An interesting twist to kits

[jaytee1]

Im just brewing a 'fixby gold' and it will be kegged in a weeks time, ill then look to start another brew.

I have been using kits for a few years on and off so def a beginner in brewing circles but would really like to try something a little more complex.

I like to drink pale ales and like the idea of perhaps adding extra hops to the keg to add extra aroma.

Any suggestions guys?

thanks in advance

[mysterio]

An ounce of east kent goldings is surely a good place to start. Boil a mesh bag of some sort, put in an ounce of the hops (unboiled) and just drop them into the beer. This will give you a fair bit of hop aroma and some flavour.

[fivetide]

I'm planning on doing exactly this with my Wherry on Saturday, but it's all prep for some summer ale really.

I intend to leave in only a few days then whip the bag out again, does that sound about right?

[Wez]

I dry hopped a Great Easter Ale with 20g bramling cross in a muslin bag for 5 days then removed it and it's turned out great I racked from fermenter to keg, dropped in the bag (weighed down with sterilised marbles) gassed, released and gassed again then after 5 days removed the dry hop bag and primed as normal with 80g dry spray malt.

[jaytee1]

An ounce of east kent goldings is surely a good place to start. Boil a mesh bag of some sort, put in an ounce of the hops (unboiled) and just drop them into the beer. This will give you a fair bit of hop aroma and some flavour.

cheers fella, ill get some and give this a go.
Do you just let them sit in the keg and then fish them out later? Do they float on the surface or is it best to submerge them and then hunt for them later?

[jaytee1]

I dry hopped a Great Easter Ale with 20g bramling cross in a muslin bag for 5 days then removed it and it's turned out great I racked from fermenter to keg, dropped in the bag (weighed down with sterilised marbles) gassed, released and gassed again then after 5 days removed the dry hop bag and primed as normal with 80g dry spray malt.

I like the idea of weighing down with marbles, but what do you mean by 'primed as normal with dry sray malt' ?

[Wez]

My normal procedure for kegging is to transfer all of the fermented beer from the fermenting vessel to the keg, then syphon about 400ml back out into a jug and mix 80g Muntons dried light spray malt with it, this is then returned to the keg and the rest of the beer and the cap screwed on. This builds up the C02 pressure in the keg when left in a warmish room for about 5 days at which poimt i transfer the keg to my cold garage where it stays undisturbed and it matures and clears. When dry hopping I don't prime until after the hop bag has been removed so the sequence is:

1. Ferment
2. Transfer to keg
3. Add dry hop bag, put lid on and gas, squeeze pressure release valve to release 02 and then gas a bit more.
4. Wait 5 days use PR valve again to release all of the gas
5. Syphon 400ml out add spay malt return to keg (as above)
6. leave in warmish room for 5 days
7 Transfer somewhere cold to mature / clear

Hope that make sense.

[jaytee1]

My normal procedure for kegging is to transfer all of the fermented beer from the fermenting vessel to the keg, then syphon about 400ml back out into a jug and mix 80g Muntons dried light spray malt with it, this is then returned to the keg and the rest of the beer and the cap screwed on. This builds up the C02 pressure in the keg when left in a warmish room for about 5 days at which poimt i transfer the keg to my cold garage where it stays undisturbed and it matures and clears. When dry hopping I don't prime until after the hop bag has been removed so the sequence is:

1. Ferment
2. Transfer to keg
3. Add dry hop bag, put lid on and gas, squeeze pressure release valve to release 02 and then gas a bit more.
4. Wait 5 days use PR valve again to release all of the gas
5. Syphon 400ml out add spay malt return to keg (as above)
6. leave in warmish room for 5 days
7 Transfer somewhere cold to mature / clear

Hope that make sense.

Absolutely
But it still leaves the question of why add the spray malt, what does it give to the brew?

thanks wez

[Wez]

When you transfer to the keg its cloudy with yeasties looking for sugars. The spray malt is sugar so when you feed the yeast with those new sugars it produces co2 just like during the first fermetation only this time you capture the gas given off in a sealed keg so the beer becomes slightly carbonated and you get pressure to dispense. Taste wise a more rounded malty flavour will be there, you could equaly use sugar but i don't think the finish is so good.

[jaytee1]

When you transfer to the keg its cloudy with yeasties looking for sugars. The spray malt is sugar so when you feed the yeast with those new sugars it produces co2 just like during the first fermetation only this time you capture the gas given off in a sealed keg so the beer becomes slightly carbonated and you get pressure to dispense. Taste wise a more rounded malty flavour will be there, you could equaly use sugar but i don't think the finish is so good.

ah the penny is dropping
this could be one of the causes for my slighty cloudy previous brews that tasted fine but took an age to clear and caused sediment problems.

Right then i havent got a PR valve yet on my king keg so i am assuming that i can simply carefully unscrew the lid to release a little pressue and hey ho happy days...

right then i need to order some spray malt then....ah the joys of shopping for brew gear

[Wez]

woah woah woh

What KK lid have you got, the PR valve is a brown rubber ring on one of the two valves, pinch her and if under pressure she'll squeal. Piiiiics may be required here mate all the answers will be here at Jims

[jaytee1]

i have a kk lid with a single valve for the co2 canister only, so no way to pr except unscrewing the lid as far as i can see, is this an issue? i cant see how it can be as long i can release the gas somehow

[Wez]

you're right mate, just unscrew slowly and carefully, i've unscrewed too quickly and had a lid fly off cut my finger and hit the garage roof (...hard!) unscrew a bit until it hisses, wait for the hiss to go, then unscrew a bit more until it hisses and wait for it to go, and so on until there is no more hissing.

I'm guessing you have a S30 inlet valve on the lid, have you got a canister? It might be worth at some point swapping the lid for one with a PRV about 5 quid at my LHBS i think???

Back onto the original subject, OB got me onto Bramling Cross, try that with an Eastern Ale LOVELY

[jaytee1]

aaahhh ive just purchased a box of eastern for the next mix, was going to use east kent goldings though to dry hop.

on that string though how do you fish the mesh bag out?? a sterilised coat hanger??

on another issues about hops last year on a walk in these parts i came across a hop tree/bush/plant covered in cones, i didnt grab a few at the time, but will def be harvesting at the end of this summer, any ideas on how to determine the variety??

[jaytee1]

ah yes and who is ob??