1 can advice

Hi all

I wonder if some experts here could help me with a few questions. I have just come across a couple of single can kits and noticed Wilkos have an offer on at the moment so was thinking of doing the following-

John Bull IPA kit
1KG light DME
Prime with brewing sugar and keg

Geordie Mild kit
1KG medium DME
Prime with brewing sugar and bottle

Will short brew both to 20L and also thinking of chucking the kit yeast and picking up the Garvins <sp> 11g yeast from wilkos.

My questions. Is switching the yeast a good idea? Would the mild benefit from using Dark DME? Will I get a decent 4-5% abv from using all DME as my fermentables or should I use A BKE?

Also, I found some open Bramling Cross hops in my freezer which were out of date in March. Would these still be ok and would dry hopping either of these kits with BX work (in your opinion)?

Sorry for all the questions, many thanks in advance for any help.

Burge

I recently made a John Bull IPA short (18L) and added a 1kg brew enhancer. I used the kit supplied yeast and it fermented like a trooper and was kegged with 75g dextrose.

You should expect a similar result using the DME as brew enhancer is pretty much 50/50 dextrose and DME.

I've not started to drink it yet, as I like my brews to condition for a good 2-4 months, but I did test a little to ensure the barrel was pressurised and it's a lovely drop.

FatCol

TheBurge said:

Hi all

I wonder if some experts here could help me with a few questions. I have just come across a couple of single can kits and noticed Wilkos have an offer on at the moment so was thinking of doing the following-

John Bull IPA kit
1KG light DME
Prime with brewing sugar and keg

Geordie Mild kit
1KG medium DME
Prime with brewing sugar and bottle

Will short brew both to 20L and also thinking of chucking the kit yeast and picking up the Garvins <sp> 11g yeast from wilkos.

My questions. Is switching the yeast a good idea? Would the mild benefit from using Dark DME? Will I get a decent 4-5% abv from using all DME as my fermentables or should I use A BKE?

Also, I found some open Bramling Cross hops in my freezer which were out of date in March. Would these still be ok and would dry hopping either of these kits with BX work (in your opinion)?

Sorry for all the questions, many thanks in advance for any help.

Burge

Click to expand...

I got better results from doing a hop tea (maybe with 500g DME, boiled for 10 mins) than dry hopping, but both your suggestions look good to me. I would add 500g table sugar or brewing sugar and brew to 23 IPA or even 25L Mild and chuck all the hops in the IPA, since Mild is, well, mild.

Good luck with the experiments.

use standard cheap sugar sucrose for priming, its in such small quantities compared to the rest of the brew it wont have any detrimental effect.


Using DME will add both depth and body to the brews, personally unless targeting a strong hi abv beer i wouldnt brew short.

DME may (probably will) benefit from a boil to hit a hot break, without it the end beer may not be as clear as you desire,

I managed to catch a photo of hot break forming in a 1040 dme solution i prepared for slants.



And i would opt for the lightest option for adding to kits as the lme tin will contain all the colour intended.

by all means invest in yeasts if you want the specific attributes the yeast provide, but dont be too hard on kit supplied yeast, because they dont list the strain used, its very often the same as what is sold as a premium cost yeast under a different label. But imho wilko's isnt the place to buy yeast from i can recommend salsafe S04 as a pretty good basic ale yeast, with a steady temp(18-20C) it ferments like clockwork in 4-5days upto circa 1050 starting gravity and drops out cleanly at the end, to test tho i would brew a kit with its yeast and then brew the same kit the same way and use something like S04 to compare for your own taste.

Just my views tho, one of the great things about brewing is embelishing a recipe or kit to match your own tastes and preferences.. not all experiments turn out lip smacking tho.. i once added a heaped tablespoon of chilli to a ginger beer recipe that called for a level teaspoon. your lips were tingling as soon as it was lifted to the mouth and after 2 sups your mouth would be anesthetised..