Home Brewing Advice:

[cliffyboy]

Hello, everyone. I'm just staring out on my first home brews having bought a kit that contains all the ingredients for brewing two beers, a Pilsner and a Lager. I know this is going to sound dumb, with my having bought the kit, but neither of these brews are my favourites, far from it in fact. I don't want to waste the contents, though, so will brew them as is, if I have to, but I wondered if there's any way with the addition of a couple of extra spoonfuls of this or slightly/some more or less of that, that I could turn them into ales, darker and closer to the great English ales with more body, colour and zest?

Any advice would be really welcome.

Cliffyboy

[hyjak]

Without knowing what ingredients you have cliffyboy it is a bit hard for any of us to offer advice. If they are just the general tins of goop that come with most starter kits then yes it is indeed possible to produce your desired beer.
A bit more info will give us an idea on how best to help you out.

Oh and welcome to the forum!

[drsmurto]

Back in my kit days I used lager kits as the base for all my beers, english ales included.

To convert a lager tin into and english ale you'll need some english hops and an english yeast. If you're up for a challenge then steeping some english crystal would really bring the kit to life.

Where are you located?

[Sonny]

......further to what the good Dr has advised Cliffy, the pre-hopped goo is just that. A mixture of malts and hops!

What you do to them is what makes this so much fun, and sometimes a little disappointing.
Your Pilsner and Lager no doubt actually come with 'Ale' yeasts, or a combination of 'Lager and Ale' as I thinks the Pilsner if being a Coopers is. So no dramas with them not being your preferred drop.

Mate, in short. You can make whatever you like by utilising other yeasts, hops and malts, even some grain.
There is plenty of stuff on the net, or if you haven't started this weekend then ask some more questions so that we know what you would like to make.

But beware, just slapping a few bits together in wrong amounts can waste your purchase, you need to control your desires. I'm speaking from experience here.

[cliffyboy]

Without knowing what ingredients you have cliffyboy it is a bit hard for any of us to offer advice. If they are just the general tins of goop that come with most starter kits then yes it is indeed possible to produce your desired beer.
A bit more info will give us an idea on how best to help you out.

Oh and welcome to the forum!

Thank you very much for your reply and welcome, and I do apologise for not writing earlier - my computer is down and I'm using someone else's. Mine is not likely to be back until Tuesday.

Anyway, they would be considered the 'general tins of goop', which is a great way of describing them, and are as follows:

1. Black Rock Pilsner Blonde - Two Row Malted Barley, Hops, Hop Extract, Yeast Pack = 1.25 Litres and making around 23 Litres of Beer. If I could turn that into something more approaching the quality English ales, somethng like Fullers London Pride, Abbots, Old Speckled Hen, any of these sorts of beers, as they have a deeper body and coour in my view.

2. Cascade Golden Harvest Lager - Two Row Malted Brley, Barley, Hops and/or Hop Extract, Yeast = the same as the first, and obviously I'd like to turn this pack into something closer to my tastes.

Mind you, I say English Ales but many Scottish Ales are also well worth a shout. My lovely wife's maiden name is McEwen - her father was Scottish - and McEwan ales are damn good in my view, especially one called Champions, I think it is.

Anyway, I hope this makes things a little clear,

Cliffyboy

[cliffyboy]

Back in my kit days I used lager kits as the base for all my beers, english ales included.

To convert a lager tin into and english ale you'll need some english hops and an english yeast. If you're up for a challenge then steeping some english crystal would really bring the kit to life.

Where are you located?

Thaks for replying so quickly, drsmurto, and as I just said to Hyjak, apologies for not writing back before.

We are situated in Albany, Western Australia - I'll be adding this to my profile soon - but my wife is from Tasmania and we do want to move over there, preferably before Christmas. I've listed the details of the two packages I have in my reply to Hyjack, so with your advice, what quantities of those English ingredients should I add - just a spoonful or two?

Cliffyboy

[cliffyboy]

......further to what the good Dr has advised Cliffy, the pre-hopped goo is just that. A mixture of malts and hops!

What you do to them is what makes this so much fun, and sometimes a little disappointing.
Your Pilsner and Lager no doubt actually come with 'Ale' yeasts, or a combination of 'Lager and Ale' as I thinks the Pilsner if being a Coopers is. So no dramas with them not being your preferred drop.

Mate, in short. You can make whatever you like by utilising other yeasts, hops and malts, even some grain.
There is plenty of stuff on the net, or if you haven't started this weekend then ask some more questions so that we know what you would like to make.

But beware, just slapping a few bits together in wrong amounts can waste your purchase, you need to control your desires. I'm speaking from experience here.

Thank you, Sonny, for writing back, and I know what you mean about the various mixtures. I was buying my beers from a home brewers we had in Albany but he closed down, very unfortunately. All the beers he brewed for me, although based on some of the ales I've mentioned in my repy to Hyjak, were generally educated sort of guesses, and would not have been identical to the purchased brand names, yet still well worth drinking. Once I get the hang of it, I'll proably want to start messing around a bit and experimenting.

Just before he closed down, he concocted an ale based just generally on an English bitter - he called it Red Ale - and he used to supply the then best pub in Albany with a couple of his beers and this one was an absolute humdinger of an ale. It sold like hot cakes there and I had a couple of brews of it and it was nectar.

Anyway, thanks also for your reply - I am really pleased to see that I can change these two packs I've got into something closer to my tastes.

Cliffyboy

[Sonny]

Geez Cliffy, you have quite a cultured beer palate there.

Someone help Cliffy out will ya???

[hyjak]

As much as I would like to post an ultra informative post with a recipe and all info needed, my foray into english ales has just begun in home brew terms and only have 2 brews under my belt and both of them I am yet to drink as one is fermenting and the other is only just bottled.
Dr! Where are you Dr?

He is the english demi-god hereabouts so will let him reply (hopefully)

[drsmurto]

English ales are my passion, it is why i got back into homebrewing 6 years ago.

Both kits can be turned into english ales.

My approach would be to take 1 of the tins, 1kg of dry malt extract, 250g of medium crystal malt (english), some EKG (hop found in Speckled Hen) and S-04 yeast. The kit yeast will destroy any chance you have of producing an english ale. This beer style relies heavily of the yeast.

You will need to order in the extra ingredients. Over in the west i would recommend Gryphon Brewing, I've bought from him personally.

Buy these products, enough to ceonvert both tins into 2 x 20L batches of english ale.
2 x 1kg dry malt extract
500g Thomas Fawcetts Medium Crystal Malt, milled (make sure you ask for the grain to be milled)
90g EKG hops
1 pack S-04 (you can reuse it in the second batch)

For each batch use;
1 of your tins
1kg dry malt extract
250g crystal malt
45g EKG
S-04 yeast

My general procedure is to steep the grain in a 6 pack esky. Perfect size for this. Use no more than 2L of water at 65-70C which is easily made up by using 2:1, boiling water: cold tap water. I like to pre warm the esky with hot tap water for 5 mins prior to this. Add the grains, mix well and allow to sit (steep) for 30 - 60 mins. Drain through a colander/strainer into a pot and wash with another 1L of 65-70C water. Add 400g of the dry malt extract and stir to dissolve. Top up to 4L and bring to the boil (this gives me a rough 1.040 gravity). Add 20g of EKG. After 15 mins of boiling turn the heat off and add the remaining 25g of EKG. Allow to sit for 5-10mins. Add remaining dry extractand dissolve. If your pot is large enough add the kit (sit this in a sink of hot tap water for 5-10 mins to make the contents easier to pour, rinse out with a small amount of boiling water). Strain into fermenter. Top up to 20L with cold tap water. You want the temperature to be around 20C so you may need to cool a few litres of water in the fridge prior to brewing. Once the temperature is down to 20C open the packet of yeast and sprinkle in. Close up the fermenter, fill the airlock with boiled water and keep it somewhere it can stay warm (18-22C). Leave alone for 7 days minimu, 14 days preferred.

This is a step-up from simple kit brewing but you wont get anything remotely english tasting without adding english grain, english hops and using an english yeast. Wearing a flat cap whilst doing this also helps.

[earle]

Welcome cliffyboy. Unfortunately due to my new job I'm not able to post as often as I would like but keep on eye on things with tapatalk.

Here's a few kits and bits english ale recipes that have turned out well for me.
Black sheep clone sent in Easter lotto http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10820&p=111072#p111072

London Pride http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10821#p111074

Extract version of Drsmurtos landlord clone. As with the other two, when I do it again I will use craftbrewer dry english ale yeast. I gighly recommend this one as a dry yeast. Fruity esters from the Windsor but some US05 so it doesn't finish as sweet as just WIndsor yeast. http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7982&hilit=landlord&start=220#p103995

[cliffyboy]

Geez Cliffy, you have quite a cultured beer palate there.

Someone help Cliffy out will ya???

Thank you, Sonny, and apologies once more for not replying earlier. It's now just turned Noon Saturday and I've only just got my computer back on line. I hope you try some of those brews cos they are the tops, in my view. Mind you, I wouldn't be closed to trying other beers - I've never tried a German or Belguim brew really and I know they have a high reputation in the brewing stakes. I just can't warm to the Lager stuff, though. I know it sounds a bit unintelligent but I don't even like their colour.

[cliffyboy]

As much as I would like to post an ultra informative post with a recipe and all info needed, my foray into english ales has just begun in home brew terms and only have 2 brews under my belt and both of them I am yet to drink as one is fermenting and the other is only just bottled.
Dr! Where are you Dr?

He is the english demi-god hereabouts so will let him reply (hopefully)

But thanks for the response and let us know how your brews turn out. Which two have you brewed?

[cliffyboy]

English ales are my passion, it is why i got back into homebrewing 6 years ago.

Both kits can be turned into english ales.

My approach would be to take 1 of the tins, 1kg of dry malt extract, 250g of medium crystal malt (english), some EKG (hop found in Speckled Hen) and S-04 yeast. The kit yeast will destroy any chance you have of producing an english ale. This beer style relies heavily of the yeast.

You will need to order in the extra ingredients. Over in the west i would recommend Gryphon Brewing, I've bought from him personally.

Buy these products, enough to ceonvert both tins into 2 x 20L batches of english ale.
2 x 1kg dry malt extract
500g Thomas Fawcetts Medium Crystal Malt, milled (make sure you ask for the grain to be milled)
90g EKG hops
1 pack S-04 (you can reuse it in the second batch)

For each batch use;
1 of your tins
1kg dry malt extract
250g crystal malt
45g EKG
S-04 yeast

My general procedure is to steep the grain in a 6 pack esky. Perfect size for this. Use no more than 2L of water at 65-70C which is easily made up by using 2:1, boiling water: cold tap water. I like to pre warm the esky with hot tap water for 5 mins prior to this. Add the grains, mix well and allow to sit (steep) for 30 - 60 mins. Drain through a colander/strainer into a pot and wash with another 1L of 65-70C water. Add 400g of the dry malt extract and stir to dissolve. Top up to 4L and bring to the boil (this gives me a rough 1.040 gravity). Add 20g of EKG. After 15 mins of boiling turn the heat off and add the remaining 25g of EKG. Allow to sit for 5-10mins. Add remaining dry extractand dissolve. If your pot is large enough add the kit (sit this in a sink of hot tap water for 5-10 mins to make the contents easier to pour, rinse out with a small amount of boiling water). Strain into fermenter. Top up to 20L with cold tap water. You want the temperature to be around 20C so you may need to cool a few litres of water in the fridge prior to brewing. Once the temperature is down to 20C open the packet of yeast and sprinkle in. Close up the fermenter, fill the airlock with boiled water and keep it somewhere it can stay warm (18-22C). Leave alone for 7 days minimu, 14 days preferred.

This is a step-up from simple kit brewing but you wont get anything remotely english tasting without adding english grain, english hops and using an english yeast. Wearing a flat cap whilst doing this also helps.

Well, no wonder people said ask the good Dr., and I wasn't able to respond until today as my computer took longer than they thought it would, so I do apologise again. That's very good of you and I'll go for it. Just one general question: I do still use all the ingredients in the tin, plus the ones you've mentioned, so that I don't substitute, just add to? If I do, I can see already how that would make the brews richer in body, well, I'd imagine it would.

It's quite interesting, actually. So as an educated guess on your part, would you be able to suggest, given the two kits I have, which English/Scottish ales they are most likely to turn out like - fingers crosssed and all that? I mean, as in closest to - I do like this aspect of brewing where you can get little variations. I'll be doing both this coming week as I've got the gear required to have two brews on the go, well, three in fact.

I'm half-way there, by the way, as I do have the flat cap, bought in Oban, Scotland, 2009.

[cliffyboy]

Welcome cliffyboy. Unfortunately due to my new job I'm not able to post as often as I would like but keep on eye on things with tapatalk.

Here's a few kits and bits english ale recipes that have turned out well for me.
Black sheep clone sent in Easter lotto http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10820&p=111072#p111072

London Pride http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10821#p111074

Extract version of Drsmurtos landlord clone. As with the other two, when I do it again I will use craftbrewer dry english ale yeast. I gighly recommend this one as a dry yeast. Fruity esters from the Windsor but some US05 so it doesn't finish as sweet as just WIndsor yeast. http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7982&hilit=landlord&start=220#p103995

Thanks for the welcome, Earle, and, as I've said in other replies, sorry I couldn't respond before, my computer took longer to fix.

I'll look at those two kits and recipes for the sorts of ales I like and those sites seem very useful as you can try all sorts of ales. There's actually one Lake District/Cumbrian ale I want to try in the future - I think it's called Sneck Lifter, or something very close to it. These individual brews you can find around the U.K. are marvellous, I reckon.