Top 10 kit brewing tweaks?

[Monkeybrew]

A no show with advance apologies. Got a Wilkinsons stout on the go myself, I will experiment with a bottle or two for a Christmas brew for next time, beers with weird flavours aren't really something I enjoy but it's worth a go to see if it will be drinkable .

I picked up the Wilko's Stout in their half price sale along with a kilo of BKE, brewed it to 15L and then hit it with a fair bit of Amarillo.

It is my Xmas brew, and the 1 bottle I have sampled is pretty tasty

MB

[Monkeybrew]

Hello Orlando,
How was the Brew-Off? Are your students enjoying it? Any pics?
WA

Funnily enough it was only last night so I can give you a blow by blow. Unfortunately a few no shows, bluezephyr being one so a small number. Given the restrictions i.e. brew it exactly as it says on the tin, the predicted variation was still quite remarkable. All were more than drinkable and it was a huge lesson for me in how good kits have become. As you know I cheated and split the brew, used 2 different yeast and dry hopped with Citra in one and Amarillo in the other. The surprise for me was how much the beer improved in bottle. When I first tried 2 a couple of weeks ago I was a little disappointed with it but when they were reviewed last night the changes were marked.

One of the guys brought along a Stout made from a single tin Wilkinsons kit that had a kilo (IIRC) of brewing sugar added and it was remarkable for an £8 kit. I reckon if you steeped some roast barley, rowed back on the sugar and brewed it short, possibly a hop tea to improve the bittering you would have a brew that would fool a few .

A really good night that went over the usual 9:00 pm finish .

It's good to here a very knowledgeable AG brewer give kits a fair review.

I think for time versus quality, they are great.

I would love to brew more AG brews, but time is limited in my life at the moment, so kits fill the gaps nicely.

Cheers

MB

[chastuck]

Like someone else said, bottled water is an easier option for kits. I always add 1kg of light spray dried malt extract to kits, stirred into the boiled water used to rinse the cans out just to make it dissolve easier. In addition I will add the strained off water from 30g of hops boiled in two litres of bottled water for 20 mins. Finally, I always reduce a 5 gallon kit to 4 gallons.

[orlando]

A no show with advance apologies. Got a Wilkinsons stout on the go myself, I will experiment with a bottle or two for a Christmas brew for next time, beers with weird flavours aren't really something I enjoy but it's worth a go to see if it will be drinkable .

Indeed, I should of made that clear, looking forward to the "weird flavours" beer.

[jrugman]

My ordinary house brew is modified Cooper's stout, very like that brewed by Ditch. About 5.5% with added dried malt extract. Normally I keg it in Cornies and have had good results.

I decided to bottle a brew on 21 November - 39 days ago. This was after storing the stout in a secondary FV for around 10 days. Graham Wheeler states that priming and fining is not necessary - given adequate time beer will come into condition without these additions. So I followed his advice.

Sampling a bottle today, I have to say the stout is completely flat with no head and no visible carbonation.

In my time as a home brewer I have made many beers from grain, extract and kits and have only had one failure when I did not sanitise my kit properly. When bottling I just add 1/2 tsp of sugar per bottle and have had pretty good results.

This stout seems totally lifeless. Am I impatient or is GW's advice dodgy? Any advice welcome.

John

[WalesAles]

I picked up the Wilko's Stout in their half price sale along with a kilo of BKE, brewed it to 15L and then hit it with a fair bit of Amarillo.

It is my Xmas brew, and the 1 bottle I have sampled is pretty tasty

MB

Hello Monkey,
How was this Christmas Brew? You used Amarillo Hops, I used Sylva in mine and it is Bloody Lovely Mun!
How much is a fair bit of Amarillo?
WA

[Monkeybrew]

I picked up the Wilko's Stout in their half price sale along with a kilo of BKE, brewed it to 15L and then hit it with a fair bit of Amarillo.

It is my Xmas brew, and the 1 bottle I have sampled is pretty tasty

MB

Hello Monkey,
How was this Christmas Brew? You used Amarillo Hops, I used Sylva in mine and it is Bloody Lovely Mun!
How much is a fair bit of Amarillo?
WA

Hi WA

It's drinking really nicely, especially the stuff in my 2 gallon keg.

I used a total of 70g of Amarillo Pellets in the 15L brew.

Cheers

MB

[alexlark]

Pick some hops that complement your beer - whatever you like really - Saaz for a Pilsner, Cascade for a Golden Ale, EKG for a Bitter etc etc....About 30g should do it, doesn't have to be exact. This works just as well with 1 can or 2 can kits.

Empty the cans into the FV and then fill both cans with boiling water almost to the top and give them a stir. Empty both cans of this malt extract wash into a saucepan and start a rolling boil. Add 1/3 of your hops to this and boil it up for about 10 - 15 mins stirring back in the froth. Then add the remaining 2/3 of the hops, turn off the heat and let it steep for about 30 mins more.

Now add this liquid AND the hops into the FV with the extract and make up the kit as per instructions with half a teaspoon of nutrient - although I generally brew short to either 20 or 21 litres depending on the kit.

Does this work with hop pellets?

[orlando]

My ordinary house brew is modified Cooper's stout, very like that brewed by Ditch. About 5.5% with added dried malt extract. Normally I keg it in Cornies and have had good results.

I decided to bottle a brew on 21 November - 39 days ago. This was after storing the stout in a secondary FV for around 10 days. Graham Wheeler states that priming and fining is not necessary - given adequate time beer will come into condition without these additions. So I followed his advice.

Sampling a bottle today, I have to say the stout is completely flat with no head and no visible carbonation.

In my time as a home brewer I have made many beers from grain, extract and kits and have only had one failure when I did not sanitise my kit properly. When bottling I just add 1/2 tsp of sugar per bottle and have had pretty good results.

This stout seems totally lifeless. Am I impatient or is GW's advice dodgy? Any advice welcome.

John

Can't be completely sure but the 10 days conditioning in a keg sounds like the problem. Usually beer adopting this technique is to keg a couple of gravity points above FG then SEAL. This beer then conditions and carbonates, if you bottle from the keg you really need a counter pressure style of filler so that the carbonation is carried over to the bottle. If you don't do this the the beer loses carbonation into the ullage space and the beer turns out flat. This assumes of course the keg has not leaked the CO2 before filling.

[Piscator]

This stout seems totally lifeless. Am I impatient or is GW's advice dodgy? Any advice welcome.

I used this method on my first AG stout - after 5-6 weeks it was flat as a pancake.
After 10-12 weeks still the same, so I chucked most of it out to clear the bottles for another brew.

6 months later I found some bottles of it in the garage that I had forgotten about - beautifully conditioned and superb head retention.... the best stout I've made.

[Monkeybrew]

Hi Orlando

I was talking with my Brother-in-Law at the weekend, and he is keen on adding some hops to his next Wherry brew. I have offered to supply the hops for him and was thinking of going with Amarillo, I just wondered how your Amarillo Wherry turned out, and also what quantities you used?

Cheers

MB

[orlando]

Hi Orlando

I was talking with my Brother-in-Law at the weekend, and he is keen on adding some hops to his next Wherry brew. I have offered to supply the hops for him and was thinking of going with Amarillo, I just wondered how your Amarillo Wherry turned out, and also what quantities you used?

Cheers

MB

TBH the Citra based one was the better one, I think the Amarillo clashed a little with the standard bittering. Can't remember the amount but tend to the 1g per litre approach

[WalesAles]

Hi Orlando

I was talking with my Brother-in-Law at the weekend, and he is keen on adding some hops to his next Wherry brew. I have offered to supply the hops for him and was thinking of going with Amarillo, I just wondered how your Amarillo Wherry turned out, and also what quantities you used?

Cheers

MB

Hello MB,
I did two last year, one was with 250Gr Medium Spraymalt,100Gr Dem Sugar, 20LT, split brew 10Lt Dry hop with 20Gr Cascade, Other one Dry hop 20Gr Willamette, both very nice but I preferred the Cascade.
The other one was with 250Gr Light Malt Extract, 500Gr BKE, 25gr Styrian 20 min simmer, Brew 22Lts. Split Brew 11Lts dry hop with 15Gr Styrian, 11Lts 15Gr Crystal.
Both nice, but Styrian was better. Both Brews down to 1010 (magic No.)
WA

[Monkeybrew]

Cheers guys.

I haven't got any Citra or Styrians in at the moment, but I have got 100g of unopened Aurora (Super Styrian), so may suggest that he steeps 25g and then dry hops with another 25g.

MB

[wanus]

I always use tap water, but, I put slightly more than I am going to need into a bucket 24 hours before I am going to use it, that gives time for chlorine, etc to disipate and it makes so much better wine, beer, lager & cider (if using kits).

I use tap water and will try this on my next brew