughly. That's all there is to it.
Mash
A pan/pot big enough to hold the grains and mash water is needed for this, a 12 or 15L pot will suffice (cheap from places like Wilko). You start the process by soaking crushed grains (mashing) in about 5- 6 litres of water per kg (or as much as the pot will allow) at a mashing temperature - between 65 and 69C is ideal - for 45-60 mins. A large piece of voile or muslin (about £2 a square metre), or a bag made from one of these, that lines the pot, enables you to lift the grains out after the mash. You need to keep the pot wrapped up at this stage, I use a fleece or towel, to hold the temperature as steady as possible. Large pots of hot water cool very slowly, I have never lost more than 3C in one hour, and that was without wrapping the pot! I usually lose 1 degree at the most, you don't need fancy equipment.
Mashout
Then you raise the temperature of the mash by heating gently on the lowest heat setting to 75 - 80*C and stir well to extract as much sugar from the grains as possible. Lift the bag up to drain, maybe place the bag on a colander on top of your pot as you lift it out and then rinse with more hot (not boiling) water from your kettle by pouring it through.
Boil
You boil all the wort you create, with any hop additions, usually for one hour. See the link below for some recipe ideas) You can then either:
a) add the extract to the pot and stir it in, and pour the wort into your FV through a sieve (to catch the hops) into your sterilised FV, then top up with cold water. Or
b) add the extract with some water in the FV and stir as you would a kit, and then pour your grain wort in through a sieve, and top up to the required level.
It's that simple.
Once the temperature has fallen to 20*C, take a hydrometer reading and pitch the yeast.
Grains
You will need pale malt, such as Maris Otter, Golden Promise, Pearl, Halcyon or lager malt. You can also add other grains to alter the flavour and colour of the beer if you wish. Common grains are crystal, amber, chocolate malt, black malt, roast barley. You can add wheat malt, Munich, Vienna, rye or brown malt. Mashing means you can use any grain you like, the starches from the pale malt will convert the sugars in the other grains.
Here is an online guide to doing mini-mashes with kits, with a few recipes:
http://www.babbrewers.com/files/story/2003/04/Partial_Mash_Talk.pdf
Two recipes:
1. 4.2% Motueka Blonde Ale: Cooper's APA 1.7kg, Maris Otter grain 1.5kg, Caramalt grain 300g, Brewing Sugar 200g, Motueka hops 20g. Mash the Maris Otter and Caramalt, mash out, bring to the boil, after 55 minutes add the Motueka hops and the sugar, 5 minutes later switch off. Cool in a sink of cold water to about 40C, then pour through a sterilised sieve into the FV. Add the kit can, rinse it out with hot water and add that, and stir thoroughly. Top up to 22 litres and stir thoroughly again, and use a sterilised whisk to aerate the wort. Pitch yeast at 20C.
2. 4.75% ABV Amarillo Pale Ale: Young's Harvest Pilsner 1.5kg, Maris Otter 1.5kg, Crystal Malt 80EBC 300g, Brewing Sugar 300g, Light DME 250g. 14g Amarillo last 20 mins, 14g Amarillo last 5 minutes.
Brewing Software helps a lot
I use free software called Brewmate (now "Brewers friend for Windows") to calculate quantities. It is easy to use. You put in the ingredients and quantities etc and you can then adjust the batch size and it recalculates. Add a kit can to your recipe as liquid extract. But download Brewmate, it will teach you loads. And it stores recipes you enter.
Partial Mash
When you get used to this, you can simply use dry or liquid extract instead of a kit can, and make a partial mash beer. Here is an example:
A step by step 20 litre brew using grain and extract - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=50780
All grain
And, in making a mini-mash, you have already made all grain beer and then 'ruined' it by adding a kit can! You could just leave the kit out, and make a 10L all grain brew this way, making sure your hop boiling schedule achieves the bitterness you want! See the Simple AG how-to guide:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779
And, you can boil hops when you do the boil, so you can also get a much better hop flavour than kits usually provide. Boiling hop allows you to also increase the bitterness of the beer if you wish.
Nowadays on the odd occasion I make a kit beer, I buy a one can/bag kit and mash 1-2kg of grain to replace most or all of the sugar/DME I used to add. Mashing (soaking) grains and adding the wort to a kit or to some extract is called a mini mash, or a partial mash.
In a nutshell
You soak 1 - 2kg of grains in water at 65-70C, remove the grains, boil the wort produced for an hour, add hops to the boil, then add this to the FV with the kit and cold water, and stir thoroughly. That's all there is to it.
Mash
A pan/pot big enough to hold the grains and mash water is needed for this, a 12 or 15L pot will suffice (cheap from places like Wilko). You start the process by soaking crushed grains (mashing) in about 5- 6 litres of water per kg (or as much as the pot will allow) at a mashing temperature - between 65 and 69C is ideal - for 45-60 mins. A large piece of voile or muslin (about £2 a square metre), or a bag made from one of these, that lines the pot, enables you to lift the grains out after the mash. You need to keep the pot wrapped up at this stage, I use a fleece or towel, to hold the temperature as steady as possible. Large pots of hot water cool very slowly, I have never lost more than 3C in one hour, and that was without wrapping the pot! I usually lose 1 degree at the most, you don't need fancy equipment.
Mashout
Then you raise the temperature of the mash by heating gently on the lowest heat setting to 75 - 80*C and stir well to extract as much sugar from the grains as possible. Lift the bag up to drain, maybe place the bag on a colander on top of your pot as you lift it out and then rinse with more hot (not boiling) water from your kettle by pouring it through.
Boil
You boil all the wort you create, with any hop additions, usually for one hour. See the link below for some recipe ideas) You can then either:
a) add the extract to the pot and stir it in, and pour the wort into your FV through a sieve (to catch the hops) into your sterilised FV, then top up with cold water. Or
b) add the extract with some water in the FV and stir as you would a kit, and then pour your grain wort in through a sieve, and top up to the required level.
It's that simple.
Once the temperature has fallen to 20*C, take a hydrometer reading and pitch the yeast.
Grains
You will need pale malt, such as Maris Otter, Golden Promise, Pearl, Halcyon or lager malt. You can also add other grains to alter the flavour and colour of the beer if you wish. Common grains are crystal, amber, chocolate malt, black malt, roast barley. You can add wheat malt, Munich, Vienna, rye or brown malt. Mashing means you can use any grain you like, the starches from the pale malt will convert the sugars in the other grains.
Here is an online guide to doing mini-mashes with kits, with a few recipes:
http://www.babbrewers.com/files/story/2003/04/Partial_Mash_Talk.pdf
Two recipes:
1. 4.2% Motueka Blonde Ale: Cooper's APA 1.7kg, Maris Otter grain 1.5kg, Caramalt grain 300g, Brewing Sugar 200g, Motueka hops 20g. Mash the Maris Otter and Caramalt, mash out, bring to the boil, after 55 minutes add the Motueka hops and the sugar, 5 minutes later switch off. Cool in a sink of cold water to about 40C, then pour through a sterilised sieve into the FV. Add the kit can, rinse it out with hot water and add that, and stir thoroughly. Top up to 22 litres and stir thoroughly again, and use a sterilised whisk to aerate the wort. Pitch yeast at 20C.
2. 4.75% ABV Amarillo Pale Ale: Young's Harvest Pilsner 1.5kg, Maris Otter 1.5kg, Crystal Malt 80EBC 300g, Brewing Sugar 300g, Light DME 250g. 14g Amarillo last 20 mins, 14g Amarillo last 5 minutes.
Brewing Software helps a lot
I use free software called Brewmate (now "Brewers friend for Windows") to calculate quantities. It is easy to use. You put in the ingredients and quantities etc and you can then adjust the batch size and it recalculates. Add a kit can to your recipe as liquid extract. But download Brewmate, it will teach you loads. And it stores recipes you enter.
Partial Mash
When you get used to this, you can simply use dry or liquid extract instead of a kit can, and make a partial mash beer. Here is an example:
A step by step 20 litre brew using grain and extract - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=50780
All grain
And, in making a mini-mash, you have already made all grain beer and then 'ruined' it by adding a kit can! You could just leave the kit out, and make a 10L all grain brew this way, making sure your hop boiling schedule achieves the bitterness you want! See the Simple AG how-to guide:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51779
