Bitter 77

[bowie in space]

Hey all, I am trying a toucan tomorrow for the first time with ingredients from my new LHBS. Recipe is ;

1 x Black Rock Bitter
1 x Coopers Amber Malt Extract (for extra depth and colour)

on low heat in a sanitised pot for 20 min. (won't know exact temp, but how important is knowing exact temp)?

40g Goldings Hops (seems like a lot of hops)...steep for about 10 mins, then strain into brew. Final volume 23L.

Nottingham dry yeast to be pitched at 22C (perhaps an OG of 1040-1044)?

Possibly 1 carbonation drop for my 660mL bottles. (bavaria longnecks, i love em)

English Bitter anyone?? Comments...

 

[mwd]

Not really a Toucan as the second is just malt extract. A true Toucan is two hopped kits mixed together.

Just need to stand the cans in some hot water so they flow out nice and easy no need to cook or boil the contents.

Hops need to be boiled in some of the malt extract or water for about 15mins to extract flavour but not too much extra bitterness. Can use a fine kitchen seive to filter out most of leftover hop residue unless you are planning on using a stocking for a hop sack.

After pitching the yeast try to get the fermentation temperature down to about 18 C to avoid the undesireable 'homebrew' type flavours.

Apart from that sounds good to me. Can always add some dex to get the ABV levels up a little bit.

 

[Cube]

I would use 2 carb drops for those bottles. They will be under carbed with one.

I wouldn't bother straining the hops out. Leave them in there to do their thing during fermentation as well. 2 weeks in fermenter they will drop out no worries.

 

[0M39A]

I would use 2 carb drops for those bottles. They will be under carbed with one.

I wouldn't bother straining the hops out. Leave them in there to do their thing during fermentation as well. 2 weeks in fermenter they will drop out no worries.

I would only use 1 carb drop per bottle, its a bitter, so its a low carb style beer.

that said though, bulk priming would be heaps better to get the carbonation spot on.

 

[reviled]

+1 for only one carb drop! Two for 750mls is even too much, it comes out CocaCola fizzy...

Also, boil the hops for about 15-20 mins, you want some bitterness to make up for the extra sweetness that the can of extract will give you. And if you cant be assed, dont strain the hops, it wont make much difference..

And I wouldnt use dextrose either cos IMO it will thin the beer out, but thats just me

 

[Fermented]

If you're not up for bulk priming yet but want a touch more control than the sugar lollies, try manually dosing dextrose.

You will need to use a calculator for the weight for your bottle size and it's a good idea to use a scale to make sure the dose in the little double-ended scoop is correct.

Harder than lollies? Yes. But more repeatable and adustable but not as good as bulk priming.


With that volume of hops, I would probably split it in two and put in 20 g at 30 mins and 20 g at 10 mins and not bother straining them out. (Or 30 g @ 30 mins for more flavour).

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[bowie in space]

cheers guys, whoops, thought because using two cans in was a toucan?! :huh:

just to clarify, do i actually boil the hops for 30 mins. I thought they just needed 2 mins boiling and then let them stand for another 30 min. I'll try the 20g at 30 min and another 20g at 10 min, thanks fermented.

I'll just try the hops in water instead of boiling with malt extract. one step at a time for me...
then i'll just throw them (unstrained) in to the fermenter on top of the brew and give a good stir.

wait till 18-22C and pitch.

 

[0M39A]

cheers guys, whoops, thought because using two cans in was a toucan?! :huh:

just to clarify, do i actually boil the hops for 30 mins. I thought they just needed 2 mins boiling and then let them stand for another 30 min. I'll try the 20g at 30 min and another 20g at 10 min, thanks fermented.

I'll just try the hops in water instead of boiling with malt extract. one step at a time for me...
then i'll just throw them (unstrained) in to the fermenter on top of the brew and give a good stir.

wait till 18-22C and pitch.

dont just boil the hops in water, you need some malt in there as well to aid extraction. also, hops in just water has a tendency to taste "grassy"

around 1040 is a good gravity for boiling hops.

100g of dried malt extract in 1L of water = 1040