Extract Brewing Equipment
As well as the equipment required for
brewing with kits you will need the following items.
Boiler. A boiler capable of boiling a minimum of 3
gallons, but preferably 5 or more. While stainless steel stockpots are available
for use on a cooker top, dedicated homebrew boilers are generally a better
option. They can be fitted with a tap to make running off from the boiler easier
which in turn can be fitted with a device for holding back the hops known as a
hop strainer.
Grain Bags. These are cheap nylon or muslin bags
available from homebrew shops. They usually have a draw string to secure the
specialty grains and can be put straight into the boiler and left there through
out the steeping period (usually 30 mins). After the 30 mins is up they are
fished out and given a gentle squeeze to extract the remaining sweet wort.
Muslin bags are generally used one or two times only but the nylon bags can be
used repeatedly. After use the bags should be emptied out, rinsed thoroughly in
hot water and dried. There is no need to use soap or wash in a washing machine,
as amongst other things any soap residue can taint subsequent batches of beer.
Chiller. These commonly come in two varieties, the
counter flow chiller as seen here,
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/cooling.htm and the immersion chiller.The
immersion chiller, while not quite so efficient is the cheaper and easier option
to make and are is available from better homebrew shops. This is put into the
boiler to cool the wort to yeast pitching temperature to facilitate the cold
break.
Hop Strainer. These are simple devices, which are
attached to the back of the boiler tap to and hold back the hops while draining
the cool wort from the boiler. The hops that are held back form a filter bed and
also serve to filter out the hot and cold break material known as the trub.
Liquer Tank. This is simply a container
for your brewing liquer; technically the term is Hot Liquer Tank (or HLT). These
are sometimes used by home brewers when all grain brewing but as there is no
need to heat any water in extract brewing other than what’s in the boiler, I’ll
refer to it as a liquer tank. Fermenters with taps or plastic barrels make good
liquer tanks. If a polypropylene fermenter is used, they can be converted at a
later date to a HLT by adding a kettle element and adding a heat resistant tap
when moving on to all grain brewing.
Extract Brewing Pages Courtesy of Chris |
