first time brewing beer, is this mix ok?

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GOBLIN

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Hello im just starting out and bought my first ingredients today and was wondering how this beer would turn out and if you could offer any improvements for a beginner.

bought Morgans Iron Bark Dark Ale 1.7kg
Coopers Malt Extract Amber 1.5kg
Goldings Finishing hops 15g

Going to ferment for 2 weeks at 18 degrees in my coopers plastic fermenter, then bottle and age for a month or two. going to make about 18litres so i can get the alcohol to about 6%.

Am i using enough ingredients to make this a good beer? Any suggestions?
 
Sounds good. Might need the two months to smooth out. Make sure you let it sit in the fermenter for a week or so after it has stopped fermenting to let it clean itself up.
 
Looks good mate. I always tucked a few bottles of the darker stuff away so I could see how much better it got when it aged.
The dark stuff was always awesome at 6 months, but very drinkable after 1 or 2.

At what point are you planning to add the hops?
 
The second brew I made, about 5 years ago was an Ironbark with a tin of extract and a pack of finishing hops :)
I still remember it as one of the best kit beers I ever made. And it should be ready to drink a couple of weeks after bottling.

Sons and I had been to the Medieval Festival in QLD near Bribie Island and they had Tooheys Old in the beer pavilion so we were drinking that.
When we got home I started cracking the Ironbarks..... feck yeah that's more like it :lol:

I beg to differ with my esteemed neighbour up the road in Wauchope but from my own experience using this Morgans kit, I would suggest that this can be cranked out a lot quicker... ten days in the FV then ten days in the bottle should do it with this particular kit. However by all means split the bottle collection in half, keep one lot for a month or two and see how it matures.
 
oowww yeah, sounds good to me.......
 
You could use Nottingham yeast instead of the kit yeast, that was one of the first things I did to my kit beers which made a big difference. Nottingham worked well for me, so did s-04 and Windsor yeast but that wont get you to your 6% because it isn't as greedy with the amount of malt it eats.
 
Was going to add the hops steeped for 10mins in 500mls water just before i add the yeast into the fermenter. I hear that s04 yeast is good, should i get a packet of that instead of using the packet under the lid of the Iron bark dark ale?
 
GOBLIN said:
Was going to add the hops steeped for 10mins in 500mls water just before i add the yeast into the fermenter. I hear that s04 yeast is good, should i get a packet of that instead of using the packet under the lid of the Iron bark dark ale?
I second the Nottingham motion as that's a great ale yeast, IMO better than S-04 and suited well to darker ales.

For your hops, probably a cup of water will do the job anywhere from 80-100°C. You will get more aroma and 'presence' if you put this in your primary after a few days, or transfer the beer onto it in your secondary.

Sounds like a good brew.
 
Man it's begging to differ evening around here :D

The Morgans kit yeast under the lid of their ale packs is Mauribrew Ale Yeast and it does a very good job with this kit. Later on, try another yeast by all means and see if it works for you. IMHO Nottingham will strip all the sweetness out of the brew, and most of the hops.
I second the idea of adding the steeped hop teabag after a few days.
 
i was toying with the idea of adding 250 or 500g of dextrose in the mix as well and instead of making 18litres do maybe 20 litres and hopefully keeping the 6% alcohol, is this going to work or then i was thinking .........first time brewing ....keep it simple!
 
keep it simple!
What you have will be a nice brew. play with it next time if you want.
 
Is there a quick tasty beer kit that i could brew and drink while im waiting for my Dark ale to mature?
 
If you haven't purchased the hops, might I suggest buying them in a larger size.

The finishing hops are about 6 times the price per gram, and may not be as fresh.

Site sponsors, hopdealzaustralia.com and some LHBS will have the better ones.

EKG sounds great. If you're using Fuggles, Willamette is a worth substitute if you're looking to cut costs.

But yep, looks pretty decent to me.
 
You could make a toucan? One Coopers Euro Lager and one Canadian Blonde, makes a very nice beer. Ferment with US-05 as well :)

Carniebrew suggested this to me and I really liked it.
 
Econwatson said:
You could make a toucan? One Coopers Euro Lager and one Canadian Blonde, makes a very nice beer. Ferment with US-05 as well :)

Carniebrew suggested this to me and I really liked it.
Or notto, if you want it done really really quick.
 
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