St Peter's India Pale Ale

Darius7

I am about to embark on my second brew (first one still conditioning in the bottle) which is a St Peter's IPA. The instructions are a lot less detailed than the Coopers wheat beer that I did last time and I was wondering whether I need to add anything extra. The instructions say just mix the cans, add the hop enhancer and the yeast, mix and leave to ferment. Last time I added 300g of brewing sugar and 500g of light dry malt but no hop enhancer. Should I add similar quantities of sugar and malt to this brew even though the instructions don't mention it or should I do as I'm told!? 

 

HBO_Staff

The kits are quite different, the Coopers are '1 tin' so need additional sugars or enhancers adding, whereas the St Peters are more expensive because they are '2 tin' kits - you get more malt extract so it needs no additional sugars. From that point of view they are simpler, just add the contents of the box and mix with water. If you were to add additional sugar or spraymalt/enhancer this would increase the strength as the additonal sugars would ferment out, and it may also alter the flavour too

Darius7

Thanks very much for the advice - i had been wondering what the difference was between the one and two tin kits. One last thing - due to conflicting advice I'm not sure whether to take the original gravity reading before or after mixing in the yeast. Coopers say before, st peters say after! Does it matter?

HBO_Staff

As long as it is all mixed up a reading should be taken and this gives the reading before fermentation starts. Just regarding the 1 tin kits, we always recommend using a brew enhancer instead of sugar as it does improve the results, the body and taste, and flavours too, it does cost more than sugar so people don't always use it, but we think the difference is worth it