Geordie Mild with Cascade

[Danny(00833827)]

Hi Guys, going to get around to sticking on another kit this weekend, I have a few there, I was going to try the Geordie Mild. Again i would like to do a bit of modding on it so was searching around and found this, i kind of like the sound of it:

"25g Styrian Goldings hops boiled, 500g medium spray malt, 450g Tesco light brown soft sugar and approx 80g honey. Made up to 20 litres"

I have a kg medium spray malt there, however I dont have the Styrian Goldings hops, but i do have some Cascade pellets . What do you reckon? Would they suit that style of beer or are they too fruity?

Thanks!

[Bubbles]

The Cascade, depends on whether you want it to taste more like an American ale. They certainly won't do it any harm, but depends on how traditional you want the beer to be. Use the Cascade and call it an "American Mild"! It'll taste great, I'm sure.

I'd leave out the sugar, and replace with spraymalt. I'd go for light spraymalt instead of medium, which already has caramel malts (and myabe other specialty grains) in it. You might end up with something too dark or toffee-like. I've found it's best to tread carefully with crystal malts when modding kits. A little can improve a kit no end, but too much and you end up with an overly sweet beer.

[Danny(00833827)]

Thanks Mate, I already have the medium and its all i have to hand right now so might just try it and see, im still learning so it will be as much an experience of the process as getting a good result - i will try the cascade so, will just use the kg of spraymalt instead of the sugar and honey.

I have only dry hoped the last one i did which was a week in secondary after two weeks in primary - so should i just put the hops in the primary before pitching the yeast, or do i need to boil them before hand in some of the wort and then add?

[Bubbles]

Thanks Mate, I already have the medium and its all i have to hand right now so might just try it and see, im still learning so it will be as much an experience of the process as getting a good result - i will try the cascade so, will just use the kg of spraymalt instead of the sugar and honey.

It'll taste grand. You really have to watch the spraymalt when you're doing light-coloured kits. But as it's a mild kit you're doing it probably won't matter too much, as it's already pretty dark.

To be honest, I'd be sceptical about any kit hack that specifies 80g of honey. 80g of honey will be completely unnoticeable in nearly 5gal of beer. Spraymalt is the best way to improve your kits.

I have only dry hoped the last one i did which was a week in secondary after two weeks in primary - so should i just put the hops in the primary before pitching the yeast, or do i need to boil them before hand in some of the wort and then add?

Here's what I'd do. Bring 2 litres of water to the boil and add about 300g of the spraymalt you're using. Add 25g hops and boil for 10 mins. (If you like really hoppy beers you can add another 10g of hops at flameout and leave to stand for another 10 mins.) You'll get a little extra bitterness from adding hops like this, but it'll taste just fine. Strain the resulting liquor into your fermenter, then add your can of Geordie extract and mix it in thoroughly, adding a little more hot water if necessary. (Be careful about adding too much hot water though, as you want to pitch your yeast at around 18-20 deg C.

Nothing wrong with racking to secondary of course (an oft-debated topic among homebrewers online) but a lot of people don't bother. You can just add your dry hops to primary fermenter and let them do their thing.

[Danny(00833827)]

ahh, so the different spraymalt's (light, med, dark) is this mainly to do with the color achieve, or does these have different flavor characteristics also?

Yeah i will give the honey a miss and the sugar and just use the kg of spraymalt

Thanks for the hopping description - very detailed - even i can follow it:-)

[Bubbles]

ahh, so the different spraymalt's (light, med, dark) is this mainly to do with the color achieve, or does these have different flavor characteristics also?

Yeah i will give the honey a miss and the sugar and just use the kg of spraymalt

Thanks for the hopping description - very detailed - even i can follow it:-)

The different grades of malt extract (both liquid and dry) will affect both colour and flavour. Medium tends to be made with crystal malts giving an amber colour and some caramel flavours. Dark Malt extract will be black from the addition of roasted malts like black patent or chocolate malt.

The challenge with kit hacking is that you really don't know what specialty malts were used in making the kit extract. So unless you've hacked the kit before, it's best to tread carefully with the darker extracts and specialty malts.

[Bubbles]

I found the Coopers site very useful when I was learning about hacking kits. Of course, you don't have to use Coopers kits, but it contains some very useful recipes which can be applied to any beer kit.

http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/introduction

[Danny(00833827)]

so got this done today, mild kit, 1kg Medium Spraymalt, about 175g of treacle and the cascade hops for 10mins in with some of the kit and spraymalt. Such a hot day took the wort a while to drop to 26 degrees so i turned the fan on it and headed off for a few hours, when i came back it was there or there abouts so pitched the yeast and sealed it up. Will check in the morning.

Thanks for the input lads - will keep ye posted.

[LordEoin]

So long as it was all sealed up while you left it cooling, it should be fine.
I've never used treacle in a brew, but a lot of people love it. Especially in a stout.

[Danny(00833827)]

Yep covered it, fan would blow all kinds of muck about.

[Danny(00833827)]

this took off fairly soon after pitching yeast, it was quite warm over the weekend so thats probably why, hope its not too warm for it - 

[LordEoin]

Keeping the temperature constant and at your desired level will make better beer, but don't worry about it if that's not possible.
What temperature is the wort?

[Danny(00833827)]

pitched the yeast and the wort was about 26 - maybe 27 

its a bit cooler now in there, might rack to secondary at the weekend.

i have a cooler room, a few degrees lower at this time of year, much cooler in winter. Wonder would initial fermentation go better there? just with the temps we have been having lately, very hot last week, a little cooler this week.

[Danny(00833827)]

i transfered this to secondary this evening and was not expecting anything from the kit to be honest, it was just one i picked up half price in tesco, but im only starting out thought it would be good for the experience, but i had a little taste and was very impressed at how it tasted so far - no real hop aroma from it so i think i will dry hop the final week in secondary, so next weekend will introduce another 25g of cascade. but it could well turn out to be my kind of brew! lets hope eh? 

[LordEoin]

If it's tasting good now, it will taste great after some dryhopping
26-27C is a bit warm for pitching the yeast, but provided it cooled down a bit afterwards it'll be fine.
Try aim to ferment ales at a copnstant temperature somewhere around 20C