Stronger Dr Smurto Golden Ale

[Aus_Rider_22]

Just had a quiet Friday session at home and have question to ask.

Firstly, the first extract brew I did was the DSGA and it's been in the bottle for a little over 2 weeks. At lunch time today I decided to throw a bottle in the fridge amongst a couple other coopers K&K brews just to try it. It had smelt and tasted awesome from the fermenter and I was busting to try it. I tried it and even at just over 2 weeks old in the bottle it's heads and shoulders above the Coopers Real Ale and Cerveza I had been drinking. The (last) Cerveza was over 2 months old and I thought it's gonna taste alot better than when the mates and I polished the lot of at about 1 month. It was very smooth, alot more so than the Coopers "Unreal Ale" I have thats about 3 old. Anyway I saved the DSGA til the 2nd last beer of the night and I was very impressed. Very fruity aroma and taste/aftertaste.

Very happy with my first extract, even though it was just 1 bottle at 2.5 weeks. My question is what is the best way to bring this beer up to about 5.5%-6.5% without being too overpowering and still retaining the nice citrussy taste? Simply add a bit more of malt and caramunich or is there a better way?

Pretty much I am just after the same sorta aroma and taste accept a stronger brew. The closer to 6.5% the better.

Cheers blokes!

PS: I encourage all kit brewers to at least try adding hops and or grains to their beers. I had read how much it improves the beer but once you taste it you will know!

:icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers:

 

[thanme]

Not 100% sure, but I imagine upping the amount of extract would be the best way??

 

[Thunderlips]

Like NME, I'm not that sure either but if I wanted to up the alcohol I'd probably add dextrose, like 500gms, when your adding everything to the fermenter.

I don't think it would adjust the overall flavour as much as extra malt would.

 

[Wisey]

Your cara crystal malts are unfermentable (or lowly fermentable) They give you that robust malty taste, to a beer you want to have body - they wont do much in the way of alc %

I would just try another half a can of LME.

 

[Pennywise]

I remember a discussion a while ago about crystal malts and their fermenteability, turned out that to make a normal strenght brew with just crystal malt you'd only need I think about 25kg, so they are fermentable to a certain degree, or most of them are anyway. That said I'd just up the malt, or a combo of malt & dex.

 

[Nick JD]

Like NME, I'm not that sure either but if I wanted to up the alcohol I'd probably add dextrose, like 500gms, when your adding everything to the fermenter.

I don't think it would adjust the overall flavour as much as extra malt would.

+1

Dextrose is like adding ethanol. In a 23L brew, IIRC, 1kg = ~1.5%. Remember that you'll alter your FG lower, but only by a tiny amount because the dex turns almost completely into ethanol which can't float your hydrometer well. Others can chime in, but maybe expect a few more points lower FG when adding dex to a standard recipe for that extra punch in the liver.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Thanks for the replies.

I think I will just add 1kg of dextrose which should bring it up about 6.5%

Cheers

 

[manticle]

Dex will thin it out a bit. I'd go 50/50 malt/dex and up the bittering hops a tad.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Dex will thin it out a bit. I'd go 50/50 malt/dex and up the bittering hops a tad.

Just the response I was looking for!

I will increase the amarillo @ 60 to 30 from 20.

50/50 mix as well. Cheers!

 

[Bribie G]

A sound recipe such as the Good Doctor's classics can be bumped up and stretched a bit whilst still hanging nicely together. I've never made the Golden Ale, but regularly make a more robust Landlord by putting in an extra 500 of Munich I or II into the mash and 500g of sugar into the fermenter. I tend to keep the hop quantities the same but go for a more Alpha Acid bittering hop such as Challenger. I'd say with the Golden Ale, Manticle's suggestion is spot on, and maybe increase the bittering addition a tad to balance out the extra fermentables :icon_cheers:

Edit: to save a couple of bucks on the dex, you can simmer 500g of sugar with a quarter tsp of citric acid in 500ml water, for about 20 mins, to invert it into a mix of dex and fructose.

 

[glaab]

Just the response I was looking for!

I will increase the amarillo @ 60 to 30 from 20.

50/50 mix as well. Cheers!

10g extra at 60mins is a bit more than a tad, it's 50% extra, maybe 3-5g will do it

 

[manticle]

I'd run the intended new recipe through whatever recipe developing software you have to adjust the IBU.

If you don't use beersmith or promash or the like you could try beerrecipator.org (http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator) for a free spredsheet or use ianh's spreadsheet. Beer recipator units can be converted to metric before you start.