Tasting my latest kit brewed

[barbeer]

I started a kit just before Christmas - bottled on the 18 Dec. It has only been just over two weeks but tasting very good even now.
It was from a Munton's Gold IPA kit. I selected the stronger option they suggest by adding 1 kg of brewing sugar. This time I decided to add some hops (dry hopping) - used First Gold hops because the description of the flavour sounded interesting.
Not sure how much the added hops will have changed the flavour. The beer itself tastes a bit malty but with biscuit/toast/marmalade flavours. The colour is a bit darker than I expected but I am not sure how an IPA should be - but that's okay because I quite like darker beers as well. It has only been two weeks but I have a feeling this could turn out to be my best kit done so far. It is also the strongest in alcohol at about 5.2 %.
:):thumb:

 

[Dutto]

It's still very young so it will almost certainly improve with a few more weeks conditioning.

The colour of a "Pale Ale" can be a bit disconcerting because many people expect it to look like a lager or a pilsner. Compare it to a stout or a porter and it will suddenly look "pale". :lol:

BTW, if you haven't already started, I recommend you get your next brew underway! :thumb:

 

[Fil]

sounds like a resounding success to me. Cheers !
in future however i would suggest you avoid products such as brewers sugar or brewers enhancer, they tend to be overpriced bags of simple sugars with perhaps a nominal measure of dme. making little difference in the brew than if brewed with a bag of white sucrose.

you can get more complex malty flavours and body from using a tin of unhopped LME or a kilo of DME, or try a 2 tin kit Im sure you would notice the difference..

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I use brew enhancer because it contains maltodextrin, giving better head retention and mouth feel.

 

[terrym]

Provided by Pirate_Pete for Coopers stuff

• Brew Enhancer 1 - 60% dextrose, 40% maltodextrin
• Brew Enhancer 2 - 50% dextrose, 25% maltodextrin, 25% light dry malt
• Brew Enhancer 3 - 50% light dry malt, 30% dextrose, 20% maltodextrin

As far as I am aware maltodextrin does not ferment out.

If I am going to make up the kilo of 'kit and a kilo' I will use 500g DME and 500g of dextrose, but will sometimes use golden syrup as a substitute for the dextrose. GS does introduce its own taste to the finished product so I am now restricting this to dark beers where it enhances the flavours rather than being very noticeable.

The marmalade flavour Barbeer noticed in his brew is probably the First Gold contribution; I like this hop and use it quite a lot.

 

[terrym]

The colour of a "Pale Ale" can be a bit disconcerting because many people expect it to look like a lager or a pilsner. Compare it to a stout or a porter and it will suddenly look "pale". :lol: :thumb:

I think many younger drinkers are used to American IPAs which do come very light in appearance. 'Traditional' British IPAs are darker, dark golden is a good description. Worthington White Shield is a good examples of this, and of course there are others.

 

[barbeer]

It's still very young so it will almost certainly improve with a few more weeks conditioning.

The colour of a "Pale Ale" can be a bit disconcerting because many people expect it to look like a lager or a pilsner. Compare it to a stout or a porter and it will suddenly look "pale". :lol:

BTW, if you haven't already started, I recommend you get your next brew underway! :thumb:

It seems a bit darker than all the other beers I have done. Those were Make your own Yorkshire bitter (from The Range) (1.8 kg kit + 1 kg dextrose), Milestone Lions's Pride, Geordie Yorkshire Bitter (made with medium DME+dextrose), Woodforde's Sundew. The flavour of this seems better than all of those. The next best for flavour, I think was the Make Your Own which came with a sachet of hop pellets.

The worst kit for flavour has been the Geordie Yorkshire Bitter - very bitter with hardly any other flavour. I just did this one to find out what a cheap kit would be like, and it was on a reduced price as well.

Probably won't start the next one quite yet. Maybe in about a months time I will be ready to start another.

 

[barbeer]

sounds like a resounding success to me. Cheers !
in future however i would suggest you avoid products such as brewers sugar or brewers enhancer, they tend to be overpriced bags of simple sugars with perhaps a nominal measure of dme. making little difference in the brew than if brewed with a bag of white sucrose.

you can get more complex malty flavours and body from using a tin of unhopped LME or a kilo of DME, or try a 2 tin kit Im sure you would notice the difference..

That's why I haven't used the brew enhancer - they don't seem to say on the label what proportion of DME there is to sugars.:hmm:

I might try some more malt from a tin/jar or DME next time if I do the kit again in future. This was a 2 tin kit (3 kg) by the way. Came out at SG 1.053 and FG 1.014.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I made this IPA, although not the higher ABV version, and was also disappointed in the colour. It came out at about 20 EBC.

 

[ravey]

I think many younger drinkers are used to American IPAs which do come very light in appearance. 'Traditional' British IPAs are darker, dark golden is a good description. Worthington White Shield is a good examples of this, and of course there are others.

Must be a southern thing, they're light up here. Explains why my brewmaker IPA was so dark, not that I'm remotely bothered as it tastes really nice :)

 

[terrym]

The BJCP 2015 Beer Guidelines here http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf Section 12C. English IPA gives a good account of what to expect from an English (not British my error)) IPA.
For appearance 'colour ranges from golden to deep amber, but most are fairly pale'; SRM stated to be 6 -14 ( that's EBC 12 - 28 I believe).
It also states 'Modern examples are inspired by classic versions, but shouldn’t be assumed to have an unbroken lineage with the exact same profile. White Shield is probably the example with the longest lineage, tracing to the strong Burton IPAs of old and first brewed in 1829'.
There is lots of other stuff in the guidelines about beer styles and it's worth a look through if anyone has a few minutes to spare.

 

[Bigd2657]

Hi,

I find that when I am adding brew enhance although it does feel like it has a bit more body in the mouth I feel that it doesn't all dissolve or ferment out, which can leave lumps in my pb.

I found this out when I did my last Geordie Scottish export as there was a sale on at Tesco and that is the only reason I bought it as a one can kit.

I used to do a lot of wilko kits, but now I have moved to 2 can kits I wouldn't move back as I feel we are wasting our time with one can kits and by the time you have added all the extras you have spent what it would be buying a reasonably priced two can kit.

Big D 2657