Youngs American IPA

[Kenboy]

Two things,
1. How long should I leave my bottles in a a warm environment before moving them to the garage for conditioning?
2. Which beer would you recommend for my second go?

Yours You're doing well for your first brew. I cofirm everything others have said, 2 weeks carbonation two weeks conditioning. Although I find with IPAs they tend to clear a lot faster than darker ales porters and stouts.

I recommend Mangrove Jack's kits. Again very easy and have always cleared really quick. Only downside is you need to buy extra sugar for the brew.

K

 

[Kenboy]

Chocolate IPA anyone?

Im brewing this kit right now. Have just added the dry hops after 7 days of fermentation. Gravity was down to 1.012 and still bubbling away.

The hops are really intense!

I also added 20g of cacao nibs which i ground up in my pestle & mortar and added a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder. Added some vodka and hot water to soak in and create a liquid before added the cooled mix to the fv, without stirring. Hops went in a Muslim bag, choc went straight in.

I will leave this for another week before cold crashing, batch priming and bottling.

Bad no bubble activity since I added the hops and choc yesterday.

 

[terrym]

Bad no bubble activity since I added the hops and choc yesterday.

Leaking lid to bucket seal?
Looks OK but isn't. Most likely when the fermentation has died down.
Remedy if you want to see bubbles is to place four strips of cling film over the bucket rim and replace the lid. I don't bother to sanitise if the cling film is straight off the roll.

 

[Kenboy]

Cheers. I've checked it and everything seems very secure. Pressing on the lid I can see the airlock react. Most likely nearing the end of fermentation. I'll leave it till next Friday anyway before bottling.

 

[terrym]

1. Don't be fooled by 'it looks OK I've tested it' . It only takes the slightest crack for the seal to leak. Pressing down on the lid and seeing the airlock liquid level change does not prove it doesn't leak. I know I've done that many times.
2. This kit takes can take over 3 weeks to ferment out. Mine took 22 and 24 days. Others have a similar experience if you look back in this thread . If you read the instructions with this kit you are recommended to add the hops when the SG has reached 1.010 (not 1.012) if I remember correctly and that is high in my opinion since it can go down to 1.006 and that means a long time on the hops.

 

[Kenboy]

1. Don't be fooled by 'it looks OK I've tested it' . It only takes the slightest crack for the seal to leak. Pressing down on the lid and seeing the airlock liquid level change does not prove it doesn't leak. I know I've done that many times.
2. This kit takes can take over 3 weeks to ferment out. Mine took 22 and 24 days. Others have a similar experience if you look back in this thread . If you read the instructions with this kit you are recommended to add the hops when the SG has reached 1.010 (not 1.012) if I remember correctly and that is high in my opinion since it can go down to 1.006 and that means a long time on the hops.

Thanks. It's a fairly new set up only done 7 brews, plus other than take lid off to add hops and choc, no noticeable chance of damage.

I have just taken a gravity check and it's actually on 1.011. Should see a little more movememt over the week. I brewed this a little longer so had a starting gravity of 1.042. usually with the Young's kits I go for 2/2/2. But I think I will probably go with your advice and leave a little longer. Will probably give that chocolate a better chance of releasing more flavour.

Tried the trial jar and it's definitely got a chocolate flavour.

 

[terrym]

I have just taken a gravity check and it's actually on 1.011. Should see a little more movememt over the week. I brewed this a little longer so had a starting gravity of 1.042. usually with the Young's kits I go for 2/2/2. But I think I will probably go with your advice and leave a little longer.

I got about 86/87% attenuation with this kit. If you apply that to an OG of 1.042 and assume the yeast will perform about the same you are looking at an FG of about 1.006 or thereabouts. In other words you still have some way to go especially since the last few points always seem to take the longest. I have a beer in the FV at present which took 4 days to more or less finish but its still burping away at not much less than day 4/5 and I'm now at day 11.

 

[wisden1970]

Oh my word!! Just tried a bottle of my first ever homebrew...Youngs AIPA!
It still has a week of conditioning to go, but it’s absolutely delicious.

 

[wisden1970]

Thanks for all of your advice men, much appreciated.
Only problem I can envisage, this is definitely too strong to be a session beer!

 

[Kenboy]

Mine hasn't moved in nearly a week. Been sat at 1.010. so it's been moved to a cold room since Saturday. Ready for bottling tomorrow

 

[DW2839]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum and home brewing.

Currently got this going as my first brew. And just after a bit of guidance.

I started the brew on 3rd March with an OG of 1.050. It has been happily fermenting for the past 9 days, with the air lock bubbling regularly at 10-20 sec intervals. Peaking under the lid there is a thick foam (Krausen?)

I have checked it today (12/03) to see where the gravity is and it is at 1.010.

Do I leave it for longer to complete fermenting? Or do I add the hops now that it is at the 1.010 mark.

Cheers

 

[Kenboy]

Add the hops .No need to stir them. Try to avoid opening the lid if you don't need to, I know it's tempting. I always leave mine two weeks then bottle. Most comments on here are siggsugges longer. I'd check the gravity again after 2 days, then again 2 days later .If it hasn't budged, it's done. Leaving it looks won't harm it. Personally I'd move it to a cooler location to help clear more before I rack into my bottling bucket for batch priming.

If you don't already have a bottling wand, I'd invest in one as it makes bottling so much easier and cleaner.

Good luck. I'm just a novice but have learned so much by reading posts here and just experimenting.

K

 

[terrym]

Whoa!
This kit can take three week or longer to properly ferment out (look back in this thread to confirm), and you may achieve an FG as low as 1.006. That means if you add the hops now they could be sitting in the beer for 12 days or even longer until its finished before you can bottle, which arguably is too long. You should be aiming for between 4-7 days for a dry hop , although some would say less is OK. It will do no harm to leave it fermenting for longer without the hops, (whats the rush?), so my advice is to leave it for a few more days at least and then add the hops. Your choice.

 

[deeko]

I decided to mess with this kit a little and use Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast instead of the dry yeast that was included. I know this yeast can hold up to lower temps and would expect a slower ferment but I'm now into my 5th week and it's just approaching 1.011. It's been going along nicely at 16 degrees and samples taste great.

Reading other comments about over hopping or leaving the hops in too long I'm conscious that if I hop at 1.010 it might take it longer than 3 days to get down to 1.008 for bottling, if at all. My original gravity was 1.061. Which seemed high. Not sure if the sugar in the kit was badly measured but current calculations have it a tad stronger ABV than the recipe.

Guess my question is hop when it hits 1.010 or wait until it's closer to 1.008 and avoid over hopping or bottle bombs?

 

[terrym]

Reading other comments about over hopping or leaving the hops in too long I'm conscious that if I hop at 1.010 it might take it longer than 3 days to get down to 1.008 for bottling, if at all. My original gravity was 1.061. Which seemed high. Not sure if the sugar in the kit was badly measured but current calculations have it a tad stronger ABV than the recipe.

Guess my question is hop when it hits 1.010 or wait until it's closer to 1.008 and avoid over hopping or bottle bombs?

Wait until it bottoms out then add the hops. What's in a few extra days after over four weeks have already passed?

 

[Kenboy]

I'm back with the Chocolate IPA.

Just noticed a typo above. I actually added 200g of cacao nibs which I ground up in a pestle and mortar and added about 50g of cocoa powder. I added this direct to the FV once the gravity had reached 1.011, along with a hop bag.

This is a pic after 2 weeks carbonating and two weeks in the garage. I had another taste last night (3.5 weeks conditioning) and I reckon that another week or two and this is going to be perfect.

As with the mango, I feel i should add even more chocolate next time. I keep neglecting the fact that 24l or wort is a lot of liquid to flavour!!

But its still a great tasting beer. I mixed it longer and reduced the sugar to make it 4%abv rather than 6.5%

If anyone lives local to Bham, Im happy to drop you off a bottle & maybe swap .

K

 

[Mark MINGHELLA]

I've had a couple of mine after being in the FV for over 2 weeks, bottled and left in teh house for 10 days and then put out into teh garage for a week. I did 10 with some grapefruit juice and the rest as standard AIPA. I also added extra hops before bottling as I like a nice hoppy beer.
I'm really impressed and am trying my best to keep them for a bit longer to see how well the beer does over time. Lovely hoppy taste with a nice amount of bitterness at the end.
Very happy with my first ever homebrew. I have just finished a Wilko Stout but am eyeing another AIPA to split it into 3 with Grapefruit, Jalapeno and Earl Grey

 

[GhostShip]

Tried a bottle of my AIPA on Friday evening and another tonight. The taste is OK but the beer is completely flat. Not a bubble in sight. It had two weeks in the warm and seemed to have carbed up nicely (I use PET bottles so I can feel that the plastic bottle has ‘tightened’). After around 6 weeks in the cold, I’ve now moved all of the bottles back into the warm.

It’s a bit of a mystery as I’ve done this kit before and it was excellent. The sugar comes with the kit so the amount of sugar can’t be the issue. Two weeks in the warm should be enough and the bottles did seem to have tightened. I always make sure that the screw tops on the bottles are on really tight.

The flavour is definitely there and the beer is fairly clear - if I can just get it to carb up then I’m sure it will be fine but I’m at a loss to explain it.

Will report back in due course. Fingers crossed!

 

[Kenboy]

Tried a bottle of my AIPA on Friday evening and another tonight. The taste is OK but the beer is completely flat. Not a bubble in sight. It had two weeks in the warm and seemed to have carbed up nicely (I use PET bottles so I can feel that the plastic bottle has ‘tightened’). After around 6 weeks in the cold, I’ve now moved all of the bottles back into the warm.

It’s a bit of a mystery as I’ve done this kit before and it was excellent. The sugar comes with the kit so the amount of sugar can’t be the issue. Two weeks in the warm should be enough and the bottles did seem to have tightened. I always make sure that the screw tops on the bottles are on really tight.

The flavour is definitely there and the beer is fairly clear - if I can just get it to carb up then I’m sure it will be fine but I’m at a loss to explain it.

Will report back in due course. Fingers crossed!

Could be leaks in the bottles? That's why I always go with glass.

 

[GhostShip]

Could be leaks in the bottles? That's why I always go with glass.

That did occur to me, though they're Coopers bottles so decent quality, I've never had a problem with any of them in the past and I always ensure the tops are screwed on tightly. It's also unlikely that every bottle would fail at the same time (I've only opened two so far), so maybe I should try another couple.