Kit hacking advice

wilted

Right so, i'm looking for a few opinions on this kit hack. I've done three kits basically as per instructions except i've been using brew enhancers instead of sugar so i'm stil a newbie at this brewing malarky(but damn its addictive). They've all turned out well(All coopers kits - IPA\Canadian Blonde\Irish Stout) so I think its time to try expanding them a bit before I try get into extract brewing.

So for my first trick i'm looking at a wheat beer as follows

1 Coopers brewmaster wheat kit
Safbrew SB-06 yeast
1Kg wheat spray malt
500g light spray malt
200g steeped carapils

Followed by five days dry hopping with 20g Saaz

Does this look ok to the pro's here? Any recommendations changes etc?
Also i'm using a plastic bucket for dry hopping\secondary I don't expect it to stay in there more than 5 or 6 days will this be alright? or should I go and grab a glass carboy?

Devi

wilted wrote: »

Right so, i'm looking for a few opinions on this kit hack. I've done three kits basically as per instructions except i've been using brew enhancers instead of sugar so i'm stil a newbie at this brewing malarky(but damn its addictive). They've all turned out well(All coopers kits - IPA\Canadian Blonde\Irish Stout) so I think its time to try expanding them a bit before I try get into extract brewing.

So for my first trick i'm looking at a wheat beer as follows

1 Coopers brewmaster wheat kit
Safbrew SB-06 yeast
1Kg wheat spray malt
500g light spray malt
200g steeped carapils

Followed by five days dry hopping with 20g Saaz

Does this look ok to the pro's here? Any recommendations changes etc?
Also i'm using a plastic bucket for dry hopping\secondary I don't expect it to stay in there more than 5 or 6 days will this be alright? or should I go and grab a glass carboy?

Sure would you not just get yourself a boiler and just skip kit hacking altogether. I did, I’ve never looked back and I only do a partial extracts using this

http://www.heatonsstores.com/Product/Stanford-Stainless-Steel-Stockpot-30cm/259667/1502020200

Not the perfect setup but I’m still producing way nicer beers now than I ever did with a kit.

I know this doesnt answer your question but the reason I’m saying it is because your recipe is halfway there anyway, just replace the coopers kit with fresh malt and hops and you have an extract recipe.

wilted

Thanks Devi, yea I will be jumping into extract brewing soonish but I was thinking doing a couple of kit hacks would give me a decent idea of different hops\grains etc before getting into extracts + it'll give me time to get a few quid together for a boiler.

mayto

You would usually not dry hop a wheat beer but saaz is a nice subtle hop so why not. The plastic fermenter is fine for dry hopping/ secondary. Best of luck with it.

tteknulp

wilted wrote: »

Followed by five days dry hopping with 20g Saaz
Also i'm using a plastic bucket for dry hopping\secondary?

All looks fine ,not sure about saaz as it tends to be spicy/floral 20g wont be too bad either way, wheat beers generally dont have hops as yeast gives the clove/bannana taste,brewed at slightly higher temp ,you can dry hop in primary after 5-6 days and leave for 5 more

BeerNut

wilted wrote: »

I was thinking doing a couple of kit hacks would give me a decent idea of different hops\grains etc

It won't really. With a kit you don't know the original recipe so unless you're very familiar with it in advance you won't know what effect your changes have had.

If you want to learn about the ingredients without putting too much effort or investment in, do some 5L stovetop extract brews.

wilted

Thanks for all the advice lads/ladies and a big thanks to blueshed for the extra info.
I like that idea beer nut smaller extracts for trying things out sounds so much like a plan I've just ordered a load of extracts I presume splitting all ingredients x% is fine?
Think I'll do a few more kit hacks for larger brews and play around with some smaller stove top extract brews for the next few weeks.

BeerNut

wilted wrote: »

I presume splitting all ingredients x% is fine?

All except the yeast, yes. If you don't have any brewing software it would be worth getting some at this stage.

tteknulp

BeerNut wrote: »

If you don't have any brewing software it would be worth getting some at this stage.

Beersmith 2 is good ,they have an app too

wilted

Just got beersmith 2 and I think I'm in beer heaven so many recipes to try
Think I need a bigger brew room.

sharingan

wilted wrote: »

Thanks Devi, yea I will be jumping into extract brewing soonish but I was thinking doing a couple of kit hacks would give me a decent idea of different hops\grains etc before getting into extracts + it'll give me time to get a few quid together for a boiler.

Kit hacks wont develop your palate for hops and grains in the way that you might think, as you are limited to dry hopping and steeping.

If you want to learn about hops - do extract beers with a hop schedule. If you want to learn about grains - do partial/full mash. Your kit hack has a more complicated recipe than most of the beers I make.

wilted

I like making things easy
In saying that the kit hack is fermenting away but i've ordered a load of stuff to do a few extracts - it's going to be a busy brew day on Saturday.

sharingan

When you are doing extract beer, are you chilling the work at flame out, or leaving it to cool on its own?

If the latter, (i.e. no-chill) you will need to remove the hops or adjust your hop schedule (theres a chart for it somewhere). Otherwise your flavour and aroma hops just turn into bittering hops.

Beginner mistake on my part, I now use hop bags and fish out all the hops after flame out.

wilted

sharingan wrote: »

When you are doing extract beer, are you chilling the work at flame out, or leaving it to cool on its own?

If the latter, (i.e. no-chill) you will need to remove the hops or adjust your hop schedule (theres a chart for it somewhere). Otherwise your flavour and aroma hops just turn into bittering hops.

Beginner mistake on my part, I now use hop bags and fish out all the hops after flame out.

I'm just giving them ice baths at the moment until i can get out and grab some copper pipe to make a wort chiller so far they're coming along nicely.