Adapted Kit Recipes.

[Manx Guy]

Well I like the continental 'dark lagers' like the German 'Dunkel' or the Czech version (whcich I cant remember the name of...)

I saw a recipe on a Aussie website and contacted Coopers to see what it would taste like...

They advised that the final bitterness would be in the 25- 32 IBU range and due to the increased volume the colour would be slightly lighter, resulting in a dark brown readish beer with a plenty of coffee/chocolate malt flavours and a soft biiter finish ...

Basically a lighter crisper version of the Coopers Dark Ale when made as is...

Which is what I was aiming for...

I guess we will have to wait and see... lol



Slainte!

[jason123]

Guys,

Whats the best way to go about making a hop tea

obviously, I've guessed it means boiling up some hops, but do they need the full 90mins (hope not) and does the tea get turffed into the wort, hops'n all

Cheers Jase

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

There is no need to boil for more than 15 mins if at all... You are not adding bitterness as the kit already is bittered, the hop tea is to add a little hop flavour/aroma only.

There are several ways of making hop tea...

My prefered method is to weigh out the required amount of hops (20-30g is a good place to start) boil up 1-2 litres of water in the kettle and add to a clean & sanitised 'french press' coffee maker - I have one especially for this purpose... They can be bought for less than a fiver from TK max or a discount store...

add the hot water to the jug and stir the water hops mixture with a (sanitised) spoon place on the lid but leave the plunger up...
Leave to steep for 30 mins (whilst you make up the kit in the usual way leaving at least 4 litres space for the tea and any cooling water if required)
then press down the plunger & add the contents to the FV making up the volume as required

You can place the hops in a grain bag and boil for 5-15 mins in a clean pan then add the liquid and the bag to the FV... The boiling is mainly to sanitise the grain bag so you dont introduce nasties to your fv...
You do need to be careful to choose a hop variety that is suitable for dry hopping if you do this... Some can add undesirable flavours if you dry hop with them...

I hope this helps...


Slainte!

[jason123]

Thats magic Slainte. Thanks a mil for the tips.

[DrWorm]

You do need to be careful to choose a hop variety that is suitable for dry hopping if you do this... Some can add undesirable flavours if you dry hop with them...

Can you elaborate any on this? What hops are good for dry hopping an IPA or a Pilsner etc and which ones should be avoided?

For instance I have some Styrian Goldings which I believe would make a good hop for dry hopping in several types of brews. Am I correct or misguided?

Ta muchly.

[Roy]

My prefered method is to weigh out the required amount of hops (20-30g is a good place to start) boil up 1-2 litres of water in the kettle and add to a clean & sanitised 'french press' coffee maker - I have one especially for this purpose... They can be bought for less than a fiver from TK max or a discount store...

Just out of interest, do you mean 1-2 pints as my french press wouldn't hold more that 1 litre?

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

Worm: Goldings/Sturians are good aroma/dry hops... :

My french press hold 1.7 litres... but obvibviously you are limited to the capacity of the one you are using... a larger one allows more 'movement' of the hops so in theory the larger the better....


Hope that helps....


Guy

Slainte!

[Roy]

Nice one buddy, thanks for clearing that up. Will see how much my bodum holds!

edit: my [what i thought was large] bodum percolator holds 2 pints so about 1.2l. You must have had a bargain for one that size!

[guest5234]

Started today, will give progress.

Geordie Yorkshire Bitter kit, this will be made into an 18L Brew

200gm crystal malt steeped for 20 mins
12gms Fuggles hops steeped for 20 mins in rinsing of can.
500gms medium spray malt
Safeale o4 yeast.
OG 1035
Made up to 18 litres and will bottle in 10 days and leave for 4 weeks before a little tasting

[jason123]

Guys

Bottled up my Mango, Pineapple and Passin fruit pils kit this afternoon. Got to say the smell from the FV was gorgeous. Had a full scent of the fruit flavours. Taste wise, it had a definite flavour from the fruits along with a bit of a dry aftertaste, hopefully after some maturation it'll come through in fine style. Can't wait to give it a try in a couple of weeks. Going off the Hydro reading it should come in at a nice 4.7% AV

To mark the occasion of it feeling like it might just work, I put on 2 more kits as follows:

1 x Can Geordie Yorkshire Bitter
1/2 x Can of Harvest Yorkshire Bitter
3 x Litres of Sainsburys Cranberry & Raspberry Juice
1 KG Demerara Sugar - tate & Lyle

S.G 1.050 approx
and

Same as above but with 5 Litres of the Cranberry and Raspberry. S.G 1.060 approx

Come on you Beauties

[Cleggy]

I bought a cheap Youngs Definitive Bitter kit when i started up again so i got this going with a bit of tinkering on Saturday.


200g Chocolate Malt & 200g Roast Barley steeped for 60 mins @ 65
added
500g Lt Spray Malt
500g Lt Brown Demerera Sugar

Kit into FV, added above mix.
Aerated well with paddle on drill
Topped up to 20L with cold liquor - aerated again

Safale S04 pitched at 24 degrees.

OG 1.046 at 24 degrees so probably about 1.047

Fingers crossed!

Well i opened one of these last night after a week conditioning in the warm.
Served at about 21 deg it had a lovely big head on it, which subsided but lasted to the bottom of the glass
I'd been tasting this all the way through fermenting while i was taking readings and it had a distinct after-taste/tang, the type you get with sweetener.
This is a lot less now but is still there at the back end, it has some nice roast coffee flavours too.
Hopefully a few weeks in the cold will sort out the after-taste
Not the best yet, but drinkable!

[barl_fire]

Started today, will give progress.

Geordie Yorkshire Bitter kit, this will be made into an 18L Brew

200gm crystal malt steeped for 20 mins
12gms Fuggles hops steeped for 20 mins in rinsing of can.
500gms medium spray malt
Safeale o4 yeast.
OG 1035
Made up to 18 litres and will bottle in 10 days and leave for 4 weeks before a little tasting

I like the sound of this, keep us updated, I'd be keen to see how the Geordie and Edme Yorkshire Bitters compare for a bit of tinkering.

[dedken]

...Here's one I made earlier. It's been 6 weeks conditioning and I believe it's so good I'd better tell everyone what I've done...
It's very simple really.

Hop boil (in water, no malt added) - 60m
15g Goldings @ 0m
15g Cascade @ 45m
11 heaped teaspoons dried elderflowers @ 45m
Munton's Gold IPA (two can kit)
Made up to 23l, used kit yeast. Pitched at 18C.
Fermented for two weeks (because it got stuck!) @16-18C. Transferred to PB and kept in warm for 2 weeks. Moved to cold for last 4 weeks.

This is a very subtle pint with hints of all the hop additions. There's an immediate bitterness to the taste which gives it some welly but it rolls off the tonge quickly to be replaced by a slight lingering elderflower sweetness. Smoooooth mouthfeel. If they sold this down my local I'd be a pisshead by now... Oh, hang on a minute
What I initially wanted to do was try to replicate Badger's Golden Champion, but I couldn't get hold of a Blonde beer kit to doctor. So I went with the IPA and came out with something actually not too far away from what I originally planned. If I'd bottled some of this the extra fizz may have brought it even closer.

Can it be improved? Yes. Next time I will increase the bittering hops maybe by weight or maybe by choosing something with higher AAU. Who knows what I might have in the freezer at that time??

I wonder if I give Hall and Woodhouse a call whether they'll tell me what hops they use in Golden Champion?

[gallowayboy]

My current faves are modified coopers kits.

an IPA variation, featuring:

Can coopers IPA
1kg light spraymalt
30gs fuggles boiled with spraymalt for 30 minutes
50gs golden syrup
15gs fuggles dry hop in FV
Safeale04

20litres brewlength. Og 1049 - fermented like a train, fg 1008.

Really lovely ale but next time no syrup, cascade hops.

and a strong stout:

Can coopers stout
1.2kg med spraymalt
200gs or so golden syrup
20gs black malt steeped then boiled with spraymalt and 15gs fuggles for 30 minutes.
handful of fuggles to dryhop
Safeale04

20 litres, og1051, fg 1011

Sooooo drinkable and kicks like

These two have made mincemeat of 3kg brupacks and woodfords kits - i'm on the verge of feeding a wherry to the fish They ferment more easily, clear better and taste better.

[seanipops]

Had a "pressure test" of my Great Eastern with Amarillo and Pacific Gem. Last night. It's only four weeks old but will be lovely in another four imo. I dry hopped with 20g each Pacific Gem and Amarillo.

I also did a Wherry dry hopped with 25g of Elderflowers, if I were to do it again I'd reduce to 10-15g max, it's a bit too floral. Incidentally both of these brews were done with S04.

I've tweaked my Amarillo IPA recipe by eschewing the hopped tea in favour of dry hopping, the first kit was 40g, the most recent one 20g. I'll be starting a Pacific Gem version today hopefully. Incidentally I've had some fairly favourable reviews of my Amarillo IPA which you can read about here

I'll also be doing an out of date brewbuddy experiment which I'll write about in the appropriate thread.