Youngs American IPA

[jamie72]

RE. keeping the hops out - I posted this on another thread about Festival kits. So if you've had a Festival kit and still have one of their little filter bags you can do the following:

I stick a sparkling wine wire cage on the end of the syphon tube, squeeze it into a longer flatter shape and then put the bag over the whole lot (all sanitized of course). This works really well.
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Cheers - Louis MacNeice

This is exactly what I intend to use next time! :-D

 

[Daza1604]

Do the hops dissolve in to the beer or do they just stay as they are and the flavour leaks out of them for want of a better word?
I'm trying to think of the best way to ensure that when I bottle straight from my fermenting barrel that no **** ends up in them

 

[wazzaowl]

When I went to my LHBS they gave me a mesh bag to put over the end of my racking cane/syphon tube, works a treat! Definitely recommend.

 

[Wolfracer]

I tried a muslin bag over the end of the siphon tube today. It wouldn't pull the liquid through. Must have been sucking itself to the tube.
So I took it off. Bottle 75% as normal. Tilted FV and got a few more out, then the siphon started pulling up the bits like a vacuum.

So, I used a plastic funnel in the bottle, then a normal kitchen sieve in that. Worked a treat, and filtered out all the hops.

Bit of a faf, but i got all the liquid and none of the nasty stuff. :)

 

[Wolfracer]

Tasted a sample of both IPA and APA, they were both heavily hopped to the point of extreme bitterness on the tongue. Hoping a few months in the bottles will sort it out.

 

[Ragnar]

I finally decided to brew the A.I.P.A. after having it sitting in the cupboard since June. Fairly excited now, after reading all the great things here. Sadly, 18 hours in an no sign of life, haha. I'll wait for a few more days and if still nothing, I'm gonna order a few new ones.

I also brewed the A.P.A. a few months ago but I messed up somewhere for sure as it was undrinkable. I'm definitely gonna try it again though.

 

[Daza1604]

I wouldn't worry 2 much mate, mine done nothing for 3 days or so. Day 14 now and I've a gravity of 1010 that's 5.51% apparently is pretty much cock on to the instructions. I've added the dry hops and will give them a few days before bottling.
I tasted the liquid when I took my last gravity reading and I'm not going to lie it was awful... Is this normal at this stage? The hops smell amazing tho now they have been added.

 

[Ragnar]

Ok, all good here! Mine started bubbling away happily after ~36hrs, so it all worked out. In fact, I'm guessing it would've been bubbling even earlier but I'm using a new fermentation bucket, which has a screw cap and I didn't screw it on properly. I tightened it last night and now it's bubbling quite aggressively. Here's to hoping I can have some great A.I.P.A. soon!

Talking of which, should I go by the kit's (seemingly optimistic) fermentation guidelines or should I just keep it in primary for 3 weeks flat?

 

[Daza1604]

Mines been 16 days now. Gravity has been steady for last 3 days so intend to bottle at the weekend.
It tasted absolutely vile before I added the hops. Hoping its a little nicer when I bottle it now the hops are in there

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

mine has been transferred to another fv for a while now and added hops sunday. Was due a day off today to bottle but have to work, need to do tomorrow as away for the weekend. I hope 5 days dry hopping will taste ok.

 

[Daza1604]

Let me know how it tastes and smells when you bottle it.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Daza. Bottled last night late on with nothing to stop the hops. Put in second t.v. and batch primed and little bottler stopped most of the hops getting into the bottles. Lost about 4 litres though I reckon. Smell very floral a bit like evil dog double ipa. Taste a bit thin and very, very bitter. Hopefully a few weeks later it will be ok.

 

[Russ146]

Having made a barrel of this i have left it for 3 months to condition being 6.5%.

The quality of this beer is fantastic, the flavour is like sharp grapefruit and is delicious. I happened to be in a weatherspoons recently and saw an American IPA by the Devils backbone brewing company made under licence here by marstons.

I was staggered, i tried a pint and it was identical to my brew with the same grapefruit sharpness and feel.

I will definitely be making this again.

 

[Daza1604]

Mines all bottled now. Followed the instructions to the letter and things seem to have gone to plan. 5.7% I make it.
It smells fantastic, but the taste at this stage isn't great at all. Going to leave in a warm dark place for a few weeks then transfer in to the cold garage before trying. Fingers crossed I get the result you guys are all raving about

 

[Covrich]

Having made a barrel of this i have left it for 3 months to condition being 6.5%.

The quality of this beer is fantastic, the flavour is like sharp grapefruit and is delicious. I happened to be in a weatherspoons recently and saw an American IPA by the Devils backbone brewing company made under licence here by marstons.

I was staggered, i tried a pint and it was identical to my brew with the same grapefruit sharpness and feel.

I will definitely be making this again.

Sounds good but this may be my noviceness coming out but if you leave that to condition for 3 months won't all the dry hop aroma and taste dissipate or diminish?

I want to clarify I want to do this kit I do wonder if though at given its strength trying to get 40 pints of that down while fresh won't do my health much good.

Maybe a subject worth it's own thread

 

[Wolfracer]

Mines all bottled now. Followed the instructions to the letter and things seem to have gone to plan. 5.7% I make it.
It smells fantastic, but the taste at this stage isn't great at all. Going to leave in a warm dark place for a few weeks then transfer in to the cold garage before trying. Fingers crossed I get the result you guys are all raving about

Mine is bottled too, and has been for a week or so... its clearing nicely, somewhere warm. However it did also taste quite bitter when i tasted it. Here's hoping conditioning does its trick.

the APA I did at the same time still hasnt cleared in the bottle though, and no sign of it happening either.. but thats another thread!

 

[Daza1604]

I cant really tell if its clearing or not due to the bottles being brown and not exactly transparent.
I plan to leave for another few weeks then give them a try

 

[Pgale307]

First batch I did earlier this year followed the instructions to the letter, great IPA.

If you are a hop head, want more hop flavour and want to brew a kit version of a US West Coast Craft Brew IPA (ie, Lagunitas IPA or Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA), then add 50gms of Youngs Simcoe hop pellets as well as the 100gms of hops you get with the kit.

Takes this outstanding kit to the next level!!

 

[Ragnar]

I don't know what am I doing wrong with these kits but I just took a reading, it's been sitting in the bucket for 2 weeks now and the SG is around 1.008 so that's great. But the taste... it's absolutely horrible. I'm going to wait for a few more days and add the hops in and transfer to secondary. If it still tastes like **** at that point, I'm going to flush it though.

How did it taste for everyone else after 2 weeks of primary? I mean, I get it, it's not going to taste incredible after so little. But it should at least have some hints of drinkability, right?

 

[Daza1604]

Mine also tasted horrible mate. I still bottled it and it's been there week and a half now. Hopefully another 10 days or so and I'll give the 1st bottle a try. I wouldn't get rid, surely worth a try before completely binning it.