Boosting a kit

[darkbright]

So I bought this kit to bump up my beer stock a little.

http://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/sierra/

It gets great reviews but having tried the Tempest Brave New World IPA last week I want to make it a bit better. The tempest brew had great pineapple and grapefruit flavour and aroma.

I bought some Chinook and Centennial hops and wondering when to add these and how much. The kit calls for the Citra to be added 5 days into fermentation but thinking I might add some of the other two hops a few days before bottling.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Godsdog]

I usually dry hop in the FV on day 5/6 after the rush of fermentation then leave them in for a further 5 days.I use citra teabags quite a lot and this brew that I have today dry hopped are gonna hang the teabag in the keg bottom rather than chuck it to get the absolute maximum out of it

 

[darkbright]

I usually dry hop in the FV on day 5/6 after the rush of fermentation then leave them in for a further 5 days.I use citra teabags quite a lot and this brew that I have today dry hopped are gonna hang the teabag in the keg bottom rather than chuck it to get the absolute maximum out of it

Thanks, so introducing it earlier might work too. Maybe at day 7 or so?

 

[Robin54]

Interesting looking kit and a manufacturer Im not familiar with, so will investigate.
Agree with Gods Doggie tho.

 

[darkbright]

Interesting looking kit and a manufacturer Im not familiar with, so will investigate.
Agree with Gods Doggie tho.

Yes they are local to me when I am in Liverpool. Always seem like a good retailer. Their youtube channel is good but not updated very often. The kits are very good apparently, but want to maximise the hoppyness.

 

[Robin54]

Yes they are local to me when I am in Liverpool. Always seem like a good retailer. Their youtube channel is good but not updated very often. The kits are very good apparently, but want to maximise the hoppyness.

You could try (not done it myself) splitting the kit and try 2 different brews and find out which one you like the most...just a thought

 

[MyQul]

How much of the other hops did you get? You could add a hop tea made from the chinook an centennial at bottling time to add whatever flavours chinook and centennial bring .

Steep the hops in 1L of water of about 70C. Dont go above 80C or you'll extract bitterness as well as flavour, for 20mins. Don't go more than 20 mins as you risk extracting tannins which will ruin your beer. Make sure you make the kit up to 1L less than the instructions tell you as this 1L will be made up by the hop tea.

 

[darkbright]

You could try (not done it myself) splitting the kit and try 2 different brews and find out which one you like the most...just a thought

Hadn't though of that for this brew but a good shout. I have 2 5L demijohns so could have a play with them. Had planned on doing this for the seaweed beer I have been planning.

 

[darkbright]

How much of the other hops did you get? You could add a hop tea made from the chinook an centennial at bottling time to add whatever flavours chinook and centennial bring .

Steep the hops in 1L of water of about 70C. Dont go above 80C or you'll extract bitterness as well as flavour, for 20mins. Don't go more than 20 mins as you risk extracting tannins which will ruin your beer. Make sure you make the kit up to 1L less than the instructions tell you as this 1L will be made up by the hop tea.

Unfortunately the kit is already made up, so may have to just dry hop. Good idea though. Will definitely consider for the the next one.

 

[MyQul]

Unfortunately the kit is already made up, so may have to just dry hop. Good idea though. Will definitely consider for the the next one.

Well you could still do it with this kit as you add the hop tea at bottling time. I mentioned the strength will be diluted but not by much. What was the OG? I'll do a calculation and you can decided whether you want to still add the hop tea

 

[darkbright]

Well you could still do it with this kit as you add the hop tea at bottling time. I mentioned the strength will be diluted but not by much. What was the OG? I'll do a calculation and you can decided whether you want to still add the hop tea

was 1050. expected to be 1010. Cheers for the help.

 

[MyQul]

If you add 1L (of hop tea) it will dilute it down from 1.050 to 1.048

1.050 to 1.010 gives 5.2%ABV
1.048 to 1.010 gives 4.99%ABV

This is for 23L. I'm assuming that's what the kit is?

 

[darkbright]

Yes 23L kit. I think I will give this a try. Cheers all.

 

[LarryF]

How much of the other hops did you get? You could add a hop tea made from the chinook an centennial at bottling time to add whatever flavours chinook and centennial bring .

Steep the hops in 1L of water of about 70C. Dont go above 80C or you'll extract bitterness as well as flavour, for 20mins. Don't go more than 20 mins as you risk extracting tannins which will ruin your beer. Make sure you make the kit up to 1L less than the instructions tell you as this 1L will be made up by the hop tea.

I've always boiled my hops when doing a hop tea I never thought to steep them I'll certainly have go at this on my next brew tomorrow.

 

[MyQul]

I've always boiled my hops when doing a hop tea I never thought to steep them I'll certainly have go at this on my next brew tomorrow.

When you boil your hops your very possibly boiling off a lot of the essential flavouring oils

 

[Covrich]

By the time you prime your prime will possibly put it back up to 5.2% anyway plus you might get an extra bottle or two.. Happy days

 

[darkbright]

In the end i went for a hop tea and bit of dry hop. Decided for a bit of an experiment.

 

[Bigcol49]

When you boil your hops your very possibly boiling off a lot of the essential flavouring oils

I use a cafetierre that I bought to use for making hop tea - it works a treat!
I steep at 65C to preserve as many of the essential oils as possible.

 

[MyQul]

I use a cafetierre that I bought to use for making hop tea - it works a treat!
I steep at 65C to preserve as many of the essential oils as possible.

I've read about usina a cafetierre before. But I don't think MrsMQ would appreciate hop debris in her morning coffee so haven't tried it out

 

[Bigcol49]

I've read about usina a cafetierre before. But I don't think MrsMQ would appreciate hop debris in her morning coffee so haven't tried it out

Go on, live dangerously :grin:
I picked up a new stainless steel cafetière at an auction for a couple of quid.