homebrewandbeer.com

Thanks to the local home brew shop closing down, I now have (among other things) five ESB Bitter packs. Now, being relatively new to the open-source brewing experience, I'm keen to brew the five kits, but alter the flavour as much as possible between brews to try and find out how much the flavour can change depending upon ingredients. The first brew will just have to be a kilo of dextrose as a control brew, but what of the other four? I suppose I can do one with liquid malt, one hopped, one malted and hopped, and so on.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what comparative mixes I should try to cover a broad spectrum of flavours across five brews?

1. Kit + dextrose
2. Kit + DME
3. Kit + LME
4. Kit + DME + steeped specialty/crystal grain
5. Kit + DME + steeped specialty/crystal grain + hops.
6. Kit + LME + hops
7. Kit + DME + hops
8. Kit + LME + steeped crystal grains
9. Kit + partial mash of base malts
10. Kit + partial mash of base malts + hops
11. Kit + partial mash of base malts + specialty/crystal grain + hops
12. 2 kits

There is a multutude of options here, but I have limiting it to one a month for a year. The problem is looking to me like the difficulty of finding the optimum five to be trying.

Hey Anti,
Where's the shop in Warragul and has it closed down yet or still in the process??

anti-fsck,

Knowing you as I do, and knowing that you don't partial mash (yet ), can I suggest that you do a variation of Hrundi's suggestions?

This way it will be easiest to tell what effect each ingredient has.

Can I suggest Goldings hops and some cracked crystal malt. You could also use some chocolate malt, too, if you want to darken it a bit and give it some good flavor.

1. Kit + dextrose
2. Kit + 1kg LME
3. Kit + 1kg LME + steeped 100g-150g chocolate and 100g-150g crystal grain
5. Kit + 1kg LME + 20g Goldings hops (perhaps 10g for 30 mins and 10g when you turn off the heat).
4. Kit + 1kg LME + steeped 100g-150g chocolate and 100g-150g crystal grain + 20g Goldings hops (as above)

Cheers,

Oliver

mafman,
Was the hobby shop on the corner of Smith and Victoria streets. Yoiu're too late though, as I walked in and asked them how much they wanted for everything that's left. Thirty brew kits and just over $100 later ...
Anyway, you have that homebrew and hydroponics store in Morwell that advertises on telly about it's great *ahem* tips. The shop assistants look attractive, though ... except for the bald bloke.

OK, here's what I'm going to try:
1. Dextrose (control)
2. LME (amber malt)
3. DME (chocolate malt)
4. Dextrose and hops
5. Grain mash (yer Oliver, I have grain, just been too timid to try it)
Any advances on that?