What can I create using Goldings and Northern brewer?

[Treacle]

Hi everyone! Newbie here. I've only made 4 kits so far - the last two being the Woodfordes Wherry which I loved -(incidently I just bought another one a few days ago after reading on the forum that it was on offer at Wilko!)

But a friend of mine gave me some hops -(about 70g of Goldings and 80g of northern brewer) so I thought I'd have a go at using them up as the previous kits had it all included in the extract.

I was hoping to make something lighter in colour and more like an IPA style- maybe 5.5-6%. But I don't know if that would be possible with the two varieties that I've got.

I've also got a litre of coopers light liquid malt extract and a bag of medium spray malt. Plus sugar and two different yeasts to choose from- wilko's Gervin and Windsor Danstar.

Basically (sorry this is getting long winded!) I dont really want to go out and spend anything else so my question is - with the ingredients that I"ve got could I make something IPAish?! And if so what quantity of hops would you recommend I boil up or would I also use some of it to dry hop? Which yeast do you think would be best?

I know its still far from all grain brewing but at least I'll be getting a bit more involved in the process!

Any advice or recommendations would be really appreciated!

Cheers! :

 

[Covrich]

You could do an extract the the hops with your liquid malt (boil it) and add the spray malt in at the end..

I am not a fan though of topping up with say 500 grams of sugar, before we talk numbers what exactly do you have 500 grams DME?

But with that you could do an English pale ale or IPA probably but I would be looking at around the 10-15 liter mark and ditch the sugar

 

[clibit]

Yeah how much spraymalt and are you sure it's 1kg Coopers liquid, it comes in 1.7kg tins.

 

[Covrich]

Yeah how much spraymalt and are you sure it's 1kg Coopers liquid, it comes in 1.7kg tins.

Looking at shop websites it looks like 1.5kg so that plus 500grams DME I think he is looking at a 10-12lt. Shoudl get him around the 5-6% mark

 

[clibit]

But we are guessing how much liquid and spray malt he has.

 

[Treacle]

An English pale ale sounds great. Yes its 500g dme (need to learn these abbreviations!) and 1.5kg of the liquid.

I was planning to top up with sugar as ideally I wanted to do a 20lt batch. I know you don't recommend the brewing sugar but would it not make the beer lighter? I think I'd prefer it with less body anyway. Also do I have to boil the malt in with hops? I read that it can darken the beer. Could I just add it all in at the end of the boil? Cheers

 

[clibit]

You could make 11 litres of IPA with an ABV of around 5.5%.

Add the DME to your biggest pan full of water, mix it in thoroughly, bring to the boil and add 20g Northern Brewer. 45 mins after adding the NB add 15g Goldings. 15 mins after adding the Goldings, switch off and add 25g Goldings. Leave to steep with the lid on for 30 mins, then place in a sink of cold water, ice if you have it. Then transfer to FV via a sterilised sieve and when its down to 20C, pitch the yeast.

This gives an OG of 1056 and a strong bitterness of about 50 IBUs. You could dry hop it too.

 

[Covrich]

An English pale ale sounds great. Yes its 500g dme (need to learn these abbreviations!) and 1.5kg of the liquid.

I was planning to top up with sugar as ideally I wanted to do a 20lt batch. I know you don't recommend the brewing sugar but would it not make the beer lighter? I think I'd prefer it with less body anyway. Also do I have to boil the malt in with hops? I read that it can darken the beer. Could I just add it all in at the end of the boil? Cheers

No I wouldn't if it was me, I would either follow what clibit has suggested and get a great beer or get an extra KG of dry malt extract.. I appreciate it is not cheap but I think adding 1KG of sugar will diminish it too much, If you're going to go down the extract route definatley do it right.

Or.... well what you could do which will be cheaper and better is grab yourself a couple of kilos of pale malt and do a mini mash, it is really easy.. what size pot do you have.

 

[Treacle]

Thanks a lot both of you. I think I'll do as you advise and make a smaller batch to avoid the sugar.

I definitely want to try a mash at some point though so may get some pale malt grain for next time - thanks for suggesting Covrich. Plus I've got a large 25-28litre pot from my uncle who is a chef which will be handy-just about fits on the stove!

Do you have any idea on the best yeast for this? I've got Wilko's Gervin which is the cheapo one or Windsor?

Thanks again

 

[Covrich]

THe cheaper yeast is actually also a Danstar yeast under a cheaper brand (Nottingham) the nottingham will give a cleaner taste and attenuiate a bit more so a bit dryer.. The windsor will leave it a bit sweeter and give more fruity esters. I haven't used windsor before either would work fine I would say.

PS that pot size is great, if you could boil a large volume of wort in there you could do large AG batches

 

[Treacle]

THe cheaper yeast is actually also a Danstar yeast under a cheaper brand (Nottingham) the nottingham will give a cleaner taste and attenuiate a bit more so a bit dryer..

That's interesting- I think I'll go with the Gervin/Nottingham then as I'd prefer a dryer ale this time. I'll save the Windsor for the next one- maybe for an AG! Cheers