Not bad "FOR A HOME BREW"??

[Nick Good]

Hi there, I am new to this forum and have only just scratched the surface.

I brewed kits for decades for consumption rather than perfection. I got a taste for it sure but it was allways just home brew and never came close to anything off the shelf. Friends would drink it as well and after the initial taste shock could slosh back a fair bit. It was allways not bad for a home brew.

I started getting interested again, after 7 or 8 years not brewing, while talking to a nephew who boils in a bag and gets it " just like the real thing". I visited a couple of brew shops and was blown away by the array of stuff there is now. so I brought a barrel and a sachet of Mangrove jack pale ale and a bag of Copper Tun brew enhancer ( dextrose ect ). Read some online John Palmer and away I went.

I gave the brew a couple of weeks and then bottled. After 1 week I sampled one. It was very clear and the head was very good but it still has that home brew "ping". Sure it was only 1 week. There is another one brewing, blonde with some craft series yeast for cool temps.

Basically what I would like is a beer that doesnt have the home brew taste tag. Is there such a thing? Can I get a decent beer with extracts/kits? I am happy to try things to enhance the quality but I dont really want to have to become a scientist to achieve it. There must be hundreds of people like me out there. Has anyone got any ideas that could help me on this mission or am I doomed to be a ' not bad for a home brew ' brewer?

Thanks for any suggestions and keep up the good work.

[Peter Smith]

all good send a few along for case swap 11

[Peter Scandlyn]

This thread's certainly come alive over the last day thanks to all involved!

Have to say Mike I appreciate the link you posted above, as, I want to lift my game but can't presently go AG or BIAB. What you say tho' looks very do-able. All my brewing has been from a tin - never been able to ascertain whether that's more correctly termed kit or extract, no matter. From your comments this looks a crafty way to maybe create something, well, crafty?

[jt]

If you've used good ingredients, good sanitation and have some temperature control, you should be brewing a decent beer. So where do you think it's going wrong?

[Paul Finney]

HI Nick, what is your address and I'll send you some of the next extract kit I do. Then you can decide for yourself

 

PS. Tui is a brown Lager, English Mild is way more malty and hoppy. Two very different styles :) 

[Nick Good]

Well I have to say that there are times when it is good to be a Kiwi.

Paul Finney in Christchurch sent me 3 stubby bottles of his extract brew. I am in Auckland.

This beer was SO good that I couldnt stop smelling the bottle caps. I almost drank the sludge on the bottom ( yes I have a problem ). It has to be the hops and I think I am going to be a convert. My kit beer is getting better and I am using extract instead of double kits to lower the bitterness but I dont think that any kit brew can compete with the beer that Paul gave me.

We are moving house so I am a bit limited with what I can do at the moment. I want to put through another 2 brews before we go using kits and extract can Mike or anyone else give me some advice on some dry hops or other way to get some good flavour. I will be using only Lion or Coopers kits with Black rock ultra light malt extract and US05 yeast. I have less than a month and will have 2 barrels ready to go in the next few days.On the shelf is 1 Lion lager and 1 UL malt extract. No temp control and the temps are starting to knock 20C. Will use wet towels.

I didnt think hops could taste so good.

Any easy ideas?

[Peter Scandlyn]

Excellent news - I have my first of one of Paul's brews down now, my brew room has been smelling very aromatic for the last week. Trick will be when bottled, to resist the urge.

Hope to hold out to Christmas when I've a Brupak Belgium Trappist Dubbel about due to sample too.

Even without taste testing, I found putting Paul's brew down an extremely interesting and different experience from my usual. One that I want to enlarge on. Add to that Paul is very user friendly as shown by Nick's post, so, if there're any brewers out there wanting to try something new, give him a run.

[Nick Good]

 

`+

 

 

Hi James,

I am not joking about Pauls beer.  But if you can knock up something like he sent me, resisting the urge will be the problem. It got me interested again when I was feeling like tossing in the towel. The bottles he sent me had 3-4 weeks on them so not to bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike]

Paul Finney's extract 'kitsets' are a godsend for beginners looking to make that jump from kits, and I would go so far as to say a revolution in 'intermediate' offerings from NZ homebrew shops, which previously have been focused either more on beginner kits or recipe based all grain/extract (there is extract focus out there, but not quite like this). I was discussing this with some veteran AG brewers as to how elegant it is to have a simply setup, hoppy extract 'kit' haha, I wish they'd been around when we were starting out! No one is really offering easy to throw together, short boil, extract with steeping grains kitsets, and they taste so *good*.

The main disadvantage with kit brews is, in my view, without a boil you don't really 'lock' the hop flavour into the beer, and a dry hop can only do so much to add character to say a draught ale kit and a can of light malt extract. So ideally you want a 15minute boil or so, but then you kind of may as well do extract with hops. By adding a small amount of grains (+/- 1kg), allowing a shorter mash/steep and boil, Finney has single handedly both a) made a quick and almost foolproof method of brewing with extract and grain which can be done on a home stovetop in 1 1/2 hours total and b) put all the hops in a 30 minute boil, including the bittering, both streamlining boil time AND making all the hop additions flavour/aroma additions. Not skimping on the hops either! Seems simple (and it is) but it's really a great way to get people into making their own craft beer. Awesome stuff.

[Paul Finney]

It's always nice to hear good things :) And I am glad it has kept you brewing, well worth sending.

If I was you Nick, grab a pack of hops from your local HB store (something like a southern cross, or Motueka) Then, use 300g of your ultra light malt, put it in about 4L of water and bring it to the boil. Then add 20g of whichever hop you chose (take of the heat and do this slowly as the hops can cause the liquid to boil over). Then 10 mins later turn the heat off and at the same time add another 20g of hops. Let this sit for about 5 mins then cool the pot in a water bath for about 20mins. Then add it all to the fermenter trying not to take much of the hop sludge at the bottom through. Then proceed with your beer as you normally would. By just doing this extra step you are increasing the flavour in the beer.

You can then dry hop using about 30-50g straight into the fermenter 4 days out from bottling.

As you get used to hops you can play around with the amounts, or work out what goes well with each other.

Finney

[Duncan Emo]

Hey Paul - can you PM me - I'm keen to line up one of your kits for my brother who's a kit brewer...

Cheers,

Duncan

[Ralph]

Just drop him a line from his website. Contact details etc at http://finneyshomebrew.co.nz