Adding to a kit

[gdyker]

Hello,

First post (appart from introduction)...

I've caught the brewing bug from my father who always used to brew a nice Sussex bitter.

Having a toddler I don't feel I have time (or would be allowed by OH) to do a full AG brew so I've started with kits and have done four quite successfully.

Now I'm looking to experiment a bit more and my dad suggested I try just adding some grain to the wort in the kit. So my latest brew which is just bottled has a basis of Geordie Scottish Export (my favourite kit so far) but I've also put in 1/2 pound of Crystal malt. I've also used glucose rather than sugar. It's turned out quite well with a nice slightly smoky flavour.

Next I want to try something a bit more Belgian so I thought I'd start with a lager or pils kit and add both crystal and wheat malt, and use a belgian yeast. I'm also thinking about trying an extra fermentation by transferring to a new bucket and restarting instead of bottling after 10 days.

Any thoughts or advice? What kit might work well?

Thanks

Gabriel

 

[RobWalker]

Steeping your malts is the best way to extract the flavour. You could even boost to a partial mash, it takes an hour or two but only like 5-10 minutes of that you're actually doing anything, the rest is just waiting. You could also try adding coriander seed and orange peel which is typical of a belgian wheat recipe. Some kit brewers like adding aroma hops too, just boil them up for 10 minutes in a few litres of water.

There's no real reason for a secondary ferment in most cases, not unless you're adding something like fruit or maturing really...

 

[Dave1970]

The Brewferm kits are decent Belgian beers, although based on my Grand Cru kit they take a LONG time in the bottle to condition. I know you're looking to modify so you could do a Brewferm kit and then use the yeast from that do a 'Belgianised' standard kit....you could try using Belgian Candi Sugar instead of standard sugar which is meant to be more Belgian. You can buy Candi sugar but there are some excellent instructions for making your own here

 

[phettebs]

You could do a Belgian tripel with just light DME, some sugar, styrian goldings, and Belgian yeast (this is key). If you wanted a darker beer like a dubbel, you could add some candi sugar, steep some special B and crystal as mentioned above. What are you looking to do?

 

[gdyker]

Brilliant, thanks for all the help!

I suppose I really want to do two different things- one really strong dark tripel like a Wesfleterren (sp?), though I also really like the Brakspear Triple.

The other thing I would like to do is something like a Leffe Blonde but maybe a bit weaker, it's nice to have something that I can quaff a bit more.

For both I'll try candi sugar and orange peel and spice, I think I'll try boiling hops too, that doesn't seem too bad. Should I be using wheat malt for both but just darker malts for the first?

Great if I don't need to do another ferment, I thought I had to to get the alchohol up and the right flavour but I was worried about it just going off.

Cheers

 

[gdyker]

Now that I think of it, is wesfleterrn actually a dubble?

The brewferm kits look really interesting but I don't think my local shop does them, is there a good place to mail order from?

Thanks again

 

[gdyker]

Ok, I have a better plan now. I thought all very strong Belgian beers were tripels but I see that's not correct.

I'm going to get an abbey kit from brewferm and also do another Geordie scottish export kit but with 1/2 pound of crystal and 1/2 pound of wheat malt, maybe some spice and orange peel and some boiled hops. Off to read about different hops now.

Thanks again.

 

[gdyker]

Hi again,

I've now got a Brewferm Abbey kit fermenting and a Coopers Wheat Beer kit which I'm going to add zest of two oranges and 1 teaspoon of Coriander seed to. Thanks for the help, now I've just got to be patient for the next six months...