boiling kits?

[nicktherockstar]

about to start a brew tonight but for various reasons with avalible kit, I am thinking of boiling my LME with water for a while before adding to coldish water in the fermenter

basically i only have one FV at the moment free and want to treat the water in it then add the lme already melted down as if i put it into cold water its not going to mix up very well.

I did read in my book that it improves the kit to boil it a bit before for some reason anyway

any thoughts?

[delboy]

What kit is it, you need to be careful boiling kits, if you boil it too long you could very easily end up boiling off some of the flavour and all of the hop aroma that the manufacturer has put into the kit.

[nicktherockstar]

brupacks beer of the world london bitter

maybe I could just warm the water up in a pan and stir it in without boiling it, that could work!

[nicktherockstar]

what i was actually thinking of doing was boiling the teabag they give you, then mixing the malt into that "tea" after removing the bag. the whole pan could then be really easily just poured into the treated water in the fv

[delboy]

I haven't personally done one of these kits so you might want to wait for a reply from someone who has but, a lot of what i said about lost aroma won't apply to this kit since you are effectively adding some more hop flavour and aroma by using the hop tea bag that comes with the kit.
Hope somebody comes along soon that can let you know exactly how to go about making up that kit

Edit: I think the hop flavour comes out better when it is boiled in some dilute malt rather than plain water.
What do the instructions on the kit suggest?

[nicktherockstar]

ah they expect you to be able to get it from the can into a brewbag, it goes without saying you have to work it out yourself, i think ill just do it into some hot but not boiling water, then mix it up and add it to the fv, and do the teabag as instructed

cheers though

[nicktherockstar]

done it now

-treated water in only available fv with campden

-tapped 3-4 litres into pan

-left 'teabags' of grains and hops in NEAR BOILING water to stew for 15-20 mins

-stirred contents of can into the 'tea' with ease

-added back to the remainder of the treated water in the fv

-added token amount of yeast vit (1/4th of a teapoon)

-stirred and aerated like mad

now just waiting for my boiled water to cool to pitch the yeast to for rehydration. I am using safale s04 as this is the london bitter brupack beer of the world.




on another note, has anyone done this one? I know someone is a big fan but cant remember who!

the tea it made from soaking the bags didnt have the most promising of smells, I would describe it as almost copper like? the other kits of these I have done have always smelled nice-ish

[CrownCap]

Nick, I've done this kit a 3 times I think and its one of, if not the best I've done. I'm wondering if the hops (First Gold pellets) and/or grains (crystal) might have been a bit old and stale. They are only stored in a zip lock bag in the box (well actually a cardboard tube) so that might not have been fully closed. What was the best before date on the box?

[nicktherockstar]

i am at work now but think it was 2008. they smelt ok in the bag, mind i was lazy and did them together in the same water, it didnt tell me to do anything otherwise mind. i think... . it wasnt a BAD smelll persay.. it just wasnt.. nice it was just a neither way type smell,

time will tell anyhow!!!

[CrownCap]

Mmm, I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

The First Gold hops definitely have a more 'pungent' (for want of a better word) aroma than the Saaz that most likely came with the Czech Pilsner. However, that is in keeping with the different styles. Hop flavour and aroma does change as beer matures and generally mellows a bit.

From past experience this kit was still a bit green after 4 weeks conditioning although quite drinkable. However, by 6 weeks its great. Had one of my final 2 bottles last Friday (about 9 weeks conditioned) and its probably no better than it was at 6, so that would seem to be when it reaches its peak. Will probably crack open the final one this weekend.

Keep us updated on how it progresses.

[nicktherockstar]

cheers, everything i brew at the moment is aimed at being good for having a big variety for mid oct through to xmas so its all good stuff

[nicktherockstar]

now its been going for a few days it smells very nice, smells like a VERY strong bitter. that will probilly subside with maturing. but looking good!!!

[rhodian]

charlie papazian's book definitely explicitly states that 45 mins boiling (with so many litres of water) will definitely improve any kit. the only reason i haven't done it yet is cos i don't have a big enough pot. does no-one think this is worth investing in? i was wondering cos maybe the technology has improved and now the advice is out of date?? the rest of what he says has been pretty reliable so far... but also, all of my beers have been great so far without boiling (even if i do say so myself!) so is it really worth the effort?

any thoughts?

[prodigal2]

A lot of Papazians 'ideas' have been brought to into question.

Would that be why on amazon some of his books are available from 33p!!!

Kits have already been boiled and there's no real need to boil them except to ensure the wort is sanitised and possibly to precipitate out more proteins. A boil of more that 10 mins will drive off delicate hop flavours and aromas and is ill advised unless you want to add your own hops to restore the balance but to be honest getting a bigger stock pot, boiling for 45 mins, chilling (and quick chilling is important so a chiller is required) and making your own hop additions is just making a lot of work for yourself. You may as well move up to extract brewing and for that matter all grain because the step isn't that great.

With alot of the kits time and money has been spent, to get the balance of copper and aroma hops on the money(ish). To boil for any length of time will drive out the aroma hoping.

Papazian may of been referring to the kits that were available to the Americana market 10 or so years ago

[prodigal2]

Would that be why on amazon some of his books are available from 33p!!!

lmfao
Kits have been 'no boil' for a long time now, longer than 10 years

I was being kind on the time frame DaaB

Don't worry have a...............

Because I didn't complete the phrase, I take it I didn't breach the forum rules