Pale Ale Beer Kit

Cork Boy

Hi Folks,

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good quality beer kit that will produce a nice american style pale in which is high in malty goodness! The only ale I can think of on the market that are similar are Brewdog's Pubk IPA and Matilda Bay Pale Ale (from Freemantle in Western Australia, only available down under I think).

I love Brewdog's Punk IPA (I don't know why they call it IPA, it's not marketed as an IPA and doesn't taste like an IPA), the maltiness really comes out when it's been left out of the fridge for about 40 minutes.

I don't want the Coopers pale ale as I've had the actual Coopers Pale Ale and didn't like it, seemed more like the english style. IPA is too bitter for me also.

Any tips are greatly appreciated!

mayto

You could try a beers of the world steam beer . Probably best to get two as one kit makes 10L. You could try dryhopping it with some cascade hops for even more hoppy aroma.

Cork Boy

mayto wrote: »

You could try a beers of the world steam beer . Probably best to get two as one kit makes 10L. You could try dryhopping it with some cascade hops for even more hoppy aroma.

Cheers Mayto! I'll let the hops off though as I prefer the malty end of the scale that you get with Brewdog's IPA!

irish_goat

You can have hops and maltyness and if you're trying to create something like Brewdog Punk you're definitely going to need to add some extra hops as the kits will be nowhere near as hoppy.

Cork Boy

irish_goat wrote: »

You can have hops and maltyness and if you're trying to create something like Brewdog Punk you're definitely going to need to add some extra hops as the kits will be nowhere near as hoppy.

Cheers, I only read this morning what dry hopping is and before that I just had the notion that hopps=bitter but now I know better!

So bearing that in mind, should I be looking for an IPA kit and maybe hack it with some biscuit malt or crystal malt?

Cork Boy

Just put in an order for my first beermaking kit and beer kit ever

So I settled on the Milestone Imperial Pale Ale and also got some cascade hopps for dry hopping. Does anyone know how long The Homebrew Company take to deliver?

I'm reminded of one of my favourite Simpson quotes...

Moe: Yep, this baby can flash fry a buffalo in 40 seconds"

Homer: 40 seconds?! But I want one nowwwwww!!!!"

Oh yes, may I ask, people say to dry hopp in the second stage of fermentation - is this when the head/foam/crust subsides?

Cheers!

BeerNut

Cork Boy wrote: »

Does anyone know how long The Homebrew Company take to deliver?

It's usually next day or the day after.

Cork Boy wrote: »

people say to dry hopp in the second stage of fermentation - is this when the head/foam/crust subsides?

Just in the second week, really.

irish_goat

I dry hopped my real ale after 5 days and left it another 7 but you could leave it more if you wanted, especially if you're using a secondary.

Since you're buying a pack of (i'm assuming) 100g of cascade you could add a bit at the boil (to add bitterness), a bit just before you put the lid on and then some more after fermentation as they'll add different qualities at each point in time.

Cork Boy

irish_goat wrote: »

I dry hopped my real ale after 5 days and left it another 7 but you could leave it more if you wanted, especially if you're using a secondary.

Since you're buying a pack of (i'm assuming) 100g of cascade you could add a bit at the boil (to add bitterness), a bit just before you put the lid on and then some more after fermentation as they'll add different qualities at each point in time.

Yes the kit comes with a secondary but the Beoir article just uses the secondary on bottling day... do I need to use a secondary vessel for secondary fermentation?

By the boil do you mean when I mix the extract from the can with the boiling water yes? I don't think I'll add the hopps then as it's not the bitterness I'm after (this time...). Besides, like a gob****e I only bought the one muslin bag so will need to save it for the dry hopping at the end!

Now to begin the bottle collection I must pick up a couple of crates of swingtops as an xmas pressie to myself later!

irish_goat

yes the boil, when using a kit, is the bit at the start when you boil the can contents. Though people talking about the boil on here generally aren't talking about kit brewing.

You can use the secondary on bottling day and then add your priming sugar, unless you're using carbonation drops.

But you can also leave your beer in the secondary for a while longer and it will start to condition in there (and maybe ferment a tiny bit more). If you have the secondary there I would suggest transferring to that after 5-7 days and adding your hops then and leaving for another 7 days.

The muslin bag isn't essential either as you can always scoop the hops out with a sterilised sieve (or just leave them in while bottling).
Muslin costs next to nothing in a fabric shop too if you ever need to just make your own bag.

There's also the hop tea method to consider (either on it's own or with dry hopping). http://www.homebrewjunkie.com/2008/10/hop-tea-vs-dry-hopping.html

Cork Boy

Cheers IG, much appreciated! I'm not using carbonation drops and the intro to kit brewing on Beoir.org is very helpful, it also includes the bit about priming the beer in batch by boiling the sugar and pouring the cooled syrup into the secondary and then racking from Ferm1 to Ferm2 before bottling but I didn't realise I could condition the beer a good while before bottling - am I correct in my understanding of what you said?

Thanks again, much appreciated!

irish_goat

Bang on. You can leave it to condition in the primary fermenter as well but a lot of brewers prefer to switch to the secondary so that the beer isn't sitting for too long on the layer of dead yeast and what not that gathers at the bottom.

Just don't go adding the beer into the secondary with the priming sugar already in there unless you're ready to bottle.

Cork Boy

irish_goat wrote: »

Just don't go adding the beer into the secondary with the priming sugar already in there unless you're ready to bottle.

Ok, sorry to sound like a numbnuts bit are you saying that I can only add the priming sugar when I'm ready to bottle so?

In which case is it ok to stir the sugar syrup into the beer and stir the beer up just before bottling (although 1-2 weeks after racking to my secondary fermenter)? Or should I add my priming syrup, stir and then leave for an hour or two settle before bottling?

Again - thank you so much for your help and time!

irish_goat

Cork Boy wrote: »

Ok, sorry to sound like a numbnuts bit are you saying that I can only add the priming sugar when I'm ready to bottle so?

In which case is it ok to stir the sugar syrup into the beer and stir the beer up just before bottling (although 1-2 weeks after racking to my secondary fermenter)? Or should I add my priming syrup, stir and then leave for an hour or two settle before bottling?

Again - thank you so much for your help and time!

Priming sugar is only there to carbonate the beer for whenever it's in the bottle. The addition of the priming sugar will cause the yeast to start fermenting again, causing a very small increase in alcohol volume and also creating CO2, thus making the beer fizzy. If you add the priming sugar and leave it in the fermenter for too long the CO2 will just escape through the airlock as it will have been doing the entire time and your beer won't be carbonated properly once you bottle.

Essentially, you want to add the priming sugar, give it a couple of gentle stirs to avoid aeration, wait around 5 mins for the sugar syrup to mix in properly and then start to bottle.

Keep the questions coming, everyone has to start somewhere.

Cork Boy

irish_goat wrote: »

Keep the questions coming, everyone has to start somewhere.

You'll regeret that!

Cork Boy

Kit arrived this morning so have cleaned the kitchen in preperation for tomorrow.

Just one thing though, HBC forgot my bottle caps but feck it, these things happen and i'm not going to make them courier out a bag of caps if I can help it given the praise ye guys have for them so does anyone know of any shops in the limerick area that sell them?

I have a vague recollection of seeing them in tesco (coonagh) or superquinn (castletroy) - I assume these would be fine?

Cheers again!

irish_goat

Any bottle caps will do.

Cork Boy

Ok, so I made my first ever brew last night and as I speak the beautiful sound of the airlock bubbling is doing wonders for my hangover (don't panic, I was drinking Hirsch*, not the homebrew ).

For any first timers, I highly recommend having a friend help... I nearly put my extract into the second unsterilised bucket only for my buddy alerting me to my potentially brew career ending error!

I have a starting gravity of 1.040 (using the Milestone IPA 3KG Kit) and will keep everyone updated.

* Its my second favourite** beer right now but at €3 for a pint bottle with a swing cap it's going to be my favourite beer for a good while yet

** Favourite beer is Brewdog Punk IPA

merc230ce

All sounds good! :-)

homebrew.ie

the milestone kits are lovely arent they

Cork Boy

They sure are - 3 days into my brewing career and I'm already an airlock sniffer

oblivious

Cork Boy wrote: »

They sure are - 3 days into my brewing career and I'm already an airlock sniffer

It's a habitual pastime