Cheap kit beer.. but with body?

[grutnip]

Hi

So I've been trying to keep beer costs down, but my brews are suffering because I am using brown sugar / dex / castor / table sugars. Below are two recent brews.

It's like beer flavoured water, with a bitter twang. The APA got better after 2 weeks in keg, but still watery.

I read that these sugars are mainly fermentable and hence bring the FG down. Cool, got that. So it seems I need more malts / LME / DME in my brews to creep some non fermentables in and raise FG without adding too much sweetness. Right?

Anyone got any clues on getting some body back in my beers without spending $9/kg on malts which seems to be the going rate for malt in Brisbane. Bulk malt would be an option if it brought the price down a fair bit.

Thanks

xxxxxxxxxx


Coopers APA 5/3/16
Australian Bitter Ale
Coopers Australian Pale Ale 0

Light Dry Malt 0.2kg

Saaz 10g dry hopped

Brown Sugar 0.7kg
Maltodextrin 0.15kg

xxxxxxxxx



Simple wheat
Witbier
MJ INT Bavarian Wheat

White Sugar 1kg
Maltodextrin 0.1kg

 

[ekul]

if you like dark beers try making a stout, kit stouts generally have less kit twang and are a little fuller. Alternatively check out the mangrove jack pouches and steep a little grain. If those pouches were around when i was doing kits i probably would have stayed with them for a lot longer

 

[Kiwimike]

I stopped using any sugar, and now use a kilo of Light Dry Malt. That with some good hops does it for me!

 

[Brewman_]

Hi

So I've been trying to keep beer costs down, but my brews are suffering because I am using brown sugar / dex / castor / table sugars. Below are two recent brews.

It's like beer flavoured water, with a bitter twang. The APA got better after 2 weeks in keg, but still watery.

I read that these sugars are mainly fermentable and hence bring the FG down. Cool, got that. So it seems I need more malts / LME / DME in my brews to creep some non fermentables in and raise FG without adding too much sweetness. Right?

Anyone got any clues on getting some body back in my beers without spending $9/kg on malts which seems to be the going rate for malt in Brisbane. Bulk malt would be an option if it brought the price down a fair bit.

Thanks

xxxxxxxxxx


Coopers APA 5/3/16
Australian Bitter Ale
Coopers Australian Pale Ale 0

Light Dry Malt 0.2kg

Saaz 10g dry hopped

Brown Sugar 0.7kg
Maltodextrin 0.15kg

xxxxxxxxx



Simple wheat
Witbier
MJ INT Bavarian Wheat

White Sugar 1kg
Maltodextrin 0.1kg

Hi Grutnip,
You sound like you want more from your beer than your getting. You point out that you are using some basic sugars and your on the right track with your analysis of why your beers aren't up to what you would like.

The Malt price you quote is about right I'd think, and that's what they cost. Like anything, you get what you pay for.

Alternatively, go AG BIAB. That opens up a whole new world, better beers, and it can be cheaper too.

If you like good beer....
Cheers Steve

 

[butisitart]

if you want beer out, you have to put beer in.
malt extract is more expensive than grain, but a lot less expensive than going to the bottle-oh.
and sugar doesn't taste like beer.
the reason why it tastes like beer flavoured water is cos that's what your ingredients will make.
you can't make beer for $1 carton. you can make good kit beer with a few steeping grains for $10 carton, which is still dirt cheap.

 

[jackgym]

I stopped using any sugar, and now use a kilo of Light Dry Malt. That with some good hops does it for me!

Yes, you can't cut costs and expect a good beer. Ever since I swapped beer enhancer for Light Dry Malt my brews have improved 200%.

 

[Vini2ton]

If you have the extra time and effort to spend, BIAB is the way to go. Keep it simple, try different malts and your beers will be heaps cheaper and mega tastier. Malted grain is cheap.

 

[Grott]

As an average you can make a dam decent drink ( with $9kg malt) for 50 cents a Stubbies, if you want much cheaper than that give up drinking.
Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

Or you could go somewhere in the middle of the two and do a partial mash. Base malt grains are a lot cheaper than malt extract. It would add some time to your brew day though as you'd need to mash for an hour and most likely boil the resultant wort for an hour as well. But if you mashed say, 2kg base malt and added that to your kit maybe with some late hops in the boil, you'd get a way better beer than you are currently and wouldn't have to spend $9/kg on extract.

By comparison I brew AG BIAB, recycle my yeast, buy grains and hops in bulk, and depending on what I put into the brew, it costs somewhere between $20 and $30 per batch. Or around $7-$9 a carton. And it is a shitload better than kits and table sugar ever will be. h34r:

 

[grutnip]

Thanks for the help guys. Yes I want more from my beer than what I am getting, of course That is the mother of invention!

 

[peteru]

If you want more unfermentables in your beer, put in more maltodextrin. I'm not sure what it costs in small quantities, last time I bought it I got 10kg for $20. I ended up chucking about 1/2 of that in the compost a few years later, because I decided that using real malt or steeped grains produced a much better result. I wasn't trying to save a buck, it was more about learning what various ingredients can do and how to use them effectively.

 

[Gigantorus]

Try steeping some specialty malt grains. They are only about $5 per kilo and you may only need 300grams per brew. Just steep 300grams of cracked grains in 1 or 2 litres of hot water (65C to 75C) for 30 minutes then strain the grain out and boil the liquid to pasturise it (get the bad bugs out) then add to your fermenter with the other items. A number of the malts will also give you more body as well. Use a Choc malt for colour and some flavour, or use say CaraPils for body and low colour, or Shepherds Delight for body and some sweetness.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[pcmfisher]

It's like beer flavoured water, with a bitter twang.

Nice description.

Then if you go a kit plus a kg of dry malt, to me tastes like beer flavoured lemonade with a bitter twang.

I think 5-600g ldme and 4-500g dextrose (not table sugar) plus some specialty grains is the trick.