Little Creatures Bright Ale

[archie82]

Looking to do my second home brew in the next few weeks. Was just curious to see if anyone had used a Little creatures bright ale kit from brewcraft. The contents of the pack are:

Black Rock East India Pale Ale
Black Rock Light Liquid Malt 1.5kg
150g Dry Wheat Malt
250g Crushed Carapils
15g Amarillo
15g Saaz
US-05

Final volume 21 liters

I was actually thinking of substituting in the space of the Black Rock products with Coopers India pale ale and Coopers Light Malt extract, reason being i read somewhere else that the Coopers india pale ale is better than black rock east india pale ale.

The guy down at AHB in Richmond told me that the kit was pretty close to the original and was one of there best selling kits.

Any thoughts or advice or review on the brewcraft kit would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

This is were i found the recipe if anyone is interested

Brewcraft newsletter

 

[glaab]

hi bloke,

I think you should be steeping the carapils instead of boiling it like they recommend.
They always tell you that at brewcraft, otherwise it should be a good kit methinks
Cheers

 

[manticle]

hi bloke,

I think you should be steeping the carapils instead of boiling it like they recommend.
They always tell you that at brewcraft, otherwise it should be a good kit methinks
Cheers

I just read through the brewcraft tutorial. While it's not the most technical or informative of pieces it's a darned sight better than the average kit instructions and will help new and KK brewers brew much better beer than brigalow or tooheys ever could.

That said - the one thing that does stick out like a sore thumb is treatment of grains.

First of all they are (hopefully) talking specifically about specialty grains as base grains will be a different process. Secondly, as Glaab said - you do not (and should not) need to bring them to the boil or simmer them. Steep (soak) in hot water (around 70 degrees) for 30 -60 mins. Strain grains and boil remaining liquid.

 

[Wisey]

Sounds like a ripper of a recipe K&B will be my next step.

 

[archie82]

Just thought i would update on my brew. Went passed grain and grape with the recipe and one of the guys there told me to use the following:

Coopers Pale Ale
Coopers Liquid malt extract
20g B-Saaz
20g Cascade
US-05

Boil 10g Saaz and cascade for 20 mins then add 10g of each and let steep for a further 15 minutes then strain into fermenter.
I also changed the Coopers pale ale to the Coopers IPA just out of personal curiosity.

Its sitting fermenting at 18 degrees comfortably (Thankyou Tempmate!)

Some time this week i am hoping to get my hands on corny keg to keg this brew and the remainder bottle.
Final Volume 22 liters
OG was 1.040 although my hydrometer is a cheap $10 one from Kmart that only measures to 1.040 so my next investment along with the keg is a better hydrometer.

 

[buttersd70]

OG was 1.040 although my hydrometer is a cheap $10 one from Kmart that only measures to 1.040 so my next investment along with the keg is a better hydrometer.

Good investment. :lol:

as a matter of interest, 1.7kg kit + 1.5kg lme in 22L = 1045.

 

[mwd]

Don't really know why there is an IPA can in the recipe brewcraft or yours.

Creatures bright is not really that bitter.

I usually make the LCPA Boonies style using a Pale Ale Can.

Not saying you are wrong it will be tasty but a good bit more bitter than Creatures Bright.

You had better post up how it turns out I got a thing for hoppy beers at the moment :icon_cheers:

BTW I made the Brewcraft LCPA style clone kit last year and the result was extremely good especially after a few months in the bottle.

 

[Neill]

As above, i reckon you want a bit less bitterness.

As it happens i have a brew in the fermenter at the moment which is a LCBA clone;

2 cans unhopped LME (pale) 3kg total
300ish grams Dex to make up the gravity
200g Crystal grains to give it some more body

Hop boil;
12g B-Saaz and Cascade 45 min
10g B-Saaz and Cascade 15 min
18g B-Saaz and Cascade Flameout additions

using US-05

it's nearly finished fermenting and the bitterness and hop flavour is spot on for LCBA. It's that particular combination of hops (B-saaz and Cascade) that give it the flavour. This is also not bittered heavily, from memory it was about 30 IBU total. Basically LCBA is a low-mid bitterness ale with B-Saaz and Cascade, which is a fantastic hop combination in my opinion.

So I reckon ditch the kit and get two cans of unhopped LME next time, and do your own bittering with the hops in question. This will step you up to a full "extract brew".

Cheers!

 

[JaffaMan]

Yum, I had the original on the weekend, nice brew.

Think I'll give it a go this weekend.

 

[bum]

Don't really know why there is an IPA can in the recipe brewcraft or yours.

Creatures bright is not really that bitter.

Beat me to it. I'd definitely go a less bitter tin of goop than that for this beer.

 

[lespaul]

As above, i reckon you want a bit less bitterness.

As it happens i have a brew in the fermenter at the moment which is a LCBA clone;

2 cans unhopped LME (pale) 3kg total
300ish grams Dex to make up the gravity
200g Crystal grains to give it some more body

Hop boil;
12g B-Saaz and Cascade 45 min
10g B-Saaz and Cascade 15 min
18g B-Saaz and Cascade Flameout additions

using US-05

it's nearly finished fermenting and the bitterness and hop flavour is spot on for LCBA. It's that particular combination of hops (B-saaz and Cascade) that give it the flavour. This is also not bittered heavily, from memory it was about 30 IBU total. Basically LCBA is a low-mid bitterness ale with B-Saaz and Cascade, which is a fantastic hop combination in my opinion.

So I reckon ditch the kit and get two cans of unhopped LME next time, and do your own bittering with the hops in question. This will step you up to a full "extract brew".

Cheers!

I followed an extract recipe posted by tony which was exactly the same as the above recipe. In the method it said dissolve 1 can of LME into about 14lt for the hops then when its done add the other can and the dextrose.

Im going to be honest and say i didnt read the instructions at all. I added the 2 cans and the dextrose in the stock pot before the hop additions. Is this going to affect the beer? will it change the SG?

 

[big78sam]

I followed an extract recipe posted by tony which was exactly the same as the above recipe. In the method it said dissolve 1 can of LME into about 14lt for the hops then when its done add the other can and the dextrose.

Im going to be honest and say i didnt read the instructions at all. I added the 2 cans and the dextrose in the stock pot before the hop additions. Is this going to affect the beer? will it change the SG?

Have a look at this post. It discusses the effect of SG on hop utilization.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...;hl=utilization

I'm not sure how much effect the higher SG would have on the bitterness. I gather this will result in less biterness but I haven't ever done this myself so can't comment on the impact. Maybe someone else could comment...


EDIT: I just noted your question was about SG not hop utilisation but it's worth noting this issue as well.

 

[Pennywise]

It wont effect the SG at all, but as posted above, it'll change the bitterness, and prolly quite a bit.

 

[lespaul]

It wont effect the SG at all, but as posted above, it'll change the bitterness, and prolly quite a bit.

anything i can do?

 

[Pennywise]

I don't have access to Beersmith or anything at work so quantities someone else will have to help you out, and you'll need these before you start really.

What you can do is get a small boil going with a gravity of 1040 (approx 1L per 100g dry malt) and boil some of your hops in this to get some bitterness and add this to the brew (once cooled of course). Like I said though, you'll need to know how much bitterness you have ATM and how much hops to boil in that litre or so of wort to get to where you want to be.

Edit: Post up the AA% of the hops you used

 

[lespaul]

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

12.00 g. B-Saaz Pellet 6.80 9.4 45 min.

12.00 g. Cascade Pellet 5.90 8.2 45 min.

10.00 g. B-Saaz Pellet 6.80 4.2 15 min.

10.00 g. Cascade Pellet 5.90 3.7 15 min.

18.00 g. B-Saaz Pellet 6.80 0.0 0 min.

18.00 g. Cascade Pellet 5.90 0.0 0 min.


If i dry hop will that do anything for bitterness?

 

[Pennywise]

Dry hopping will do nothing for the bitterness, it'll just add a heap of aroma and some flavour. Doing some quick calcs it looks like you're out by about 10 IBU, which you will notice. If you want to add that 10 IBU just boil 100g of dry malt in 1L water with 10g of your B-Saaz for an hour (keep an eye on it because a boil this small WILL cause problems if you don't give it a stir every few mins), cool it to ferment temp and just add it. IMO there'd be very little risk of infection doing this at this stage as I'd hazzard a guess that fermentation is visual and becoming more vigorous as we speak (type).

Hope this helps :icon_cheers:

 

[lespaul]

thanks heaps!

massive help, ill get to it right now.

 

[jkirky]

Neill...

When you say 18gm b-saaz and cascade at....

Do you mean 18gm each hop, or total hops (ie. 50/50) for 18g?

Wouldnt mind putting down your recipe..

Cheers!

 

[Neill]

18gm of each hop mate.

having said that, i have been drinking this brew for the last month and it needs a LOT more hops to resemble LCBA. I am going to make it again because the combination of B-Saaz and Cascade is a ripper, but next time i will double the hops. it's easy - just buy two 80g packs instead of two 40g packs and double the additions. you will probably need to shorten the boil otherwise you'll get too much bitterness but that's easy enough.