Kit brewing mods

[clarosec]

Hi there,

I'm a relative newbie to homebrewing "in the home". I used to do plenty of "brew-on-site" but when my latest place went under I decided to start a production line in the basement.

Brewing conditions: Nearly ideal. Year round I get unadjusted temperatures of 18-22 celsius in my basement. Lucky me!

First batch was a straight Munton's IPA "bitter", brewed with the can, supplied yeast and 1.3kg light LME. OG was 1.047, FG 1.010. Result: good beer, but not quite enough hops. Had plenty in the nose, but not enough in the body/taste.

Batch 2: I get excited.

Cooper's IPA kit (1.7kg), 1.3kg light LME, 500g light DME, and 28g (1oz) Fuggles pellets.

I boiled 1 gallon (imperial - 4.5 litres) of water and made a hop tea, using the fuggles, boiled for about 20 mins.

Needless to say it smelled absolutely brilliant on its own. After the hop boil, I dissolved my 500g (1lb-ish) DME, 1.3kg LME (2lbs 14oz) and Cooper's kit at 1.7kg (3lbs 12oz).

My temperature was a little high for pitching (about 80F) when I took a sample, but based on the OG I recorded with corrections for my hydrometer I'm coming out at 1.055 OG, with a TG of 1.016 or less (down to approx 1.012).

I'm bottle priming, so is it safe to add 0.5% to the ABV calculation?

 

[AdamWiz]

I'm bottle priming, so is it safe to add 0.5% to the ABV calculation?

probably closer to .05 - it is my understanding that the alcohol contribution from bottle priming is minimal.

 

[unionrdr]

Cooper's instructions calculate ABV% by the formula;(OG-FG)/7.64+.5=ABV%. Each formula gives a different answer,though. I guess you just use the one you like...

 

[osagedr]

Hi there,

I'm a relative newbie to homebrewing "in the home". I used to do plenty of "brew-on-site" but when my latest place went under I decided to start a production line in the basement.

Brewing conditions: Nearly ideal. Year round I get unadjusted temperatures of 18-22 celsius in my basement. Lucky me!

First batch was a straight Munton's IPA "bitter", brewed with the can, supplied yeast and 1.3kg light LME. OG was 1.047, FG 1.010. Result: good beer, but not quite enough hops. Had plenty in the nose, but not enough in the body/taste.

Batch 2: I get excited.

Cooper's IPA kit (1.7kg), 1.3kg light LME, 500g light DME, and 28g (1oz) Fuggles pellets.

I boiled 1 gallon (imperial - 4.5 litres) of water and made a hop tea, using the fuggles, boiled for about 20 mins.

Needless to say it smelled absolutely brilliant on its own. After the hop boil, I dissolved my 500g (1lb-ish) DME, 1.3kg LME (2lbs 14oz) and Cooper's kit at 1.7kg (3lbs 12oz).

My temperature was a little high for pitching (about 80F) when I took a sample, but based on the OG I recorded with corrections for my hydrometer I'm coming out at 1.055 OG, with a TG of 1.016 or less (down to approx 1.012).

I'm bottle priming, so is it safe to add 0.5% to the ABV calculation?

Cool hops mod. You should be able to do specialty grains with relative ease as well. If you have access to Brewhouse kits they list some good kit tweaks on their website.

18-22C seems on the warm side for fermentation but if it's working for you, great! If you want to go a bit cooler many brewers use an ice bath setup of some kind with good results. And in Ottawa I would say getting your basement under 18 should be no trouble, especially in the winter!

 

[clarosec]

I racked this beer last night. Went to check on the proceedings and got a hydrometer reading of 1.012. That Cooper's yeast works fast!

With about a pint or two left my racking cane clogged. Lesson learned: zee hop pellets go in zee hop/grain bag!

I've read a number of threads about the relative merits of that and/or of straining the wort, but I'm not risking another clog earlier in the proceedings.

Which leads me to the next question:

Now that it's in secondary, should I strain it before bottling to avoid more clogs? I'm thinking most of the hop particulate will have settled out by then, but still. (and yes, I'm bottling, so don't tell me to keg! Can't bring the keg on the boat, eh?)

 

[unionrdr]

Well,1st off,to my knowledge of cooper's on their forum,1ounce equals 30g,not 28g. Unless it's 28g Imperial? 18C-22C isn't bad at all for cooper's ale yeast. Maybe tie a hop sack around the end of the racking cane that goes in the beer. Many here do that to keep hop particles out of the secondary/bottles.
Many on the cooper's forums say their IPA can is actually pretty good. Of course,the IPA is one step up from the Original Series...

 

[clarosec]

Well,1st off,to my knowledge of cooper's on their forum,1ounce equals 30g,not 28g. Unless it's 28g Imperial? 18C-22C isn't bad at all for cooper's ale yeast. Maybe tie a hop sack around the end of the racking cane that goes in the beer. Many here do that to keep hop particles out of the secondary/bottles.
Many on the cooper's forums say their IPA can is actually pretty good. Of course,the IPA is one step up from the Original Series...

I'm drinking a Munton's connoisseur IPA right now and it's fine too.

Difference is I gave it 7 days in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 7 days bottle conditioning and used light LME instead of dextrose and spray malt to prime.

Depressing to learn that even a slightly modded "can and a kilo" is better than what I can find on draught at $6/pint at the local.

Or maybe not depressing...

Edit: and for the hops it was actually 1oz, but I weighed it. Turns out they gave me more hops in the 28g packet than they meant to.