Could I Pick Your Brains Please?

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
J_P

Could I Pick Your Brains Please?

Post by J_P » Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:29 pm

Hi All

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a kit that when brewed tastes like Hop Back Summer Lightening please, the reason being is it's my better halfs favourite summer beer.

Ideally I'd like an off the shelf kit for simplicity (it'll only be my third attempt at brewing) however if this is not possible does anyone have a recipe that would be suitable for the novice brewer. From memory I think they say they use goldings hops which seem to be pretty readily available but other than that I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to start.

In your opinions is this something I could take on or do you think I'm running before I can walk?

Cheers in advance

John

J_P

Post by J_P » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:05 pm

ParkerWitton recommended the Great Eastern kit as a top session beer, I might have to give it a whirl.

Dry hopping - I've just put that into google and now understand it to be adding hops to the primary fermentation vessel. The local home brew shop stocks the Goldings hop pellets so my next question would be what kind of quantities would I use ?[/code]

Wez

Post by Wez » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:46 pm

I have a Great Easterns kegged at the moment which i dry hopped with 20g Bramling for 5 days then removed the dry hop bag and it tastes fantastic! Very floral aroma - Oxford Brewer put me onto it and i'm glad he did! :lol: Let us know how you get on.

J_P

Post by J_P » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:35 pm

Excellent I'll give it a whirl when the Almondsbury Old I made up today is finished.

Do you reckon it would be worthwhile breaking down the hop pellets with some boiling water first just to increase the surface area or will time in the fermenter do that for me?

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:36 pm

They will break down in the fermenter fairly quickly.

J_P

Post by J_P » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:00 pm

Magic - Cheers

What do I do about the fact that the Woodefords yeast being "Notoriously Unreliable" (http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3228) Is it as simple as buying another pack of reliable yeast?

parkerwitton

Great Eastern

Post by parkerwitton » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:45 am

JP the Great Eastern is supping well...in fact it is going twice as fast cos her indoors is keeping up to me pint for pint. I have another Great Eastern in the fermenter (8 days now) in which I added 500 gms of clear honey....hoping to get a Wychwood Beerwyched effect.

bettyswallocks

Post by bettyswallocks » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:03 pm

Most decent home brew lager kits with an ale yeast are bordering on a light summer type ale. Might be worth a go.
cheers

J_P

Post by J_P » Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:47 pm

Excellent thanks for the advice.

ParkerWitton - Could you keep me posted on the results of the honey beer please. I really enjoyed a bottle of Fullers Honey Dew the other day and would be keen to see if I could replicate it in future. Ha ha ha I'm already planning my fourth brew when the second one has only been in the barrel 24 hours.

parkerwitton

Eastern Honey

Post by parkerwitton » Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:52 pm

Certainly will JP....hope to bottle on Thursday.

prodigal2

Post by prodigal2 » Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:29 pm

[quote="J_P"]Excellent thanks for the advice.

ParkerWitton - Could you keep me posted on the results of the honey beer please. I really enjoyed a bottle of Fullers Honey Dew the other day and would be keen to see if I could replicate it in future. Ha ha ha I'm already planning my fourth brew when the second one has only been in the barrel 24 hours.[/quote

Methinks JP that you have caught the bug :lol:
Since starting homebrewing all of 4/5 months my beer enjoyment has gone up expidententatly.

Its great isnt it 8)

J_P

Post by J_P » Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:12 pm

I've always enjoyed my beer, it's just the prospect of being able to make it myself that really appeals to me.

J_P

Post by J_P » Mon Apr 16, 2007 10:47 pm

Well I've just had my second consecutive reading of 1012 from my Almondsbury Old today (from 1045ish) so I popped into the H&G on my way home and picked up a Woodefords Great Eastern, a packet of yeast (just in case the curse of the Woodefords yeast strikes) and a few grams of East Kent Goldings.

I'll give the Almondsbury Old three or four more days in the primary then it's going into the bottles and into a dark cupboard. My IPA has gassed up nicely and will be going in the coal shed tomorrow.

Once everything is clean and sanitised after that I'll be able to start my first "experiment" - woot!

prodigal2

Post by prodigal2 » Mon Apr 16, 2007 10:56 pm

[quote="J_P"]Well I've just had my second consecutive reading of 1012 from my Almondsbury Old today (from 1045ish) so I popped into the H&G on my way home and picked up a Woodefords Great Eastern, a packet of yeast (just in case the curse of the Woodefords yeast strikes) and a few grams of East Kent Goldings.

I'll give the Almondsbury Old three or four more days in the primary then it's going into the bottles and into a dark cupboard. My IPA has gassed up nicely and will be going in the coal shed tomorrow.

Once everything is clean and sanitised after that I'll be able to start my first "experiment" - woot![/quote

Good luck on that, and keep up informed on your "experiementing"

J_P

Post by J_P » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:08 pm

Frankenbrau - here I come!

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