how to brew a kit beer?

[lukasfab]

for the next couple months I will be busy and wont have time to brew AG

the only brewing I have done is AG so I have no idea about kit stuff but I assume its much quicker?

I have heaps of hops and some types of crystal malts so what do I need to do to pump out some decent APA or IAPA?

thought of buying those fresh wort kits which is still way cheaper then buying beer, but if i can do a decent kit that would be even better

cheers

 

[verysupple]

Well you know how to brew and as APA and AIPA are both really hop driven with malt playing a supporting role, I'd go with a subtle kit (maybe like a lager or blonde) and do my own hopping (remembering to take into account the bitterness of the kit) and adjust malt flavour with crystal.

As the kit can 'o' goo is sterile it doesn't actually need to be boiled. So I'd use some of it for a small hop boil (maybe 10L? - less if you can't be arsed) and then just dump the rest in right at the end of the boil (late extract method). If you need to boost your OG, chuck in some light DME/LME right at the end of the boil too. Top up with cold water which helps chill down to piching temp. I used to use water straight from the tap which isn't great if you're worried about chlorine but great for getting dissolved oxygen in.

Should be able to bust out a brew from goo to pitching in just over an hour - less if you only do "late hopping".

 

[lukasfab]

in under 1hr?? thats what I need right now, excellent!

so is this the sort of can I would need to get?
http://www.homebru.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_26_61&products_id=4

so mix this with 10l of water or wort from steeped grains, boil, add my hops, pour into FV with cold water and pitch yeast?

 

[Bribie G]

In my kit and kilo days I would set off for the afternoon shift at noon, having put down three kits that morning (I used to do 3 at a time, it was still winter and they would just line up on the bench in the garage then have a mammoth bottling session about 10 days later). Didn't mind them at all - until I went AG then my tastebuds got well ruined. :lol:

Hops need some sugar to optimise hop efficiency whatever that is, however I took their word and just used some sugar in the boil, you don't need much. Also if you can get some good fresh home-brew-branded liquid malt extract I prefer that to LDME as I found the dry stuff CAN chuck a wicked chill haze - a lot of it is made for baking and confectionery.

 

[verysupple]

in under 1hr?? thats what I need right now, excellent!

so is this the sort of can I would need to get?
http://www.homebru.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_26_61&products_id=4

so mix this with 10l of water or wort from steeped grains, boil, add my hops, pour into FV with cold water and pitch yeast?

Yup, some kit like that would be fine I think. It says 390 IBU for that one so you just divide that by the number of litres you will end up with in the FV (i.e. for 23 L you would get ~17 IBU). Then you can calc. your hop additions.

I used to only add enough DME/LME/goo at the start to get the boil gravity to around 1.040 (it's not good to boil hops in plain water and not great to boil really concentrated wort as Bribie said). If you're steeping grains you might not need any DME/LME/goo at the start. Use something like Ianh's kit spreadsheet (pinned in K'n'K I think) to calc. you start boil extract additions. Add hops as per you recipe. Then with about a min left in the boil add all the rest of you extract, can 'o' goo etc. just to mix it.

Then as you said, pour into the FV and top up with water - you can add some cold and some hot to get your pitching temp.

 

[lukasfab]

Perfect!

Thanks guys

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Open Tin
Pour into fermenter
Add water
Add yeast
wait
Bottle

 

[lukasfab]

Oh so with the water you can top up straight from tap if you like
No need to boil it?
I will probably fill from the filter

 

[slcmorro]

Simple mate. As Stu said. Cold water from the tap will be fine. It's really simple doing kit brews. If you mess it up, you're either licking a doorknob too much or you've suffered a mild stroke during.

Edit: I usually pour 2 litres of boiled water in the fermenter, and then the tin of goo and fermentables and stir the shit out of it. Then I top up to the desired mark with tap water, hot or cold to pitching temp.

 

[chewy]

I never picked stu as being a light beer lover...

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I am not going into "There is enough in the tin FFS..."


I actually dont mind a light beer.....just not from a tin. Its PITA getting the IBU/OG ratio correct with a kit

 

[bradsbrew]

If your short on time and want to have it done and dusted in under an hour I would suggest buying a fresh wort kit, even if it was one of the 5L jobs that you just top up, and dry hop it. I am not saying you cant make a reasonable beer from the tin kit but you will spend more than an hour to do so especially when you add in cleaning of the ferment gear and stuff you use to steep/boil etc.

Cheers

 

[Bribie G]

Chlorine in the water is a definite cause of twang, Chris White from whitelabs reckons it's the biggest killer - running the water through a carbon filter will really lift the brews.

Hey have you heard about getting into BIAB for less than $30 h34r:

Now, another way of producing a quaffer in far less time is to do one all grain batch initially and split the wort between 4 or even 5 little five litre cubes you can get from Bunnings. I did that once and the resulting brews (tin plus a 5L plus 500g BE2 and some boiled hops) were excellent. Cubes kept for months.

 

[Stinger]

Refreshing to see someone going back the other way from all grain - I just did my first all grain attempt last weekend and it is definitely time consuming.

The biggest tip I ever got with extract is to double up your cans and go all malt. alternatively go for the kilo of DME with the can. freshen it up with some dry hopping after fermentation and you might never go back to all grain?

I put the tin in some hot water for a little while first to get the liquid malt nice and runny and then pour boiling water into the can to clean the rest of the malt out and the hot water helps the liquid malt (and DME sugar or whatever you choose to add to bring up to desired OG)

The idea of Kits is keeping it simple, tap water has always worked for me, if you use plenty of hops I doubt you would tell the difference

 

[Bribie G]

Virtually impossible to do a convincing UK real ale or an authentic Euro lager with kits, which is why I went AG - not being a huge fan of APAs.

However the OP is looking for APAs and AIPAs so he should get good results using hops to override the limitations of the kits and extracts. I've sampled a few of this style made on extract and they have been hard to pick as not being AG, and very drinkable.