Kit Hacking

[Davybarman]

Hi folks,

For all you brewers out there! I have a question.

My wife was over in Scotland last week for work and she popped into Wilkinsons. (We don't have one in Ireland. ) Anyway they had an offer on beer kits and she cleared the shelves of the £5 kits. It's as well she was driving and came over on the ferry. Now I was very appreciative of this early anniversary present however they were all Brewmaker Best of British Yorkshire Bitter.

Now this wouldn't be a tipple or brew I would go for and going by the reviews is a pretty bad drink as well. Now this is a two can kit so I am trying to think of ways to make it more palatable and more to my taste.

Now I figure to brew short would be a start however I think it may benefit additional hops and maybe other malts.

My question to you all then is what malt n hops do you think may help to improve to bland bitter?

 

[PD]

how many " kits " did she bring you ?

If a lot I'd make the first one up as instructed...YOU might like it.

then you can try for some alterations on subsequent brews......however I'd advise brewing the first one a little shorter by a few litres.

 

[Davybarman]

8 in all God bless her. She said everything else had gone.

Yeah was gonna do either 18 - 20 litres as a start anyway. :thumb:

Not really tempted to go by the book on this one so want to experiment. Was thinking of steeping some choc malt I have in my box of tricks for one of them, but to be fair my knowledge of some of the hops n malts would be limited in so far as how they relate to some beer styles

 

[mike77]

One ingredient you are forgetting about is the yeast. They add a lot of flavour. Perhaps try a few different ones in place of what is supplied by the kit. Hops wise you could look at the American or new Zealand hops to add a big finish. Create a hop tea or dry hop or both.

 

[calumscott]

OK, your options for kit-hacking...

1) brew short - easy, just use less water. You get more ABV, more body, more bitterness and more flavour. Don't go too short or things get weird.
2) hop tea - boil hops in water and use that to dilute the kit.
3) yeast - can make all sorts of difference, adding fruity esters or brewing really clean.
4) dry hop - adds loads of citrussy flavours and aromas (depending on the variety)
5) partial mashing/steeping - so you basically mash some speciality grains in a pot. Adds malt depth, a little ABV and bags of malty/roast/coffee/chocolate flavours (depending on the malt)
6) adjuncts - vanilla pods, coffee, truffles, caramel, spices, herbs, fruit peel, basically anything you can cook with can go in a brew, either as a "tea" or like a dry hop
7) use them as the base for something stupid - like a mental double IPA, Russian Imperial Stout, turn them into an american brown ale with silly fruity hops...

There's all sorts you can do.

But the place to start is not "what can you do with them?". It is "what do you like?"

 

[Davybarman]

Hi Calum.

Thanks for the reply

I'm aware of the options. Was going to brew short anyway as I had said in my post.

I will also be doing a partial mash with some chocolate malt that I have used previously.

What I was looking for was advice in regards the hops that would be advisable to use. I don't want to use a hop variety that would bring out more bitterness. I normally don't do bitters as I prefer more lighter ales.

So prob to rephrase the question.
If I was to use a more fragrant/citrus hop as opposed to a bothering hop. What would be the best variety to use? Which ones are better for a hop tea and which are better for dry hopping.

Normally when I brew I dry hop with what ever is in the hbs. I don't normally pay attention to what type it is, as I just like to add a bit of extra ommph. However what I'm trying to do here is experiment with the flavours.
, and change the favouring a a beer type I don't particularly like into something else that may be more palatable.

 

[calumscott]

If you like the fragrant and fruity ones the go for the American ones, chinook is my favourite, it's like grapefruit, but there are loads more. The Australian "galaxy" is amazing...

If you want to keep it English and floral the East Kent Golding would be my first choice. :thumb:

 

[Donny70]

I have a mate over here who dry hops his ales with galaxy. He starts with a coopers real ale kit as a base and the addition of the galaxy makes the beer a really nice drop.

 

[Duxuk]

Dry hopping is the easiest thing to do. You will not add any significant bitterness, just fresh aromatic flavours. As well as Chinook mentioned above and Galaxy, which I'm dying to try, you could try Citra for a really zingy citrus finish. If you brew to 18-20l as you've suggested you can use 30g (or as much as you fancy!) of hops when the fementation has died down after, say, a week to 10 days. Just bung them in loose or in a sterilised bag. A few days later you're ready to bottle or keg. Then the anxious wait begins............................... :

 

[fbsf]

Firstly, I would brew it with dry malt rather than sugar, and add your steeped malt to make it a darker brew (if that's how you like 'em)

Secondly, I would make a hop tea of 20g EKG in 1/2pt boiling water and let it steep for 15 mins then strain that into the FV once the initial ferment is over, and add 20g of EKG as dry hops for good measure.

Doing that lot will really elevate the kit. Don't forget to leave it a good time in the bottle to mature - a good 6/8 weeks will make a big difference.

Having done a brew using two single-can kits as the entire fermentables, I would exercise caution doing so. I did it with a Coopers APA and Cervesa as the latter has little bittering. It still came out quite a bitter brew, so I think a kit done with two bitter kits would be too much.

 

[RobWalker]

maybe chuck a load of extra dme in one, ferment with s-04 and call it a Christmas beer? :)

 

[Davybarman]

Thanks for the reply folks.

Im not really eager to add tp much extra fermentables into this as it is a two can kit, so adding extras dme maybe would not be the best option. Brewing short in this case would be the best option for adding the extra body.

Gonna do two brews this weekend so for the first will do a steep with the choc malt I already have and brew to a 18 - 20 litres. Will make my mind up later.

For the second one I will see if I can get my hands on either some Chinock , Citra or Galaxy over the weekend. I may do a combination of a hop tea and dry hope later in the ferementation.

As for doing a crazy strong beer. I already have a nice strong stout hidden away for christmas so dont want to do another brew that needs 9 - 12 months condition till next May.

Will keep you all updated :thumb:

 

[Davybarman]

Forgot to say I will be doing 2 brew this weekend with the BOB Yorkshire Bitter but its the 3rd brew were I doing the Coopers Sparkling ale that I am looking forward too! :drink:

 

[Pearlfisher]

By brewing short you will be increasing the bitterness which maybe isn't what you want?

 

[Davybarman]

Aha Pearl

True the bitterness would increase. But would it not also add more body and with the addition of extra flavour hops not also go some way to counteract the bittereness?

I believe some comparisons with this kit compared to John Smiths :sick: so I dont believe it should be too bitter anyway. Its just I am not a big fan of bitter in itself so want to change the actual charactistics to something not a yorkshire bitter.

I just dont want to do something stupid and add a "bittering" (is it a word? :hmm: ) hop and increase the bitter flavour more. :thumb:

ut I suppose with 8 of these I can afford to chop n change with each one. The first couple are more a test run. After them I should have a feeling as to what I need to change to make it more acceptable to my palate :drink:

 

[mike77]

Instead of brewing it short you could brew it the full length (or longer) and add a bag of body enhancer. That way you would increase body but not increase bitterness. A hop tea or dry hopping won't increase the bitterness but will add flavor and aroma.

 

[Davybarman]

Well folks Got the first one on the go last Sunday. Picked up some odds n ends and the HB shop and messed around.

I am only experimenting and did not use and hard or fast rules. Just curious how it turns out. Sorry if I upset anyone with my hap hazard methodolgy.

So used 300 g of crushed choc malt which I steeped for an hour in a muslin bag with aprox 5 litres of water. The liquid I bought to a slow simmer and added 25g of goldings which simmered for aprox 45 mins. Took of the heat and added 25g cascade.

Cooled then added to the FV along with the two can kit contents. Had some coopers ale yeast lying around so re hydrated as I wasnt to confident about the wilkos stuff. Is now bubbling along slowly at around 20 degrees. Would add the gravity but by beer log had a mishap and lost the readings.

Should be interesting anyway to see the results :whistle:

 

[Davybarman]

Racked this of the secondary on Sat. Have to admit its a hell of a lot darker than a bitter now. Some peculiar aromas not unpleasant though.

Will do a pic later to show the colour.

Hoping this may be one I did right by just pure luck. Hoping to get it bottled by next :whistle: weekend

 

[Davybarman]

Well in interests of science I tried one last night.

Poured perfectly and is as dark as a stock. So far its perfectly carbonated and held a head all the way down. Taste wise it is very good. Even the wife likes it. There is almost a nutty flavour?? To me it seems like a nice brown ale only darker in colour. On a plus side is also not bitter which was what I was aiming for

However I think this is defiantly a success in my eyes and is defiantly has none of the characteristics of the reviews for the BOB Yorkshire Bitter. Should be a nice tipple over the winter months.

Next experiment I am doing now is a "Blush Beer" made with a Coopers Lager. This is defiantly one for the wife as she complains that I never make anything that she likes. It should be another interesting brew.

Anyone else try making a fruit flavoured Blush Beer?