Recent content by garagecollective

Thanks

Mangrove Jacks Bitter kit, so the yeast is a super basic ale yeast...

So I bought some Safale US-05 to go into my ale kit. Do I use it with the ale yeast that comes with the kit, or only use the US-05 yeast? Thanks!

Thanks for the advice everyone. Because I've only dry hopped twice (each time with a hop tea as well) I can't say whether it just adds aroma, or both aroma and flavour. It certainly smells and tastes good! I wonder now if 10 days was too long, so now I've got some time frames to play with. Thanks!

Thanks Andrew, I'll check that out. There's so many out there it's hard to know what to try.

Yeah I came to that conclusion reading an Australian book, The Complete Guide to Beer and Brewing, which states: Because of biochemicalreactions that are a mystery to me... the use of large amounts of sugar leaves the finished product with an acidic 'cidery' flavour which does not resemble...

Brew Enhancer 2 could be the ticket, thanks amandabab. The reason I don't do a extract/partial mash brew is time really... if I can get a good enough result using kits I'll be very happy. And maybe later when the wee one is a bit older I can actually get more experimental! Such is life eh?

Sorry I was using the term DME as Dry Malt Extract, not Dark Malt Extract; and LME as Liquid Malt Extract. This site probably has a glossary I should refer to! I typically ferment at 20C in a converted fridge with lamps and a thermostat. I didn't know heat can effect the taste as well, so...

Yeah I have been thinking of stepping up to extract brews...

I've now done 4 brews from kits, with hop additions and mainly using Copper Tun Beer enhancers for fermentables. Yet I still can't seem to shake that cidery hint of home brew. I did some online surfing and it turns out the enhancers are pretty much 90% dextrose (they don't list the proportions...

A few pics of my dry hopping process, for anyone who's interested :mug: http://www.garagecollective.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/dry-hopping-brew-4-apa.html

Thanks everyone. The beer tastes great, so maybe I shouldn't worry too much! But think I'll play with yeast options.

Ok cool, thanks for that clarification. Would a yeast nutrient do the trick as well?

Thanks guys! @Captain Damage, I take it you mean getting rid of the packet yeast that comes with the kit, and getting a better one of the same strain?

Hi everyone, first time post but have trawled this site for a while now. I've now brewed three batches, using kits plus my own additions (the last one I made a hop tea, and dry hopped in the fermenter). However, with my last two batches the hydrometer readings never passed 1020. They taste...