First beer Indian Pale Ale

This is my first try at home brew. I decided to start with a Coopers Indian Pale Ale kit from coopers and instead of sugar the shop I got to makes an an 'add to beer' mixture they say it is much better then corn suga . I started out one week ago in the plastic bucket (primary fermenter) it started with a 1040 specific gravity. I tested it today after a week it was 1010 and I transfered it to a Glass carboy. When I transfered it - it created alot of foam - but after an hour in the glass carboy most of the foam was gone only a small layer on little bubbly foar on top. Also when I do the calculation for alcohol it works out to only like 4.1 percent - will the priming sugar increse this during botteling? Have I done everything ok - any suggestions or hints when to bottle and the priming process?

I'm still kinda a noob at brewing but 1.040 is kind of a low og for an IPA and 4.1 abv is kinda low also. 1.010 is a good fg but if I had to guess I would say that your OG was much higher and maybe you mis-read it. Is it possible that you did'nt add all the malt?? also it's kind of strange that you had so much foam when you racked to secondary. were you carefull to not let it splash too much when you transferred?

I bet the OG reading was low because you didn't stir the top up water in well enough - it's a common occurrence. Even if you didn't get a bad reading, 4.1% ABV isn't all that bad. Sure, it's a tad low for an IPA, but it'd be a good session beer. Priming won't appreciably increase the alcohol content.

FYI: It's "India Pale Ale." The Brits used to brew a very hoppy beer that was relatively high in alcohol to send to India when it was colonized. The hops and alcohol worked to preserve the beer over the long, hot journey south.

Well thanks for the input - the first reading may be off cause there was some foam like stuff on top from all my stirring and instead of letting it settle i just fired the hydrometer in and took a guess where it would be under the foam. Rookie mistake.

Splashing may also explain the foam during the tansfer to secondary carboy. I had the hosing near the top of the glass carboy so it probley slahed some as it was falling ino the carboy - any hints on the botteling processs
?

grasshopper1917 said:

Well thanks for the input - the first reading may be off cause there was some foam like stuff on top from all my stirring and instead of letting it settle i just fired the hydrometer in and took a guess where it would be under the foam. Rookie mistake.

Splashing may also explain the foam during the tansfer to secondary carboy. I had the hosing near the top of the glass carboy so it probley slahed some as it was falling ino the carboy - any hints on the botteling processs
?

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Given the standard kit ingredients & recommended additions, I don't think your reading was that far off. The kit is just appears to have been designed to clock in under the typical ABV for an IPA (which is part of what makes an IPA an IPA but whatever).

You should not splash your beer after it has had yeast added to it, especially when transfering to secondary. You will risk oxidation. Your beer may have off flavors such as green apple. Watch out for that in the future.

absolutely. splashing beer can ruin it. ipa's tend to take a little bit longer to carbonate due to high hop content an usually higher alcohol. keep in mind you could be waiting three weeks after botteling until this beer is at its best.

Sounds more like a Pale Ale then an IPA, but that isn't a bad thing. You got good attenuation, a nominal fermentation and foaming during racking can be due to retained carbonation, but more likely you need to be a little more careful. One thing that can help, is to place the outlet of the racking cane against the side of the carboy and letting the brew run down the side.

Priming will add about 0.2% ABV to the batch.

Thanks for all the advice guys all the advice will help with my next batch - looks like i made some begininer mistakes on this one. Man I really hope my beer doesnt end up tatsing like apples - is there any hope - or anything i can do?

Here's what you can do: sit back, relax, and have a beer.

We all make mistakes, and even the guys who have been brewing for years will have a no-brainer now and again. As long as you make an effort to keep oxygen out of the process while bottling, you could very well be OK -- the yeast will take up some dissolved oxygen during secondary fermentation and again during bottle conditioning.

Perhaps the best thing to do is go back and re-read any homebrewing books you own, watch any videos you might have, and read this forum -- especially after that first brew day when you run into situations that you weren't sure how to handle. That will increase your knowledge base for next time, when you will probably run into more situations you aren't sure how to handle.

Lastly, remember that homebrewing is a sickness that can only be cured by more homebrewing.

egerrish said:

Lastly, remember that homebrewing is a sickness that can only be cured by more homebrewing.

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Yeah, it's sort of like cowbell in that regard....

Damn Squirrels said:

Yeah, it's sort of like cowbell in that regard....

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I put my pants on like everyone else, but once those pants are on, I make some tasty homebrews.

Just a little update on my Indian Pale Ale - it is in the secondary carboy and seems like the fermentation may not have been totally finished in the primary - i am seeing some bubbles in the air lock - and a few bubbles on top of the brew - nothing much but seems like a bit of activity. Is this going to help take away some of the fruity taste where I had splasinh into the secondary carboy??

"INDIA" PALE ALE, not "INDIAN!"

Sorry...

yea i agree,you might have got a false reading on your og ,my ipa og was right at the 1.075 mark,yup that much ,i can drink 4 of these and am on my butt dizzy ,lmao,so maybe all is not lost ,bull

bull said:

yea i agree,you might have got a false reading on your og ,my ipa og was right at the 1.075 mark,yup that much ,i can drink 4 of these and am on my butt dizzy ,lmao,so maybe all is not lost ,bull

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...given that no one knows what his exact ingredients were and that the standard kit ingredients yield a SG similar to what he measured, I dunno how you can come to that conclusion.

Yea I agree with brewt here - my reading wasnt off that much on the kit only calls for a og of about 1040. Is there anything in the future I can add to give it a little more alcoholic content - I heard some people add corn sugar - but some people say that will give it a tootie fruity taste? Is there a better alternitive to give it some more power?

I think before we answer you have to acknowledge that you must drop the N.

Step away from the Pale Ale and drop the N.

Then type:

Theres is no N at the end of India in an IPA.

10 times.

buy more dry malt extract than the kit supplies. Add it.

Ok India Pale Ale it is

Ok so you mean like instead of adding one can of coopers - go for one and a half or 2 cans instead? If I used one and a half can is there any way to save the half can i didnt use?

Basically, if you want to up the ABV, you need to up the fermentable sugars. This can be done with more malt or other adjunct sugar. It's a balancing act, though. You need to find the right balance between maltiness and hops.

As a beginner, your best bet is to get off the kits and find a recipe that has the ABV you are looking for. I suggest looking into an Imperial IPA recipe.

These recipies are going to be slightly more challenging (may require steeped grains, mini-mash, more time to age) so I suggest that you do some reading and get your current process down pat.

dude for the first ipa ,get the body builder kit or what ever they call it where ever you get your extract from ,use it and some brown sugar to the boil ,you will not be disappointed ,,oh wait two weeks before you open the first bottle ,its really good extract beer ,sorry for the way out posts tonight but i am really drunk on my kick butt ipa ,coopers brand ,with hte body builder kit ,and 2 and 3 quarters cup of brown sugar ,lmao.bull

thought you might be a little drunk. ALL those commas are in the wrong places, lol

I did a Muntons for my first kit (without any additional add-ons) and its only about a week in the bottles, but nothing like a recipe kit would be. I have done the recipe in the Complete Joy of Home Brewing (Palilalia IPA) which was really easy and is going on two weeks in the secondary. I plan on bottling it in another week and then letting it sit for another three weeks before trying it. Its already darker and hoppier smelling than the Muntons kit.

If folks have specialty grain/extract recipes for an Imperial IPA I am all ears!

Greg

SW Brewer said:

If folks have specialty grain/extract recipes for an Imperial IPA I am all ears!

Greg

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Some of these look really good: (some are IPAs, some IIPAs)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69