Home Brew Forum

Hey Guys!

A few things came together today that led me to do a couple of small batch extract brews. Firstly I had a few hours to spare unexpectedly. Secondly I had some bought some cheap dried extract from The Home Brew Company (Ireland). And thirdly I had a couple of packs of hops that needed used up.

So I took some inspiration from a BasicBrewing podcast were James Spencer did an extract brew with just a 15min boil.

I was looking to produce two 12l batches one hopped with 100g of Cluster and one with 100g of Bramling Cross.

I heated the full volume of water for both batches in my electrim boiler that I usually use as the HLT when I all-grain brew. I added 200g each of 60L Crystal and carapils and 30g of Black Malt to steep in muslin bags as the water heated and took them out when the temp hit 76C.

Half of this liquor was then measured into my boiler (a stainless pot on a gas ring) and 1.5kg of light DME was added. Once the boil was reached the first addition (40g) of Cluster was added along with the immersion chiller. Ten minutes later 30g of cluster went in and then the last 30g went in at flameout.

Chilled down and sprinkled on a pack of S04.

After a quick rinse round of the kettle and chiller the process was repeated with the Bramling Hops. I used the same additions as the AA of the two hops was quite close and it kept things simple.

So I ended up with two batches at about 1.047-1.049 with the IBUs in the mid 30s and colour of about 25 EBC. I was having such a chilled out time I didn't even bother to take any hydro readings

It was such an easy and laid back process compared to my all-grain brewdays when I take plenty of readings and notes but it suited my mood. If the beer turns out well I might look to do more of these...

Interested to see how this goes.... I've never done an extract brew - I jumped straight into all grain. Now I am kind of stuck for space and time I am considering giving this a go for hoppy pale ale type beers.

Are you familiar with extract twang ? Can you let us know if you can taste it ?

Cheers

I will let you know how they turn out killer.

Not sure of the extract twang but I will do plenty of tasting to see if its there once the beers are ready..

Sounds good, hope it turns out well.

Maybe I should try an extract brew myself. Having jumped into AG quickly after starting on kits the 2 AG's so far have been rather hectic.

Thanks for the extra bottles earlier you're a gent

Cheers Nic! I jumped into AG after only 2 kits so I missed out the extract thing. Hopefully these will be up to standard..

Extract twang: I don't think you get it with DME - t least, I never have.

Thats good to know Steve - Cheers!

As both of these have been fermenting for a week I thought I better take some samples. The Cluster brew has been in the temp controlled fridge and the Bramling Cross has been in the study with a fleece over it.

Both samples look identical as you would expect. Both samples have finished at 1.010 so I guess they are done. I will probably try to bottle this week sometime or next weekend at the latest.

Unfortunately I put both samples in the same type of glass, got distracted and then forgot which was which .

The good news is both taste and smell very nice indeed. Aromawise there is a fruitiness from both hops and both brews have a slight caramel note. The bitterness is a bit more pronounced on one which I would guess is the cluster as the AA was slightly higher than the bramling cross but we will see how they turn out in a few weeks....

Hi Jimp2003,

Any word on how these are turning out ? (I know it's early days yet). I have my finger hovering over BUY for some spraymalt and I have some hops I want to try out...
I also have 4 x 10L fermenters, so I might do some experiments and try some different yeasts out on the same beer.

Cheers,

Cillian

Hey Cillian. I should be bottling these two brews tomorrow and will probably have another taste then and will post what they are like. I hope they taste as good as they smell because the aromas are fantastic especially the cluster which could be a new favourite of mine.

Really interested to hear how these turned out with the 15 minute boil.

Jocky wrote:Really interested to hear how these turned out with the 15 minute boil.

Its still early but I tried a small 330ml bottle of each a couple of nights ago. I am not disappointed at this stage. The bitterness was about right and the hop flavour came through strongly as you would expect. I really got massive fruitiness from the cluster - lovely. The Bramling Cross had a nice blackcurrant nose mixed with traditional english type hop flavours and aromas.

Both bottles were slightly undercarbonated as the room they are in had problems with the heating. I expect them to be better in a couple of weeks.

If I do more extract brews I think this is the method I will use as I don't mind paying a bit more for the hops that get used.

jimp2003 wrote:...the aromas are fantastic especially the cluster which could be a new favourite of mine...

Shhhhh, I thought we all agreed to keep that on the down-low! As long as everyone thinks Cluster smells and tastes like cat piss, the price stays low for us enlightened few

Good news about your extract experiment. I am gonna give it a try.

My in-laws are away for 2 weeks so I have a last-minute BIAB brewday planned tomorrow in their place. I had also bought some extract for quick extract brewdays in my place.
Based on Seymours suggestion (he's fairly promiscuous round these parts), I am going to combine the two and do both an AG brew and extract brew. After the BIAB mash, I will do a quick sparge of the pulled grain bag with about 6L water (CRS treated to avoid potential tannin extraction), add that to my extract and top up to about 12L for the extract brew. I'm going to do a 20 min boil with cascade (to about 30 IBU) and numerous late additions/dry hopping of motueka...

Cheers for the inspiration gents.

I noticed from your signature that you're drinking these now.

Drinking:Wai-Iti Blonde, CDA Version 3,Bramling Cross 15min Extract Ale, Cluster 15min Extract Ale

How did these 2 work out?