True Brew IPA Kit questions

[mattymatt79]

For Christmas, I received this kit and I wasn't able to return it which is cool it'll work I guess as another brew to have.

My questions though is my wife and I really don't like IPA's due to the hoppyness in flavors and the bitter aftertaste.

•Unhopped Amber Malt Extract (2 cans)
•Crystal Grain (1 lb)
•Grain Steeping Bag
•Chinook Hop Pellets (1 oz)
•Cascades Hop Pellets (1 oz)
•Heavy Toast Oak Chips (.5 oz)
•Ale Yeast (1 pack)
•Priming Sugar (5 oz)


Is what's included in the box, so I was thinking that I could changing the hopping and boil time of the kit to maybe even it out a bit? I so what or how should I do that? I don't want the kit to goto waste so could I just either buy some other stuff and change it around or make it but not add as much or boil as long the hops that are included?

Any suggestions would really be appreciated, we were going to brew this one this weekend.

 

[gregpio85]

Amber Malt Extract and Crystal malt will get you a super malty backbone. Doing shorter boils with your hops might bring out some floral notes that don't really blend with the dark malt you'll have.

I'm guessing the recipe calls for 60 minutes for Chinook and 15 minutes for Cascade?

Cascade has a much lower Alpha Acid content than Chinook so you could just switch your hop additions and do 60 minutes for the cascade and 15 minutes for the Chinook.

 

[mattymatt79]

Great idea, I think the wife and I are going to brew this this weekend. I'll swap the hops and go from there.

 

[mw3kgt]

I brewed this as my first batch. I wouldn't use quite all the oak chips as its very strong in this lower IBU ipa. I wasn't overly impressed with the lme either, kind of a funky twang from it as described on here.

 

[mattymatt79]

Hrmm there wasn't that much included, you think it overpowered it? I haven't used Oak before so this will be new to us too

 

[D0ug]

You could check the recipe database for pale ale extract recipes and find one you could do with the ingredients you have on hand from the kit.

my 2 cents...

 

[mattymatt79]

Good call. Again, this site pulls through for great ideas.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

don't use the chips
spread out the hop schedule

.5oz cascade 60min
.25 chinook 45
.25 chinook 30
.5 cascade 10

save the .5 chinook for the next batch

my $.02