St. Peters Ale IPA + Dry hopped with Goldings

BUDFORCE

Just thought I'd share here something I tried.

I used the St. Peters Ale IPA kit, and also used 20g Goldings finishing hops.

Brew went completely smoothly with no misshaps, and this time I used a keg (usually bottle) with about 16 teaspoons of priming sugar.

Primary fermentation was quick, these St. Peter Ale kits go really quickly but I think it left it two weeks anyway, and the beer has been sitting in the keg for well over a month now, probably more like 2. I dry hopped in primary about a day and a half before transferring to the keg.

Anyway, the beer.

It's a really dark colour for an IPA, not quite stout colour, but a really dark brown.

Flavour wise it was smooth as anything, probably one of the smoothest brews I have ever done.

However... I was slightly dissapointed with the aroma and hoppyness for an IPA. After drinking Youngs American Pale Ale for a month, this seemed somewhat bland in flavour compared. I thought the Goldings hops would beef it up a bit.

It is similar to maybe a pint of Pedigree in the pub. I personally prefer something a bit sharper with more of a kick.

Great beer none the less, and something you could sit there and drink all day. I'd give it 4 stars.

I might try this again, but with the St. Peters Golden Ale kit, and if I can get hold of them, use Citra hops. The St. Peters Ale kits are quick and hassle free to brew so I think they are good ones to experiment with additional dry hopping.

But next up is a Youngs IPA kit which I have yet to try, but after drinking the their APA I have high hopes.

HBO_Staff

Thanks for the review and details the brew sounds great, the lacking of aroma and hopiness may be due to a couple of things. Some of the IPA's are very hoppy and use a lot of hops in the recipe, you could try adding the hops earlier and also more of them and that would increase the hop infusion into the beer. The St Peters is also not as strong in strength as many of the IPA's, the Festival Razorback is really hoppy and also quite strong (5.7%). The depth of flavour will improve if left for while before drinking, but trying a hoppier kit sounds as though it may suit your preference:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/beer-kits-c1/razorback-ipa-beer-kit-p1142

When tinkering other brews to your liking you might consider adding hop pellets in larger quantities, the hop teabags are good but for stronger flavour they are also available in 100g pouches, so you could add more of them if needed:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/ingredients-c45/charles-faram-hop-pellets-goldings-p1912

The disadvantage of them not being in teabags and using more of them is that they break up and can make syphoning your brew out a little more awkward, but the flavour is usually worth it, putting the hop pellets in a muslin bag can help with this but may reduce the effect so you may need to add a little more, a quick guide is here:

http://homebrewonline.vanillaforums.com/discussion/82/add-some-flavour-and-aroma-to-your-beer-kit-by-dry-hopping-and-making-hop-tea

Keep us posted on your brews....

BUDFORCE

Hi thanks.

I will try the Festival Razorback (ordered it yesterday).

I notice there are no Citra hops on sale, plus they seem to be pretty hard to get hold of on other sites (at least without paying over the top) any reason?

Citra hops are my favourite and some brewers in Bermondsey when I did they little Bermondsey mile brewery tour use them to make fantastic beer.

Any reason these are not as common?

HBO_Staff

Thanks for your order, much appreciated, we do have quite a lot of hops but not Citra unfortunately, this is because the Citra is not currently available, they were all sold out to contract buyers. Hopefully with the next seasons hops they will become available, and we'll see if we can get them from another source as they would be a good addition to the range and quite popular, but for the moment we don't have them.

BUDFORCE

I should have a word with the farmers around here, maybe get a cut of the profit for tip, cheers!

Sarahthebrewer

I've just finished drinking this one and I dry hopped it with East Kent holdings but wasn't overly impressed. Seemed a bit weak in flavour wouldn't bother again.