8 brews from 4 cheap kits!

[Monkeybrew]

12 hours after pitching, and the Coopers ale yeast is going well!

I must have created the 2-tone Krausen whilst moving my little FV.

MB

[twentyfootwilf]

Two questions Monkey, after chucking hop pellets into the brew, do they not need filtering out before bottling or do they settle to the bottom with the rest of the trub? and why do you chill to 3c for a few days prior to bottling (not that I could do that anyway as I don't have a brew fridge)

[WalesAles]

As SWMBO and my daughter have decided to go camping in the garden tonight, I have made use of being home alone and put together another brew.

This time I am brewing with 1 can from the Woodfordes Admirals Reserve (32pt) kit. I will be brewing the other can as standard, because I tasted my mates brew a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed it. But this brew is being brewed nearer to the Woodfordes Headcracker (24pt) kit.

Hopefully this brew will be coming good around Xmas/New Year

Admirals Cracker

7L Brewlength
1 x 1.5kg Can of Woodfordes Admirals Reserve
6g of EKG Pellets 5.90%AA boiled in the rinsed wort from the can for 10mins
7g of Coopers Ale Yeast
OG 1.060
Fermenting in the cupboard under the stairs between 21- 22C





MB

Hello You Little Monkey,
Bloody Hell Mun! OG 1060! What did you do to get it this high? Is this normal for this kit? Or is it because you`re brewing short?
WA

[Monkeybrew]

Two questions Monkey, after chucking hop pellets into the brew, do they not need filtering out before bottling or do they settle to the bottom with the rest of the trub? and why do you chill to 3c for a few days prior to bottling (not that I could do that anyway as I don't have a brew fridge)

The hop pellets disintegrate after a fews days and partially settle out, but chilling to 3C for a few days once fermentation has finished really helps to drop loads of yeast out of suspension and most hop particles too.

When racking off of the hop and yeast trub, I sterilise a tiny fine mesh bag that came with a Festival Pilgrims Hope kit and tie it over the end of my racking cane.

It perfectly filters out all of the crap without getting blocked

Edit - Here's a pic



MB

[Monkeybrew]

Hello You Little Monkey,
Bloody Hell Mun! OG 1060! What did you do to get it this high? Is this normal for this kit? Or is it because you`re brewing short?
WA

No trickery matey, just a short brewlength

MB

[twentyfootwilf]

All clear now monkey, (pun intended), I must see if I can get hold of an old fridge for the shed.

[Monkeybrew]

All clear now monkey, (pun intended), I must see if I can get hold of an old fridge for the shed.

It's well worth it IMO, as it's certainly my best piece of brewing equipment.

It takes the worrying and faffing about away, because whether it's 30C or -1C outside, you know that your baby (brew) is safely in the fridge at a constant temperature.

As well as the crash cooling capability, it also opens up the world of proper lager brewing

MB

[Monkeybrew]

I checked the SG of my Admirals Cracker today on day 9, and it's currently at 1.010!

I wasn't expecting that

MB

[Stomach]

I checked the SG of my Admirals Cracker today on day 9, and it's currently at 1.010!

I wasn't expecting that

MB

Will you be handing our paracetamol with this one?

[Monkeybrew]

I checked the SG of my Admirals Cracker today on day 9, and it's currently at 1.010!

I wasn't expecting that

MB

Will you be handing our paracetamol with this one?

Hehe, think you might be right there mate.

I finally bottled it last night on day 21. It's a nice dark brown colour but tasted and smelt a bit appley, which must be down to ambient temps getting up to 23C when it was a few days into primary. I should have waited until my Brewfridge was empty in hindsight!

I'll leave it until late November before sampling one of the 330ml bottles.

MB

[Monkeybrew]

Cascadew (Sundew with NZ Cascade)



I had a couple of these last night, and even though it hasn't got the hop punch that I was hoping for, it is certainly a very moreish blonde

I have now decided what I will be brewing with the second tin of Sundew. It's going to be a Citra hopped AIPA style brew that is inspired by Oakham's Green Devil IPA.

I'll post my recipe once the brew is on.

MB

[Monkeybrew]

I'm still at work and getting a tad bored now, so here is the recipe for tomorrow's brewday -

SunDevil AIPA (Inspired by Oakham's Green Devil IPA 6.0%)

Brewlength - 10.5L
Estimated OG - 1.060
1 x 1.5kg Can of Woodfordes Sundew
500g of Muntons Light DME
25g of 2012 Citra Pellets 14.20% AA Boiled for 10mins
25g of 2012 Citra Pellets 14.20% AA Steeped from 80C for 30mins
Fermented @ 19C with 11.5g of Fermentis S-05 Yeast
Racked onto a further 25-50g of Citra Pellets for dry hopping for 4-5 days.


I have done a bit of reading on various forums, and the Sundew kit is thought to be about 28 EBU's, so my calculations are as follows -

1 can of Sundew to 10.5L = approx 30 EBU's
Add 500g of Light DME brings that figure down to 25 EBU's
Boiling 25g of Citra for 10mins should add approx 26 EBU's
Total estimated EBU's = 51

I know that my brew won't be anywhere near as good Oakham's, but It should be a mega tasty AIPA

I'll add some pic's of the brewday in a couple of days.

MB

[Monkeybrew]

I got this brew going last Monday morning and it all went nice a smoothly

I added 5L of Campden tablet treated tap water along with 500g of Light DME to my stockpot, brought this to the boil and then added the first 25g of Citra for a 10mins. Once the gas was turned off and the wort temp was down to 80C, I added the 2nd 25g addition of the Citra Pellets and let them steep for 30mins before straining the hoppy wort in an FV.

Man those Citra pellets smelt good! The 25g that I weighed out for the short boil, filled my kitchen with some superb aromas.

I then just made up the kit as normal, but to 10.5L giving me an OG of 1.058. I had all of my water for this brew sitting a 3C, so managed to pitch the S-05 yeast at 22C straight away. I had good signs of fermentation within 24 hours















Today is day 8 for this brew, and I have taken a gravity and tasting sample this morning. It's currently sitting at 1.012 (6.2% ABV) and tastes very nice too. I plan to rack it on Friday (day 12), and introduce the remaining 50g of Citra Pellets for 4-5 days before crash cooling and bottling.

Citra is officially my new favourite hop!!

MB

[Monkeybrew]

Here we go!

I won't get time tomorrow, so have racked onto my dry hops today.



MB

[Monkeybrew]

I've finally settled on this recipe for my next Wherry tweak. It has been worked out on the assumption that a standard Wherry kit has 28 EBU's of bitterness.

Wherry IPA

Brewlength - 11.5L
Estimated OG - 1.050
Estimated Bitterness - 40 EBU

1 x 1.5kg can of Woodfordes Wherry
250g of Light DME
100g of Caramalt
100g of Dextrose

20g of Fuggles Pellets 4.0%AA boiled for 30 mins
12g of Progress Whole 6.8%AA boiled for 5 mins and left to steep for 20 mins
13g of Progress Whole 6.8%AA Dry Hop

Kit Yeast @20C