coopers IPA

[sam c]

was thinking of maybe adding some extra hops to this kit but never tried this before. which do you think would be best, boiling some hops in water and adding to the fv to disolve some light dme in? if so how much water should i boil the hops in and for how long?or should i dry hop the brew. any advice on this process would be great. type of hops and quantities for either boiling or dry hopping would also be good? thanks in advance.

[Tim74]

Hi Sam,
I did this 10 days ago and so far it tastes great. Chris-x1 posted on the subject and I followed his instructions which I have pasted in below:

You don't really want to start adding grains and alter the colour or flavour otherwise you'll start moving away from a pale ale towards a bitter (not that there is much difference really) but it doesn't need it, you you could add hops though. Goldings, fuggles or challenger are probably the best for an IPA, boil 20g or so for 10 mins in a few litres of water with 50g of spray malt added then after 10 mins switch of the heat and add another 20g and allow them to steep for 10-20 mins. Strain through a spotlessly clean and thoroughly sanitised colander into the fermenter.

If you want to make the beer stronger shorten the brew length.

(i'd add 1kg of pale spray malt to the tin of extract rather than the 500g dme and 300g dextrose in the instructions)

Watch the temperature when you pitch the yeast. Use less boiling water than the instructions suggest to offset the hot hoppy wort you are adding or use the hoppy wort to rinse out the tins. Take care with your sanitiation also.

I hope this helps.

Tim

[sam c]

thanks tim, thats exactly what i was looking for. think i will follow that if i go ahead with this.couple of things though. do you know why the 50g of spray malt is added to the boil? also would you be able to give me the link to this post so i could have a further read? thanks again
sam

[Tim74]

Hi Sam, I'm very new to brewing and still learning the basics, so I don't know why the spray malt is added to the boil. I wonder how much, if any difference there would be if it was missed out? Perhaps someone more experienced could tell us?

Here's the link: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19161&p=220803&hili ... it#p220803

[FiercelyFuzzy]

I think the spray malt is added as it extracts more flavour/aroma from the hops than just boiling in water alone.

[sam c]

thanks for thta chaps,
how do you reckon this adaption would compare to a 3kg IPA kit, like muntons gold IPA? they both seem to end up costing about the same.