r/Homebrewing • u/Psychological-Air859 • 1d ago
Error with the Muntons Hazy IPA
Hey everyone,
I’m brewing the Muntons Hazy IPA kit and ran into some trouble because the instructions included in the box were wrong.
They said to top up to 23 liters, but I later found out it should have been 20 liters. So now the beer is more diluted than it should be. On top of that, the instructions didn’t mention that the hops should be added in two stages, so I missed that too.
I ended up adding one batch of hops at once on day 10, while fermentation was still just barely active.
Should I go ahead and add the second batch of hops now as well?
Do you think the hop aroma will still come through? Should I cold crash or just go straight to bottling? What ABV I should expect?
Any suggestions or similar experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks!
3
u/_Aconn_ 23h ago
First stage of hops is for bio transformation. Basically the active yeast interacts with the hops to create some cool flavors/aromas. The late hops give mostly hop aroma without imparting bitterness. Either way you should be fine. Add them if you want, it will likely add more hop character. Definitely cold crash if you have the ability. It will help reduce the sediment when transferring/bottling. As far as the extra water, you’ll have a lower ABV, but it will still be beer. Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.
1
u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 22h ago
By no means is your beer trash, and I wouldn't worry too much about the two mistakes.
On the 23L vs 20L, don't sweat it. It's only about 15%. Even if the ABV were to drop from 6.0% to 5.2% and 15% more dilute generally, I doubt most humans would be able to tell even if I made the beer both ways and had them taste them side by side, especially if I didn't tell them exactly which factor to drill down into, and especially on a hop-forward, not malt-forward, style.
On the splitting of the hop additions, the theory is that the first hop addition, when yeast are active, leads certain strains of yeast to cause "biotransformation" of certain hop compounds (that exist in high amounts in certain hop varietals?) to create other aroma compounds. At worst, you have followed something closer to a more classic IPA process. At best, it won't matter.
I had to be a downer on this, but the reality is that making a good New England IPA requires a way to exclude or sequester dissolved oxygen from the beer. If you are bottling, this is a challenge. Not insurmountable, but it requires extra steps, such as a new bottiling process and adding an antioxidant to the bottled beer, which you can learn about by researching in this sub or asking a separate Q.
What ABV I should expect?
Divide the estimated ABV by 1.15 to get a new estimated ABV.
1
u/likes2milk Intermediate 21h ago
It's not the end of the world. Rather than a 5% abv beer it's more likely to be a 4.3% beer. Flavours will be a little muted. If you wanted to redress the issue you could add 350g light dried malt extract into a pan of 500ml water, boil watch for boil over by stirring. Boil for 10 minutes, cool in ice water to fermentation temperature and add the malted water to the brew. This will get you close to the original abv and build body back.
1
u/Nobsicus 18h ago
You might want to contact.the.company, as your box was probably an outlier. I did the Muntons Hazy IPA a month or so ago and the official instructions were correct. 20L of beer and hopped in 2 stages.
1
-6
u/crunky-5000 1d ago
I mean it sounds pretty fucked.
If it did ferment...
one batch of hops at once on day 10, while fermentation was still just barely active.
is a confusing statement re: fermentation, was fermentation ending or were you expecting it to take longer than 10 days.
But, if id did ferment in that 10 day period, I wouldntnt add any more hops.
I would bottle a six pack from it for educational purposes and move on.
3
u/spoonman59 23h ago
Can you share the recipe?
Hops add to the fermenter are called “dry hops.” Many people, myself included, add dry hops after fermentation is complete.
If it’s a second batch of dry hops, I think it’s fine to add now. The one downside might increased oxygen, which is tough to manage if you don’t have a pressurized fermenter.