How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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mattpocket

How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by mattpocket » Fri Sep 07, 2012 3:15 pm

Hi Guys,

I'm new here! Hello :)

I'm into my strong IPA's in a big way. I really like Brewdog Punk IPA which stands at 5.6% and an IBU of 45. I also like their Hardcore IPA which stands at 9.2% and an IBU of 150.

I recent made a basic IPA kit, but it only worked out at 3.5% and wasnt nearly hoppy enough for my tastes. I like to be punched in the face with hops/bitterness. I boiled the kit up and steeped a bag of hops for 15mins.

What can I do to make the kit (a) stronger and (b) more hoppy/bitter? Use more hops, boil for longer, dry hop?

I'm fairly new to this brewing lark, but since I obviously have an extreme taste in beers can you offer me any advice about how to get what I want? I'm mainly homebrewing for economical reasons, and moving to full/partial mash not only scares me but does not seem that cost effective so would like to stick with a kit for now. Ideally I'm just looking for something that is around the 6% mark with a lip-smacking level of bitterness/hops. Advice please?

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Kev888
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Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by Kev888 » Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:11 pm

Hello, and welcome!

Yes boiling for longer (say 60mins) will help extract more bitterness. To get ridiculously high IBUs though, you'll either need a shed load or to seek out some higher alpha acid (%AA) varieties. But longer boiling tends to boil off the flavour, so your 15mins is spot on to get more of that (and will give you some bitterness into the bargain) so probably add some more as the boil nears the end.

If you like hop aroma you should also Dry Hop - add some that have a reasonable aroma to the fermenter once the fermentation subsides, for say a week before kegging/bottling, or some people add them to the keg. If you need to stop them blocking taps etc you can use a nylon net bag, but boil it for a bit beforehand to make sure its sanitised.

Places like The Malt Miller are good for hops and give you useful descriptions- some of the highstreet stores can be pretty expensive by comparison. Or I see that Punk IPA uses Chinook (a high %AA hop with grapefruit characteristics), Simcoe (very high %AA with a pine aroma), Ahtanum (used for aroma or moderate bittering) and Nelson Sauvin (in your face, fruit characteristics and yet another high %AA hop) so you could seek those out, though theres a shortage of USA hops this year and some can be hard to get.

To get higher gravity you can brew short (add less water so make a lower volume) or use two kits in more like the same volume that one would normally make. Or a cheaper method would be to bulk out one kit with more added fermentables (e.g. extra malt extract or sugar or a combination). But of course these deviate from the ballanced beer that the original kit should have made, and especially the sugar option won't contribute much in the way of flavour so it could seem too thin/dry/tasteless if you overdo it.

Cheers
Kev
Kev

mattpocket

Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by mattpocket » Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:28 pm

Thanks Kev. That all seems like sound advice. I might go for two cheaper kits, maybe a light coloured lager and just spend the extra money on the hops and hop the hell out of it! How much hops are we talking? I was thinking of just going mad on like 150g? I know where there's a good supply and several different varieties to choose from :) it not what you know, it's who you know! ;)

sbond10
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Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by sbond10 » Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:56 pm

Have you looked at the coopers website there's some great smash you the back of skull recipes including the vintage ale And Russian stout and some iPas
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... troduction

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Monkeybrew
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Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by Monkeybrew » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:14 pm

sbond10 wrote:Have you looked at the coopers website there's some great smash you the back of skull recipes including the vintage ale And Russian stout and some iPas
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... troduction
Sound advice from kev as usual and also from sbond10.

This coopers recipe could be a great base for you to start with http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... hentic-ipa

I wouldn't suggest upping the bitterness to start with as the Coopers IPA is a very bitter kit, but you could always make hop tea by just steeping some hops and then dry hopping too :D

Welcome BTW!
FV:


Conditioning:
AG#41 - Vienna Lager - 5.6%
AG#42 - Heritage Double Ale - 10.5%

On Tap:
AG#44 - Harvest ESB - 5.4%
AG#45 - Amarillo Gold APA - 5.2%

sbond10
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Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by sbond10 » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:01 pm

Monkeybrew wrote:
sbond10 wrote:Have you looked at the coopers website there's some great smash you the back of skull recipes including the vintage ale And Russian stout and some iPas
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... troduction
Sound advice from kev as usual and also from sbond10.

This coopers recipe could be a great base for you to start with http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-g ... hentic-ipa

I wouldn't suggest upping the bitterness to start with as the Coopers IPA is a very bitter kit, but you could always make hop tea by just steeping some hops and then dry hopping too :D

Welcome BTW!
It's you that introduced me to that site and thanks to that I now wish I had 50 Fv muhaha

mattpocket

Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by mattpocket » Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:13 pm

I've put another kit in the FV today: Brewmaster IPA. I got my hands on half a carrier bag full of east kent goldings and boiled most of them for 20 mins with a couple of ladels from the kit tin and about 1.2kg of sugar. I kept some of the hops back and dropped them in right at the end. I was going to dry hop but was worried about infection and figured dropping them into the hot water at the end of the boil would be the next best thing. I also made the kit up to about 4.5 gallon instead of the full 5 to try and up the alcohol a little: OG 1034. Hope it turns out ok. I might try one of those coopers kits next time if you guys think they're good. I don't think my local homebrew shop sells em though and he might get a bit miffed when a kit turns up from an online shop (I live above the homebrew shop and we share a porch). I'm sure he wouldn't mind but I'd feel bad about it. Especially when he lends me all his kit and gives me half a carrier bag of hops for £1.50 :)

I used the same beer kit last time but I'm assuming since I used less water, more hops (twice as much as last time) and more sugar that I won't end up at the same FG? Or will it? I don't know the maths behind these sort of things!

Thanks for the advice guys!

Mo06

Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by Mo06 » Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:33 pm

"I live above the homebrew shop"


Now THAT is just brilliant......

mattpocket

Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by mattpocket » Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:30 pm

Haha it certainly has its perks, but his AG brewery in the back makes my flat reek of malt once a week. I'm sure the majority of you would see this as a good thing too but my missus would beg to differ!

Mo06

Re: How make IPA kit stronger and hoppier

Post by Mo06 » Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:46 pm

Well as someone who is about 1000km from my nearest home brew shop, I must confess to feeling a leetle jealous...

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