CoryD Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Im Fairly new to the home brewing community, i have just been brewing coopers kits as per the can, but lately i have been trying/drinking craft beers and wotching brew master on discovery channel. I wouldnt mind giving it ago, making my own creations and receipes, i was just wondering is there any hints ot tips, plus any suggested receipes to try out? any advice would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Hi Cory, Sorry to say that there is no "one sentence solution" to your question. I suggest you get a few books from the library and read them. When you are not reading those books surf this forum for nuggets of info that are discussed here daily. The very questions you are asking are common questions that can be answered for yourself with a bit of research. Then when you are sick of reading and studying up on the matter then jump into the brewery and start practising. Brew as much beer as time allows you. Drink said beer. See what you like for yourself. Practise more. Drink more. Study more...etc.[biggrin] When you have a specific question on a recipe or brewing technique ask away.[rightful] Good Luck & happy brewing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 You could try the Beer Smith software program which is aimed at AGB (no, not the morning after a big night, All Grain Brewing) from what I saw of it. I'm not there myself, still getting introduced to hops at the moment [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I think Brewmate is a free alternative to Beer Smith. They also say it's easier to use. And if it's free, I guess you can't argue lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Aha, free is better [bandit] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryD Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 i think the main questions i have are, can you boil the brew kits and add like spices. peels of fruits and essences to change the flavours or is it better to put them in a mesh cloth to soak in the fermenting beer?? if that makes any sense lol?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 i think the main questions i have are' date=' can you boil the brew kits and add like spices. peels of fruits and essences to change the flavours or is it better to put them in a mesh cloth to soak in the fermenting beer?? if that makes any sense lol??[/quote'] Best not to boil the kits as you'll lose flavours from boiling out the hops. If you want to add those things you can steep them before fermenting. But your way of "dry hopping" them could work. I'm not sure how much flavour will be released at fermentation temps, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I use beertools.com sometimes its difficult to make comparisons with ingedients but its a great free tool which you can pay for more funcuality the more serious you get. If you've only ever done the kits as per the instructions theres a few things you can change/add to make better/tastier brews: Temperatures in the kits are a little off, Try simple steeping speciality grains its easy, Your own hop additions, Try different yeasts they make a huge difference, DME is better than Dextrose, Play with adjuncts I havent been very specific but those are the things I would look into introducing into my brews if I was still on the bog standard kit instructions, I find youtube to be a great resource if you have access to it. Keep it simple, and ask questions is the best advice I can give! Edit: boiling kits can also convert the hop aroma and flavour into bittering which will over bitter your brewski (so I was told) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistnbroke Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Hi Cory welcome As Canadian has said, study all the reading material you can, and try things for yourself. A great book that has assisted me greatly is how to brew by john palmer. He covers all types of brewing from extract to all grain, using specialty ingredients such as grains, and much more. Well worth a read. I would advise reading books over searching the internet, as there is alot of conflicting information about, some of it right, some of it wrong. I believe reading a published book on the subject you are more likely to get the right information. To answer your question about adding other ingredients, the two main ones that are commonly used to influence the taste of beer are specialty grains (such as crystal malt, caramalt etc..) and hops, though I have heard of others and even some craft breweries also using spices and fruit to also influence flavour. To formulate my own recipes, I use a spreadsheet for Kit and extract brewing that IanH over at aussiehomebrewer created (freely available), makes creating recipes to particular styles so simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarvo_325 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 When & what time is Brew Master on Discovery??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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