Adding Grain/Hops to a Kit

This will be my first brew (in about 5 years) and I'm using a Brewhouse IPA Kit. http://www.thebrewhouse.com/types/index.htm - scroll down to the IPA

My question is this, I want to add some grains and hops to the kit. Can I can steep the grains and make a hop tea in two different pots and then add to the kit to top up to the 23 liter mark? I'm afraid this may be over simplifying the process but I wanted some feedback.

Thanks

Tim said:

This will be my first brew (in about 5 years) and I'm using a Brewhouse IPA Kit. http://www.thebrewhouse.com/types/index.htm - scroll down to the IPA

My question is this, I want to add some grains and hops to the kit. Can I can steep the grains and make a hop tea in two different pots and then add to the kit to top up to the 23 liter mark? I'm afraid this may be over simplifying the process but I wanted some feedback.

Thanks

Click to expand...

you're actually making it more complicated than it needs to be. You only need one pot.

Put your grains in a bag and put them in a gallon of water in the pot.
Heat this up (slowly) to 150 degrees and hold it there for 30 to 60 minutes.
Remove the grain and discard it.
Add more water to the pot and bring it to a boil.
Add the extract from your IPA kit to the water and thro in your first hops and start cooking!

-walker

hmmm... wait a second. these kits look like they are no-boil kits that are already hopped? interesting.

in that case, you can soak the grains as described below and then (after removing the grains) boil the water and add some hops.

How much hops and how long to boil depends on what you want to do here. if you want to make it more bitter, select a high alpha acid hops an dboil it foir 45 minutes to an hour.

If you want more hop aroma/flavor, chose a lower alpha acid hops and boil it for something less than 30 minutes.

Walker said:

hmmm... wait a second. these kits look like they are no-boil kits that are already hopped? interesting.

in that case, you can soak the grains as described below and then (after removing the grains) boil the water and add some hops.

How much hops and how long to boil depends on what you want to do here. if you want to make it more bitter, select a high alpha acid hops an dboil it foir 45 minutes to an hour.

If you want more hop aroma/flavor, chose a lower alpha acid hops and boil it for something less than 30 minutes.

Click to expand...

Thanks Walker.

One more question, do I just take this grain and hop tea and use it to bring the kit up to 23 litres? And then add my yeast? BTW .. I've purchased liquid yeast as this sounds like a huge improvement. I think it's Wyeast 1028 London Ale?

Thanks

Tim

Tim said:

Thanks Walker.

One more question, do I just take this grain and hop tea and use it to bring the kit up to 23 litres? And then add my yeast? BTW .. I've purchased liquid yeast as this sounds like a huge improvement. I think it's Wyeast 1028 London Ale?

Thanks

Tim

Click to expand...

If you are instructed to bring the volume up to 23 litres, then.. yes. You can add the hop/grain tea as well as any other water you need to get the full volume. Then pitch the yeast.

One word about the liquid yeast... these really work best if you make a small starter batch of beer and allow the yeast to start working/multiplying in that. This is usually done the day before you pitch it into the full batch.

Since it sounds like you are basically using concentrated, pre-hopped beer in these kits, I'm assuming you don'd have any plain old malt extract lying around to make the starter.

You could either take a little of the wort that comes with your kit, dilute a bit, and add the yeast to it to make the starter.

Or, just use the liquid yeast as-is. I did that the first time I used liquid yeast and it worked OK. But the results are better (faster ferment) if you use the primer.

-walker

Walker said:

If you are instructed to bring the volume up to 23 litres, then.. yes. You can add the hop/grain tea as well as any other water you need to get the full volume. Then pitch the yeast.

One word about the liquid yeast... these really work best if you make a small starter batch of beer and allow the yeast to start working/multiplying in that. This is usually done the day before you pitch it into the full batch.

Since it sounds like you are basically using concentrated, pre-hopped beer in these kits, I'm assuming you don'd have any plain old malt extract lying around to make the starter.

You could either take a little of the wort that comes with your kit, dilute a bit, and add the yeast to it to make the starter.

Or, just use the liquid yeast as-is. I did that the first time I used liquid yeast and it worked OK. But the results are better (faster ferment) if you use the primer.

-walker

Click to expand...

You're right I don't have any malt extract but I will go get some and use that rather than open my kit the day before using it. I assume I just add some of the malt extract to warm water and then pitch the yeast and keep at about 68 degress F / 20 C for 24hrs and then add to my brew?

I recommend 8 pounds of fermentables per 5 gallons, mainly malt extract. Most kits fall short.

I would agree with some extra extract, wether dry or liquid to bring it up a bit. And sometimes some extra hops, although thats a personal thing. My first was a prehopped IPA kit that I added 3 pounds of light DME to and an extra 2 ounces of hops, one for bittering and another for some aromatics. Tasted mighty nice at bottling time.

Genghis77 said:

I recommend 8 pounds of fermentables per 5 gallons, mainly malt extract. Most kits fall short.

Click to expand...

Are you saying to add 8 pounds to my brewhouse kit? When you say fermentables do you mean malt extract and/or grains or are you referring to one or the other? Sorry but I'm new to this and not 100% sure.
Thanks

Genghis77 said:

I recommend 8 pounds of fermentables per 5 gallons, mainly malt extract. Most kits fall short.

Click to expand...

The guidelines I have read state:

1.0 lb of liquid extract for every gallon of beer for a light bodied beer.
1.5 lb of liquid extract for every gallon of beer for a full bodied beer.


-walker

The best thing to do if you're unsure about how much water to add is to get a hydrometer and add enough water to get a proper OG for the style you are brewing. As G77 said most kits fall short. You may have a reduced batch size compared to the instructions but the beer will be much better.

IMHO kits are good by themselves with some DME and or dextrose (!) but I find that they start to be a pain and raise too many questions when you start to really tweak them. For example; Any given kit is designed to be used with no extra flavors added so how much will adding a few more hops affect this brew? Can I boil this kit? The list of questions rapidly becoms too long. If you're looking to really start crafting your own recipes, it will be easier to control the entire flavor by going with extract and specialty grains working your way to partial mashes. That's the direction I'm moving in right now. Don't get me wrong, kits are a great place to start and in fact that's all I've done so far. But I think you will find that reading a few books on the subject in conjunction with the level of support offered on this forum, you will outgrow kits rather rapidly. I know I did.