St Peters IPA Kit has turned out weak and lacking flavour

[Kyle Heath]

I brewed this in a plastic fermenter with a temp probe into the liquid, connected to a InkKey device to keep it between 19-21C. I stored the fermenter in my lounge on the floor. I have bottled and left the beer three weeks and frankly, it is not very good. The hydrometer readings said its FG made is 3.8%ABV

It has some alcohol in it but I would say it tastes less than 2% ABV to me and the beer tastes malty and of nothing much else, like a weak bitter. I am going to try again, I am wondering if the yeast in the kits is not great. When I have it all in the fermenter, it never bubbles out of the lock, I have not seen one bubble in both the brews I have done. I keep the temperature at 19-21C using a temp probe on the InkKey and a heating mat.

Should I keep the fermenter in the dark? Do I need to buy separate yeast for the next kit? I made sure everything was super clean when I brewed and bottled.

Any advice before I go for my third kit?

 

[jof]

I'm not familiar with this kit, but here are some comments:

If it's a 1 can kit, the instructions should have said add a kilo of sugar or brew enhancer. Did you miss this step? It would explain why it's not as strong as you expected.

Temperature control sounds fine to me & you don't need to keep it in the dark.

When it was fermenting did it develop a layer of foam on the top of the beer? It must have fermented as you say you got hydrometer readings and you don't report it tasting sweet.

You may not see the airlock bubble if the lid doesn't seal properly. (This isn't a problem - my original fermentation bucket just had a 1/4 inch hole in the lid.)

Did the kit come with extra hops to add? If not, that is often the first step to customising/pimping a kit beer but you want to find a kit you are happy with before try to improve it.

Are the other kits you have the same or different?

 

[Kyle Heath]

This was the instructions for the kit. It was two tins in this case

 

[The Baron]

Did you make the St Peters kit to 40 pints or 32?

 

[Graz]

Must admit I've never been massively impressed with these St. Peters kits, there's nothing really wrong with them (except the Honey Porter, not good) but they're just a bit lacking.

If you want an proper English IPA look at the Festival Razorback. Young's American, or Munton's Flagship range for American style IPAs.

 

[GhostShip]

I've done the St Peters Golden Ale and the Cream Stout - both were very good.

All I would say is don't throw it down the sink! I've had this happen a few times - I thought something had gone wrong with the process and that the beer was verging on undrinkable. Go back to it a month later and it's changed - much better. Another month - much better again. The lead times printed on extract kits are nonsense. I now never drink a beer until it's been out in the shed for at least a month. It takes some patience, but believe me, it's worth it.

You don't mention having taken a hydrometer reading? Always worth doing - especially if you haven't seen much activity.

It may not have fermented out properly, or could have suffered some oxidation, but my advice is not to give up on it just yet. Put it away somewhere dark and cool and move on to the next brew! Good luck.

 

[GhostShip]

One more thing - when you bottled, had you already added sugar to the batch, or did you add sugar to each individual bottle? I'm just wondering if it's the secondary fermentation that could be the issue.

 

[jeremy Hall]

I've just done an IPA that was awful after two weeks, not alot better after four weeks, but drinkable after six. I'm hoping it will be pleasant after eight.

Have to say that I've never seen a kit that didn't require you to add sugar. Maybe there are some that have sugar already added, but I've never seen one.

 

[soupdragon]

Have to say that I've never seen a kit that didn't require you to add sugar. Maybe there are some that have sugar already added, but I've never seen one.

I take it you are referring to the one can kits that need around 1kg of sugar to bring the alcohol content up to target? With other kits it depends on the amount of malt extract supplied in the kit. As a rule the majority of 3kg kits only require priming sugar for secondary fermentation which doesn't add much in the way of alcohol. There are some, stronger kits that need a boost from some additional fermentables to reach the target abv, this is usually in the form of a separate bag of dextrose monohydrate.
To my knowledge there are no beer kits that have sugar mixed in to the malt.
I will add that the final alcohol content claimed by manufacturers is very rarely achieved.

Cheers Tom