Stepping up to Brupaks?

[Black_Sheep]

Hola,


I havejust finished drinking my first kit, Woodforde's Wherry, which I liked, but I want to improve. I have an Admiral's Reserve conditioning, it's only been a week but I tested a bottle and it tasted a bit too similar to the Wherry, I went for the Admiral to try and get a hoppier ale. My fermenter is empty and having read Chris from www.18000feet.com's Brupaks method I fancy a go. I want a nice easy, hoppy ale that I can drink nd still get and go work in the morning.

1. If I go for Colne Valley or Linthwaite what malt should I go for?
I thought Brupaks Pale Ale Malt Extract, Safale yeast and Brupaks Yeast Vit.
2. How much of which hops?
I was thinking Challenger and Goldings.
3. Is it best to use Brewing Sugar for priming?
4. The recipe mentions a bit of Spray Malt to get the yeast going in a jug first, which one?

Cheers.

[b.all]

it looks like a slight dubious method as you are boiling the already made kit, i would have thought this messes up the flavour as the kit has already been boiled once to make them.if you're going to boil hops like that i would have thought it would be better to just boil the hops in water and use that to add to the fermenter.

[Black_Sheep]

I'm open to any suggestions. Are you saying don't bother sticking the hops in boiling wort, just boil them for the required length of time in water, then add the water and hops into the fermenter?

[b.all]

yes,i think boiling the wort again would do it no good and probably ruin the flavour a bit. just boil the hops in water and then add that water in with the tins from the kit though make sure you dont get the actual solid hops in the fermenter.

[davekermito]

I've done a couple of this 'kit plus steeped grains/hops' type methods.

Don't boil the kit, you drive off any bittering flavours there are, which defeats the point in using a kit (As you may as well go the extract route). It's generally the aroma property of the hops that is lacking in kits.

I tend to find steeping 25-30g of any aroma/dual purpose hop for 30 minutes and then adding to the fermenter improves the kit considerably, but if you're making the effort of steeping hops, why not trying steeping some grain as well? I've found that most kits can benefit from 250g of crystal malt and 150g of wheat.

[Black_Sheep]

Ok I'm going for it, I'm going to follow Chris's method.

So I'll buy a Colne Valley
Brupaks Pale Ale Malt Extract
Safale yeast
Brupaks Yeast Vit.
20g of Challenger and 20g of Golding boiled for 10 mins in a little wort.

Will I get a hoppy, light little ale I can session on and operate heavy machinery ?
£30 my son's inheritence relies on this.

[Black_Sheep]

Excellent, that's it I'm off to order my stuff, thanks all, happy brewing.

[Black_Sheep]

As an update to this I have followed Chris's method to the letter, I used Safale yeast, bolied Brupaks Hop Tea Bag and 20g of challenger for 15mins in a little wort, I steeped the goldings (20g) in the rest of the wort as it cooled from boiling down to 30c. I did this on Monday and it's fermenting nicely at 22c, the lid is bulging however during the first two days I had an awful rotten eggs (H2S) smell from the fermenter. It stunk out the house and the Mrs wasn't happy, I checked other postings and it appears Cooper's IPA is a sucker for this too, so I'm not that worried, I will try the wort after fermentation to check it's not contaminated the smell has reduced over two days and I'm back in the marital bed.

[Black_Sheep]

aaaaah now it makes sense. I always thought the fv should be really airtight to prevent evil bugs getting in, I noted it wasn't, but thought the CO2 and other gasses would push their own way out but not let air back in like a keg safety valve. Now you say it, the yeast must have some ventilation to get more oxygen in and carry on pumping out waste gas and doing it's good work. There's a lot of fart based science in this brewing lark!

I could go further and discuss my friend's theory in a Dr Gillian McKeef way that eggy trumps are the product of too much sulphur reducing bacteria in the gut caused by excess consumption of drinks with high sulphite/sulphide levels, time for Activia yoghurt all round and pile of aduki beans.

[jubby]

Woodforde's (brewery not Muntons) used to supply a leaflet on request which gave a few tips on how to improve the kits. Most of what was in this information leaflet is exactly as chris has recommended. Boil the whole lot for about 20-30 mins and add the hops of your choice. Woodforde's head brewer advised me to use challenger and goldings with the wherry. Just for info. I used cascade hops in a Great Eastern kit which was very nice.

[Black_Sheep]

Helpful stuff thanks, always nice to know you're on the right lines.