What type of beer am I looking for?

Irishcrx

Craic guys,

A few friends of mine have been brewing for a while and producing some really nice stuff. I've decided to give it a go myself but there are so many different types of beer to pick from I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for.

My favourite craft beers are Blue Moon and Hoegarden , I know it's a wheat beer but has anyone brewed anything that would be similar in taste to these?

Tefral

Irishcrx wrote: »

Craic guys,

A few friends of mine have been brewing for a while and producing some really nice stuff. I've decided to give it a go myself but there are so many different types of beer to pick from I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for.

My favourite craft beers are Blue Moon and Hoegarden , I know it's a wheat beer but has anyone brewed anything that would be similar in taste to these?

This is what your looking for: http://www.homebrewwest.ie/the-craft-range-wheat-beer-kit-34-kg-3695-p.asp

drumswan

Irishcrx wrote: »

Craic guys,

A few friends of mine have been brewing for a while and producing some really nice stuff. I've decided to give it a go myself but there are so many different types of beer to pick from I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for.

My favourite craft beers are Blue Moon and Hoegarden , I know it's a wheat beer but has anyone brewed anything that would be similar in taste to these?

These are both witbiers (or Belgian white ales) flavored with orange peel and coriander. Look for a witbier kit to hack or Google a clone recipe for extract

Irishcrx

Lovely stuff lads , That's a decent site going to see what a start up kit will cost me now..

calnand

This kit would be closer for making a blue moon type beer, you could also use the German wheat beer kit and add coriander and orange peel yourself. http://www.homebrewwest.ie/beers-of-the-world-belgian-witbier-1149-p.asp

Tefral

calnand wrote: »

This kit would be closer for making a blue moon type beer, you could also use the German wheat beer kit and add coriander and orange peel yourself. http://www.homebrewwest.ie/beers-of-the-world-belgian-witbier-1149-p.asp

Didnt even spot this.. dammit, now ill have to purchase myself!:D

Irishcrx

Thanks for the help lads, I ordered full kit this morning and just went with Coopers wheat beer to start off with.

Few others questions, how do you use the Hydrometers to measure Alc content? Is content determined by the beer kit bought or can it be adjusted in the mix with more yeast/hops?

I have a bottle of plum Poiten that a friend gave to me a while back , would it completely ruin the brew or mix to add a very small amount of this into the mix?

neoanto

Poitín would probably kill the yeast and ruin what your trying to accomplish.
Just stick with the kit. The Coopers kit comes with a DVD that should tell you about the hydrometer.

poitinstill

the coopers kit will need a kg of wheat malt and ideally a better yeast. but it will get you close to blue moon with some corriander seeds and orange rind added maybe. if you do it with 1kg brewing sugar you wont get much back taste wise.

Irishcrx

poitinstill wrote: »

the coopers kit will need a kg of wheat malt and ideally a better yeast. but it will get you close to blue moon with some corriander seeds and orange rind added maybe. if you do it with 1kg brewing sugar you wont get much back taste wise.

Balls, I ordered the damn brewing sugar...it's not great no? They said yeast comes with the kit I didn't really know what other yeasts would be good vs what would be bad.

Can you pick up coriander and bitter orange peel in the supermarket? I seen people going on about boiling them or bringing them to the boil? Is this how it's added, I would have thought you just throw them in the fermentor crushed up..

lee_baby_simms

Irishcrx wrote: »

Can you pick up coriander and bitter orange peel in the supermarket? I seen people going on about boiling them or bringing them to the boil? Is this how it's added, I would have thought you just throw them in the fermentor crushed up..

I'd be inclined to boil a small pot of water and throw in the peel and coriander for 5 mins and then add it to the wort.

Boiling it will release more flavour and more importantly sterilise the ingredients.

Carawaystick

I've made a few belgian witbier style beers.
I use coriander seeds and Marmalade for spice, and witbier yeast like this
you can find other brands with your local homebrew store. You need a belgian bier blanche or witbier; they are french or dutch for white beer.
German wheat beer is a different brew and it's yeast gives a different flavour so don;t use that.

I'd second the quick boil to sanitize the spices

Tefral

calnand wrote: »

This kit would be closer for making a blue moon type beer, you could also use the German wheat beer kit and add coriander and orange peel yourself. http://www.homebrewwest.ie/beers-of-the-world-belgian-witbier-1149-p.asp

Am i being too simplistic by saying I could chuck 2 of these into the one container, put in both sachets of yeast and let it off?

BeerNut

Should be fine.

WallsToTheBall

Irishcrx wrote: »

how do you use the Hydrometers to measure Alc content? Is content determined by the beer kit bought or can it be adjusted in the mix with more yeast/hops?

While your kit should show you how to use a hydrometer to read the specific gravity, how you actually tell what Alcohol by Volume (%) the brew is is by using an ABV calculator, if you google "ABV calculator" the link to brewersfriend lets you plug in the Original Gravity (the hydrometer reading of the wort before you have added the yeast) and the Final Gravity (the hydrometer reading when the beer is fully brewed out) and tells you the ABV, or alternatively use the formula OG - FG * 131.

The max ABV any beer can reach is determined by two things: The quantity of sugars in the wort (however some types of sugar will not be fully converted by the yeast) and the attenuation of the particular strain of yeast you are using (think of this as the yeasts efficiency level at converting sugars into alcohol). If you google "extract og fg calculator" there is another handy calculator that can tell you what ABV you are likely to get by plugging in the details of the amounts of your sugars you are using, namely liquid malt extract (LME) and dry malt extract (DME), this way you can make the brew to the batch size that best suits the % alcohol you want .

Hope this helps

Irishcrx

That's all great advice lads much appreciated. My kit came yesterday so am going to get it on tonight using the Cooper wheat beer , coriander and bitter orange peel. Next one I'll look for a Belgian style one.

First one is always a hit and miss anyway I guess.