Simple kit plus mini-mash method to improve a kit

[clibit]

I can do all that in Brewmate, but Brewersfriend seems to have buggered it up unfortunately. I think Brewersfriend is owned by @Austin, who owns this site? If so, maybe we can ask him to sort it out?

Anyway, your recipe looks sound.

 

[CletePurcel]

I can do all that in Brewmate, but Brewersfriend seems to have buggered it up unfortunately. I think Brewersfriend is owned by @Austin, who owns this site? If so, maybe we can ask him to sort it out?

Anyway, your recipe looks sound.

Thanks Clibit. I have the ingredients now to do the Youngs version of the Amarillo so I might try that this weekend as the wife is away. But it looks very useful to be able to manipulate ingredients using software to tweak the recipes as you suggest.

 

[clibit]

I find the software indispensable. I can add in recipes I find, adapt recipes, and create recipes, and it stores them all. I can adjust the quantity to brew in a few seconds, make any other adjustments I want and it tells me all I need to know about water quantities etc, now that I have it tuned to my way of doing things. I have a huge database of recipes within it now. And they are all stored as separate files which can be opened in other software, I believe.

 

[HisDudeness]

Would this work well with a kit like the John Bull IPA?, quite tempted by this in the Tesco sale at only £9 but would probably want to amp it up a bit in terms of ABV and possibly hopping...

 

[HisDudeness]

Also those youngs pilsner kits mentioned in the amarillo recipe at the start are on there for £7.50!

 

[CletePurcel]

Also those youngs pilsner kits mentioned in the amarillo recipe at the start are on there for £7.50!

I bought a coopers lager kit from tesco yesterday so I have adapted the amarillo recipe and going to try it tomorrow with that as the data is already there in beersmith.

 

[HarrowBrewer]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a stab at at a mini mash with the Cooper's Real Ale kit. I made a fantastic stout using the recipe that Clibit posted a link to here, and I was wondering if I could use the Cooper's Real Ale kit to make a nice session bitter.

 

[Slid]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a stab at at a mini mash with the Cooper's Real Ale kit. I made a fantastic stout using the recipe that Clibit posted a link to here, and I was wondering if I could use the Cooper's Real Ale kit to make a nice session bitter.

I've done a Real Ale kit with steeped grains and that was very good. The Real Ale kit is a good base for a mini mash as it won't need much more bittering for a session beer.

 

[HarrowBrewer]

Thanks Slid. Can you remember what grains you used, and if you added any hops at all?

 

[Slid]

Thanks Slid. Can you remember what grains you used, and if you added any hops at all?

Hi H-B.

The point, I guess, of using the PM approach is that you decide on the general style you are aiming at at and chuck in the stuff that seems best to get you there.

For example, to do a sort of general-ish style English bitter, sort of, beer, use 90% base malt, 10% crystal sort of speciality grain and then add some hops to the boil. The old fashioned ones are Goldings, Bramling Cross and Fuggles etc and the newer ones might include Progress, Challenger, First Gold and a host of others.

I would advise against over-complicating things. Adding just base malt and whatever hops are to hand, will be a very useful first step. Use the high alpha's to bitter and the low alphas later.

Very hard to go too far wrong, since beer is beer, at the end of the evening.

 

[HarrowBrewer]

Very true. I plumped for a strong ale-ish kind of mash, with Challenger and Fuggles, so I'll have something drinkable I'm sure! I also got a Cooper's Canadian Blonde in the Tesco sale and I'm deliberating over what best to try with that. I think it'll be a good base for trying out some stronger hop flavours.

 

[clibit]

Very true. I plumped for a strong ale-ish kind of mash, with Challenger and Fuggles, so I'll have something drinkable I'm sure! I also got a Cooper's Canadian Blonde in the Tesco sale and I'm deliberating over what best to try with that. I think it'll be a good base for trying out some stronger hop flavours.

Yes I believe the Canadian Blonde is a great base. You could turn it into anything by steeping grains, and then use whatever hops you want, and yeast.

 

[HisDudeness]

Would it be ok to use a lager style kit as a base for a wheat beer? Ive read that wheat can be sticky if used in very high percentages in the mash which would be the case if you swap the base barley malts for a kit. Apparently rice hulls can help with this, what sort of percentage would you need?
I know you can do a mini mash the other way round using a wheat kit but I have a few lager kits from impulse buying in the Tesco sale and want to try something a bit different with them

 

[G-Town Brewer]

I brewed the Motueka Blonde Ale (slightly tweaked) using the method described at the top of this post and it turned out very well indeed. I made a video of the brew and tasting for my YouTube channel, if anyone is interested in that kind of stuff:

Motueka Blonde Ale, Partial Mash

 

[damienair]

Thanks for the video. Very good. I’ve done about 18 kits so far. Very happy with the results, pimped a couple too with extra dry hops. My last brew was a full extract Citra IPA from The Homebrew Company. I enjoyed the process. I’ll be sampling my first bottle tonight, it’s currently chilling in the fridge.