Mix and match recipe ideas?

[pdjhh]

Hi there,

 

I bought one of the coopers craft series - the nut brown IPA - which I thought I'd bottle instead of my usual keg and leave it for some visitors I have coming in a few months. Having not bottled for a while I found all the hassle for 8 litres of beer a bit much. I was on a bit of a buying frenzy when I bought the nut brown and bought two more 8 liter craft beers as well - the Northwest Pale Ale and the Long Play IPA. With those came a soft pack each of Pale and a smooth LME.

 

Now I'm put off doing 8 liter batches and am wondering if anyone can conjour up a recipie to make a 20 litre batch using those ingredients? I've also got 60g of citra hop pellets but no ale yeast, just what's with the tins and some spares I have from other coopers pale and IPAs.

 

It's tempting to mix the lot together and see what happens with the citra in on day 4 but that'll probably come out a bit on the strong side, what do you think?

[Beerlust]

Hi pdjhh.

 

I'm not familiar with any of the craft kits as I only brew 21-23 litre volumes. However, I have had a small interest in perhaps buying a couple of the craft kits & doing a full volume brew with them, so I ran your idea through my brew calculator.

 

The IBU of each of the kits @ 23 litres fermented are as follows...

 

Northwest Pale Ale = 22.0

Long Play IPA = 23.7

Total combined = 45.7

 

Depending on how bitter you wish to have the beer present, as a guide I'd be wanting a starting gravity of approx. 1.050 - 1.060. To achieve that & create some balance you'd need 1-1.5kgs of light dry malt extract on top of the two kits.

 

The more important matter is whether the two kits actually combine well to create a nice tasting beer. Having never tried either of them myself, I can't say one way or the other.

 

Two can (or toucan) brews don't always work. Some kits just don't work with others when used this way. Their numbers suggest they are pretty similar, but numbers ain't everything.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Lusty.

[pdjhh]

Thanks a lot for that Beerlust. What about those 2 softpacks of LME as the additional fermentables? I've not used those in the past. They are 250g each..

[ChristinaS1]

Hi pdjhh.

 

I'm not familiar with any of the craft kits as I only brew 21-23 litre volumes. However' date=' I have had a small interest in perhaps buying a couple of the craft kits & doing a full volume brew with them....

 

Lusty.[/quote']

 

Hi pdjhh. Not familiar with those small packs of LME, but if Lusty if recommending 1-1.5kg of DME, 500gm gm of LME is not going to cut it. They are 20% water, so multiply the LME by 0.8 to find out how much DME it is worth. You'd need at least one 1.5kg tin of LME +/- one or two of those 250gm pouches.

 

@ Lusty, do you want to use the craft kit with a partial mash and a bunch of late hops, so that your full volume brews don't get too bitter? Good idea! You are one smart cookie. Too bad they are not available in my area.

 

Cheers,

 

Christina.

 

 

[pdjhh]

I've got them both in the fermenter with 1.5kg of light liquid malt. SG was 1058 so should be a spicy one! Will get back and advise on how it comes out.

 

Cheers.