Recommendations with these ingredients?

[cidertimebaby]

First time brewer here(beer, anyways) and have some supplies coming in the next few days to get me started. Excited to get this going(hopefully ready in time for Christmas. If not, then New years)

- Coopers kit with the 23L fermenter, hydrometer, 30x bottles, 1.7kg can of Coopers Lager, 1kg Box of sugar/maltodex, etc etc

In addition to the kit:

- German Northern Brewer Hops - 1 OZ
- New Zealand Nelson Sauvin Hop Pellets 1 OZ
- Coopers India Pale Ale 1.7kg
- Briess Amber DME - 3LB
- Light DME (1 lb)
- Wyeast 1203-PC Burton IPA Blend
- Campden Tablets (dechlorination)
- Maltodextrin (8oz)

I think I've watched enough CraigTube(awesome channel btw) to have an idea of where to go with this stuff.

An IPA on the strong side is what I had in mind, so Coopers IPA it is. Will probably do a starter with the WY for 12 hours or maybe more before getting started.

For fermentables I'm thinking the kit sugar(1kg/2.2lb) + ~1.5lb Amber DME, perhaps another 0.5lb brown sugar? Boiled 20mins, reduce heat and add some hops for remaining 5 mins. Brewed to 23L...any extra maltodextrin may not be necessary with some being in the kit sugar, plus DME. But i do like a full bodied beer.

That's my plan for the time being. Feel free to criticize or throw any pointers my way

 

[friarsmith]

For what it's worth, after 400+ all grain and 20 extract batches in the last 20 yrs, in my opinion, skip the brown sugar for an IPA.

Assuming you're doing a 5 gallon (or so) batch with a full wort boil:

* Bring water to boil, then add the 1.7kg can of Coopers LME
* When the kettle returns to boil, add your Northern Brewer hops
* Boil for 30 mins, then add half of the Nelson Sauvin hops
* Boil for another 15 mins, then gradually add your 3lb of Amber DME and maybe the 1lb of light DME over the course of a few minutes.
* After the DME additions, boil for 10-15 mins, turn the heat off and add the last half of the Nelson Sauvin.
* Chill wort, rack/oxygenate, pitch yeast.

You'll get better hops utilization by letting the NB/Nelson hops swim in a thinner wort for the first 45 mins of the boil before adding the rest of the DME. The Coopers LME may be hopped (??) but the NB hops and Nelson Sauvin will ramp up the bitterness and flavor. Go balls-out on bitterness, IMO. It's an IPA after all

Kudos on doing the yeast starter. That never hurts. Perhaps use a some of the above-referenced DME for the starter.

 

[Sadu]

The above is pretty good advice, but here are a few things to consider.

I know the Coopers kits are hopped already but I'm not sure if they contain only bittering hops or if they have flavour/aroma hops as well. The sceptic in me says bittering only - but you never know.

I haven't brewed with either of these hops so I'll let someone else comment on the best time to add them. 2oz is not a lot to work with for an IPA but you will wanting to use them for flavour/aroma which means some combination of the following:
* boil hops for 5 or 10 mins
* throw the hops in the pot at the end of the boil (flameout hops)
* whirlpool hops / hopstand - after boiling, cool to approx 90c then add your hops and let sit for 20 mins, then finish cooling
* dryhopping - throw the hops in the fermentor a few days before bottling

Since the Coopers kits already have bittering hops you don't need to boil for 60 mins - and doing so would destroy any flavour/aroma hops (if any) included in the tin. I would go with 15 mins since that is a good length for sterilising the DME, but there is no reason to boil for 60 mins.

* Bring water to boil, add DME (needs to boiled 15 mins to sterilise), set timer for 15 mins
* With 5 or 10 mins to go, add some of the pellet hops (if doing this)
* With 0 mins to go add the flameout hops (if doing this) and turn out the flame. Add the Coopers LME tin (added at the end of the boil so you don't kill the flavour hops) and stir well.
* Chill the wort down to pitching temperature and transfer to the fermentor
* Ferment at approx 18c/64f, unless the yeast pack says something different.
* If dry-hopping, add the hops to the fermentor after the airlock stops bubbling and 3-6 days before you bottle it.

There's a lot of ways you can skin this cat. You might also consider adding both Coopers tins as fermentables. If you add both tins + 1kg of amber extract you should have a 1.060 OG which is a pretty good place to start. Don't want to go crazy high on your first go. Using 2 tins does give you extra bitterness, but you should get away with that in an IPA. If you do it this way Beersmith says you get 60 IBU of bitterness (plus what you get from the other hops) which isn't over the top.

Good luck

 

[cidertimebaby]

Good advice here, thanks fellas. I am a bit reluctant to boil the Coopers kit due to the chance I lose any flavours from it. Pretty sure this one is pre-hopped. Should be 100% sterile from the can anyways. I'll add that at flame out, or perhaps just a few mins prior.

Fermentables I'll go a bit heavier on the DME and dial back on the dex(gotta make this batch count!). Maybe 500g on the brew sugar, full 1lb of the light DME and 2lb of the Amber.

The full 2OZ of hops is the way go then. I'll try adding in at different intervals the boil and save some for a dry hop near the end!