Brew 10 - Incognito IPA (First Gold Extract Kit)

 Brew 10 - Incognito IPA (First Gold Extract Kit)

Brewday: 10/10/2020

Dry hopped: 14/10/2020

Bottle day: 27/10/2020


Venturing into the extract world again - we decided to experiment with a Wilkinson's First Gold IPA kit. I've had some success with this brand before (a Chocolate Stoat) and our last kit experiment (Brew 8 - Sheepstor IPA) wasn't too bad. We are adamant that we can improve so here goes.

The kit came with a standard packet of yeast and a tiny (less than 10g) bag of First Gold hops. A quick pop onto Get 'Er Brewed and we selected some hops to add. We decided to up the bittering hops with some extra Golding hops (East Kent) and then dry hop with some Ekuanot and Bavarian Mandarina (neither of which I have used yet).

To add the bittering hops we made up a 'hop tea'. Boiling up the hops in some water for about 45mins will have given the Alpha Acids from the EKG hops chance to isomerise adding the desired flavour profile. The rest of the hops are added after 4 days as a dry hop. 

Yeast wise, we ditched the standard packet from the kit and purchased an American West Coast Ale strain. This one called for a quick rehydration using 100ml of water and being left to sit for 15mins before pitching. Will be interesting to see how this yeast turns out. I haven't brewed with a Lallemand yeast yet but I have purchased one for Brew 11...






Naturally, on dry hop day we try a bit. The beer is already showing real promise and tastes smooth with a good bitterness. 50g of Ekuanot and 50g of Bavarian Mandarina are added in separate bags. 

We have a quick check on the beer again on 18/10/2020 and the aroma and flavour profile is coming along so well. Very excited to see how this one turns out.

Bottling day: Over 2 weeks in the FV and we are good to bottle. The beer is smelling superb thanks to the dry hop additions. A quick gravity check and the yeast has work magic - FG of 1.000 - I've never had such a drop in gravity - I think this is going to be a dry and bitter beer! A whopping 6.8% from a kit beer is a great result - we are hoping that the hops will mask the strength of the beer. 

A quick taster and we can't believe how good this tastes already - bitter and well flavoured. We add 125g of brewing/priming sugar to about 250ml of boiled water and add this to the pressure barrel. The beer is then siphoned onto the top of this. I've found this method of priming work well so far and ensures even carbonation. 




We extract 34 bottles from the batch (we had Alice along to help put the crowns on the bottles) and had a bit left over. Needless to say, bottling is hard work and a few beers after is well earned. This gave us a real opportunity to try the brew before it conditions. The beer is dank and obviously yet to clear fully but we found it more than drinkable at this stage. A few weeks and we will have something that resembles a decent brew (not bad for a kit beer!). On the note, GHNB has decided to call the beer 'Incognito IPA' on the basis that we have disguised the extract kit with a tonne of hops - in hope that it can stand up to our other all grain beers (unlikely to be better but hopefully drinkable!). 

Taste update - 28/11/20 - Fridge rested the beer for an hour or so and cracked one. Tasting much better than earlier testers. The homebrew tang has disappeared and the hops are beginning to shine though. Throughly moreish now with a nice bitterness and citrus hop. 

Ingredients
Malts: Wilkos First Gold IPA Extract Kit
Hops: Bittering - 30g East Kent Golding. Dry - 50g Ekuanot and 50g Bavarian Mandarina
Yeast: Lallemand American West Coast Ale 
Batch size Target: 20L 
Batch size into FV: 20L
Batch size Actual: 20L
Number of bottles from batch: 34 bottles (500ml)
Actual OG: 1.052
Actual FG: 1.000
ABV: 6.8%

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