Robbery Apa

[KingKong]

Ok . Im no home brew whiz kid. I have only just started in home brewing. I really know sweet F.A about home brewing. BUT... I'm going to blow my own whistle a little bit here! When I first got into home brewing I NEVER expected to brew a drop this good and honestly DID NOT expect to brew a beer to the quality, and just as good as what you buy from a bottle shop.

I would STRONGLY recommend any new home brewer moving from kits to extract and in between to give this a go. I'm no beer judge but I would seriously compare this to a Fat Yak type tasting beer.

Any way this is what I did, I just popped one of these after 10 days in the bottle and it tastes faaaarking excellent!

King Kong - Robbery APA

1 Coopers APA 1.7KG K&K can.
1kg Light Dry Malt
250g of Dextrose
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250g part of the above 1 kg of light dry malt to the boil in 2.5 litres of water.
15g Cascade @ 10 min
15g of Amarillo @ 10 min
10g of Amirallo @ 0 min (leave to sit for 5 minutes)
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Mix all ingrediants (remaining 750g of LDM and 250g of Dex) to 23L and pitch US-05 Yeast.
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Fermentation in temp controlled fridge @ 18 degrees C.
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Day 7 - 15g of Cascade into the fermenter.
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Day 12 - Racked onto 160g of Dextrose and bottled.
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Leave for a few weeks (although I have just had one after 10 days and it tastes great!)

This will be my standard brew from now on and I seriously doubt I will ever buy commercial beer again except with the exception to taste those new or recommended high quality beers).

 

[JakeSm]

Hey King Kong,
its great to see more people stepping into the homebrewing world, trust me you will never look back.

just remember every time you do a batch even if its the same recipe, they are all still different so dont be surpprised if it doesnt turn out the same a few times.
This recipe looks like it would make a nice summer beer, however have you tried using any specialty grains or brewing from scratch, i.e Full Extract or All Grain Brewing.

I would try adding 150g - 250g of freshly cracked grain to your recipe and you will be amazed of the changes to your beer, in regards to body and mouth feel and also to nuttyness and aromas.

i hope this conditions well and you enjoy your further brewing experiences.

cheers jake.

 

[Yob]

it just keeps on getting better as time and experience with the different ingredients grows, so does your hunger to make them better again next time!! Haha

The Pale Ale can with mostly Malt, added hops, spec grains (Try a bit of Dry Wheat Malt with it and see what it does for a nice creamy head) was the best brews I ever made with Kits and Bits.. repeatedly.. B)

playing like this with bits and bobs is a great learning tool and will serve you well.. Congrats on a great beer KK

may they get better for you as you go.

Yob

 

[Bizier]

Now you can do a little steep or partial mash (basically need to hold your steep for 70 deg C for 15 mins) to freshen up the malt profile of your extracts and you won't know yourself.

 

[sim]

Always good to hear of a crackin' success! Whys it called robbery?

 

[RobboMC]

In a couple of years you will be able to brew as good as the commercial brews with your eyes shut;
I've been at it for about 5 years now and even my 'bottle fillers' are impressive. When you learn to use grains
you will be able to brew better than anything yuo can buy in the bottle shop, much better.

Some say that most breweries us around 25% dextrose just to increase the alcohol content cheaply;
so if you use all malt then you are instantly 25% ahead. Of course some light lagers ( light in cokour, not
alcohol that is ) need dextrose.

 

[KingKong]

Always good to hear of a crackin' success! Whys it called robbery?

Glad you all share my excitement! I might try steeping a little bit of grain in the next batch. Although I am so happy with this beer that I am a little anxious about adding another ingrediant ! But brewing the same batch over and over would get me no where , so I will give it a go. Plus it will be a new learning experience.

Its called Robbery APA for a couple of reasons, but mainly because after drinking mega litres and buying mega $$ of store bought beer I feel robbed knowing how cheap this was to brew and how much better it tastes then 99% of the **** Ive bought.

 

[JakeSm]

hahahahahahaha,,,,,now i get the name.
good call king kong, i like it, and so true.

 

[Bizier]

I might try steeping a little bit of grain in the next batch.

 

[wyane]

Looks great KK. Have recently found the APA holy grail of Cascade, Amarillo and US05.

I did one very similar but with just a little PoR at 60min for that Aussie PA twang and used Breiss golden light for the majority of the malt with plain LDM for the boil.

US05 + Cascade + Amarillo = amazing flavour and aroma. Everyone who tastes this wants to know more about it.

 

[sponge]

Cascade, amarillo and us05 work wonders together.

There are many other delicious american hop combos that are great as well. mixing citra/simcoe/centennial/chinook in any combination also works wonders.

Also, if youre game to venture into liquid yeasts, the wy1272/wlp051 is a delicious change from us05/wy1056/wlp001.

But just change your brews slightly each time so you can start to understand the different flavours/textures/aromas/etc that each ingredient brings to a brew.

Before you know it, you'll be doing full mashes...

 

[QldKev]

If you want a more Fat Yak style, try the same recipe but subs in NS for all the late hop additions.

Making your own beer, it's saves money and it's rewarding B)

QldKev

 

[pcmfisher]

You can just imagine how good your beer will be if you replaced the IPA tin with unbittered malt and did a 60min boil to get your bitterness from fresh hops. That and a little specialty grain and it will blow your mind.

 

[NewtownClown]

Pretty good base to start seeing what different spec grains and hops can add...

 

[KingKong]

It deffinately has begun...

If I could find some NS hops I would deffinately give it a go, I actually wanted NS at the start for this recipe shooting for a closer Fat Yak type beer, problem is I cant find any for sale near me and Im not paying P&H at the rates Ive seen advertised. :huh:

I think now I am satisfied with the result I might use this as a base to tweek every brew with some thing new (all extract , steeping speciality grains, different hops etc) and go from that as my usual house beer and nightly drop. Do some fresh different stuff on the side (I've been looking for some one who can recomend a great dunkelweizen extract recipe).

 

[wyane]

Great suggestions all round. Have an unopened pack of NS and another of Amarillo in the fridge. Thinking of a similar malt load for the next APA but wondering about the hops.
Will use the spreadsheet to aim for IBU ~35 using PoR 60min; NS 45min; Amarillo at 15min and NS dry-hopped. Or maybe just NS all the way to gauge the flavours of it. Oh the joy if only for a few more fermenters

 

[slash22000]

So, if I understand this correctly, you add some dry malt to water so you can boil the hops in for bittering/flavour? Kind of like a mini-wort?

That is a great idea if it works! I've never boiled a kit before since in Darwin it would take about 6 months to cool down to pitching temp, this seems like a smart way to add some extra power without too much trouble.

 

[NewtownClown]

So, if I understand this correctly, you add some dry malt to water so you can boil the hops in for bittering/flavour? Kind of like a mini-wort?

That is a great idea if it works! I've never boiled a kit before since in Darwin it would take about 6 months to cool down to pitching temp, this seems like a smart way to add some extra power without too much trouble.

Absolutely it works. At 100 grams per litre you'll have a wort of around 1.040. I've read a boil of 3 litres is the minimum for hop fair utilisation.
It is a great way to add flavour & aroma to a pre-bittered kit.

 

[PeterG78]

It deffinately has begun...

If I could find some NS hops I would deffinately give it a go, I actually wanted NS at the start for this recipe shooting for a closer Fat Yak type beer, problem is I cant find any for sale near me and Im not paying P&H at the rates Ive seen advertised. :huh:

I think now I am satisfied with the result I might use this as a base to tweek every brew with some thing new (all extract , steeping speciality grains, different hops etc) and go from that as my usual house beer and nightly drop. Do some fresh different stuff on the side (I've been looking for some one who can recomend a great dunkelweizen extract recipe).

King Kong I'm off to the Brew Shop this arvo and have to get some NS for myself. I'll grab an extra pack and if you want me to post them up let me know.

 

[KingKong]

King Kong I'm off to the Brew Shop this arvo and have to get some NS for myself. I'll grab an extra pack and if you want me to post them up let me know.

Cheers for the offer! But Ill prob just wait till Im going past Campbelltown or some where in Sydney to visit a LHB store there. My bloke has now run out of amarillo...

Such a pain in the arse having to modify your brews all the time. Better then nothing though!