Tom Caxton / Hop Enhancer

[MostlyHarmless]

I bought a Tom Caxton Real Ale kit last week and I'm planning on getting that started sometime soon (just a one-can kit, so probably going to use some Muntons Beerkit Enhancer rather than normal sugar).

The kit comes with an extra sachet of Hop Enhancer. The instructions say to add half of this for a medium hoppyness, and the full sachet for a stronger hop flavour. Being me, I'm tempted to go for the full sachet but I thought I'd ask a question here first...

Has anyone else used these kits/sachets? If so, are the guidelines good, or does the stuff in the sachet err on the side of either subtlety or strength? I got caught out with an oak flavour additive for a wine kit once which was quite full-on, and even though I used the guideline amount, I wished I'd been a bit less heavy-handed.

Thanks in advance

 

[abeyptfc]

Ive done this kit and just added the full sachet. I've never been a real ale drinker and couldnt tell what hops are hops to be honest, it didn't seem to taste too strong and didn't have any off flavours.get the full sachet in!

 

[shearclass]

I love hoppy beers, i.e brewdog style. I added the full sachet, and whilst the beer was fine, it wasn't massively hoppy. Therefore, I would say if you like your beer at least medium hopped, add the full sachet. If (for some mental reason) you aren;t a fan of hops, then don't add any, or just add half.

i would say bung the whole lot in though.

 

[MostlyHarmless]

Thanks for the quick replies...looks like the full sachet will be going in :

 

[unclepumble]

I have never done this kit, however I would imagine the hops in the satchet are not vac packed and therefore pretty oxidised.

If you want a hoppy beer chuck the satchet get some vac packed hops a good english variety such as east kent goldings, and put 25-30g of those in instead, the difference will be very noticable.

UP

 

[Grumpy Jack]

If it's like the kit I did a while ago, it's a hop oil sachet, I put half in and couldn't taste anything particularly hoppy at all...

If you like that extra hoppiness, I suspect that real hops is a better way to go than the oil and you can of course choose your hop variety... thus starting on your way to tinkering with flavours and then going "Oh sod it, I'm going AG all the way"...

...which is what I'm now thinking about for the winter, need time to accrue a bit of cash to splash out on some useful kit... :drunk:

 

[shearclass]

yes it's hop oil, rather than actual hops.

Ig you like really hoppy beers then you need to dry hop, but if you just liek something lightly/medium hopped then the sachet will do. I am nearly finished my barrel of Tom Caxton. I thought it was quite good for a 1 tin kit. Not something i would have chosen for myself, but my mam bought me it for my birthday.

I had pressure barrel issues, and thought the brew would be ruined as it neede transferring a few times, but ti was still fine. I have 3 litres of it bottled, which have been left well alone, which i expect to be quite nice.