Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Discussion on brewing beer from malt extract, hops, and yeast.
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TheHostMan

Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by TheHostMan » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:45 pm

Hi,

Does the amount of water you use for the boiling stage matter if you ensure your final quantity is as per the recipe?

I have one of the extract kits from Brew UK, the Bavarian Weissbier Extract Recipe Pack.

In the instructions it calls for boiling in 6l. My plan is to do the kit in 2 halves. Partly as practice/experience, partly as is it's best drunk fresh.

However, boiling with 3l would concern me with the potential to lose too much to evaporation.

So, could I still use 6l with half the ingredients and just top up to half the total volume (19l i.e top up to 9.5l). Or would that have an impact on the end result.

Cheers.

Chris

hazelbrew

Re: Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by hazelbrew » Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:04 pm

I made the exact same extract kit. I boiled in a jam making pan - so was only able to boil with between 3 and 4 litres of water.

came out just fine.

TheHostMan

Re: Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by TheHostMan » Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:50 am

Thanks.

Out of interest, did you boil with or without a lid?

hazelbrew

Re: Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by hazelbrew » Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:51 am

Just seen this...
Boiled without a lid.
Which yeast did you use? I used a liquid yeast and it turned out very nice indeed.

normanh

Re: Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by normanh » Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:28 pm

Not actually sure theres any need to boil a kit. I simply add some boiling water to the FV to dissolve the malt. Currently I always use extract as I simply cant be bothered to use grain for which I am not geared up to handle again dissolved in boiling water from a kettle. When it comes to hops I heat these in a couple of litres of cold water simmer in a pressure cooker but under no pressure for up to about 30 mins. Works fine, I strain and add the liquid to the FV, repeating the process if I have more hops to add. Not sure if this is a good method but it works pretty well for me. Above all its simple.

Norman

brewt

Re: Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by brewt » Mon Jan 25, 2016 1:12 pm

[quote="normanh"]Not actually sure theres any need to boil a kit. I simply add some boiling water to the FV to dissolve the malt. Currently I always use extract as I simply cant be bothered to use grain for which I am not geared up to handle again dissolved in boiling water from a kettle. When it comes to hops I heat these in a couple of litres of cold water simmer in a pressure cooker but under no pressure for up to about 30 mins. Works fine, I strain and add the liquid to the FV, repeating the process if I have more hops to add. Not sure if this is a good method but it works pretty well for me. Above all its simple.

Norman[/quote]
I am making the step up from kits to extract and am interested in your method of boiling the hops in water rather than wort.
How do you calculate the hops quantities, as I've read that hop utilisation is about 30% higher by this method.

Andy

normanh

Re: Water quantities for boiling an extract kit

Post by normanh » Sat Feb 27, 2016 8:51 pm

Its all an experiment to be honest, no calcs, I just love a good hop taste and smell so I experiment with various combinationNormamns.

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