Single Malt, single hop?

[Bayerd]

Just before I embark on this, I thought I'd check if I'm along the right lines.

Basically, I normally brew kits and add spray malt and hops to alter the character. I've decided that in future I'll brew using light malt rather than medium. I currently have one 500g bag of Medium spray malt spare and some Fuggles hops.

My idea is to add water to the malt, bring up to the boil, add a handful of hops, boil for 90 minutes, add another handful at flame out, then split between 2 demijohns after it's cooled to about 50c then top up with cool water just below the shoulder of the demijohn.

Has anyone done anything similar to this? What sort of SG should I expect?

I may also dry hop one of the brews just to get an idea of how dry hopping alters aroma and flavour.

The yeast I'll be adding is an ale one from a lager kit as I've got a couple spare.

[HighHops]

Sounds like a good experiment Bayerd! But 500g of spraymalt 2 gallon (9Litres) will give you an SG of 1019 which is only 2% ABV. You need at least 500g to make 1 gallon of beer. This will give an SG of 1039 (3.9%ABV).

Hope this helps!

[Bayerd]

It does help, I'll try the same, but only brew 1 gallon instead of 2.

[barl_fire]

I'd also try running all the amounts through Beer Engine too before you start, that way you'll not only get the expected ABV but the IBU's for a given hop schedule too, that way you can tailor it with the bittering hops to suit your taste bitterness wise.

The fun bit is tweaking the late additions and dry hopping. Using a single hop is certainly the best way to see how the flavours and aromas can be changed by altering times and amounts.

I think Fuggles used on it's own is fantastic. Recently did a 20 litre recipe with 50g for 90 minutes, 25g for 15 minutes and 25g at flame out and the flavours and aromas were incredible, lots of fruit, herbs and spice coming through. As much as I like the newer exciting American and NZ hop varieties, Fuggles are always a winner for me and a great choice to begin your experimenting like this.

[Rookie]

Just before I embark on this, I thought I'd check if I'm along the right lines.

Basically, I normally brew kits and add spray malt and hops to alter the character. I've decided that in future I'll brew using light malt rather than medium. I currently have one 500g bag of Medium spray malt spare and some Fuggles hops.

My idea is to add water to the malt, bring up to the boil, add a handful of hops, boil for 90 minutes, add another handful at flame out, then split between 2 demijohns after it's cooled to about 50c then top up with cool water just below the shoulder of the demijohn.

Has anyone done anything similar to this? What sort of SG should I expect?

I may also dry hop one of the brews just to get an idea of how dry hopping alters aroma and flavour.

The yeast I'll be adding is an ale one from a lager kit as I've got a couple spare.

Later this year I'm going to brew a simple pale ale (base grain and maybe a little crystal or munich) with a nuetral hop like magnum at 60 minutes. Then I plan to split the batch in half and lightly dry hop each with a different hop.

[Bayerd]

I'd also try running all the amounts through Beer Engine too before you start, that way you'll not only get the expected ABV but the IBU's for a given hop schedule too, that way you can tailor it with the bittering hops to suit your taste bitterness wise.

That's not a bad idea. Up until now I've relied on kits for bitterness, and wouldn't really know what IBU I should be aiming for. Other than just going for it, how would I get an idea of what IBU figure I should be aiming for?

[danbrew]

You could (dare I say it?) download the BJCP guidelines and read about styles you enjoy and work from there. Don't take it as gospel, but in my view, for something as simple as your question i don't think you can get a better (free!) resource...

Google it...

[Fuggled Mind]

I thought exactly the same thing but I know that the BJCP guidelines is quite an emotive subject (possibly because it's American's determining the style of amongst others, British beer - and possibly because some of it seems fairly fictitious - Scottish beers being smokey is the one example I seem to remember).

Just remember they are a guide. Many fine beers don't conform to the guidelines but it's a good place to start, and as Beerkiss has already stated, they are free.

Download them here
http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php



Cheers

Jason

[Bayerd]

Thanks Gents, just the sort of thing that I need to help me get nearer to styles I'm after. So far all I've really done is guess and mess a bit with steeping grains. This will give me more of an idea of how to get closer to beer styles than I have been.

[Bayerd]

Just to update, I've just cracked the top off a bottle of this, it's a cracking drink, reminds me a bit like bottled Speckled Hen, but slightly darker in colour. I'm tempted to up to recipe to 5 gallons as just producing one gallon was a bit of a faff to be honest.....