any ideas?

[stoofer74]

i have recently picked up 4x1.8kg tins of light malt extract and a bag of challenger hops on the cheap on ebay.the question is what can i do with them?i still have a mountain of homebrew kits from the great tesco sell off so i'm not looking to make the leap into extact brewing just yet.but maybe i could be persuaded if any one can come up with any good ideas!!could i perk up the abv in one of my coopers/john bull kits?

[Rookie]

i have recently picked up 4x1.8kg tins of light malt extract and a bag of challenger hops on the cheap on ebay.the question is what can i do with them?i still have a mountain of homebrew kits from the great tesco sell off so i'm not looking to make the leap into extact brewing just yet.but maybe i could be persuaded if any one can come up with any good ideas!!could i perk up the abv in one of my coopers/john bull kits?

Which kits do you have?

[stoofer74]

hi i have a john bull best bitter,john bull ipa,geordie yorkshire bitter ,coopers real ale and coopers english ale i went a bit daft when tescos was selling of the homebrew half price

[Rookie]

hi i have a john bull best bitter,john bull ipa,geordie yorkshire bitter ,coopers real ale and coopers english ale i went a bit daft when tescos was selling of the homebrew half price

You could double the strength and IBUs of one of the bitters for a nice IPA or the J B IPA could be made into a barleywine.

[stoofer74]

i was thinkingsomething along those lines myself ijust wasnt sure if it would be ok

[Jocky]

Light malt extract and challenger hops? Add some Crystal malt and yeast and you've got everything you need to make a nice Bluebird clone, as on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49605

[stoofer74]

ooooh i like bluebird ive just never done an extract before and am a little bit scared

[Jocky]

Don't be afraid - it's really quite easy! If you've ever modded a kit with grain and hops then it's basically the same as that:

1. Steep grain in your water for 30 minutes.
2. Add malt extract and initial hops
3. Boil for 60 minutes, adding more hops as you go.
4. Cool wort.
5. Put wort into fermenter, leaving hops and other solids in the pan.
6. Ferment, bottle and drink!

[stoofer74]

the biggest pan i have would hold 12 litres if filled to the brim so assuming that i would have to leave about say 2lt space for the boil it would leave me about 10lt is this enough for a extract?would you recommend a good extract book to give me a few pointers?

[Jocky]

12l is plenty enough! Put in half your extract for the boil and then as the other half toward the end for a short boil.

There aren't really many books on the exact process of extract brewing, but How to Brew by John Palmer covers everything brewing really well, from kits to extract to all grain - it was my starting point. www.howtobrew.com is an earlier version of the book online to read for free.