Hoppy Birthday Brew - suggestions please!

merc230ce

Right you lot -

I'll be bottling my first kit brew in about 10 days, and not long after that is my birthday. And by happy (hoppy?) coincidence SWMBO is heading out to the races with her girlies that day so I've decided that that'll be my next Brewday (should drastically reduce the amount of sighing and eye-rolling ;-)

So - I love Sierra Nevada, College Green's Belfast Blonde and Headless Dog, and almost every IPA I've ever met: can you guys recommend a really good quality kit with (maybe) a REALLY simple hack for me to brew up something along those lines?

Thanks in advance!

BeerNut

The most important thing is the hops. Even your basic Coopers IPA kit can turning out stunning if you whack enough of the right sorts of dry hops in it. 30g of Citra should take you a lot of the way there.

merc230ce

BeerNut wrote: »

The most important thing is the hops. Even your basic Coopers IPA kit can turning out stunning if you whack enough of the right sorts of dry hops in it. 30g of Citra should take you a lot of the way there.

Thanks for that Beernut, I'll make sure to dry hop it. Any particular recommendation for an IPA kit?

BeerNut

Sorry, no. The only one I've tasted that turned out really well was the Coopers one. I'm sure there's even greater potential with, say Munton's Gold or Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge, but I can't speak from experience there.

merc230ce

I thought most people on here were down on Coopers kits but the IPA one actually has loads of positive reviews when you go looking for them, so maybe that IS the one to go for. Can't wait now! :-)

jjanderton

hi merc230ce..

I also suggest you to try the India Pale Ale (or IPA) because it is very tasteful and that's why it is very popular staple of home brewers..Traditional English IPAs use popular English hops such as Fuggles, Goldings, Northdown, Target, though sometimes noble hops are also used in finishing.

Regards J:)

merc230ce

Ordered the ingredients for this brew last night:

Coopers IPA kit
1.5kg Liquid pale malt extract
500g hopped spraymalt
Safale US-05
Apollo hops (they had no Cascade, Challenger, or Citra in stock)

I have great hopes for this one! I reckon it should end up at about 5 or 5.5%, does that seem right to you guys?

merc230ce

Just a wrap up to this thread, I've started sampling this brew now - it's been bottled about 2 weeks.

When the ingredients arrived I was a bit worried about the IPA can as it was short-dated (about 4 weeks from its BB date) but I went ahead and brewed anyway as the opinion of most people on here was that darkening of the wort was probably the worst that would happen because of this. The finished beer is definitely too dark for a pale ale, but not to worry.

I had it in primary for a week at 20deg (OG 1.047) and then dryhopped with 30g of my Apollo whole hops (the gravity was at 1.018) - just popped the lid and chucked them in. I had thought I might need to rouse the yeast at the same time but it seemed to be chugging along nicely so I left it alone. I intended to leave it in primary for 3 weeks total, but then began to panic about exposing the beer to the hops for that long (I read it could lead to grassy flavours) so I bottled after 2 weeks (gravity had steadied at 1.007)

I had assumed that the hops would sink to the bottom but most stayed at the top and as I bottle direct from primary with a Little Bottler, I got hop bits into most of the bottles which I was worried about but they settled in the bottles and just get left behind when pouring so no harm done.

1 carb drop per 330ml bottle, 1.5 per 500ml. 10 days at 20deg. Chilled a bottle and tasted - yum! ;-)

It definitely wouldn't win any prizes as an IPA - the malt / hop balance is way off, it's very malty, almost sweet - but I think it's delicious. I reckon its malt profile is similar to Anchor Steam, (I tasted them side by side last night) but it has a really floral hop aroma over the top of that. Colour is more Red than Pale ale. Carbonation is good - great head and head retention.

As an attempt at an IPA I'd give it 4 out of 10, but as an enjoyable beer I'd give it 7.5 :-)

poitinstill

result....to me it doesnt matter what the beer turns out once its good...ipa - pale ale whatever its only a name ....enjoy and delighted to hear a new happy brewer