Brew UK recipe kits

[chivelegs]

The IPA is now down to 1016 in about 10 days. Test jar smells and tastes great, like ripe grapefruit. I'll leave it until the end of the week, see if there's any more movement then stick it in the keg. Already it tastes more like a proper beer than the Coopers bitter kit did at the end of conditioning.

I like this game!

[mandyandnick]

My IPA has been in the bottles for 3 weeks now, tried a sneaky one last night and it is very good. 'Grapefruit' would be an almost perfect description of the aftertaste. It is also definitely stronger than most beer kit brews (I clculated mine to be about 5% ABV). The yeast does impart a different flavour to the finished product - I'd say a slightly creamy feel you wouldn't expect from a normal IPA. It's clear as a bell as well!

I have a slight incling that this is the start of the slippery slope...

(Repeat ad nauseam 'I don't have time to go AG')

Nick.

[chivelegs]

'I don't have time to go AG'

[JayM72]

Just expecting a delivery of the 'Way to Amarillo' IPA Recipe kit today! This too will be my first extract brew. The kit saves a few quid over buying the components individually (even with their LME on offer). Initially I was going to but 100g hops/6kg spray malt and 2 sachets of yeast but it still worked out 3 quid cheaper to do one 40 pint brew.

For a first brew can I just get away with a pot on the stove? Just so I know before I waste my money and ruin the kit!

Thanks
Jason

[chivelegs]

I used a big old pot on the stove and it seems fine. I'm sure someone here can tell you how small a pot you could get a way with, as mine is a bit of a biggie.


As it were.

[CrownCap]

For those that are interested in extract 'kits' (and I can see the advantages for first timers), you might also like to look at the Brupaks Craftsman range (http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/index.php ... tsman.html) just add a couple of tins of LME or about 2.5kg of DME.

[mandyandnick]

I saw those Crowncap - the website is a little vague on the nature of contents (whole hops or pellets etc) so wasn't sure what to think.

It seems like quite a simple introduction to extract, as a variety of styles can be brewed whilest only needing to buy:

* malt extract plus

* a pre-measured combo of (presumably) yeast, speciality grains and hops.


Anyone tried any of them?

If so, what method / boil volume do they work on? I know a lot of members don't have boilers when they start out with extract brews, so was wondering if they'd be suitable for someone boiling, say, 10-12 litres (which seems a common stockpot size) with half the extract and then adding more extract at the end of the boil. Anyone know?

Regards

Nick.

[Ammered]

I knocked up the Way to Amarillo IPA over the weekend. I am almost beside myself with the anticipation at sinking this IPA brew. I've been hankering for a good teeth pulling IPA like St Peters IPA/Punk IPA/unknown Micro brewery IPA that I had at the Edinburgh Food Festival in 2008.

Greg at BrewUk - and author of the IPA recipe - was incredibly helpful in answering all my basic questions (this is my first Extract brew after all) with emails late at night and patience, with me at least, in large portions.

Messed up the boil time of the second 3kg of DLME by 15 mins too long - hopefully it shouldn't have too much of an adverse effect on the outcome; the cock-up was due to the affliction associated with 'Saturday evening brewing: drinking hazard' ruining my concentration; but otherwise it all went together very straight forward, after a little guidance from Greg.

Boiled the ingredients in a large deep stainless steel cooking pot that I got from Ikea years ago, it held the 6 litres with room to spare, but by the time all the ingredients were in the mix the volume increased considerably, but still manageable and had no problems at all on the hob.

The aroma was very good from the Amarillo - I can already guess at what this brew is going to taste like. The smell from the air lock is fantastic and stronger than the St Peters Ruby Red that I did a couple of weeks ago. That yeast, what can I say: SO4 yeast, is a beast!

It's now charging a head in the FV on day 3 of primary ferment. The airlock went mental on day one, and the heat generated was something else.

On a different matter, I need a little fellow brewer support here: tell me I'm not alone in this, coz my wife thinks I've lost it, and care more about the contents of my FV, than about the content of the tummy of my 8 month pregnant wife. I'll explain: I have to use a heat belt to maintain FV temperature (air temp in my house rarely gets above 16c), and spend more time than I should checking the air temp, checking the FV temp, checking air-lock activity, and generally watching, listening, sniffing and shinning torches through the sides of the FV to watch the yeast head, tendrils and so on. I put my body warmer on the FV on the first morning to get the temp up and to get the yeast going, which it did and then went red hot so I removed the coat. Now I think all this is pretty normal behaviour, and a perfectly reasonable course of action, but my wife then proceeded to tell everyone we met that day how loopy (hoppy) I'd gone. To quote her 'he even put a coat on the bloody barrel' - that sort of thing.

Have I lost it? Or is it: Women, they just don't get it.

With that said, she is intrigued at the prospect of tasting the brews, (she doesn't like Bitter let alone IPA), and has expressed (leave it!) her surprise if they actually taste of anything reasonable.

I'll show her! I'm confident!

FV = Amarillo IPA
PV = St Peters Ruby Red (one week in).


Brew or Brew not, there is no try.

[Tony01]

You are not alone. My missus thinks I'm mad. I have to get on my knees (no comments please) and beg for a brewday
I get up at 5.30 on brewdays and am finished by around 11 usually - then she can't moan about using the day up. It works but I just can't bring myself to crack open a bottle (which is always nice to go with a new brew) at 6 in the morning.

She also keeps an eye on the amount of bottles in my 'cellar' and enquires as to whether I 'need' more....

You're right - they just don't get it.

[fractureman]

working nights I normally crack a beer open at 7:30am cos is my evening lol

[Tony01]

Well .. if you're opening one righ now... Cheers!

[Ammered]

Yeast head slid away yesterday - day 4, and activity in the air-lock has dropped right off but evidently still doing something.

Took a careful quick peak under the lid this morning. There is a wierd crust flat on top of the water, kinda brown, cracked, ugly looking layer. Guess it's got longer to go. No popint sticking the Hydro in as I wouldn't be able to see the liquid layer to get a reading.

Will leave alone until saturday which will be day 7. I'm going to be leaving this in the FV for 10 days at least by the looks of it. I'm guessing, coz I don't really know, that the yeast has done it's magic on the simple fermentables and is now wokring on the more complex sugars, which takes a bit longer to finish up, hence the 10 days.

Smells of sweet strong hops.

Is this good?

[JayM72]

Just a quick question regarding the method that accompanies these BrewUK recipes, they are designed for someone using a pot on a stove and, as a consequence, you start with 6l of water then add malt (at different points), when the boil is over you then make up the length with cold water (very useful for bringing the liquid down to pitching temperature).

What if you have access to a boiler and want to do it all in one go? Sorry if that seems a stupid question! Also if you don't have a wort cooler (yet) then is it OK to leave it to naturally reaching 20 or so degrees?

[Brotherton Lad]

As you say the kits are designed for convenience. Of course you can boil the lot if you have a suitable boiler and then all your wort will be sterilised.
As for cooling, the wort is very vulnerable to infection until the yeast gets its teeth into it, so you need to make sure it's well covered until you get to pitching temperature. I've been doing that without problems for 20 years. In this cold weather I've been putting my FV outside and have got it to cool down in 3 to 4 hours.
Having said that, I invested in an immersion cooler last week from Hop and Grape and that does the job in about 30 mins.

[chivelegs]

I bunged my pot into the kitchen sink filled with ice and water. About 40-50 minutes of replacing the warmed water with cold and a bit more ice did the trick.

I feel sorry for you re: the wife, my missus loves a decent beer. Bear in mind if she's 8 months gone, she probably won't be in the mood for trying any of your lovely new beer for a while yet.