What will my result be?

[jpeebs]

Got a Coopers's Real Ale kit from my sister a while ago. Took it down to my LHBS where they told me not to use the maltodextrin that comes with it, and sold me 3 lbs of Muntons light dme to use instead. I still used the pre-hopped lme that came with it. Any ideas what my end result will taste like? Wort was a nice dark amber color. Didn't really have any distinct smell.

 

[gcdowd]

I assume you meant dextrose and not maltodextrine, yes? Maltodextrine is unfermentable whereas dextrose is completely fermentable. In any event, your beer will have more flavor and will be less dry because you used more malt, rather than sugar. How large of a batch was this?

 

[jpeebs]

It was definitely maltodextrine. Coopers called it "beer enhancer". LHBS said it was basically sugar and I could keep it for sugar to use when bottling. It was a 5 gal batch.

 

[sok454]

It's been my understanding malto is used for proving the mouthfeel of the beer. I used it for the first time this weekendso well see if it is any different.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I've never used it, but according to the Coopers website, their "beer enhancer" is a blend of both dextrose AND maltodextrin. Using DME is definitely a better bet.

 

[jpeebs]

Thinking about adding some bacon flavor to this for the hell of it. Found some info on fat washing. Gonna try that out. Unfortunately, they didn't mention when to add it...anyone know when would be a hood time ti add that? I'm thinkin in the primary.

 

[Dynachrome]

I've used maltodextrine in my rootbeer. It is supposed to give a fuller mouth-feel. As far as a sugar goes, its not very sweet to the taste.

 

[jpeebs]

Right on. I decided not to use it at all, especially since I got some DME to use. No activity in my airlock yet. Almost makes me worried since the last few brews I've done started fairly quick. I'll just keep on gravity readings.

 

[JRapp]

Yeah the brew enhancers 1 and 2 are mixed sorts. BE 1 is 60% Dextrose and 40% Maltodextrin, the BE 2 is 50% Dextrose, 25% maltodextrin and 25% DME. Very confusing when I used to have that stuff calculating how its going to turn out.

Its certainly not bad to use, but DME is certainly a better option.

 

[F250]

Thinking about adding some bacon flavor to this for the hell of it. Found some info on fat washing. Gonna try that out. Unfortunately, they didn't mention when to add it...anyone know when would be a hood time ti add that? I'm thinkin in the primary.

Really? Sounds disgusting.

You should probably follow the instructions the kit makers give you before going off on odd tangents, assuming you want a good beer at the end.

Carry on.

Rick

 

[Ogri]

Got a Coopers's Real Ale kit from my sister a while ago. Took it down to my LHBS where they told me not to use the maltodextrin that comes with it, and sold me 3 lbs of Muntons light dme to use instead. I still used the pre-hopped lme that came with it. Any ideas what my end result will taste like? Wort was a nice dark amber color. Didn't really have any distinct smell.

Was the only addition you made, to this real ale kit, the 3lbs of Munton's light DME?? If so I reckon it's going to be on the malty, sweet, side of the spectrum.
Personally, I'd look into making up a hop tea so that I could use that as an infusion to add to the fermenter and hopefully balance out the malty sweetness a bit better.

I think Cooper's makes use of Pride of Ringwood hops in a lot of their kits so I'd try to find some of the same, or another hop that'd compliment POR, to make the hop tea. I'd have thought Kent Goldings and/or Fuggles would be OK as an addition to the POR.

 

[jpeebs]

Really? Sounds disgusting.

You should probably follow the instructions the kit makers give you before going off on odd tangents, assuming you want a good beer at the end.

Carry on.

Rick

When you say it sounds disgusting, do you mean in general or with this particular beer?

 

[Ogri]

really? Sounds disgusting.

You should probably follow the instructions the kit makers give you before going off on odd tangents, assuming you want a good beer at the end.

Carry on.

Rick

+1

 

[Ogri]

When you say it sounds disgusting, do you mean in general or with this particular beer?

If you'd originally set out to make a bacon flavoured beer it might be different, but if you just suddenly decide to chuck in some whacky flavour ingredient, like bacon fat, without some consideration to the recipe and how, and what, you hope to achieve by your additions, odds are it's going to turn out to be regrettable and you'll end up with a batch fit, only, for cooking (not necessarily a bad thing) or dumping.

 

[jpeebs]

If you'd originally set out to make a bacon flavoured beer it might be different, but if you just suddenly decide to chuck in some whacky flavour ingredient, like bacon fat, without some consideration to the recipe and how, and what, you hope to achieve by your additions, odds are it's going to turn out to be regrettable and you'll end up with a batch fit, only, for cooking (not necessarily a bad thing) or dumping.

Noted. That's why i'm in the beginners forum.

So as far as hop tea, i'm not too familiar with it (again, i'm still a beginner). I've only read a bit on it. It sounds like a good idea. Is there a certain time in fermentation it should be added? or just any 'ol time? I appreciate your feedback by the way.

 

[Ogri]

I haven't had the need to try it yet myself, so don't have experience and I'm not exactly sure, but I got the impression that you could either do a boil with some extract and add it whilst your initial fermentation is going, or, you could wait 'til you've reached the end of the vigorous stage, do a boil with just water and hops and add that.
I've also heard of someone making an infusion using vodka as the medium for the hops to infuse. Might be someone else on here that can give more precise input on the subject.

 

[Ogri]

Managed to find these threads, if it's of any interest to you.

Bittering addition

Aroma hopping

another one

 

[jpeebs]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

 

[unionrdr]

Pride of Ringwood hops is a clean bittering hop Cooper's uses for that purpose. And their BE1 is 80% dextrose,20% maltodextrin. I think it was the brewing sugar that had 60/40. The US Cooper's site lists them & there percentages.
Using 3lbs of DME will def need some hops to balance it out. I used a hop tea in my 1st couple of Cooper's brews. I boiled 2-2.5 gallons of water,boiling an ounce of hops for 15-20 minutes. Remove hop sack & squeezed it out. Then proceeded to make the beer as ususal. In your case,you could take a small amount of water & do the same. Cool & add to primary. Some use a french press coffee maker to do this.

 

[jpeebs]

Do I need to wait until after fermentation to do this? Or is it ok to put it in while it's still fermenting?

 

[F250]

When you say it sounds disgusting, do you mean in general or with this particular beer?

In general. I love bacon and I love beer. But combining them just strikes me as a horrible idea, horrible!

Also, again, I think you'd be well served to figure out the basics of brewing good beer first, then work hard at jacking it up. :cross:

Just my two cents.

Rick

 

[Qhrumphf]

In general. I love bacon and I love beer. But combining them just strikes me as a horrible idea, horrible!

Also, again, I think you'd be well served to figure out the basics of brewing good beer first, then work hard at jacking it up. :cross:

Just my two cents.

Rick

Pick up a bottle of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Bacon in a bottle. Tasty at first, but really hard to finish.

 

[jpeebs]

Pride of Ringwood hops is a clean bittering hop Cooper's uses for that purpose. And their BE1 is 80% dextrose,20% maltodextrin. I think it was the brewing sugar that had 60/40. The US Cooper's site lists them & there percentages.
Using 3lbs of DME will def need some hops to balance it out. I used a hop tea in my 1st couple of Cooper's brews. I boiled 2-2.5 gallons of water,boiling an ounce of hops for 15-20 minutes. Remove hop sack & squeezed it out. Then proceeded to make the beer as ususal. In your case,you could take a small amount of water & do the same. Cool & add to primary. Some use a french press coffee maker to do this.

So if I've already got it fermenting, is it going to mess with my gravity to add water to it? Or should I wait until it's done fermenting and add it on bottling day? Haven't really found anything that says WHEN to add it, and from the way I'm reading it, you added yours at the initial boil, correct? If that's the case, would dry hopping work better for me?

 

[unionrdr]

You could add it to primary if you use 2C of water to boil. You'll get some boil off,but after the 15-20 minutes,cover & cool it down before adding. But yeah,I used to do it in the boiling water before taking it off the heat to ad the enhancer & Cooper's can.

 

[Ogri]

So if I've already got it fermenting, is it going to mess with my gravity to add water to it? Or should I wait until it's done fermenting and add it on bottling day? Haven't really found anything that says WHEN to add it, and from the way I'm reading it, you added yours at the initial boil, correct? If that's the case, would dry hopping work better for me?

Dry hopping isn't going to get you any bittering from the hops, only aroma and a little flavour, so it's not going to balance out the sweetness, from adding the extra 3lbs DME, of your brew.


OK, here's what I'd try, if I were in your situation.

1st option: make up a small quantity of hopped wort so it can be added during primary fermentation, mainly for bittering purposes. Take 2-3 Oz DME add to 2 quarts water and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 Oz of a decent bittering hop, Pride of Ringwood, Magnum or Nugget and simmer for 30 minutes. Maybe add 1/2 Oz Kent Golding or Fuggles at 10 to 15 minutes before flame out. Cool and add to fermenter.

2nd option: make a hop tea to add after fermentation has started winding down. I'd do the same process as above except omit the DME and maybe boil a lower volume of water.

You could always dry hop as well, after initial fermentation is over, if you felt like you wanted to. Or, making and adding a tincture using vodka and your aroma hops supposedly gets some pretty good results.

have a look at this post

 

[jpeebs]

Nice! That was a lot of info. Think i'm gonna go with the hop tea. I appreciate you lookin into it as much as you did.

 

[Ogri]

Nice! That was a lot of info. Think i'm gonna go with the hop tea. I appreciate you lookin into it as much as you did.

No bother at all.
Best of luck with this and I hope it helps your beer regain a bit more balance.
Just remember if you want more bittering you'll have to either boil longer or increase amount of hops used.

Might be a good idea to try a sample of your beer before making up the batch of hop tea, so you have an idea of how sweet it is and how much bitterness it might require, then make and "carefully" mix in your hop tea, wait a couple of days, take another sample, try it and see if it maybe needs a bit more, or not.

By the way, think I'm going to try making up a tincture of Vodka/hops and then adding that to one of my brews at bottling. Seems like a really good way to get all of the freshness and full aroma of the hops, which might stay more potent for longer than that of a standard dry hop, I think.

 

[jpeebs]

Added my hop tea last night. Cracked it open tonight, smelled great! Guy at the LHBS suggested dry hopping on top of the tea so i'm going to do that this weekend as well, let em sit a week and bottle that stuff. God I hope this turns out good...

 

[Ogri]

What method and recipe did you do for the hop tea then?

BTW. Did you taste the brew before and after the hop tea addition??

 

[jpeebs]

I used 1/2 ounce of willamette hops, boiled in 2 cups water for 15 minutes. Then just poured it into my brew. I tasted it before and it was sweet and not that good. I have not tasted it yet, but I gave it a smell 24 hours after and it smelled great. Still really interested in how it'll turn out.