Designing Your Own Beer Kits, No Boiling Required

[HomeBrewWest]

That is one cool graph! I suppose trial and error then . . . as always!

[nigel_c]

I got great results with the hop extract. Used it in an IIPA recently. SO simple to use once you work out the ml/L batch ratios. Saved a lot on loss due to the large amount of hops that would have been needed to bitter to the 90 odd ibu i used the extract too. Will definitely be using it again. 

[LordEoin]

That is one cool graph! I suppose trial and error then . . . as always!

I'll do some more trial once the FV is empty.

[Ciderhead]

How does that stuff compare pricewise, in a recipients to the cheaper bittering hops?

[LordEoin]

96cent for 40 liters. no gas/electric bill.
compares pretty favorably

[HomeBrewWest]

OK, some news here. We are off to the UK in a couple of weeks to visit the Craft Range LME manufacturers. They have given us pricing on isomerized hop extract sachets:
- RRP would be about 60 cents for a sachet that adds 20 IBU to a 23 litre batch of beer.
So it would be very easy to arrive at any IBU you want (e.g. 30 IBU = 1.5 sachets, etc). If you use a small syringe, you could probably get accuracy down to a couple of IBUs.

To get this pricing we would have to order several thousands of sachets though. Is it worth getting them?

We could of course also offer a "build your own kit" along these lines:
- 3 Kg Craft Range LME,
- 4 sachets (so thats up to 80 IBU . ..  . is that high enough?),
- a selection of up to 100 grams of any combination of any 4 bulldog pellets, a fine mesh nylon hop bag for them, and
- a choice of any Fermentis or Mangrove Jacks yeast.
All for about 22 to 24 euros.

Is it worthwhile, or should we just focus on new Craft Range kits? The advantage of new Craft Range kits is that we know they will be superb as they are engineered by the best recipe experts in the UK; they also use sophisticated combinations of malt extracts from all over Europe that can't realistically be achieved at home with available extracts (e.g. we are developing a new Craft Range Red Ale). The advantage of the other is flexibility, but I wonder if brewers would really want that? Do you think it would really be possible to "design" your own beer . . . . as in visualize what you want, and then select the appropriate IBUs and dry hop profile? Really in two minds about this.

Hmmmm. Decisions decisions. Advise would be greatly appreciated.

[molc]

Hop oil vs hop pellets, unless the oils stay fresh for significantly longer, I don't see the advantage. However, your idea of being able to select a bespoke mix of hops up to 100g sounds very interesting. I wouldn't even worry about a kit with that myself, as I tend to pick a yeast that best suits the final beer. However since I don't brew large volume, but do want hop variety, it would be a great way to cut down on my wastage if I could make my hop mix in the order

[HomeBrewWest]

Not sure I get this: "I wouldn't even worry about a kit with that myself, as I tend to pick a yeast that best suits the final beer. "

Hmmm, we were thinking of mixing the 100 grams of pellets into a singe vac packet . . . as its primarily intended for dry hopping so all the hops would be added together about 3 days before the end of fermentation.

[molc]

Yeah sorry, rambling thoughts there by me. You're referring to kit brewing, whereas I was thinking about extract brewing. For kit, your idea is spot on. It keeps the simplicity and approach-ability while giving flavour options without having to worry about boil times.

For extract brewers who don't do a lot of brews, being able to say take three hops in sizes of say 30/30/40 (so it's still 100g) just sounded really useful. Instead of having to buy for 2-3 batches at a time, I could get exactly what I want to make the beer in one order. However, if they were all mixed together like you were thinking, that would be of no use.

[LordEoin]

I'd probably concentrate on expanding the craft range and adding a pilsner, american pale ale, english bitter and irish red to the selection.

3kg of LME + bittering to replace the 60 minute boil. So far it's fine, but then the next ingredient is yeast, then dryhop. Totally misses out on the speciality grains any flavor/aroma hop boils, all the things that make a beer to a style.
So unless you're going to also provide steeping grains, and suitable muslin bags etc I don't think it'd be worth all the weighing and repacking of hops etc.
If you were going down this route, wouldn't it make more sense to simply expand to craft range extract kits? Then craft range mashkits?

[HomeBrewWest]

Thanks Eoin, I was kinda veering in the same direction. The Craft Range IPA and the new American Pale Ale are arriving later this week, and we are shortly going over to the UK to work on the red ale . . . Irish? Or something like the popular UK red ales? Pilsner defo on the cards, as we already have true lager yeasts. Not sure about the English Bitter . . . is there really a demand for them here?

The other reason we are going to visit the UK is to look at a whole new range of extract kits developed by one of the best brewing experts in the world. The big question is price point. Would you prefer to pay 20 euros for a good extract kit (including LME and ingredients), or would you rather pay 30 euros for a truly exceptional one?

[Garry]

Have a look here to get a feel for our favourite Red Ales. O'Shea's (Aldi) and Rebel Red seem to be very popular.

[LordEoin]

Would you prefer to pay 20 euros for a good extract kit (including LME and ingredients), or would you rather pay 30 euros for a truly exceptional one?

They'd need to be truly exceptional to justify them being 4 times the price of the HBC extract kits.

[HomeBrewWest]

Would you prefer to pay 20 euros for a good extract kit (including LME and ingredients), or would you rather pay 30 euros for a truly exceptional one?

They'd need to be truly exceptional to justify them being 4 times the price of the HBC extract kits.

These prices include the liquid malt extract. So the 20 euro option is less than HBC (when you add the LME) and the 30 euro option is about 45% extra. Question is: would people pay the extra?

[Garry]

When it comes to extract kits, I think it's better to just offer the steeping grains, hops, yeast and finings all measured and labeled.

Let the customer decide what malt they want. Some will want DME, some LME. They could also use these ingredients in an AG batch by mashing the grains with 4 or 5kg of base malt. Extract brewers tend to stock up on their extract of choice like an AG brewer would buy a 25kg sack of ale malt.