How to brew a good IPA at home

There is not much that beats drinking a hoppy IPA you brewed yourself. If you are getting into it, or you have done a few kits and want the next one to be better, this is the run through I give people over the counter.

Why brew your own IPA

You control everything. The bitterness, the aroma, how malty the backbone is underneath the hops. A kit gets you most of the way there and the small decisions you make on top of it are what turn out a beer that tastes like yours rather than like a kit.

It also works out cheaper per bottle than buying craft beer, though anyone who tells you homebrewing saves money has usually not counted what they spent on gear in the first year.

Starting from a Coopers kit

The Coopers IPA kit is the sensible starting point. It gives you a full bodied IPA with the citrus and grapefruit character you want, sitting on an amber malt base so the hops have something to push against, and the yeast comes with it.

Kits get a bit of a sniff from people who do all grain brewing. Ignore that. A kit brewed carefully beats a from scratch batch brewed badly every time, and the things that actually decide whether your beer is good are the same either way.

The steps that matter

1. Sanitise everything. Every single thing that touches the beer. This is the step people rush and it is the one that ruins batches, because a contaminated ferment does not announce itself until you are drinking it.
2. Mix it properly. Sit the malt tin in warm water so it pours instead of fighting you, then combine with your water and any extra malt extract you are adding.
3. Pitch at the right temperature. Get the wort between 21 and 27 degrees before the yeast goes in. Too hot and you kill it, too cold and it sulks.
4. Hold the temperature steady. A week or so, or until your gravity readings stop moving. Steady beats fast.

Three things that lift a kit IPA

• Swap the brewing sugar for dry malt extract. The single easiest upgrade. More body, better head retention, more malt character behind the hops.
• Control the ferment temperature. Wild swings make harsh flavours that no amount of hops will hide. A cool, stable spot in the house will do if you are not buying a fridge for it.
• Dry hop it. A handful of hops in the fermenter after the main ferment gives you aroma without adding bitterness, and aroma is most of what people mean when they say a beer smells like an IPA.

Reading the gravity, not the calendar

The most common reason a homebrew is flat or over carbonated is bottling before fermentation actually finished. Take a hydrometer reading, wait two days, take another. If they match, it is done. If they do not, it is not, no matter what the instructions said about a week.

Shop related products

• Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 1kg. Dextrose, maltodextrin and light dry malt, blended for pale ales and IPAs.
• Coopers Light Dry Malt 500g. The sugar swap from the tips above.
• US-05 Safale Ale Yeast 11.5g. A clean American ale yeast that lets the hops do the talking.
• Beer Essentials No Rinse Sanitiser 25g. Step one, and the cheapest insurance in brewing.

Did you know we also keep Coopers kits including an IPA, plus fermenters, hydrometers, thermometers and bottle cappers in store. A lot of the brewing range is not on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

If you are not sure what to buy first, Brewhilder will talk you through a starting setup, or come in and we will do it in person. We are at Building 2, 34-52 Milnes Rd and we are open 7 days.

Keep reading

• Top 5 common homebrewing mistakes and how to fix them
• Why every homebrewer needs a decent fermenter
• How to brew a Coopers ruby porter at home

Cheers,
Candeece

My first IPA had almost no aroma because I was too nervous to dry hop it. The second one did.