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WWC

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Hello everybody

Firstly, just to say, I’m very new to the world of homebrew (half a brew and one demijohn of apple wine in!) so any feedback welcome!

To cut to the chase I want to create a strong (6.5%ish) intense (grapefruit, passion fruit, tropical etc flavours) ‘craft IPA’ style brew from a kit.

Ok so this is probably a long shot but as the beers I like are at least £2 a throw if I can pull something drinkable off that’s in the broad area I’ll be chuffed.

My simplistic and naïve brain says start with a kit like Razorback IPA or Evil Dog Double IPA, add some extra brewing sugar to the malt to beef up the alcohol then dry hop with a combination of:

Centennial
Saphir
Amarillo
Simcoe
Cascade

Gut feeling is the standard kits err on the side of caution so extra hops will help with the flavour?

How stupid is this as a plan and how can I tweak it?

Cheers

Will
 
Hello everybody

Firstly, just to say, I’m very new to the world of homebrew (half a brew and one demijohn of apple wine in!) so any feedback welcome!

To cut to the chase I want to create a strong (6.5%ish) intense (grapefruit, passion fruit, tropical etc flavours) ‘craft IPA’ style brew from a kit.

Ok so this is probably a long shot but as the beers I like are at least ��£2 a throw if I can pull something drinkable off that’s in the broad area I’ll be chuffed.

My simplistic and naïve brain says start with a kit like Razorback IPA or Evil Dog Double IPA, add some extra brewing sugar to the malt to beef up the alcohol then dry hop with a combination of:

Centennial
Saphir
Amarillo
Simcoe
Cascade

Gut feeling is the standard kits err on the side of caution so extra hops will help with the flavour?

How stupid is this as a plan and how can I tweak it?

Cheers

Will


Will,

The Evil dog kit is way above 6.5% mate as it stands at 7.1%. Having done the kit I found it sweet but tasty, there is a good thread on it if you search. There was plenty of hops in it for a dry hop and I wouldn't have been wanting anything more in it.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=40775&highlight=evil
 
There is usually no need to boost a premium kit.
Youngs American IPA has all the stuff you need (including 100g hops for dry hopping) and should produce a beer with an ABV above 6.0%.
Festival kits also come with their own hops, including the Razorback.
 
Cheers both, will maybe try a couple of different approaches.

Appreciate the input though.
 
Youngs aipa...leave it as long as it needs to ferment out...up to 4 weeks..cold crash after dry hopping if you can... a big tasty beer. Enjoy carefully. ...
 
Youngs aipa...leave it as long as it needs to ferment out...up to 4 weeks..cold crash after dry hopping if you can... a big tasty beer. Enjoy carefully. ...

And I would add the Youngs American pale ale and red india ale to that as well. All three are cracking kits with a lot of dry hops included.
 
Hello everybody

Firstly, just to say, I’m very new to the world of homebrew (half a brew and one demijohn of apple wine in!) so any feedback welcome!

To cut to the chase I want to create a strong (6.5%ish) intense (grapefruit, passion fruit, tropical etc flavours) ‘craft IPA’ style brew from a kit.

Ok so this is probably a long shot but as the beers I like are at least �£2 a throw if I can pull something drinkable off that’s in the broad area I’ll be chuffed.

My simplistic and naïve brain says start with a kit like Razorback IPA or Evil Dog Double IPA, add some extra brewing sugar to the malt to beef up the alcohol then dry hop with a combination of:

Centennial
Saphir
Amarillo
Simcoe
Cascade

Gut feeling is the standard kits err on the side of caution so extra hops will help with the flavour?

How stupid is this as a plan and how can I tweak it?

Cheers

Will

A kit for 40 pints would cost about £25? How much ingredients would that buy? All you need is the proper recipe. And a kit is nothing more but ingredients, a recipe and profit margin. And convenience, of course.
But how much would for instance this recipe cost?
 
Cold crash?

It's a term homebrewers use to chill the beer down in the bucket to 1/2C for a few days. It helps to clear the beer. It would require a temp controlled fridge/freezer to do. Sometimes the garden shed is just about the right temp just be careful of cold snaps.
 
It's good advice that the premium kits are so well made that they don't need tweaking and they will make you a cracking beer. The single tin kits do open the door for tweaking. A 1 tin kit brewed with 1kg of Brew Enhancer will give you about 4%, with this as a base you can bump up the ABV with an extra fermentable of your choice. You can also hop the bejasus out of it with a boiled or steeped hop tea and load up on the dry hop or not, as you choose.
 
Hi again

The ½ brew I referred to in the original post is, in theory, ready for bottling.

BUT it’s currently more of a hop soup (the Festival didn’t use the teabag method and I added more).

I tasted a bit last night and it’s actually ok for a first attempt, I don’t think the additional Equinox hops were the right choice but once it’s bottle conditioned and chilled I think it’ll be ok.

Sooooo…what to do?

- Rack into a new FV using the hop filter bag over the syphon and wait for it to settle?
- Bottle using hop filter bag?
- Leave as is for another week and risk ‘over-hopping’?
- Another option?
 
Agree with the above on the premium kits. Have made a few of the Young's and they are a very nice beer, plenty of hoppy flavour and some are over 6% without any tweaking.
 
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