Preparation for my first extract brew... a few questions!

Discussion on brewing beer from malt extract, hops, and yeast.
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[steve]

Preparation for my first extract brew... a few questions!

Post by [steve] » Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:23 pm

Hi All,

I wanted to run a couple of things past you before I start my first Extract brew.

I've read loads and have started finding conflicting advice and i'm also starting to confuse myself!

I'm using the US measurements/rules and converting to UK which is confusing in itself!

The first point is that I am doing a smaller batch than is generally done. I have a 12l stock pot so was going to try to end up with about 11.5 litres of wort - I bought a 15l FV for this.

My plan is to only boil half (2 x 6 litres) first half will be boiled and put in the FV to cool whist I do the main boil with the other half.

I am assuming that using/boiling 12 litres total will give me approx 11.5 litres at the end (as I will assume evaporation rate of around a 500ml per hour.. somewhere near 8% evaporation rate)

11.5 Litres of water = 3 US Gallons

This will mean 3 lbs of DME (according to the guides I've been reading - 1 lb per 1 US Gallon)

3 lbs is 1.36 kg's of DME.... I was going to round up to 1.5kgs - is this ok?

I've also read some people put half the DME in at the beginning of the boil and that other split it and put the rest in 15 min from end of boil... no percentage split was mentioned anywhere though, so I would assume 50% at start and 50% 15 mins from end? (so 750g at start then another 750g 15 mins from end)

My plan is as follows:

1) Fill Stock pot with 6 litres of water, bring to the boil, then pour into sterilised FV and leave to cool.
2) Fill Stock pot with another 6 litres of water and bring up to 70C
3) in a muslin back, steep 100g Crystal Crushed Malt for 30 mins.
4) Remove the Crystal and whack the hob up to bring the water to the boil (100C)
5) Remove the stock pot from the heat and add half the DME (750g) and stir well
6) Put back on heat and wait for Hot Break - then add biting hops (5g Amarillo and 5g Centennial) and start 60 min timer.
7) After 40 mins add 15g of Centennial and 15g of Amarillo (to the same muslin bag)
8) After 45 mins:
8a) Take pot off heat and add other 750g of DME and stir well.
8b) Drop (already connected) immersion chiller into the pot (to sterilise) for last 15 mins
9) After 50 mins add 20g of Centennial and 20g of Amarillo (to the same muslin bag)
10) After 60 mins:
10a) turn off heat and switch on cold water flow for chiller.
10b) add 30g of Centennial and 30g of Amarillo (to the same muslin bag) (flame off) for 20-30 mins until wort cooled to less than 26C
11) Pour cooled wort through sieve into FV from a height to aerate
12) check temperature in FV and pitch yeast (Safale US-05) when below 24C
13) transfer FV into brew fridge set to maintain 19C
14) leave for 7 days
15) drop muslin bag with 30g of Centennial and 30g of Amarillo into fermenter
16) leave for another 7 days
17) check FG - if steady over a few days, bottle beer.

Any feedback or warnings would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Steve.

brewt

Re: Preparation for my first extract brew... a few questions

Post by brewt » Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:37 am

Hi,
Looks like you have researched the subject and planned ahead, that's half the battle!
Your method looks good, although I do it in a slightly different way: For a 10L brew I use 5L water to steep my crystal malt grains.
I don't boil the DME. After removing the steeped grains I boil the liquid and add my hops.
Then the DME (usually 1kg) gets added to the FV with the cold water. I don't have an immersion chiller so put my pot in a sink full of cold water to cool down.
This works great for me and I'm producing really nice beer, much better than the kits I used to brew.

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Jocky
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Re: Preparation for my first extract brew... a few questions

Post by Jocky » Mon Jul 03, 2017 9:01 am

I think you're mostly there. I did quite a few extract batches when starting out, so can provide a little insight.

Two things for this session:
- You don't need to wait for 'Hot break', just wait until the surface of the wort is moving - that's your boil. Just before the boil you will get a load of foam which will eventually collapse back into the boil. Some people call this foam 'the hot break' but afaik it's a misnomer. Hot break is the name for the coagulated protein blobs you'll see floating around in your wort after boiling a bit. You don't get much when using malt extract compared to all grain though, so don't worry about it.

- I would really recommend getting the wort as cool as you can before pitching yeast - 18C if you can, or at least 20C. 24C is quite high.

- If you don't have an immersion chiller yet, for 11.5 litres you don't actually need one. You easily chill in a sink or the bath full of cold water. I previously did 12 litre batches this way. If you've already got one then it's not a problem. If you get the bug and want to do bigger batches you're set!


For future reference - no need to worry about this time:
DME you only really need to boil for 15 minutes. Any longer is just to increase hop extraction (longer boil = more bittering from the hops).
It's good to have some DME in the boil with the hops (without the hop flavour can become harsh and vegetal), but when doing a concentrated boil leaving some DME until 15 minutes from the end stops it becoming too dark and improves hop extraction.

Good luck!
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

[steve]

Re: Preparation for my first extract brew... a few questions

Post by [steve] » Mon Jul 03, 2017 5:36 pm

Thanks for the advice guys :)

I cracked on and did it - if it's wrong i'll learn from it.

I did as follows (made a couple of mistakes too I think, but will see how it turns out!):

1) boiled 6 litres of water - poured in sterilised FV to cool
2) boiled 4.25 litres of water and also brought 1.75 litres of water up to 70C for steeping the crystal
3) added the crystal in a muslin bag to the 1.75 litres for 30 mins
1st ERROR - the crystal steep reached just over 80C for a few minutes towards the end of the steep - hope it hasn't tainted the flavour!
4) once the 4.25 litres of water was at a rolling boil I took it off the heat and added 750g of light DME stirred it in well
5) brought the 4.25 litres back to the boil, then added 10g of hops (2 x 5g) in a muslin bag
NOTE - there was no frothy head.. at all and no noticeable 'hot break'.... comments above reassure me that this is fine!
6) started the 60 min timer.
2nd ERROR - the thermometer probe was not deep enough in the water to give a correct reading (was showing 80C when rolling boil!) so I tipped a litre or so of water from the FV into the boil - this killed the boil for a few mins, I paused the timer and reset by 5 mins to cover time lost.
7) after 40 mins added 30g more hops (2 x 15g)
8) after 45 mins took off heat and added remaining 750g DME and stirred well.
9) brought back to boil
10) after 50 mins added 40g hops (2 x 20g)
13) forgot to drop the immersion chiller into the boiling wort 15 mins from the end. I dropped it in at 60 mins and gave it 4-5 mins boiling which should have sterilised it fine I hope!
12) at 'flame off' (65 mins) I threw in another 60g hops (2 x 30g)
13) Started pumping cold water through the chiller and the temperature dropped nicely to 24c in about 20 mins.
14) When I started to pour the wort from a height into the FV through a sieve + muslin sheet the hop sludge from pellets clogged up to a trickle... need to find a better way of doing this in future! Took ages stirring in the sieve with a sterilised spoon to get it all into the FV.
3rd ERROR - When all liquid was in the FV it only reached about 7.5 litres!!! Not sure if I mis-measured or if the boil lost a load!
4th ERROR - I panicked and topped the FV up from the tap (warm water) - this raised the temperature of the wort to 30C and possibly introduced infection :(
15) I dropped the 15l FV into a sink of cold water and managed to get the temperature down to 25C
16) I set the brew fridge (STC-1000) to a target of 19C and switched it on.
17) I dropped the FV in there and when the wort temp dropped to about 25C (measured with a sterilized glass thermometer directly in the wort) I pitched the Yeast.
18) after the 10 min compressor delay, the STC-1000 kicked the fridge into life and I left it to do its thing. This was about 19:30 last night.
19) I checked this morning, STC-1000 showed 19C bang on and this afternoon showed 19.2C so it's doing it's job well!

There is a bulge in the lid of the FV but not caught any bubbling of the airlock yet!

Will check it in a couple hours and see if there is any action.

It's been an experience and I've learned some do's and don'ts along the way.

Looking forward to my next brew - might invite a friend over who's done a few to assist!

Thanks again for the advice. Much Appreciated!

Steve.

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