Changing an extract recipe to change type of beer?

I got an American Light Ale recipe kit when I ordered some brewing supplies. I really wanted to trade for another kit, but they could not let me...so, I wanted to see if it was possible to change this "American Light Ale" kit to an IPA with the addition of more hops and perhaps more grains. The kit does not say what type of grain it is, but it seems to be only one type of grain and is light brown in color. I don't really have more than that. I could try calling the online store but judging by the customer service up to this point, I doubt they will know anything. Thanks!

Can you give us a recipe or at least a general idea of what you have to work with?

Here is the description:

Light Ale-Extract
KIT105

(Makes 5 gallons) A good transition beer for those individuals used to easy drinking American styles. This beer has the same bitterness levels (low) as American beers, but is an all-malt product, as there is no rice or corn used. Light golden color. Experience the difference of good taste!

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.043
Estimated Alcohol Percentage: 4-4.5%
SRM (Color Range): 5.3
IBU's: 44.3

The hops are 6oz. of Glacier.

Did they ship the wrong kit?

I suppose if you wanted to boost the beer to an IPA, experimentally, and you aren't planning on entering it in a competition you could supplement enough 2-Row Pale, and Munich or Crystal for more color. Plus up the hops.

Download a trial of any of the 3 brewing softwares and play with the numbers. First play with the grain to get to a match in gravity and color for the kit. Then just see what it'll take from there.

To keep it easy, you might just play with extract (# of pounds to = 1.043) and then play with the grain so it'll be seperate.

Cheers.

I have beersmith trial version, but it seems incomplete. It only has sample recipes (I assume until you buy the full version). I guess what you are talking about has nothing to do with the recipes, but rather the calculations section. I'll look into it.

6 ounces of hops is a heck of a lot of hops for a lite. At 44 IBU and an OG of 1.043, that is more of an American Pale.

What is the schedule for the adds?

Brewme said:

I have beersmith trial version, but it seems incomplete. It only has sample recipes (I assume until you buy the full version). I guess what you are talking about has nothing to do with the recipes, but rather the calculations section. I'll look into it.

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You will have to build the recipe yourself. Use the ingredients section, add ingredients buttons, and select an appropriate grain /extract.

This will actually be a good primer for you to get familiar with BeerSmith.

there are some serious incongruities to that recipe and description. American Light with "low" bitterness? 44 ibus? 6 oz of hops?

No way is any american light beer delivering 44 ibus. Also I have not seen a kit with 6 oz of hops included. That seems way too high. Could it be .6 oz?

dontman said:

there are some serious incongruities to that recipe and description. American Light with "low" bitterness? 44 ibus? 6 oz of hops?

No way is any american light beer delivering 44 ibus. Also I have not seen a kit with 6 oz of hops included. That seems way too high. Could it be .6 oz?

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Not of glacier

.6 oz @60 would only get around 12 IBUs. Too light of a bitter for 1.04 American Ale style, but maybe for an ale fermented American Light Lager.

44 IBU would be an American Pale Ale

I think you could easily convert the recipe.

You could run the malt as is, but I'd add a little DME to bring it up. You're going to need to do something for the color (and the head retention, too) so I would steep some Caramel 20L and Dextrine Malt (say 1 lb of the Caramel and 0.5 lb Dextrine). Add some additional classic "IPA hops." I'd suggest a few ounces of centennial or cascade. Finally, I'd change the yeast. I'm assuming that the recipe came with a dry yeast. If I were you I'd substitute with a more style-specific liquid yeast (i.e. WLP001).

GearBeer said:

I think you could easily convert the recipe.

You could run the malt as is, but I'd add a little DME to bring it up. You're going to need to do something for the color (and the head retention, too) so I would steep some Caramel 20L and Dextrine Malt (say 1 lb of the Caramel and 0.5 lb Dextrine). Add some additional classic "IPA hops." I'd suggest a few ounces of centennial or cascade. Finally, I'd change the yeast. I'm assuming that the recipe came with a dry yeast. If I were you I'd substitute with a more style-specific liquid yeast (i.e. WLP001).

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It did come with 6 oz of Glacier. 5 oz is for boil and 1 oz is for last 10 minutes.

It also came with dry yeast, which I plan on switching to liquid, as suggested. I have some WLP001 already from my first yeast harvesting on my last batch.Thanks for the suggestions.

What's the %AA on those?

Brewme said:

It did come with 6 oz of Glacier. 5 oz is for boil and 1 oz is for last 10 minutes.

It also came with dry yeast, which I plan on switching to liquid, as suggested. I have some WLP001 already from my first yeast harvesting on my last batch.Thanks for the suggestions.

Click to expand...

If the kit yeast was Nottingham (doubtful but possible) and within a year of it's production/package date. I'd just use that after rehydrating.

If the yeast is just a silver package. Chuck it in the fridge as a last resort backup if needed.

GearBeer said:

What's the %AA on those?

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The package says 6.6 AA

Something's wierd here: 5 oz of 6.6% AA hops at 60 minutes will yield 104 IBUs in a 6 gallon boil.

Did you tell them you wanted to switch to an IPA, because that's BITTER!

KIT105 is morebeer's Light Ale kit which is supposed to be:

6 lbs. Ultralight Malt Extract

8 oz. Crystal 15L

0.5 oz. Cascade Hops - 60 minute
1 oz. Cascade Hops - 1 minute

[They've been substituting Glacier for Cascade]

I think you have a total of 1.5 oz there [not 6].


If you want to change this to an IPA, you'll need to get about 3 more pounds of ultralight/pale LME, 1 pound of Crystal 20L, and a couple ounces of good bittering hops like Magnum, Columbus or Warrior.

Here's morebeer's IPA recipe:

9 lbs Ultralight Malt

1.5 lbs Crystal 15

2 oz Magnum - 60 min
2 oz Cascade - 10 min
2 oz Cascade - 5 min

1 Whirlfloc tablet