How best to use my hops??

[bigdave]

Im intending brewing an IPA based round the Coopers IPA over the weekend and have 50g of Saaz left over from my last brew. I want the end result to have the same lovely sharp bitterness as you'd find in a quality IPA but question is, how can i best use these hops to achieve this?

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Saaz are completely the wrong type of hops to use. Traditionally IPAs were made with huge quantities of Fuggles but that would be very expensive so you're probably better off using a high alpha hop such as Challenger or Target to get the IBUs and use Fuggles and/or Goldings for aroma. Get some proper IPA recipes and take inspiration from those. I don't understand what a Coopers IPA kit has to do with extract brewing. Just get yourself some malt extract (either liquid or spraymalt) and the right hops and you can easily make something way beyond the quality of any kit. Nottingham would probably be the best yeast to use.

[bigdave]

Thanks for the advice. Im using the coopers can in place of lme & grain to save some time as mrs bigdave has lots planned for me this weekend perhaps this should have been posted in the kit brew section? I asked about the Saaz because theyre just sat there from the lager I brewed in Feb. If like you say, theyre no use, Ill just leave them in the freezer and do a bit of research to find something more suitable.

Thanks.

[EoinMag]

Horses for courses, the Yanks don't have a kit brewing section on HBT, they consider kits just to be prehopped extract and bundle them all in with extract brewing. It's a fine line between using a kit to make an extract brew and simply souping up a kit with hops, not exactly a black and white thing.

[micromaniac]

Horses for courses, the Yanks don't have a kit brewing section on HBT, they consider kits just to be prehopped extract and bundle them all in with extract brewing. It's a fine line between using a kit to make an extract brew and simply souping up a kit with hops, not exactly a black and white thing.

agree ive just got thru 3 two can kits by using 1 can at each 23ltr brew and estmating the malt and hops i need to add .not made a bad brew yet.in fact just tried a admirals reserve i turn into a mild with a jar of QUALITY plum jam and its ab fantastic.doing ag from here on if it all goes well.

[bigdave]

Well, I went with 30g Challenger for 60 and 70g for 10. Its fermenting like crazy and smells good so far.