india pale ale extract kit

I got this from a friend, and I will brew it soon: http://www.muntons.com/homebeer/countries/uk/gold_india.html

now I need advice for two things.

first, what yeast to use for this brew? what would be the most appropriate strain?

and second, since they offer two choices - to make a beer of 1.041 OG (Troops Tipple), or to add 1 kg of sugar and make Higher Ranks Reserve version which is stronger....

I'd like the stronger one if the sugar wont affect drinkability.

I'd like advice from those of you who already have brewed both versions... if there are such people here...

also, if I make a stronger version, I thought of adding brown cane sugar.... any thoughts on this?


thanks a lot

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/ad...ot-going-make-taste-like-freakin-cider-90498/

Read through this thread and it's replies. I think it will affect the characteristics of your beer.

For basically any IPA, I'd vote for California Ale Yeast WLP001. It's a clean tasting yeast which goes well with hops. If you'd prefer dry yeast, Safale US-05 is good too.

Malt flavor, or sweetness, is created by unfermentable sugars left in the beer by the yeast. If you SUBSTITUTE corn sugar for malts, you're decreasing the unfermentable (or "residual") sugars in your final product. That's why sugar makes beer LESS sweet.

If you ADD sugar to your existing recipe, without removing any of the ingredients, it won't affect the flavor much. It will, however, boost the alcohol, and give the beer a bit more bite. It sounds like that's what you'll be doing here.

I brewed a Munton's Nut Brown Ale kit... it came with yeast. It's possible your kit comes with yeast as well. Besides selecting a custom yeast, you'll have that as an option as well.

+1 for US-05, I think I love this yeast

if I decide to boost the ABV by using brown cane sugar instead of white table sugar, what can I expect in the final product? Any significant flavour changes from what originally it's supposed to be?

Honestly, I have never tried IPA so I don't know what it should be, and I would like to try IPA in it's original form (flavor, aroma, drinkability and everything else that makes it specific)

Everybody talks up the liquid yeasts - and I agree; you really can't make a decent wheat, or a stout or anything LIKE a belgian with dry yeast. But US-05 does a good job, for my taste, with pale ales and IPAs. It's cheap, and easy to store. So why not?

Brown sugar won't affect taste significantly, but I imagine it will leave you with a slightly darker beer.

pericles said:

Everybody talks up the liquid yeasts - and I agree; you really can't make a decent wheat, or a stout or anything LIKE a belgian with dry yeast. But US-05 does a good job, for my taste, with pale ales and IPAs. It's cheap, and easy to store. So why not?

Click to expand...

hmm I really liked my american wheat kit from NB that I used us-05 for. I'm a complete noob though, so maybe next time I flip the extra bucks for the liquid. What can I expect to be different taste wise with the liquid wyeast 1010?

The reason I did dry is, I was researching a beer that is dirt cheap and is quick from boil to bottle. The american wheat kit from NB is $21 with us-05 and $24 with wyeast 1010. Regardless, great beer for 50 cents per 12oz.

AMERICAN wheat beers probably will turn out OK with US-05, because they're essentially just pale ales made with wheat. The distinctive flavor is, in large measure, supplied by the grain bill and not the yeast. Thus a clean fermenting yeast like US-05 does a good job. A specialty yeast probably would be BETTER in order to achieve ALL the characteristics of the style. It'd also probably help ferment the wheat more fully.

GERMAN or BELGIAN wheats, on the other hand, really do require specialty yeasts. That's how you get the classic banana nose.