Adapted Kit Recipes.

[DrWorm]

I put a brew on today. Started with a can of John Bull Traditional English Ale that I picked up cheap. This is what I did to it.

1 Can John Bull Traditional English Ale
900g Medium Spraymalt
25g Progress Hops - 40 min boil
15g Goldings - 15 min boil
10g Progress Hops - 0 min boil
125g Crystal Malt - 40 min steep @ 65 deg C
35g Amber Malt - 40 min steep @ 65 deg C

The S.G was 1.041-1.042 depending on how much I squinted to try and see it! I'm hoping for a well hopped but darker ale around the normal strength range for a session ale.

It smelt and tasted pretty good in the FV and I pitched it just using the kit yeast which I rehydrated for 25 mins in a bit of the wort.

Probably end up naming it Dark Bull Ale or Bitter Bull Ale and will be kegging this in 12-14 days and then maturing as appropriate. I'll try and let you know how it turns out.

Cheers

[FUBAR]

I have brewed sparkypauls adapted geordie mild recipe except i used styrian goldings hops and added the chocolate/crystal malt into the pan with the hops and boiled for ten minutes and then left it to steep for twenty minutes,reckon this will be a good pint it smelt good enough to drink straight out of the FV before i pitched the yeast

[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!

Well these have had 2 weeks in the cold now and the tang has completely gone!
After my initial worries I'm pretty happy with how this has turned out for something knocked up on the cheap.
Will try and post a photo when i get the chance.

[Cleggy]

Following up from my second brew, above, I did a Fixby Gold to the letter of the law!
That's just about ready for bottling now and taste's pretty damn good as advised by all.

For my 4th brew I've done a minor mod to a Coopers Australian Pale Ale.
Added 1Kg of Lt Spray Malt and a 20g Progress Hop tea (15mins in can rinsing's).
Made a bit of a boob when filling up to 23L, my FV was sat on a box to raise it up. Unfortunately it wasn't sat level so when it was up to what I thought was 23L on the FV it was more like 24.5.
In the immortal word's of Del Boy - WHAT A PLONKER!

Came in at about 1.038 SG - what do these normally get down to?

[barl_fire]

Following up from my second brew, above, I did a Fixby Gold to the letter of the law!
That's just about ready for bottling now and taste's pretty damn good as advised by all.

You'll not be disappointed with the Fixby Gold, it's a cracking brew.

Good work with the Youngs Bitter, just started drinking my Yorkshire bitter and a very pleasant session beer it is too. When you get round to doing the Geordie Mild (I'm guessing to Sparkypaul's recipe) don't be put off by it's initial twang, this settles down after the first week conditioning and all that lovely coffee and chocolate comes through. It's best at about 4-6 weeks in the keg, think it begins to lose it a bit after that though.

[Cleggy]

Cheers Barl

The Fixby Gold does seem really nice already, i'll be bottling this though so hopefully might last me a bit longer.
Currently my Young's mod is better than my Coopers Stout mod, hopefully a bit more conditioning will help with the stout.

Looking forward to having a play with the mild once my FV's are empty.

[barl_fire]

Yeah the Fixby Gold is tasty as soon as it's kegged/bottled (finding the same with the Almondbury Old) although if you can wait 6-8 weeks it's a stunner. Next one I do I'm gonna add 500g of hopped light dme as suggested in the brewing sheet that comes with the kit, I think I'd enjoy it even more with a bit more alcohol content, someone on here (dunc I think recommends that recipe). Nice one for the summer done without additions though.

the Coopers Stout with 1kg medium dme is very good, only criticism being like someone else mentioned in another thread yesterday the head ain't great. Next time I do one I'm going to try the 200g carapils steep with Ditch's recipe, same goes for the Coopers Dark Ale which I found to be like rocket fuel.

Good luck with the Mild, get another one on though once it's kegged as the first one will not last Did a side by side comparison the other week with Thwaites Dark Mild and the Geordie knocks spots off the commercial ale, also much better than JW Lees Brewers Dark which tastes like coke without the sugar when you compare it too sparky Paul's Geordie Mild

Next adapted recipe I'm planning is a Great Eastern with Elderflowers as I've seen it mentioned on here and elsewhere as similar to Badgers Champion which I've got a bit of a taste for of late, although it'll have to wait as I've got a Brupaks Brewers choice Trad IPA waiting to go when I've got an empty keg, that's going to be done with 1kg light dme

[Cleggy]

That's my main problem with my Coopers Stout - poor head.
However I'm probably drinking it too cold which doesn't seem to help.
What's the head like on the mild and porter?
I've got some torrified wheat crystal and pale malt which I'm gonna try minimashing at some point to help with the head amongst other things!

Let us know how you get on with the elderflower as that sounds like a nice brew.

[kay-jay]

what did you modify your coopers stout kit with? i used 1kg of spraymalt and a handful of brewing sugar. i certainly never had a problem with head. how much sugar did you prime with???

heres mine,with more head than cerberus.
immediately after the pour


after settling


and finally clinging to the glass


KJ

[Cleggy]

I wish mine looked like that!

I used 500g Extra Dark Spray Malt and 500g Lt Brown Demerera.

Added some steeped Roast Barley and Chocolate Malt.

Also chucked in a Vanilla pod and some Cocoa powder into the steep.

Primed with 120g Brewing sugar.

The head is better when its served at a higher temp, but that needs fore thought to bring a bottle indoors, and that's not my strong-point!

[Manx Guy]

Hmmm...

Maybe it was the 'fat' in the cocoa powder that has scuppered your head retention?

I know greasey glasses (form the dishwasher) can have a similar effect...

Just a thought...

Guy

[Cleggy]

Its possible I guess, I didn't check whether there was fat in cocoa powder.
I used way too little (60g) for it to give any taste anyway, It was an in with both feet moment, where as I probably should have just brewed it straight.

It still tastes good though!

[barl_fire]

That's my main problem with my Coopers Stout - poor head.
However I'm probably drinking it too cold which doesn't seem to help.
What's the head like on the mild and porter?
I've got some torrified wheat crystal and pale malt which I'm gonna try minimashing at some point to help with the head amongst other things!

Let us know how you get on with the elderflower as that sounds like a nice brew.

Aye both my Coopers' brews(Stout and Dark Ale) done with 1kg dme, although tasty, had large bubbled heads and poor retention regardless of temperature

You get a lovely cream coloured head on the Mild, nice small bubbles good retention, moderate glass cling with a the odd pint giving rings on the glass. The London Porter with molasses has a dark beige/mocha head, really thick and oily like a Robinson's Old Tom, absolutely beautiful, small bubbles, superb glass cling with most pints giving rings on the glass (that all sounded well nerdy ). I've got three JB Porter kits sat in my pantry and some molasses waiting to go as this one just has to be repeated.

Yeah I'll do the elderflower one early in the summer I reckon, and keep you posted, I've had to push it back though because on route from Durham to Sheffield today I felt the draw of Hop and Grape in Darlington so ended up with a Yorkshire Terrier kit and a Scottish 80 Shilling kit

[Cleggy]

As promised some pics of my Youngs Definitive Bitter Mod - my second brew.

I named it Dickinson's Tan as it came out a slightly darker colour than expected!

I treated myself to one after bottling my Fixby Gold.

Just poured


Sampled


Cheers!

[kay-jay]

looking good there cleggy!


KJ