Improve home brew kits - next level from beginner up

[trustyrusty]

Hi Guys,

To keep it simple for now - I am on my 12th kit - the beer is good, drinkable and nothing bad. Various Coopers and a Tooheys Draft. I have hopped a few , used honey etc. Sometimes to me are a little "thin". Sometimes I have James Squires 150 Lashes on tap at local and that is that full flavoured taste I want. (It is personal , some may not like that?) Is it the yeast, hops, etc that is making that great.

I want to know how I can make them just that little better but only a few changes - maybe liquid malt, use a better yeast.
If add to many different things I wont know what is improving it. I know this is a bit opened ended but I thought use good yeast, plus hops or use better fermentables. I generally use BE1 and BE2. I did use HBS malt mix #20 for Coopers IPA which I think is better. Any ideas - one or 2

Also I did see only that some only adds up to 21 lts in a 23 lt mix to get that fuller body flavour.

Thanks

 

[Red Baron]

Here's 2 for you-
1. Sub out your BE1/2 for dry malt.
2. Use some hops in a hop tea as you're mixing up the brew (look up the hops in 150 lashes, and use those).

Unless you can control your ferment temp, don't worry about using a better yeast at this stage (but if you can, then definitely use a better yeast!).

Cheers,
RB

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Keep your fermentation under control. That is one of the keys in making better kit beer

 

[Mikeyr]

Adding hops or try dry hopping is a good start

Ditto on temp, makes a huge difference

Try a different dry yeast or create your own some from a Coopers Pale Ale Stubbies., I reckon the yeast in Coopers Kits in particular has for my palate an "certain after taste"

DME is better than the "mixes" and you can start your own blends

For a huge step up, lash out on a Fresh Wort Kit (drum) and some Safale US 05 or whatever's appropriate........ then you're on the slippery slope to All Grain!

 

[michaeld16]

Agree with making sure you got temp control sorted and sanitation. Then try some dry hopping different yeasts and steeping some spec grains and before ya know it ya screwed and obsessed with the hobby.
I really get very little from 150 lashes taste wise but its all personal preference

 

[abe max]

As already said, adding steeped grains to the brew will provide more body. I personally got about 10 kits under my belt then moved to extract, using .5 to a kilo of grain in the cook, that combined with good temp control and good yeast has seen me make some really nice beer

 

[Feldon]

As said above, using Light Dry Malt (LDM) instead of BE1 and BE2 can make a less 'thin' beer and give more body and better head retention. But be aware that the BE1 and BE2 come in 1kg boxes, and the Coopers LDM comes in 500g boxes. So don't make the mistake of using like-for-like as regards the packaging. You need to replace the BE1 or 2 with at least an equal weight of LDM (= 2 boxes).

You say you're pleased with how your beers have been turning out which means you must be doing a lot right such as temp control. You don't need a temp controlled fridge if the ambient temp of the place where your fermentor is around the 18C mark. I brew inside the house and have learned the different parts of the house I can ferment beer in according to the seasons and the current weather. Right now I've got a stout in the kitchen near a window. The house is heated to about 18-20C and the cold window helps take the heat out of the fermentor. Yeast fermentation creates heat within the vessel so if you start your fermentation on the low side (eg. 18C) it will rise as it gets underway. If it gets too cold I put an blanket over it.

Another thing to remember is that if you increase the fermentable sugars in the brew you are asking the kit yeast you are currently using to work harder and longer, and this can cause yeast stress and they will produce off flavours. Some people say the supplied 7g of kit yeast is insufficient to brew with, but I think as long as the can it comes with is fresh (ie. it has a long use-by date) and hasn't been cooked in the sun during transport from Coopers to the shop (winter is the best time to buy kit tins), the yeast should be OK for a standard brew, By standard I mean the basic recipe as recommended by Coopers of the tin + a kilo of brew enhancer. If you are going to start adding say 1.5kg of LDM instead you should think of getting bigger pack of yeast. I'd recommend US-05. Very reliable and neutral yeast. Every brew shop stocks it and there are ebay sellers who sell it cheap with free postage (this is OK in winter when its cold but I wouldn't buy by post in hot weather. And when you get your yeast home store in in the fridge.

I've used US05 up to 24C without any problem (for me anyway). To save money on the bought yeast you can reuse it by putting your next brew straight over the top of the yeast trub on the bottom of the fermentor. Some people use only about a cup of the trub, I just use it all. But you should get the second brew going ASAP after you've bottled the previous brew. I've reused yeast this way for up to four brews. You'll find that fermentation kicks off very quickly when you reuse yeast this way.

As for getting more body and head retention in your beer, apart from using LDM, you could try steeping about 250g of Carapils malt grains. This type of malt is pre-mashed. So you simply put it in about 2 litres of hot water for at least an hour or so to soak out the sugars, then strain and boil the resulting liquid it to kill any germs. You can use this now clean hot liquid to help dissolve your Brew Enhancer or LDM. Note that you need to crush the Carapils grains first. You can put them in a zip-lock bag and bash them with a rolling pin or hammer (I just blitz them to dust in an electric coffee grinder). There are other similar pre-mashed grains, such as crystal malts, to try as well.

Good luck.

 

[trustyrusty]

Thanks for all the help so far

 

[Nibbo]

• Using different yeasts will be a quick improvement providing you can control your temps as above. Not sure where you are but winter time is a good time to brew. Talk to your home brew shop on what temps they should be used at when purchasing.
• A good start to using hops is by using the hop teabags.
• Using the fresh wort kits (FWK) are a good way to brew quality beer but you won't learn anything from them apart from showing you the quality of beer you should be able to make at home.
• If you try to use more malt extract in your brewing, it should give you a better end result.

If you're not sure how to control your temps easy, search for fermentation fridge. It should give you some ideas.

 

[Elz]

Carniebrew has written a good guide in what is the next 'natrual' step: extract brewing:
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/70529-a-guide-to-extract-with-specialty-grain-brewing/
I found heaps of good info here.
cheers
Elz