Brewing with a hopped beer kit

What is in the tin

A 1.5 to 1.8 kg tin of hopped malt extract syrup, designed for 20 to 23 litres, and a sachet of dry yeast, often taped under the lid. Most kits ask you to add about 1 kg of fermentable sugar: table sugar, dextrose, or dry malt extract for more body.

The added sugar changes the beer. Table sugar or dextrose ferment completely: the beer is drier and lighter in the mouth. Unhopped dry malt extract keeps body and head retention; it is the option closest to an all-grain beer. "No sugar" kits contain two tins and need none.

The equipment you need

• A 25 to 30 litre fermenter with a lid and an airlock, preferably with a tap.
• A large plastic or stainless steel spoon, a kettle or a saucepan for hot water.
• A hydrometer, a thermometer and a no-rinse sanitiser.
• For later: bottles, crown caps and a capper, or a keg.

The starter kits sold in shops bring this equipment and a first tin together.

Brew day, step by step

Clean and sanitise

Clean the fermenter, the lid, the spoon and the hydrometer, then sanitise them. This is the most important step: diluted wort is an ideal medium for bacteria until the yeast has taken over.

Soften the tin

Stand the closed tin for 10 minutes in hot tap water or in a sink: the syrup will pour more easily. Open it and take the yeast sachet off the lid.

Dissolve the syrup and the sugar

Pour the syrup into the fermenter with 2 to 3 litres of very hot water, add the sugar or the dry extract, and stir until no deposit remains at the bottom. Rinse the tin with hot water to recover the rest.

Some brewers bring the wort to the boil for a few minutes in a saucepan. It is not necessary: the contents of the tin are sterile, and a long boil darkens the beer.

Top up with cold water

Top up to the volume given by the kit with cold tap water, pouring from a height to aerate: the yeast needs oxygen to get going. The cold water also brings the temperature down. Aim for 18 to 22 °C before adding the yeast; mixing hot and cold water gives the right proportions.

Measure the original gravity

Take a sample and note the gravity. A 1.7 kg kit with 1 kg of sugar in 23 litres comes out around 1.037 to 1.042. If the sample is not at 20 °C, correct the reading with the gravity correction for temperature. To predict the gravity with another sugar or another volume, use the estimated original gravity calculator.

Add the yeast

Sprinkle the yeast on the surface or rehydrate it for 15 minutes in a little lukewarm boiled water, then close with the airlock. Kit yeast is often old and chosen to withstand storage: a fresh dry yeast suited to the style of the beer (US-05 for an IPA, S-04 for a bitter…) often gives a cleaner beer.

After brew day

What follows is the same as for every method: one to two weeks of fermentation at a stable temperature, then bottling with priming sugar. Kit beers gain a lot from spending two to four weeks in the bottle before being drunk.

Common mistakes with a kit

• Bottling too early because the airlock has stopped bubbling: only a gravity that is stable over two or three days tells you fermentation is finished.
• Fermenting too warm, next to a radiator or in summer: the beer picks up solvent or banana flavours. The wort temperature is 2 to 4 °C above that of the room during the first days.
• Replacing the sugar with large amounts of brown sugar or honey: the flavour changes and the beer can turn cidery.
• Topping up to more volume than planned to get more bottles: the beer becomes watery.

Varying without changing method

• Replace the sugar with dry malt extract, light for a blonde, amber for an amber beer.
• Add a dry hop: 30 to 50 g of hop pellets in the fermenter three to five days before bottling, for aroma.
• Steep 200 to 300 g of crushed specialty malt (crystal, chocolate) for 30 minutes in 2 litres of water at 65-70 °C, strain, and add this liquid to the wort.

These variations lead naturally to malt extract brewing, where you design the recipe yourself.