I have kits and ingredients, any recipe suggestions?

davejacko

Hi folks,

I need some advise, I have built up a stock of home-brew kits and ingredients and I can't decide what recipe to do next. This will be my third brew, first was a standard Coopers Lager (quite bland), the second was a Coopers Australian Pale Ale that is still bottle conditioning but I had a sneaky taste last week and found it lacking aroma.

So what next? Any suggestions based on what I have below. Would like to try adding some hops tea to a kit this time. Maybe a Coopers APA 2 can?

I want something everybody can enjoy without being too bland. I like IPAs that are under 5% ABV, any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dave



* 2 cans of Coopers Australian Pale Ale

* 1 can of Coopers Brewmaster India Pale Ale

* 2 Boxes of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 (dextrose, maltodextrin and Light Dry Malt)

* 1Kg of Dextrose

* 500g Muntons Foil Pack Spraymalt Light

* 100g Amarillo Hops

* 100g Cascade Hops

um7y1h83ge06nx

I'm a relative newbie so other might clarify what I'm saying here.

You say you were disappointing with the aroma and you don't what it too bland.

For the aroma you could dry hop for a short period before bottling.

From my reading on dry hopping it seems very subjective but here's a good link: http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/568-dry-hopping-for-great-aroma

I have done 2 Cooper's IPA brews and added cascade hop pellets in a weighted muslin bag for it's final week in the fermenter (I do 3 weeks in primary then bottle). it gives a good aroma although that dies down after a while, there isn't much perceivable aroma in IPA I bottled 3 months ago.

I haven't done a hop tea yet but will do for the next IPA I think. As far as I understand a hop tea at the start of a fermentation will add bitterness but won't impact much aroma. That could prevent your batch from being bland.

A combination of a hop tea at the start and dry hopping near the end might be a good bet for you.

BeerNut

davejacko wrote: »

Any suggestions based on what I have below.

What you've got in those cans is three nearly-finished batches of beer. There's not a huge amount you can do to change them at this stage -- that's just the way with kits.

Taking Super_Sonic's advice will change things up a little, but probably won't fundamentally alter the beers.

If you're sticking with kits, I've found the Cooper's Brewmaster Traditional Draught (black label, blue stripe) to be a good light coloured, light textured, hop-forward pale ale. But if you want more control over the finished product you'd be better moving to extract or all-grain and designing recipes that suit your own taste. Small-batch extract brewing is a small step forward and requires minimal extra outlay.

drumswan

Kits dont produce particularly good or interesting beer, move to extract it provides way more control.

Lovely Bloke

You could make something drinkable with the Brew Enhancer, Dextrose and Spraymalt in a boil for an hour, with various additions of the hops at 60, 45, 30, 15 and then some dry hopping I suppose.

It would likely be light coloured, and depending on your hops could be ok-ish, if lacking a little malt background.

BeerNut

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

You could make something drinkable with the Brew Enhancer, Dextrose and Spraymalt in a boil for an hour, with various additions of the hops at 60, 45, 30, 15 and then some dry hopping I suppose.

It would likely be light coloured, and depending on your hops could be ok-ish, if lacking a little malt background.

A bit short on alcohol too, if you leave the yeast out :P

poitinstill

read this
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,669.0.html

and this
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html

davejacko

Thanks all, I'm only at kit stage, extract will be further down the line for me.

@Super_Sonic thinking of trying out a hop tea and dry hop combo with the Coopers Australian Pale Ale.

How long and how much hops should I use in tea and dry hopping to get results (without being too hoppy)?

drumswan

Kit stage and extract stage are the same except extract involves a pot. It is not more difficult and produces better quality, tailored beer.

um7y1h83ge06nx

davejacko wrote: »

Thanks all, I'm only at kit stage, extract will be further down the line for me.

@Super_Sonic thinking of trying out a hop tea and dry hop combo with the Coopers Australian Pale Ale.

How long and how much hops should I use in tea and dry hopping to get results (without being too hoppy)?

Not sure about the hop tea as I haven't tried it before.

For the dry hopping I used 50g of Cascade hop pellets for 5-7 days but that's probably a bit much (the amount of hops).

I must consider extract brewing in the future sometime once I get bored of kit brewing.

Lovely Bloke

BeerNut wrote: »

A bit short on alcohol too, if you leave the yeast out :P

Hoppy Ovaltine was my goal :pac:

davejacko

Cain Crooked Seam wrote: »

Not sure about the hop tea as I haven't tried it before.

For the dry hopping I used 50g of Cascade hop pellets for 5-7 days but that's probably a bit much (the amount of hops).

I must consider extract brewing in the future sometime once I get bored of kit brewing.

What kit did you add it to and what commercial beer did the taste compare to. Would you go 35g next time?