How to improve a beer kit - Easy Home Brewing
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- Beer kits are great, and they provide a way for beginners to make beer without any fancy equipment or knowledge. Some people might be curious about the use of fresh ingredients, but don't know where to start. This video will help you take a kit to the next step, by combining it with fresh grains and hops, to help introduce you to a more advanced brewing method that will yield better beer, and teach you some of the things you need to know to advance in your home brew hobby.
I think I understand why this video has so many views. I have a feeling I am going to come back and watch it again and again. VERY useful for a beginner like me who wants to progress beyond just doing a kit by the instructions.
Top tutorial, the sky's the limit when it comes to adapting kits, and coopers are terrific base kits! Thanks Craig
So glad your channel is back! You encouraged me to start brewing and even cooking.
Such a great idea. I enjoy the Coopers kits, so this is a great way to make unique beers and add specialty grains. Thanks again, Craig.
I brewed this Yesterday, Coopers Dark, #1 Crystal 55 #2 two row #1 Light DME Can't wait to try it
Ok, Craig, that's your best tutorial video to date! ( not saying any of the other were bad ) but that one was great. Keep up the good work! You have outdone yourself this time sir!!!!!! CHEERS!
Hi Craig. I noticed you mentioned that you cooled your wort by putting the pot in ice water. Have you ever tried making a sanitized ice block? I sanitize a 2L pop bottle with bleach, fill it with water and cap it and throw it in the freezer. When its time to cool my wort I cut the top off the bottle with a sanitized utility knife and poke an air hole in the bottom of the bottle and squeeze the ice into the wort. This works for a 7-8 litre boil. This has worked great for me.
Hi Craig I really liked what you did with the update to this video. Also it gave me the opportunity to give you the 'thumbs up' twice ! Cheers and 17.
Another good vid Craig, cheers. Your vids have really helped me get going with home brewing. I still don’t understand why you have some haters. I’ve seen them criticise everything from your brewing methods to your pronunciation of “wort”! Cheers man.
I'm excited to brew my first beer, an equipment kit with the rest of the things I needed was given to me this evening, all I have to get are the ingredients.
I love your great work hope your well . Darren. Australia.
I like all your videos mate, you've brought me knowledge from every single one of them. Plus every time i see you drink a beer, i HAVE to open a beer myself :)
Keep up the work !
Hi Craig! You might as well mash your grains after going through all of the trouble to get your temperatures in line. You can get a big nylon straining bag and mix the grain together so the enzymes from the two row can help convert the crystal. Let them sit as you did, and then just lift the big bag out of the pot and there ya go! You can also sparge them if you would like.
Although a little beyond my current ability level its something I'd like to try. One of the things I really like about Craig is that its not all about saying Kit and Kilo is rubbish and everyone should jump straight to all grain. Friend of mine has been making Homebrew for the last year via the Kit and Kilo and I'm just hoping to produce as good a beer as his. Craig Tube is not just home of information but also inspiration.
Thanks for the vid Craig, I used this recipe for my first batch, its been in the bottle for 2.5 weeks now and wow it tastes great. I got bored waiting as well so I started a partial mash right after bottling(only one fermenting bucket), an Irish red that I made from my own recipe it's smelling great now in the FV and is about ready to bottle can't wait to taste it. Cheers
WOW! I haven't even started on my fisrt Coopers kit yet, but I'm going to go straight into this recipe. That beer made me very thirsty. Whhhhoooaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. Great vid Craig, I'm learning so much already. A big Thanks, )
Glad to see you using the grain bag this time Craig ;) Sure makes it a lot easier after the mash time is over for sure! I was ready to get my Saturday Night Fever suit out there for a sec when I heard that Disco playing. ;)
gotta love a homebrew
Extremely helpful, great video.
you look like ur enjoying that beer thats a nice brew youve done there
Beautiful video Craig! Outdone yourself again. I noticed the little red LED flashlight on your desk. It shows me your enjoying it. Right on! And for some odd reason, you're on my youtube page... haha I didn't think anybody would ever go on to see my one and only video. Keep it up brother.
-Eric
Love your videos brother. I like how you start out with a drink. Oooh! that's awesome. Much love from Alabama.
Thanks for inspiring me to brew! My first brew was honey wheat. Just started it almost 2 weeks ago. Then I made a meed and just finished an oatmeal sought tough for a new brewer.
You know how feel about that kit but another good thing is the PS yeast that comes with it. It will ferment well at 60 degrees and give some lager character to the beer.
@ThePaisteTrout477 Yes, the ice is made inside the sanitized pop bottle. This keeps all of your fridge bacteria out of the ice. When its time to cool the wort, sanitze a utility (razor) knife and cut top off the bottle. It helps to let the bottle thaw a bit so the ice block is not frozen to the bottle. It cools the wort in a few minutes. This will help perserve any hop flavour and aroma you have added to your beer kit. I will make a video the next time I make beer. Cheers!
@CraigTube You can dry hop with pellets. Put them in a grain bag or cheese cloth to cut down on carboy cleaning when you are done.
Hi Craig love the videos, very helpful as i just brewed my first batch yesterday with help from your videos. cant wait to do my next lot with enhancements.
hey craig, your video's are great and I'm learning a lot and they are entertaining as well for some reason you forget to tell us what the ABV on the brews that you hopped up with 2 row and other dry malts and grains" WE THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW" please start adding these things to your videos, PLUS you play a very mean drum I know that you on the drums in the music you play in your videos cheers 17!!
great stuff thanks craig ! i am a newb and ive done about 5 kits so far and have two batchs gurgling away !! The next batch im going to try hopping and adding some speciality grains too ! im brewing the coopers english bitter for the second time (fingers crossed) i brewed it once but it got a malt vinegary taste.. still tasted good though!!
Can't wait to see the taste test! I might have to give this a go! Nice video!
Great video it was really informative. This video inspired me to do my first partial grain extraction!
@ThePaisteTrout477 The ice block formed inside the sterilized pop bottle gets put directly in your brew pot, ie cut the top off the pop bottle and dump the ice in. I typically end up boiling 7-10 litres and one ice block cools this down just fine.
Damn the English Bitter you were tasting looked so good. i definitely like the way you supped up the beer kit. This I will have to try. Cheers!
awesome video craig! in about a week or so im going to be doing a 2 gallon all grain batch. ill be be posting a video of it as soon as its done! cheers friend!!!
well funny you just wrote to me because yesterday I started making my first bitter beer. :)
Thanks for the reply Craig, I'm currently enjoying a Coopers Sparkling Ale here in Sydney, 6 weeks old, very nice. Next brew I'll try it with 2 cans and your tip for adding high malt glucose and let you know how it goes. From there I'll move on to grains. BTW great videos, can tell you're a video editor.
Great videos Craig !
Thanks Craig, Informative and To The Point.Will Try This Soon!
Thanks for a great video, loved it. I'm just about to build a Homebrew bar with keg orator so will try this recipe when it's all set up :)
Ahhh sparging. I never did that! Glad I watched. Thanks Craig.
If you live in England you can get a Yorkshire Bitter Kit from Geordie beer kits that probably tastes like this
Thank you Craig, I'm going to try this.
hey Craig,, i'v been watching your vids bout 2 maybe 3 weeks now. just wanted to say hey, England
Oops. Hi Craig, Ant from the UK here. Do you ever use beer finings with your brew? I've just done an IPA batch and added them after primary fermentation. Just 2 days later and the beer was lovely and clear. Coopers carbonation drop, 2 weeks in the garage and it was lovely. Really enjoying your channel, keep up the good work.
Hey Craig, nice videos you got here. Very informative. What was the ABV on this "English Brown" after adding that extra malt dextrose? I like a little higher ABV in my beers (7% on up). Going through all your videos, keep them coming, please.
I've been doing the even more budget dress-up version, extra LME and steeping flavour hops in a coffee press. Cooper's extract seems to be a little crazy, I get between 4-10 points over on my OG. Have to try really hard now to bring in a beer under 5%.
Sweet Craig, lovin your vids. Thumbs UP
Got happily pickled yesterday for halloween on 1/2 gallon of hard cider, cost me about $1.25 lol. Got gelatin & going to use weirdbeer's clarifying thing I saw on your vid with him, on the rest, about 6 gallons, as I just drink the remader of the gallon I started because hey, it's pretty good & at this current time, I'm to damned broke for beer! lol.
sweet ... i have my coopers, can wait to brew it
Hey Craig, regards from Spain! I love your videos, you are actually one of the few people I can understand when speaking English without subs hehehe. These videos you make are really instructional and funny, and you look like a really good humble fellow, so I'm glad I found your channel ;). I have a question about this particular video. You say to use a yeast of our choice but which one did you actually use? I am researching for ideal yeasts to use in a similar recipe. Thanks, keep them coming!
Heaps of great info thanks!
The Colonel Sanders of brewing beer
@CraigTube I would love to but already have a date for a Rochester Rino's Game on friday night. However I just followed your link to your show and will continue to follow it. I look forward to your discussion on grains because It is info I would much like to hear from a seasoned home brewer. It seems most books are overly technical, and I need some good old fashioned opinions. Your brewing style is similar to what I intend to develop in to, as I continue my progress as a beginner.
Awesome thanks for that Craig, I think i will try out the IPA and hopefully find Hops and Robbers somewhere locally im sure i will. anyway cheers, off to make Mexican Cerveza lol
Hi Chris great videos iv watched nearly all. I'm in UK just starting brewing again after years of not.
Can you tell me what was the additional ingredients you added. Especially what the white rocks you added after sparking.
Cheers can't wait to get started following your advice.
Thanks again, great info
Ron
Glad your beer turned out so good. I'm not having any beer today, and it's torture watching you drink it as I bet it's fantastic. Do you know what you'd compare this to (something I might have had?). Also, any idea the abv or ibu's?
First and foremost wanted to say thank you Craig for taking the time and effort for your videos they are quite informative! As a result of watching your videos I too have taken a interest in home brewing... I just got my MR BEER starter kit from ups today. I received the West Coast Pale Ale... I was thinking in addition to this hopped malt can & booster adding honey & clear corn syrup for extra alcohol content, flavor, and carbonation should i need to add additional bittering hops??
Options for turning up a beerkit:
1. Use quality yeast, not stuff that sits on top of a can for who knows how long.
2. Use steeping grains.
3. Add fresh hops.
4. replace sugar or corn syrup or "Booster" with an equal proportion of dry or liquid malt extract.
All of the above can improve a kit in my experience.
Hi Craig, I'm just starting to get into home brewing and have yet to brew my first batch, I've been watching your videos, they're really informative and helpful, nice job! Was wondering if you lend me some quick advice...should I "batch prime" starting out or should I prime in bottles for the first few times?And also, how much dextrose/ or table sugar should I use to prime 500ml bottles with Coopers lager beer kit?! Still trying to understand all the details before I start. Thanks Craig :)
nice video craig
Hi Craig,
That is exactly the video I was looking for. My question to you is: after you added the fresh ingredients you then add the Malt Extract (for example that one included when you buy the Kit) and proceed like normally like you did when you firstly experimented the video or not? Because my idea was to combine the malt extract and then "personalize" the brew using the fresh ingredients. Do you have any suggestion on how personalize the beer and at what stage of the brew ? Thanks!
1 can coopers draught
1lb Vienna malt grain
.5lb Special B grain
1cup dextrose
.5 oz Galena (I used galena, but citra can go in its place)
No clearing agent.
Youre welcome :)
Another great vid. I'm curious about why you used 2 whirlfloc tablets? Looks like another great way to spice up a Coopers kit. Cheers!
Excellent as always Craig. Check out my review of Russian River Consecration. You HAVE to get your hands on it if you get the chance. Truly an amazing beer.
Awesome stuff Craig 17
Great vid, as always might try this before I go full on all grain or biab. My first brew video is on my channel, I would love to know what you think, and your viewers, keep up the good work.
Craig, how come you steeped these for 1.5 hours? Everything I've read says steep steeping grains for 30min? Is this just preference? I also assume that boiling is a "must" to sterilise the "wort"? Cheers and keep em coming!!
Thanks for sharing all this great information. I am about to start brewing for the first time and I think I will start with the English Bitter. For future reference, what were the grains you used? I did not gather the names from the video. Also, can you bottle this directly and for how long do you recommend conditioning it? I am considering 1 liter flip tops for my bottling. Do you use carbonation drops or something else in the kegging? Thanks again.
Cool
I use nylon, especially for hops (less porous than muslin)
Hi craig love your videos. I am wondering can I steep pot barley from the bulk barn. My wife has a large bag of it.
Ya this is a good method Craig I have this Lite Australian Lager I might do this way i think it might be on the Bland weak side for flavor not sure never had it says it`s mild so a booster would`nt hurt have you any different ideas for the Hops or Barley -Geez this kit I got is a 120 bottle kit for 45 bucks at Liqu .Dat . World there`s about 6 more kits .
We call it a brown ale here in the uk
@CraigTube Yeah I never liked IPAs till I ate a lemon before drinking. Now i'm a hop-head. They say you can use pellets then transfer to a secondary. I think most people use pellets just so they wont have to clean out the whole hops, but i won't mind. you should try Fat Tire. Maybe after the holidays are over i can send you some, cause god knows not to send anything around this time.
nice one mate ,,,great vid ,,peace out
What do you do when you want a sweeter beer and not bitter? I understand you really enjoy your Stouts and Dark Ales but what about something less bitter and filled with a punch. What's a good method to do this if you don't care to explain? Thanks Craig!
good video. watch it
@CraigTube Hey Craig, Nick here, I wanted to know if you've ever dry-hopped? I have a partial-extract kit and was going to put about a gallon in a separate jug and dry hop with some Cascade or something. My beer is an amber so i was going for a Fat Tire flavor(If you haven't had it its a darker bitter beer, border-line IPA.) Please get back to me i'm sure it would make a great video too. If you need anymore info or need some ideas, just holler.
I just made my first batch of hard cider per your video instructions. It turned out great, thank you! I have a question about tap water and yeast. I've had poor results with bread rising whenever I used tap water. I assume something in the water kills the yeast. Would this be a problem when brewing beer also or does the boiling take care of that? Any suggestions?
"Always drink a home brew, when you're making a home brew"
You prolly dont give a shit but if you are stoned like me during the covid times then you can watch pretty much all of the new movies and series on InstaFlixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend recently :)
@Vihaan Tucker Yea, I've been using InstaFlixxer for months myself :D
@CraigTube I can't find it would it happen to be under another name I would like to try it in a batch, by the way I am going to try this with the english bitter my supplier had to order my 2# of 2 row (all they had was 50# bags)but I am going to start it next week your videos ar very helpful you basicly got me started I have been making beer and wine for about 3 months now and soon to be starting some all grain and see how that works out. what kind of hops do you recommend
I preferred the disco! 😂
Hey Craig, what about some new brews? it's about time..
How did the Australian better compare? I know it was a long time ago but I'll think I'll try this method soon
will all this make "more beer". love your vids.
Great video Craig, looking forward to trying this. Can I do it with a Coopers Sparkling Ale? After cooling the wort did you transfer to the large Homebrew Kit plastic container & then bottle or do you keg?
Thats funny because I remember 70's 80'S TUPPERWARE lol
Hi Craig,
I will try this next week to, again a nice and helpful video...
You didn't took a SG reading?
Did you calculate the potencial alcohol content this time?
Cheers m8 ! :-)
@CraigTube Wow, Thank you so very much Craig, your simply the best, i will try to make and and see how it will play out
Whats them 2 tablets you put in the wort, and are them Crystals, a type of malt. It's so confusing at times. Yet probably so easy.
How would one decide what type of grains to use? Is it all about preference, or are some grains specific to certain beers, such as that English bitter?
Considering a commercial brewery would never put the grains in a mesh bag - why do you?
Surely it would add a lot more flavour if the grains were loose? OK you would need to strain them out but I think the result would be worth it.
Craig, Great videos! As a newbee, how long should I bottle ferment my wheat beer before I drop it in the refrigerator?
I'm new at this and have really enjoyed your videos. I finished bottling my first batch of coopers lager about a week ago and am already looking ahead for my next brew! What do you think about adding cascade hops to a coopers black lager kit to kick it up a notch? If so, how would you suggest I do it? Thanks in advance and I really appreciate all the good info!
Craig is it really necessary, to steep it for 1.5 hrs? J Palmer and others, proposing only 30 min.
Since I have never brewed any grains how would I know what I am missing? What is the difference?
Craig, a kit I'd like to improve contains 2 cans of hopped extract for a 23L batch. If I do a recipe like this, should I still use both cans, or just one?
@spears104 And the water gets added to your beer? I.E. 5 gallons. Thanks for the help mate.
I was wondering with that little amount of water, are you sure you extracted the right amount of material from the grains? I ask because that became a solution and like adding sugar in water, you can only add so much sugar in the water before the rest of it falls to the bottom and wont seep in....does that happen with the grain/water?
Do the grains come in those sacs, ready to boil.?
For clearing the beer I believe.