Increasing Alcohol Percentage Of Kit And Kilos

[rendo]

Manticle,

Your name kills me...hahaha.. I read it and can't get past "Man-Tickle". Not my cuppa, but hey!

Back OT, you have never done a toucan. Come on......u are one of the many gurus in AHB....dont you just want to do one, so u can say you have and fulfil those wild desires of knowing what brewing and drinking your own toucan is like.

I couldn't resist brewing a toucan after all the talk about it in AHB. I brewed two cheapie farmland draught cans. They were $1 each, still 10months before expiry, deleting the line from that store. Slap me silly though, it turned out a cherry red, with great head rentention and a extreme bitter flavour that was just SENSATIONAL....Its not my everyday beer, but its a keeper, will do again. Winter, casserole, fireplace and my toucan draught! NICE!

EDIT: Oh....and I used the two incl yeast packets. Why not, they are both there! A bit of foam out of the airlock doesn't hurt anyone. Mine stayed all within the fermenter luckily.

Rendo

@BribieG

Just interested in the 'only one kit yeast' part. Wouldn't that underpitch and potentially stress the yeast causing possible off flavours like acetyladehyde?

Never done a toucan myself but curious. 7g seems to little for 1 can to me let alone 2.

 

[Bribie G]

Every toucan I have done with two packets of yeast has been a gusher, I expect that kits as opposed to cans of pure extract have a bit of heading agent in the recipe. I'm pretty sure Brigalow kits are loaded with the stuff - to counteract the use of a kilo of sugaz. Even with just one yeast I have tended to do my toucans sitting in a baby bath for the first couple of days till the volcano subsides

 

[manticle]

Manticle,

Your name kills me...hahaha.. I read it and can't get past "Man-Tickle". Not my cuppa, but hey!

Back OT, you have never done a toucan. Come on......u are one of the many gurus in AHB....dont you just want to do one, so u can say you have and fulfil those wild desires of knowing what brewing and drinking your own toucan is like.

I couldn't resist brewing a toucan after all the talk about it in AHB. I brewed two cheapie farmland draught cans. They were $1 each, still 10months before expiry, deleting the line from that store. Slap me silly though, it turned out a cherry red, with great head rentention and a extreme bitter flavour that was just SENSATIONAL....Its not my everyday beer, but its a keeper, will do again. Winter, casserole, fireplace and my toucan draught! NICE!

EDIT: Oh....and I used the two incl yeast packets. Why not, they are both there! A bit of foam out of the airlock doesn't hurt anyone. Mine stayed all within the fermenter luckily.

Rendo

The name comes from a cross between mantis and icicle.
It is also some kind of heraldic reference but that's purely by chance (I thought I'd made it up based on the above). Anyway I have no problem with tickling my friends whether male or female.

I post a lot but I'm really not sure I should be considered a guru. Helpful hopefully. Prolific, probably. Vociferous, definitely.

Anyway I'll probably do a toucan one day at some point. Just got too many things to mash for the moment. My wildest desires involve much more than grain though.

@bribieG - have you noticed any effects that you might potentially associate with underpitching?

 

[orwell_g]

Alrighty, thanks to everyone who replied. Let me see if I can wrap it all up in a summary:

- Dextrose - Simply adding more dextrose will increase alcohol to a limit, but will thin or water down the beer with not much head
- Malts - Adding more malt extract or another kit can will produce sweeter thicker beer, meaning I may need to introduce hops

All things considered, if I were to use the following (slightly modified from manticle's original reply):

1 x kit (coopers canadian blonde)
1 x kg brew enhancer (2 from memory for this one)
250g light dried malt extract
250g dextrose
Safale US-04 Yeast (sitting in the fridge)

Would that theoretically even out the ill-effects of over-sugaring, or over-malting and also produce that extra kick 5-6%?

Also, there has been mention of being careful with the pitch of the yeast. Should the safale mentioned above be able to withstand being dumped in to the fermenter after the additional sugars have been added?

I don't want to have crappy tasting beer, and enjoy pouring the beer ending with a classic beer glass head. The coopers cerveza I was very impressed with, and will definitely do again soon.

I will attempt to do the extract brew that Nick talked about, as that sounds interesting, and doesn't sound terribly complicated. Would be nice to get away from the reliance on the kit for the body and flavor of the beer ...

 

[Scruffy]

You need to be a bit smart/careful; Just throw a bag or two of Sugar/dextrose at it and your alcohols will probably turn harsh (first sip a reasonable brandy, then sip lighter fuel). It needs to be a balance of malts, other sugars or less water (i.e. longer boil time in All Grain - i.e. make a more concentrated wort in K&K) and maybe counter the result with extra hop or other adjunct. Your choice of yeast will also affect the outcome, some chew more sugars and make more alcohol and don't really affect the malt or hop profile (much!), some are used specifically for that, Belgian yeast for e.g... Some yeasts are designed to produce as much alcohol from a sugar concentrate whilst the moon is out... (turbo yeast), but you'll be distilling all the extra harsh crap this produces, don't brew beer with it!

Add your secret ingredients by all means, but appreciate that what you will get is a different beer to the one on the packet. It's still beer (your beer!). But you've changed the recipe. You're now making a stronger beer!

Think what a 9% Carlton Mid might taste like?

 

[orwell_g]

You need to be a bit smart/careful; Just throw a bag or two of Sugar/dextrose at it and your alcohols will probably turn harsh (first sip a reasonable brandy, then sip lighter fuel).

...

Think what a 9% Carlton Mid might taste like?

I agree, but I'm only really aiming for 5-6% which should be achievable ... 9% would be way too strong for myself, and I'm not trying to attempt that just yet. Much to learn, read and experiment with. Until I get my tempmate wired up I'm kind of idle, and would like to get a good easy recipe together for when the tempmate's ready. I'd like to get a nice mix of a good tasting beer that will also be sitting around 5-6%. Usually 2 pints and you're rocking sort of thing.

Feel a bit ripped off drinking 4.2% beer, as the path to the toilet keeps getting worn down ...

I'm hoping the above recipe will work out, if someone can tell me I've gone wrong before I do it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Scruffy]

I should add that if you're aiming for 5 or 6%, then you shouldn't have to worry too much about the finer details outlined by our more illustrious and knowledgeable contributers, ...anyroad, I've stuck your recipe into Beersmith (i'm mashing ATM so have a minute or so...) and you'll get something like 5 and nearly a half percent alcohol by volume (in 22 litres), but you might want to consider bittering it a bit more to counter the sweetness you've added - buy/borrow/steal/try asking your LHBS for a sample of a lager hop (one of the German types - Saaz or Hallertauer, if not sweep some Goldings off his floor!). 12 grams boiled in a pan (of some) of your wort for 30 minutes and re-added before you pitch - (for an 8.5AA hop, that should give you an extra 9 IBUs.
If you don't want to fanny about, make it with 18 litres and you may even nudge 6.25%.

Have fun.

 

[orwell_g]

Whoa, thanks for the reply! IBU is something I know 0 about As mentioned, I've got quite a bit more reading to do on this topic!

One of my mates on here does some hop additions, so I might hit him up for a hop teabag or something! Cheers again!

 

[Nick JD]

Would be nice to get away from the reliance on the kit for the body and flavor of the beer ...

Extract brewing will have you making a beer that doesn't taste like "homebrew". While it is possible to make a kit beer that doesn't taste like homebrew, it takes a skill level that would be better applied to great ingredients and methods.

Be nice to not get ripped off blind by those "brew enhancer" boxes at $6 a pop! If you buy the constituents of those boxes individually they'll cost half that or less. LDME can be had for $7 a kg, Dex for $3 or less.

 

[Scruffy]

Indeed Nick - there's no entry for brew enhancer #2 in BeerSmith so i edumacatedguessed it to be 500g LME, 200g Maltodextrin and 300g Dextrose, then i added his additions + his tin... I used a german pilsner style as a guide for OG, IBU and SRM, and noticed i forgotten the isohop Coopers put in their tins... made an educated adjustment and decided to add the extra 9 IBU to get it 'within style' (of a Pils)...

Mr Orwell, sir - You stick yer hops in for bitter, flavour and aroma (you knew that right!?). Any road; a light beer has a little hop bitterness and a little hop aroma (but maybe not at the temeratures you Aussies drink it at...!!) - it should be an easy drinking liquid (plain barley - no roasts), a good balence of malt (sweet) and hop (bitter)... your Squires Ales have a little more bitterness and a bit more aroma* because of the extra toasted/aromatic/burnt malts (which give you the extra malted flavour), your mad American micro brewing cousins go for all out brash hop monsters, but in turn they have to compensate with a huge grain bill...
So I reckon some extra hop - but it's bitterness you need, so boil. Adding a Fuggles hop bag into the fermenter for a couple of days won't really add any bitterness, but will add to the aroma (usually the musty flavour of the shelves in the LHBS). Steal the bag and drop it into a pan and boil with some of your wort - 30 minutes if your missus can stand the smell - longer if you like... if you don't, your beer will taste OK, but you will wish it had a bit extra bitterness.

*This is up to the accountants on the day, i guess...

 

[orwell_g]

Mr Orwell, sir - You stick yer hops in for bitter, flavour and aroma (you knew that right!?).

Yep, knew that, but haven't experimented yet. I've only completed 3 brews in total! With the tempmate on the way though, that will quickly change.

Steal the bag and drop it into a pan and boil with some of your wort - 30 minutes if your missus can stand the smell - longer if you like... if you don't, your beer will taste OK, but you will wish it had a bit extra bitterness.

No worries, something to try out for sure. I guess experimentation and concrete results will come with experience. Thanks to all that have posted, I appreciate the help.