Recipe help for 1st beer

[ChuckS]

Just got a Cooper's Micro-brew kit for Christmas and planning on brewing my first beer this weekend. After reading some reviews and recipe's on this and other sites, my plan is to take the basic lager recipe that comes with micro-brew kit, but beef it up a bit to give it some more character, body and hopefully a little more hop profile.

 

So far, I plan to use..

1 1.7KG Cooper's lager Beer kit concentrate

1 KG Cooper's Brewing sugar (which is mix of dextrose and maltodextrin)

500 g Cooper's Light Dry Malt (adding this to the base recipe per several suggestions)

 

And pretty much follow the instructions that come with the micro-brew kit.

 

But I'd also like to add some extra hops as well. As this is my first time brewing, I'm not sure what the proper technique would be using the beer kits and the concentrates for adding extra hops to your recipe.

 

Do you boil the hops separately, then add it to the rest of the recipe into the fermenting tank?

Will the hops dissolve, or do you need to strain the hops out before adding to the fermenter?

Any recommendations for type and/or amount of hops that would go well with the basic lager recipe above?

 

Thanks for any help and input!

 

Chuck

 

 

[PB2]

Try adding the hops as per the Ashes Ale recipe

 

Substitute Bramling Cross with a hop variety of your choice - anything starting with 'C' would be okay for your first effort [wink]

[ChuckS]

Thanks Phil!

 

I took a look at the Ashes Ale recipe and it sounds easy enough. The only follow up question is that the recipe says to add the third hop addition 3 days into fermentation.

 

Do you just unscrew the lid to the fermenter and throw the extra hops in at this point? Do you need to remove any hop sediment from the fermenter when it's ready for bottling?

 

Thanks again for your help!

[Muddy Waters]

Hi Chuck - Some people just chuck the hops in loose but I prefer to wrap them in a bit of stocking or muslin (or a chux wipe) to keep the sediment out of the beer. Make sure you boil the cloth first to sterilise (a chux wipe should be sterile straight out of the pack.

 

I find not all of the hop matter drops out of suspension if I don't.

[PB2]

Thanks Phil!

 

The pleasure is mine, Chuck.... BTW [biggrin] I'm PB2 (aka Paul). [biggrin]

 

Years ago I played golf with a lefty who, for some reason, called me Phil - didn't like him much so I never bothered to set him straight. [innocent]

 

However, I normally get Pete - I guess it's because there was an Australian test cricketer named Peter Burge...

 

a bloke at work calls me Pete

 

People who are hard of hearing quite often call me "Bob" after I introduce myself as "Paul Burge", perhaps my diction is not as good as it should be...

 

Also get "Grant" from time to time - that's annoying and I let the person know immediately [pinched]