General homebrew discussion, tips and help on kit and malt extract brewing, and talk about equipment. Queries on sourcing supplies and equipment should go in The Store.
warra48 wrote:
· open up two internet sites and get them both onto O&G.Then, when you type your reply on one, you can toggle to the other to see the earlier posts.
This is the easiest and most effective way around it. Most browsers are tabbed these days - this is one of my most common uses of tabs.
I'll also support the good doctor's advice about spec grains. Even if you don't want things to get so complicated as designing many styles from one kit you can get a huge improvement in flavour and, just as importantly IMO, depth of character with any kit through a little research and careful grain selection. Hops and different yeasts also add to this and don't require much more work (if you wish). Great to hear you're knocking peoples' socks off with your beers already, Anna - the closest I've gotten to a compliment so far is "I don't think I like IPAs - I think I like lagers and draughts. It doesn't taste like a kit beer, but!"
How are you. On the k&b's, if you dont mind, i have many more questions.
I am looking at putting down the pilsner unsure of exactly what recipe. The can only calls for 500g LDM & 300g dextrose (is this a bit light, i thought it was kit & kilo for a reson or is this just a guide). From what i understand Hallertau Is a lager hops & saaz a pilsner Hops T/F ? Is their any differance bettween Dextrose & Glucose ? I have read that pilsner kits dont have much head retention, is it worth adding corn syrup or just a wast of time? Given that malt dosnt ferment right out is 300g sugar enough?
This is the recipe I'm thinking of any suggestions advice etc would be appreciated.
1 can CoopersPilsner Selection
700g LDM
300g Dex / Glucose- Brewing sugar
30g Saaz hop pellets
Adding 200g LDM & 20g Hops to 2 littres H2o. Bring to the boil & simmer for 40 min. Add the rest of the hops cover & turn off for 20min.
Disolve kit 500g LDM & 300g glucose as per usuall in fermenter. Strain hops add liquide to fermenter. Add H2o to about 20 littres or untill temp is at about 20C. Pitch the yeast & try to dropthe temp downto hopfully 14C-16C.
Bum how are you doing. Iwas just thinking about the comments you made( not getting any compliments from your mates on your HB) & i might sound a little dumb but couldnt you post one or two of them to other like minded people from this forum for some posative feedback. I dont know the posabillities of it but I would love to taste some of the HB of other people, Not much of a critic, but it would also be good to say taste AG or even differnt styles or hops etc anyway just an idea.
Fair points, Chrisp, but to be honest it is probably a fair assessment of my brews so far. I definitely haven't made anything I'd be happy to give to another brewer yet. But I'm ok with that. I'm learning with every brew and (almost) every brew is better than the last - that's what I'm in the game for.
As a bit of a back story to my mate's comment: I had recently taken him to Purvis Cellars and convinced him to try some commercial IPAs. Suffice to say they knocked him around a bit. He tried mine after that. If someone can have a Renaissance MPA IIPA then have mine about a week later and not call mine garbage I'm pretty happy. Was quite happy about it not tasting like a kit beer too (since it was one, and he's been brewing kits a couple years longer than me so I guess he'd know).
To give your beer appropriate bittering, you need to boil the hops in wort of about SG 1.040 or so for about 60 minutes. Then you add flavour hops at about 15 to 10 minutes from the end, and aroma hops at about 5 minutes to flameout from the end.
............You will need to calculate how much more of the liquid or dry malts you need to include in the total volume to give you a SG of about 1.040 or thereabouts to enable your hops to properly isomerise most efficiently.
Warra (or someone else) - was just re-reading this post of yours and I'm wondering: If I'm just doing a K&K, can I still boil up some hops for flavour? If so, what is the procedure. I'm a bit confused because you say to "boil the hops in wort" and also "to enable your hops to properly isomerise most efficiently". Does that mean you can't just boil them in water, or LDM/water ? Anna
EKG, Fuggles, Challenger, styrian goldings (which aren't English but are used in a lot of English beers)....
Here's a list of a few that are available...... Linky
I'd be doing a small boil using 100g of LME to 1L of water. Bring to the boil and add 15-20g of hpps. Boil for 10 mins and then switch the heat off. Add another 15-20g of hops.
You could also dry hop.
Or, since you are using an american yeast....
use any of the american hops in the same way - Link
Teabags are overpriced and the freshness is debatable....
Buy a pack from either the links i provided or your local HBS but you should be paying around $10/100g of hops.
So yes, dump the hops straight into the boiling 'wort'. You can strain them out before dumping this mixture into your fermenter if you want but there is no need. They will sink to the bottom of the fermenter.
(no, not really - I thought wort was everything in the fermenter...)
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