Can you change a blonde lager kit?

[CornishInBrissy]

Hi all

I recently started my journey down the rabbit hole of homebrew.

Just bottled my first batch which is a mangrove Jack's american pale ale kit that had brew enhancer added as recommended by the home brew shop. Sample at the time of bottling was pretty good, so I am hoping for an acceptable first try.

I have blonde lager kit came with my mangrove jacks starter kit. I am really not a fan of blonde lagers and love IPA and pale ales. Would I be able to use brew enhancer, along with mangrove Jack's m44 or safale s05 and some dry hops, think ones like cascade and citra (approx 50g) to make a better tasting beer? I dont want to waste the kit and I dont think I would be able to drink 20 or so litres of that kind of beer.

Cheers in advance

 

[Yooper]

Yes, you can do that. I don't know anything about those kits- do you boil the extract and enhancer? If so, I'd suggest adding hops to the boil like you do with IPAs and APAs, as well as dryhopping to get something more to your liking.

 

[Nosybear]

I'm pretty sure it's extract-steep so you can pick up some grains that don't need to be mashed (crystal, roasted, flaked grain, etc.) and change the grain bill to whatever you'd like. You can also add or use different hops to change the style. As with Yooper, I don't know what's in the kit, a blonde is basically nothing but extract and some hops, but you can certainly change it.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Making beer is about experimentation...to a point. I agree that just by making some changes to the type of hop and the timing of the hops in the boil will give you a different beer. I have a brown ale with M44 kegged and ready for drinking.

 

[Blackmuse]

Hi all

I recently started my journey down the rabbit hole of homebrew.

Just bottled my first batch which is a mangrove Jack's american pale ale kit that had brew enhancer added as recommended by the home brew shop. Sample at the time of bottling was pretty good, so I am hoping for an acceptable first try.

I have blonde lager kit came with my mangrove jacks starter kit. I am really not a fan of blonde lagers and love IPA and pale ales. Would I be able to use brew enhancer, along with mangrove Jack's m44 or safale s05 and some dry hops, think ones like cascade and citra (approx 50g) to make a better tasting beer? I dont want to waste the kit and I dont think I would be able to drink 20 or so litres of that kind of beer.

Cheers in advance

Even just dry hopping as you've mentioned will certainly change the beer!
If you want an IPA though then what Yooper mentioned about also adding soem additional boil additions will help.
If you list what hops you have on hand, I am sure folks can help you build a hop schedule that will make a tasty IPA.

 

[CornishInBrissy]

Update with the experiment. I put it on to ferment today. Started by
- boiling the 1.2kg of liquid malt for 15 minutes with 40g of citra. I put that much in as I dropped the bag on the floor and just so I didn't have to throw it away i boiled it for 15 minutes to sanitise.
- then added the blonde lager kit and 250g of brew enhancer along with kveik ale yeast. Its still 25C plus here is Brisbane for the time being.
- also going to be adding 75g dry hops, 50g cascade and 25g citra (not dropped on the floor) probably adding around day 5 pending on how active the ferment is with the yeast.
- OG was 1.047

I do have my next brew ordered and on its way, so this is an experiment to see what happens.

 

[Blackmuse]

Update with the experiment. I put it on to ferment today. Started by
- boiling the 1.2kg of liquid malt for 15 minutes with 40g of citra. I put that much in as I dropped the bag on the floor and just so I didn't have to throw it away i boiled it for 15 minutes to sanitise.
- then added the blonde lager kit and 250g of brew enhancer along with kveik ale yeast. Its still 25C plus here is Brisbane for the time being.
- also going to be adding 75g dry hops, 50g cascade and 25g citra (not dropped on the floor) probably adding around day 5 pending on how active the ferment is with the yeast.
- OG was 1.047

I do have my next brew ordered and on its way, so this is an experiment to see what happens.

I'm a little confused on your post... How long was your boil time? It sounds like you did one boil additon - 40g Citra at 15?
And you plan to dry hop with citra and cascade...
Sounds like a plan but I am not sure what your boil addition will add if it was indeed only 15 minutes...

edit - I think I understand... you used the kit as prescribed with their prescibed hop additions and then added a 15 minute addition of Citra. - If that is the case I am sure you will like the results.

 

[CornishInBrissy]

I'm a little confused on your post... How long was your boil time? It sounds like you did one boil additon - 40g Citra at 15?
And you plan to dry hop with citra and cascade...
Sounds like a plan but I am not sure what your boil addition will add if it was indeed only 15 minutes...

edit - I think I understand... you used the kit as prescribed with their prescibed hop additions and then added a 15 minute addition of Citra. - If that is the case I am sure you will like the results.

No recommended boil additions wee mentioned. I went rogue and brought the plain liquid malt to a boil, added the citra for 15 minutes boil.

Just not a fan of lager as feel that they are too bland and trying to add more flavour.

 

[Blackmuse]

No recommended boil additions wee mentioned. I went rogue and brought the plain liquid malt to a boil, added the citra for 15 minutes boil.

Just not a fan of lager as feel that they are too bland and trying to add more flavour.

What did the Lager Kit consist of? Any other malt extract or hops additions? What is your batch size (1 gallon/4 Litres?)
Just curious.

 

[CornishInBrissy]

What did the Lager Kit consist of? Any other malt extract or hops additions? What is your batch size (1 gallon/4 Litres?)
Just curious.

The pack consisted of a pre hopped malt extract pack along with a packet of non descript mango jacks yeast attached. I did 19 litres the batch. I added 1.2kg of liquid malt extract and 250g brew enhance . Also used kveik ale yeast as it is quite warm here during the day still.

Dry hopped it today as its starting to slow down. Sucha fast yeast. Hopped with 75g hops - 50g cascade 25g citra. Smelling lovely at the minute. Let's hope it

 

[Blackmuse]

The pack consisted of a pre hopped malt extract pack along with a packet of non descript mango jacks yeast attached. I did 19 litres the batch. I added 1.2kg of liquid malt extract and 250g brew enhance . Also used kveik ale yeast as it is quite warm here during the day still.

Dry hopped it today as its starting to slow down. Sucha fast yeast. Hopped with 75g hops - 50g cascade 25g citra. Smelling lovely at the minute. Let's hope it

I see! I've never used a kit with pre-hopped malt extract. I can see now why you had such a short boil time. I assume you don't have to boil the kit pack long since it is prehopped. That Kveik yeast does work fast I hear. Good luck man! Be sure to post a pic of your finished product!

 

[Hawkbox]

Sound's like fun. You can do whatever you want to a kit, you just won't necessarily end up with what it says you will.

 

[Craigerrr]

The pack consisted of a pre hopped malt extract pack along with a packet of non descript mango jacks yeast attached. I did 19 litres the batch. I added 1.2kg of liquid malt extract and 250g brew enhance . Also used kveik ale yeast as it is quite warm here during the day still.

Dry hopped it today as its starting to slow down. Sucha fast yeast. Hopped with 75g hops - 50g cascade 25g citra. Smelling lovely at the minute. Let's hope it

Creative! I like it!
And, what Hawk said.
Be sure to let us know how it turns out

 

[Blackmuse]

@CornishInBrissy - I assume you bottled or kegged this recently since you dry hopped it on the 5th. If so what did you think of your pre-carbonated outcome? Just curious!