Beefing up a coopers kit?

[JifeLacket]

Hey guys, lots of questions here. What can I do to get nice hop flavor and aroma with coopers kits? I have zero experience with hops and have been doing a ton of reading. I am going to brew two batches of coopers IPA (I think, unless there is another coopers kit that would work better), and I plan on using DME instead of dextrose. Would light malt extract work best?

From what i have read i should add hops at about 15min, 10min and flame out for aroma and flavor, is this correct?

Roughly how much hops should I start with? Any suggestions for the type of hop? Looking for some fruitiness...

Thanks,
Allan

 

[501irishred]

Do you know what comes in the kit as-is?

 

[JifeLacket]

It's just the hopped extract and a pack of yeast, the hopping wasn't really at the level I wanted it when I made it plain last time. Edit: I understand DME is not as fermentable as dextrose, so how would I go about adjusting ABV? Can I still go by OG and FG as I would with dextrose, or would I need a higher OG to get the same alcohol % using DME? I'm looking for a strong ~7% beer and i'll balance the sweetness with the hops.

 

[501irishred]

Unfortunately/Fortunately there are more hop combinations for IPA's than you can shake a stick at. This is a good thing from the standpoint that you can make it suite you after you figure out what you like, but it can be a long road to getting to that point. My suggestion is to stick with adding one type of hops per batch till you can start telling them apart and seeing what you like. Centennial may be a good one to start with if you like the citrus type flavors (good all around hops). You could try adding 1oz@10, 1oz@flameout, and 1oz dry hopped for 3days. You could also go look at some other IPA recipe's and see if something else looks interesting......Either way, your probably going to be happy even at 1/2 that much additions as a Hopped extract tends to boil off a lot if not most of the aroma and taste your after. Cant believe they didn't include a package or two with the kit!

 

[JifeLacket]

Thanks 501, I think that's a good idea sticking with one type of hops per batch. I just ordered two corny kegs so I can run two batches side by side and compare.

Do you have any idea about the dextrose vs DME? I'm reading DME is "0.6" as fermentable as dextrose, what does this mean when I do gravity readings? I understand I will have to add more DME to get the the same %alc weight for weight, but will my hydrometer read higher for the DME or will it read the same? IE 1kg dextrose brings my SG to 1.040, will ~1.5kg DME bring my SG to 1.040 or will it be higher?

 

[501irishred]

The .6 ratio is referring to fermentable sugars only. Dextrose contains nearly all fermentable sugars while the DME would be (by what you've read, and it sounds about right) 60% fermentable sugars and 40% non fermentable sugars. This means that adding only one or the other the OG would be about the same (your hydrometer only knows it's sugar, but doest care what kind), but after fermentation the FG with the DME would be higher. Adding the dextrose will only raise the ABV, while the DME will raise the ABV as well as add body and flavor (sweetness).

 

[JifeLacket]

Okay great that clears things up! I may follow something like this with a few tweaks: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/buckipa-v1-288640/

Thanks for the help.

 

[501irishred]

Sounds good! Good luck, and welcome to the addiction!

 

[unionrdr]

That recipe of mine is a good,sessionable all extract IPA. Try that first to get your feet wet & see how you like them.