Ideas for improving my next couple of beers

[MMBrewing]

Hi there.

I've had some success with my first few kits and I'm thinking about the next couple.

I have a couple of geordie bitter kits and some bags of the beer kit enhancer they do as well as I have been very impressed with the difference this makes to the final product.

For my next brew I would like to include some honey - should I use this as a replacement for the priming sugar ? if so what would be the equivalent of 60g of caster sugar (not keen on fizzy beer !)

For the kit after that do you have any suggestions for additional hops as , good though the kits are, I like my beer to have buckets of hops .

Cheers Guys

[fivetide]

Cool. I dry-hop kits in secondary with vacuum pack loose hops in a muslin bag which I hoik out after about 5-7 days, but if you search on this forum for dry hopping and late hopping there are lots of different tips to be had. It's good fun, and certainly makes a difference to the beer character.

[MMBrewing]

"guestimate" sounds like a good plan, I'll make a note of how much of "brand - x" honey i used for the next attempt.

I have been searching for dry hopping on the site and I have a few ideas.
My Father-in-law is responsible for getting me back home-brewing and he has plans to grow some hops so perhaps there will be a joint brew eventually.

Cheers again.

[PMH0810]

Is it correct that with dry hopping in primary or secondary fermentation that the chance of bacterial infection is so low as to be not worth worrying over (hops playing apparently playing a very poor host to bacteria)?

[fivetide]

True. But you do need to sanitise (boil) any muslins / string / weights / floats etc... you use, obviously.

[PMH0810]

Fair Enough!

[fivetide]

I use non-porous stones to weigh the bag down (marbles would be good but I don't have any). But some people prefer using ping pong balls and making the hops float. Either way, it's good fun hopifying your brews and feeling like you're customising 'em a bit, definitely.

Where do you buy your stuff now that the HB shop has moved from Crouch Street to Manningtree and rarely opens? There's one in Holland-on-Sea that features heavily on eBay that is a bit far for me, and I've been to the one in Stowmarket for the odd yeast/hop supply, but I tend to just use H&G or Leyland really.

[PMH0810]

The one out at Holland on Sea is quite pricey when compared to online suppliers. Like you I find Manningtree generally closed...

Art of Brewing and The Hop Shop supply me quite nicely though; p&p not too pricey (up to about 12p extra per pint of HB if I don't place a big order)