Plans for my first 2 kit brews - anything wrong?

gosplan

Hi all, there's a bit to this so thanks for taking the time to read and help me out if you do.

I recently purchased some equipment, ingredients and 2 kits.

One will be really straightforward to ensure I have something drinkable, the other I'm going to mess with a little bit.

My mantra is sterilise steralise steralise including can openers and scissors used.

I acquired two old plastic sealed vessels probably used during the 80s but I'm not going to use them as I've heard bacteria can lie in scratches and stuff plus because this is my first brew, if something goes wrong I need to be able to figure out what the problem is.

I also acquired an old plug in heat mat called Thorne Electrim but I've no idea if this is of any use or not or what temp it would be.

Fermentation will take place in storage space in between my attic and the outer roof but within the insulation - quite warm up there so should be ok.

Kit 1: Muntons Pilsner 3kg

Follow all instructions & ferment in a 30l container. My only decision here is whether or not to start with a few hundred grams additional 'body brew' from the homebrewcompany to boost the ABV a bit and take it in the right direction.

Am worried that plain kit pilsner mightn't be too great and though I don't want it to go wrong, if there's anything straightforward I can do to improve it, I'd be game.

Going to use carb drops for bottling in brown 500ml bottles.

Kit 2: Muntons IPA 3kg

Instructions say add an extra 1kg sugar to take it from 4.5 ABV to about 6. I'm planning on adding 1kg of brew enhancer instead as I gather this will be better.

After a few days I'm going to secondary ferment in a 23l fermenting carboy. I'll be dry hopping with some cascade at this stage too. After this I'll autosyphon it back into a sterile fermentation vessel, quickly clean and steralise the carboy and then transfer it back for a couple of days to develop the clarity before bottling. (Not sure if this third fermentation is totally necessary but it was recommended in a guide I read)

Then carb drop and bottle and leave according to instructions.

Anything really obviously wrong???

tteknulp

Id use bleach first to be sure fermenters are sterile ,a rinse , i use starsan myself it can be purchased online its excellent


You can add a brew enhancer to both no problem ,take a O.G. reading/And F.G. reading to work out ABV, id use saaz hops or Hallertauer Mittelfruh for pilsner as there correct type and cascade is perfect for IPA say dry hop 30g or so near end of ferment or even better move to a secondary and hop then.

1 drop for ale & 1.5 for pilsner i find good.

there great kits by the way . i like the pils one myself

Primary & (Secondary optional) is all thats required

Carawaystick

If you're brewing pilsner, you need lager yeast and you need to lager. Unless you've some refrigeration, you won't be able to do this at this time of year.
You need to be fermenting lager at 12-14 degrees and lagering ten degrees lower

If you use an ale yeast and ferment at room temp, you'll get a blonde ale, which may be grand too, and will be drinkable quicker

gosplan

Carawaystick wrote: »

If you're brewing pilsner, you need lager yeast and you need to lager. Unless you've some refrigeration, you won't be able to do this at this time of year.
You need to be fermenting lager at 12-14 degrees and lagering ten degrees lower

If you use an ale yeast and ferment at room temp, you'll get a blonde ale, which may be grand too, and will be drinkable quicker

Yeah. I'm aware that pilsners and largers are not the best suited to kit beers but I'm just going to follow the kit instructions and see what I come up with.

gosplan

tteknulp wrote: »

Id use bleach first to be sure fermenters are sterile ,a rinse , i use starsan myself it can be purchased online its excellent


You can add a brew enhancer to both no problem ,take a O.G. reading/And F.G. reading to work out ABV, id use saaz hops or Hallertauer Mittelfruh for pilsner as there correct type and cascade is perfect for IPA say dry hop 30g or so near end of ferment or even better move to a secondary and hop then.

1 drop for ale & 1.5 for pilsner i find good.

there great kits by the way . i like the pils one myself

Primary & (Secondary optional) is all thats required

Thanks - huge help.

Saaz and starsan ordered.

Do you use a bag for the dry hopping or just throw them in?

sharingan

First of all, dont add sugar or 'brew enhancer' aka malt sugar diluted with sugar.

Use dry malt extract or liquid malt extract (DME or LME).

I have tasted many anaemic kit beers where someone followed the instructions and used table sugar.

Its more expensive, but look around for offers. I have used Home Brew Wests cheap LME before to great effect.

Lastly dont fiddle too much with your processes. Leave it ferment out in primary and rack off for dry hopping. The beer can and will clear in the fermenter on its own. Experienced brewers try not to leave the beer sit on the yeast pancake for more than 3 weeks. However I do it all the time and have never had a problem.

Lastly, you seem to have a lot of spare buckets and fermenters. Look up batch priming. Its a great time saver.

tteknulp

gosplan wrote: »

Do you use a bag for the dry hopping or just throw them in?

Get a few muslin bags ,use one and use sanitized marbles or similar to weigh hops down
Leave for 5-7 days

Carawaystick

sharingan wrote: »

First of all, dont add sugar or 'brew enhancer' aka malt sugar diluted with sugar.

Use dry malt extract or liquid malt extract (DME or LME).

I have tasted many anaemic kit beers where someone followed the instructions and used table sugar.

Its more expensive, but look around for offers. I have used Home Brew Wests cheap LME before to great effect.

Lastly dont fiddle too much with your processes. Leave it ferment out in primary and rack off for dry hopping. The beer can and will clear in the fermenter on its own. Experienced brewers try not to leave the beer sit on the yeast pancake for more than 3 weeks. However I do it all the time and have never had a problem.

Lastly, you seem to have a lot of spare buckets and fermenters. Look up batch priming. Its a great time saver.

The other option is to just make less, so no sugar is needed just the kit

I've left a lager 8 weeks in the primary fermenter with no issues. For a homebrewer, you will have much less trub than a commercial brewer as they pitch a rediculous amount of yeast and its the weight on the trub squeezing the bottom which speeds the onset of autolysis

gosplan

sharingan wrote: »

First of all, dont add sugar or 'brew enhancer' aka malt sugar diluted with sugar.

Use dry malt extract or liquid malt extract (DME or LME).

I have tasted many anaemic kit beers where someone followed the instructions and used table sugar.

Its more expensive, but look around for offers. I have used Home Brew Wests cheap LME before to great effect.

Lastly dont fiddle too much with your processes. Leave it ferment out in primary and rack off for dry hopping. The beer can and will clear in the fermenter on its own. Experienced brewers try not to leave the beer sit on the yeast pancake for more than 3 weeks. However I do it all the time and have never had a problem.

Lastly, you seem to have a lot of spare buckets and fermenters. Look up batch priming. Its a great time saver.

Re: fermentables.

They're 3kg kits so I think that the malt extract is included. Hope I'm right about this.

I'm planning to add an extra 1kg of brew enhancer to the IPA. This keeps the dextrose under 300g per 23l which apparently means it won't affect the flavour.

I've also another 500g of maltodextrin that I was considering chucking in the Pilsner.

tteknulp

gosplan wrote: »

Re: fermentables.

They're 3kg kits so I think that the malt extract is included. Hope I'm right about this.

.

there included , in most 3kg kits the 2 cans are the same , example malt and hops combined in extract ,
you could make 2 smaller brews say 11 ltr each , i done a woodfordes before like this and dry hopped 1 with cascade and 1 with centinel , email kit maker if you want go down that route to be sure.

sharingan

gosplan wrote: »

They're 3kg kits so I think that the malt extract is included. Hope I'm right about this.

Good one. 3Kg (and 4Kg) kits are all-inclusive. I tend to recommend the larger kits nowadays to new brewers. The kits tend to be higher quality, and there is no room for cutting corners with the fermentables or other messing about (MOAR ABV!).

I'm planning to add an extra 1kg of brew enhancer to the IPA. This keeps the dextrose under 300g per 23l which apparently means it won't affect the flavour.

I've also another 500g of maltodextrin that I was considering chucking in the Pilsner.

I would be more concerned about the body. Its the ratio of malt to fully fermentable sugars that is the real issue when you add brew enhancer, dextrose or table sugar.

It has its place in brewing - many belgian styles will use pure sugar in higher ABV styles, so that the body (unfermented sugars) is kept lower, and the beer is lighter and less cloying.

Thats a lot of maltodextrin to add. I dont think I would add that much for a 5 Gal batch.

gosplan

sharingan wrote: »

Good one. 3Kg (and 4Kg) kits are all-inclusive. I tend to recommend the larger kits nowadays to new brewers. The kits tend to be higher quality, and there is no room for cutting corners with the fermentables or other messing about (MOAR ABV!).



I would be more concerned about the body. Its the ratio of malt to fully fermentable sugars that is the real issue when you add brew enhancer, dextrose or table sugar.

It has its place in brewing - many belgian styles will use pure sugar in higher ABV styles, so that the body (unfermented sugars) is kept lower, and the beer is lighter and less cloying.

Thats a lot of maltodextrin to add. I dont think I would add that much for a 5 Gal batch.

Any recommendations then?

Want to boost Pilsner ABV a small bit.

Have 500g maltodextrin. Aside from that have 500g light spaymalt, 1 kg coopers brew enhancer 2 (dextrose, maltodextrin, DME) and 1.5 kg LME.

Can't really open the LME for a small amount. Understand that the spraymalt should really be 'extra-light' for pilsner. Also kind of hit this for bottling purposes.

I do have one more Pilsner Kit (1.7kg) to go on after this. I'll need a kg of fermentables min for this so I could go something like add the the LME to that and split the brew enhancer between them or something.

BeerNut

gosplan wrote: »

Any recommendations then?

Want to boost Pilsner ABV a small bit.

Add less water.