The Range- Make Your Own Home Brew, IPA Review

[sdt7618]

I found with this one a few weeks of aging was good - but if left a long time the hop flavours fell off quickly.

thats good to know, so will make sure I drink it a bit sooner! :thumb:

 

[sdt7618]

Well so after two weeks in bottles in the warm and a few days in the basement, I couldn't resist bunging one in the fridge. Taste good, but with a bitter aftertaste , probably needs more time to let the hops settle and mellow out, but in all fairness pretty impressed with the flavours for now. Even swmbo stated she might have to have a few:nono:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Even swmbo stated she might have to have a few

You had best get another on soon :lol:

 

[AleDefender]

I've just put this one in the FV today. I've added 500g of muscovado sugar and 400g of honey. This gave an SG of 1.048. I'm planning on using up my last stock Amarillo hops rather than the sachet supplied. I'll add this after 7 days. Let's see how this one turns out.

 

[Skittlersteve]

I Bought one of these kits in The Range and brewed a few weeks ago. I brewed to instructions with a kg of dextrose, gave it 2 weeks in the fv then bottled. A week in the airing cupboard and then 2 weeks in my nice cool outhouse.

Thought I'd crack a bottle over the weekend to see how it was getting on.

First impressions were good; a nice colour, a good pffft as I opened the bottle, poured nicely with a good head and quite a nice aroma.

It tasted ok, quite hoppy but with a definite 'homebrew taste' but that may mellow with a few more weeks conditioning. It's quite drinkable but that homebrew taste means it is well below the Wherry I did before this.

It may be one that's a good base kit to use with a brew enhancer or dme or something instead of the dextrose.

SG - 1043
FG- 1008
ABV - 4.6%

Hi, I just bought one of these & being a newbie to the group can't work out how to post a question, or even introduce myself (duh) any way this seemed good value as it has a 2.5 kg bag og lme included! As yours turned out OK I'll have a go at it! Cheers

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Hi, I just bought one of these & being a newbie to the group can't work out how to post a question,

Welcome to the forum, to post a question pick a forum from the index page then look at the top right corner and click on "Post new thread"

I have sent you a private message look in the top right for a notification.

 

[parpot]

Bottled my MYO IPA last Sunday and cracked open a bottle yesterday, Nice colour, Carbonation & taste, I think it just tastes young rather than a HB twang. I agree that the Wherry is far better but I think this will improve over the next couple of months!

 

[Rich27]

AleDefender, how did yours turn out using your own hops?

 

[Skittlersteve]

I'm actually using hops they supplied as I'm relatively new to it, for some reason it foamed like mad at first then stopped altogether after a day! I tasted it & it was dry so I've been adding a little brewing sugar each day to keep it fermenting while I added the hops! It does seem like good value though (as long as it tastes good!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

My advice with any kit is to throw the yeast away and use some good yeast.

 

[Skittlersteve]

Cheshire Cat, as I say I'm a bit new so I could do with some suggestions as to which yeast is best for different kits! I always used to use Muntons gold as it clears really well and leaves a nice firm jelly like sediment! What would you recommend for an american IPA? Cheers

 

[Gerryjo]

I'm actually using hops they supplied as I'm relatively new to it, for some reason it foamed like mad at first then stopped altogether after a day! I tasted it & it was dry so I've been adding a little brewing sugar each day to keep it fermenting while I added the hops! It does seem like good value though (as long as it tastes good!

Forget about adding more sugar as the yeast will just eat it up and become even drier.
Put the lid on and leave it alone otherwise you might risk infection.
If you're brewing kits for the first time follow the instructions using the ingredients they supply but let it ferment over 2 weeks so the yeast can clean it up.
There's loads of advice available but don't get 2 giddy as you can get carried away with it.Patience...

 

[Skittlersteve]

OK thanks Gerry jo, I'll leave it along for a week & report back! Cheers

 

[terrym]

Cheshire Cat, as I say I'm a bit new so I could do with some suggestions as to which yeast is best for different kits! I always used to use Muntons gold as it clears really well and leaves a nice firm jelly like sediment! What would you recommend for an american IPA? Cheers

When I did kits I rarely changed the kit yeast, with the exception of the few Muntons kits I did where 6g of the yeast supplied is not really enough. I found that the kit yeast supplied is normally quite adequate. Whilst I accept that changing the kit yeast to another 'better' or more specialist yeast will give some improvement, if you want to noticeably improve a kit far better to spend your money by adding extra hops to freshen things up, steep some grains or add a minimash.
That said Crossmyloof do a range of inexpensive yeasts and cover most kit needs.
https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/yeast-specs
and Wilko will sell you a packet of their ale yeast for about £1.75which is believed to be a Nottingham yeast and which is fairly diverse in its application.
But the bottom line to all this is it's a beer kit, and there's only so much you can do to improve it, although some kits are much better than others, and a few can equal commercial beers.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use Fermentis yeasts mainly so for IPA I use their US05

 

[Skittlersteve]

OK thanks, I have another Range Make you own, so I'll try a few mods, cheers all