Hi all, new member, novice brewer but probably some tired old questions.

[Windy One]

Hi all

I’m new to this hobby and after one failed brew (Wilko), due to something I did wrong, rather than the kit itself and following a bit of reading/research I have a few questions for anyone that might care to provide answers based on their experience. As an alternative to an all grain/mash brew, it seems that a popular method is to choose a kit beer and improve it by adding hops about 5 days before the end of the first fermentation (maybe to try to get something similar to the taste of a Brewdog/Punk IPA). So here goes with my queries:

Q1. Hops- just tossed into the fermentation bucket or placed in a hop straining bag then tossed in? What’s the difference? Any tips if doing it via a straining bag?

Q2. To try and replicate something similar to a Punk IPA,-which kit (costing less than say £18) and combination of additional hops? Any recommendations?

Q3. Anyone tried the Young's American Craft Beer IPA? Would this make a good base kit for a Punk/IPA? Any recommended additions to the stuff supplied with the kit?

Q4. Anyone tried the Festival Premium Razorback IPA? Would this make a good base kit for a Punk/IPA? Any recommended additions to the stuff supplied with the kit?

Q5. Anyone tried making a hop tea with bittering hops and adding at the very start of the kit brew? If so which hops and quantity? And did this improve upon the taste of the original kit?

Q6. Anyone tried making a hop tea with flavouring hops, cooled to 21 degs, and adding after say 3 days to the kit brew? If so which hops and quantity? And did this improve upon the taste of the original kit?

Q7. What’s a good pressure (psi) to hold in the barrel so that flow out of the tap is regular.

Sorry for all the questions (no doubt, many of you will have heard them before). Any replies would be gratefully received. The thing is I just don’t want to waste a load of money on trial and error experiments when folks in the homebrewing community could set me right by sharing their successes. Cheers all. Thanks.

 

[terrym]

These may help
1. A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum
Its really down to personal choice how you do it.
2. Cant help
3. Kit review here all 58 pages of it
Youngs American IPA
4. Kit review here Festival Razorback IPA Review
5/6. I use 10g hops for every 100g water. Less and it doesn't flow, more and you start to dilute your beer. A cafetiere works. You could consider chucking wet hops and tea into the beer. I found this better than dry hopping at the rates I used.
7. PBs are usually limited to 15psig (stamped on the PB) and are only really suitable for ales and low carb type beers . Well before you get to 15psig you will be dispensing foam rather than beer. I use max 90g sugar to prime and even then have to take my time dispensing at the beginning.

 

[MyQul]

Welcome to the forum

Q1. What your talking about is dry hopping. Here's terry's guide A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer

Q2,3,4 Have a look in our review section. We have reviews for all those kits (I believe) whether they would make a good base for a Brewdog IPA, I have no idea as I dont like IPA or Beer that is high IBU (very bitter)

Q5,6 Although hop teas add some bittering they predominantly add flavour. You ideally need to add the hops to steep at a temp of a little below 80C for abour 20mins. You can add as little or much hops as you like (Just look at some extract or all grain reciepe and follow the hop amounts on your for your favourite beers) . I seem to remember forumite @terrym came up with a ratio for doing hop tea so you don't add too much liquid and dilute your brew more than necessary but enough liquid so you didn't end up with just a hoppy mush. I've done a number of hop teas. Almost all English hops. I have even completely changed the flavour of a beer that I didnt like into one I did using hop tea.

Q7. I've never used a pressure barrel so someone with the knowledge on these will have to answer your question

(Edit I see Terry posted about a minute before me)

 

[Windy One]

Hi Terrym and MyQul

Very many thanks for the quick replies. Especially, the quantities, temperatures and timings tips re questions 5&6. I think I'll give these a try as you both seem to have had positive results. And thanks for the links to the reviews of the kit beers I enquired about. Great. Right back to mowing the lawn (again) and washing the car (again) and, oh there's a bit of ironing in the corner I might do. Roll on normality. Cheers.

 

[fury_tea]

I use a hop bag, weigh it down with some marbles or a stainless steel spoon and boil the bag n weights for 10 minutes first to kill any nasties, and make sure the bag isn't too full of hops, you want a bit of space for when they swell.

If you have a large stock pot, and some other basic equipment you could try following this: BREWDOG - PUNK IPA Clone - EXTRACT
Not tried it myself but it's a clone recipe for extract version of punk ipa, a little bit more involved than a kit though.
Otherwise you could just use a hop tea for the hops they put on the boil and the dry hop amounts and use them in a lightly hopped kit (like a wilko lager).

 

[Windy One]

I use a hop bag, weigh it down with some marbles or a stainless steel spoon and boil the bag n weights for 10 minutes first to kill any nasties, and make sure the bag isn't too full of hops, you want a bit of space for when they swell.

If you have a large stock pot, and some other basic equipment you could try following this: BREWDOG - PUNK IPA Clone - EXTRACT
Not tried it myself but it's a clone recipe for extract version of punk ipa, a little bit more involved than a kit though.
Otherwise you could just use a hop tea for the hops they put on the boil and the dry hop amounts and use them in a lightly hopped kit (like a wilko lager).

Cheers, Fury_tea, Wilko Lager Kit- sounds right in my budget range. Thanks.

 

[Windy One]

Cheers, Fury_tea, Wilko Lager Kit- sounds right in my budget range. Thanks

 

[fury_tea]

Cheers, Fury_tea, Wilko Lager Kit- sounds right in my budget range. Thanks

Here's the brewdog official recipe, there's a lot more hops in there than the recipe I posted above. Worth a look:

https://brewdogrecipes.com/recipes/punk-ipa-2010-current

 

[terrym]

Cheers, Fury_tea, Wilko Lager Kit- sounds right in my budget range. Thanks

Your's is a situation that many new homebrewers find themselves in. They have a favourite beer and want to replicate it by modifying a kit, hopefully from the budget end of the range. My experience and understanding of this is that it is rarely, if at all achievable, and the nearest you might get to this is to buy a premium kit where everything is in the box and where many are modelled on commercially available beers. However that's not to say you can't make a decent beer from a one can but the less you spend on it by perhaps by buying cheap like a 1.5kg kit and skimping on extras the less likely this will be, and yet the more you spend on modding a one can the nearer the cost gets to that little extra you would have spent on buying a premium kit. Nevertheless I used to mod one cans with grain steeps, extra hops, and mini-mashes but my objective was not to copy a commercial beer, and I did this after gaining quite a lot of experience.
So my advice to you, before you gain some brewing experience, is to go for a Youngs AIPA which many on here have done and liked, and although it won't exactly copy your beer of choice it should deliver a good result But if your budget does not extend to that at least buy a 1.7kg kit (say a Coopers AuPA kit) , use at least half of the extra sugars as malt extract, and spend the rest on some American hops like Cascade which usually comes in cheaper than other American hops some of which can cost twice as much to buy.

 

[Windy One]

terrym, many thanks again. Yes, I think I'll go with your recommendation and get a Youngs AIPA kit. Then, in the following brews experiment with various additions and see how I go, for example use a bittering hop tea at 10g/100g water ratio (80c degs/20 mins) at the start.
Ultimately, I didn't want to get it wrong, lose enthusiasm and give up. I just want a little re-assurance that I'm on the right track, ta.
PS. Love your tag line- 'Patience is the Friend of the Homebrewer'. If only it was as easy as making Angel Delight, when I was a teenager in the 1970's.