Kit + Grain Brewing

[Brew Dawg]

Had a wee look on the coopers website for some inspiration for my next two brews.

Having done 3 kits now from a basic coopers lager, bulldogs four finger jack and coopers IPA with 2 hops additions for bitterness/aroma purposes and us-05 yeast... i'm keen to branch out a bit more and seen this as the next step for experimenting and trying some actual grains in the brew.

http://www.coopers.com.au/#/diy-beer/be ... cipe-pack/

The above recipe uses:
1.7kg Thomas Coopers Wheat Beer
1.5kg Thomas Coopers Light Malt extract
300g Crystal Wheat grains
12g pack of Perle Hop pellets (25g may be used for more overt hop character)
11g dry Munich Wheat yeast (or wheat yeast of your choice)

Is this something that makes a noticeable difference or has anyone tried combining the two for or similar recipes?

I'm not quite at the stage for BIAB but its something I will look into in the future only being 3 brews in and learning about temp. control, yeast strains, clearing beer and hops.

Be keen to hear if anyones used any of the other recipes on coopers site for something a bit more than can + water + yeast.

 

[Tean Buns]

I'm not quite at the stage for BIAB but its something I will look into in the future only being 3 brews in and learning about temp. control, yeast strains, clearing beer and hops.

Be keen to hear if anyones used any of the other recipes on coopers site for something a bit more than can + water + yeast.[/quote]

I have tried a few experiments using kits and adding a few grains to tart them up and I have also done a couple of top end kits that come with grains and hops in bags ... but overall I was not impressed. A lot of the American books seem to be based on extract with grains but from my small amount of experience doing this I didn't actually find the results worthwhile. I reckon that once you start messing around with malt, you might as well go the whole way and get into AG brewing. There are three very major advantages over kits
1/ AG brewing is a LOT cheaper (less tax too, that pleases my anarchist tendancies !)
2/ You have absolute freedom to brew your own beer.
3/ AG gives superior results to kit brewing, even if I still enjoy kits.

Why not just go for it, you have already learnt the essentials with your three brews, AG is not that much harder... honest. :hat:

 

[rodwha]

I've moved into partial mashes doing it BIAB. I don't have much inclination to move into all grain though as I find this easier than dealing with the water chemistry. I know my water is very hard and so if I brew a dark beer I buy 1 gal of RO water. If it's a lighter beer I buy 2.

I'm still have difficulties with keeping my temps good as I get varying temps in my pot. Any mistakes I make will be lessened as I'm adding extract too.

Steeping grains used a much smaller pot and was much easier to keep the temp within range, and there wasn't the mash problem of converting starches.

I'd say give steeping grains a try as it doesn't require any additional equipment, and will give you the confidence to move up to BIAB, which only requires a large grain bag and a colander or some such.

I'd get away from canned HME's. I use mostly LME from a major supplier who guarantees freshness, and I've had no problems, but I also use DME (spray malt), especially with wheat extracts as they don't move as quickly.

My first 2 brews were kits. After that I found it cheaper to get recipes and steep grains. That was over 40 brews ago...

 

[Tean Buns]

I've moved into partial mashes doing it BIAB. I don't have much inclination to move into all grain though as I find this easier than dealing with the water chemistry. I know my water is very hard and so if I brew a dark beer I buy 1 gal of RO water. If it's a lighter beer I buy 2.

My water is really hard, lots of bicarbonate, impossible to brew with, almost. I have treated it with sulphuric acid, and I got good results but as I don't like putting chemicals into the water I have put a water butt in the garden. I now use the rain water that comes off my roof, no problems at all but I do have to add a little calcium sulphate so that the yeast has something to chew on.

your advice on extracts, grains and BIAB is sound

:hat:

 

[rodwha]

I don't care for the idea of adding chemicals either.

Your idea of collecting rain water is a great one! Been thinking of doing that when we build a house, if for nothing else watering plants and animals. But if it's possible I'd see about doing it for drinking water as well.