John Bull Bitter Kit Questions

[Latetoparty]

Hi there

First time poster but not a new brewer.

I've recently moved on to all grain after buying a bargain second hand setup from ebay.

I still wander through the Tesco home brew section and today spotted they were selling off lots of bits as they now seem be to stocking newer products.

Managed to pick up 2 x John Bull bitter kits for £3 each. Currently brewing a nice hoppy APA so thought I'd buy these as a good darker alternative for winter.

Would this be too bitter to use the 2 cans in the same brew? If so what ingredients would you add to one can brew to give it a bit of umph? I've got some molasses leftover from a coopers english bitter I did a while ago (With fuggles this made a nice brew that sort of tasted like Hobgoblin).

Any ideas welcome.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

It would be too strong unless these kits require extra fermentables

 

[Latetoparty]

Thought it might be too strong. Instructions say to add 1kg of sugar.

Any other thoughts of what else to add to make it interesting?

 

[Slid]

Hi there

First time poster but not a new brewer.

I've recently moved on to all grain after buying a bargain second hand setup from ebay.

I still wander through the Tesco home brew section and today spotted they were selling off lots of bits as they now seem be to stocking newer products.

Managed to pick up 2 x John Bull bitter kits for �£3 each. Currently brewing a nice hoppy APA so thought I'd buy these as a good darker alternative for winter.

Would this be too bitter to use the 2 cans in the same brew? If so what ingredients would you add to one can brew to give it a bit of umph? I've got some molasses leftover from a coopers english bitter I did a while ago (With fuggles this made a nice brew that sort of tasted like Hobgoblin).

Any ideas welcome.

I would use both kits and add a hop tea with Fuggles or Goldings or anything, TBH, once the initial ferment is done. No kit is ever so bitter that doubling up ruins it in my experience.

 

[IainM]

What I've done with cheap kits, now I've gone AG, is to use grain to produce the extra fermentables instead of sugar/DME/LME. A few weeks back I did a Dogma clone, using the first runnings for the clone, and the second runnings with a Coopers European Lager, which I later gave a massive dose of American hops (link). Turned out very nice, much better than a straight kit'n'kilo brew. Before that I did a Black IPA with a Coopers Lager kit and a 6kg grain bill which was very nice and didn't last long (link). In fact, I'm going to put another black IPA on tomorrow with a Coopers Lager I picked up cheap, with a 6.75kg grain bill using up crushed grains which have been lying around and I should use up before their efficiency drops too much. It will have an epic dry hop!

If this route appeals, try to find out or estimate the IBU and ECB of your kit and take that into account when designing the grain bill and hop schedule. If I had two John Bull Bitter kits, I'd probably use one for as the base of a wee heavy, and the other for an old ale or foreign extra stout.

 

[terrym]

I found that the John Bull kits are one of the better one-can darker beer kits, probably better than their Coopers equivalent.
I would just brew one can to 20 -21 litres or so, add 500g DME+500g dextrose, or alternatively two jars of H&B liquid malt extract, and then do a dry hop with say 50g of a 'typical' English hop like EKG. I used First Gold on mine and it turned out fine.
You will find that it gets better with keeping, typically four months rather than four weeks conditioning, although you do lose some of the dry hop effect. You could then do a second brew with the same fermentables but a Cascade dry hop if you like that sort of thing for something different.

 

[Latetoparty]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Think I'm going to keep the cans separate.

Firstly going with terrym's advice with a tweak: One JB Bitter kit, with one H&B Malt Extract followed by some molasses (How much do you think, 250g/500g?). I've got some fuggles which I was thinking of dry hopping with.

Hopefully try the AG mix with the other can.

 

[terrym]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Think I'm going to keep the cans separate.

Firstly going with terrym's advice with a tweak: One JB Bitter kit, with one H&B Malt Extract followed by some molasses (How much do you think, 250g/500g?). I've got some fuggles which I was thinking of dry hopping with.

Hopefully try the AG mix with the other can.

Don't use too much molasses is my comment, unless you want to overpower your brew; I would only use 250g max. If you intend to go this way I would then make up to 21-22 litres and add another H&B malt to the one you already intend to use.
I've not used fuggles as a dry hop before, but it should compliment your brew as an aroma/flavour hop, but again don't overdo the molasses imo or your dry hop impact may well be wasted.