Newbie - IPA without light malt

zagmund

I bought a beginners kit before Christmas and am just getting around to it now. Unfortunately it looks like I may not have all the required bits. However, being a beginner I may be either over or under-thinking this, so I'm looking for a couple of pointers.

Basically I got this - http://store.coopers.com.au//beer-kits/diy-beer-kit/coopers-diy-beer-kit.html - but with IPA instead of Lager.

According to the IPA instructions [1] I need a box of light dry malt [2] & dextrose [3]. However, the kit didn't come with these, it came with Brew Enhancer 1 [4].

I checked with the folks who sold the kit and they said it should/would work with brew enhancer 1 instead of the light dry malt, but I thought it might be worth checking in with folks who know their beer here on Boards. I reckon that Coopers probably have a good reason for saying you need their malt product instead of their brew enhancer. Mind you, I am a beginner. I just don't want my introduction to home brewing to result in 45 bottles of unpleasantness.

So, what say you - is brew enhancer 1 the equivalent of dextrose & light dry malt or will I end up brewing something unspeakably evil without the correct ingredients?

z

[1] http://store.coopers.com.au/thomas-coopers-ipa-india-pale-ale-1-7kg.html
[2] http://store.coopers.com.au/coopers-light-dry-malt-500g.html
[3] http://store.coopers.com.au/coopers-dextrose-1kg.html
[4] http://store.coopers.com.au/coopers-brew-enhancer-1-1kg.html

Knifey Spoony

Brew enhancer is just a mix of dry malt extract and dextrose (corn sugar), both of which are fermentable and will give you beer in the end. There will be no harm in using it.

Just for some background information:

Dextrose is fully fermentable which means the yeast will turn all of it into alcohol, but it won't give you any malty flavor or body. The dry malt extract is something like 80% fermentable and anything that does not ferment out completely is going to leave you with flavor and body in the resulting beer. Kilo for kilo, dextrose will give you more alcohol than dry malt extract, but the extract will give you a better tasting beer. The brew enhancer kind of balances these advantages.

zagmund

Great, thanks for that explanation. I didn't want to brew it up and find that it was missing something fundamental. From your explanation, it sounds like this isn't going to be a problem.

z