im new to the homebrew scene and had a question. could i add honey or maple to an extract kit for example the black magic extract kit? to make a hone or maple brown ale for a breakfast beer?
You can add whatever you want to the beer you make. Kits are a great source of information. Experiment with the different kits to get to know the flavors the ingredients make and what you like. Once you’ve expanded your pallet and understand the ingredients you can start making your own recipes with good success.
We’ve all been there- we do a kit, follow directions perfectly and it comes out great! Meanwhile we’re reading Papa P., J.P., and other books and thinking ’ I wonder how that would go?’.
My 3rd ever batch was a Honey Ginger Wheat. I took NB’s basic wheat extract kit, added a few extra specialty grains, toasted some maris otter because WHY NOT?,added a lb. of honey, juice of a couple lemons and 1/2 lb. shredded ginger root. Then I carbonated it with too much maple syrup. It was not much of a beer, but did make a good stomach tonic. I still have a couple bottles left 3 years later and have one every once in a while when I’ve overeaten.
So by all means experiment, I definitely won’t tell you not to, but go easy padawan. And above all… Have Fun! :cheers:
Oh, and by the way, welcome to the forum!
That’s what I did with my first few extract kits. I bought the kit that would closest to what I was looking for in a style and then modify it based on things I’ve read around the forums and personal taste. Both my Milk Chocolate and Smashing Pumpkin came out great. My only regret was not splitting the batches so I could see what impact my additions made to the overall. That’s why now I’m switching to AG BIAB and splitting the 5 gallon kits so I can experiment a little. Also then if it turns out like Jim, I only have 2.5 gallons of tonic. :cheers:
thanks everyone for all the great input will experiment some. hopefully comes out ok. this will be my second batch, my first was rogue dead guy als which came out pretty good. already planning to start all grains also soon. thanks agian. Lu
One thing to keep in mind is your yeast pitch. If you change the OG much you may need more yeast than the base kit does. Use a pitching calculator like mrmalty.com to make sure there are enough of the little guys.
Part of the fun and lure of homebrewing is being able to experiment, and take an extract(or all-grain) kit as a base and making it your own. You tweek it and nudge it till its the way YOU want it…Thats whats so special about homebrewing…Tank :cheers:
