Unhopped Extract brewing

[Wirdart]

I had posted this question in another forum, but Garth recommended I ask all you guys too (far more info on this forum too!!).

Well, I am not quite ready for a full grain brew just yet so figure I may try it with an unhopped extract kit first. I have a small problem though. I dont have the ability to boil the full 5 gallons of wort with the hops. Is it possible to boil, the extract made up to, say, 1 gallon and add the hops, then transfer to the fermenter, topping up to 5 gallons with cold water?

I may be moving house soon to a place with more room. If so, I may well look into going full grain! I have an idea for an insulated, temperature controlled shed....... may take me while to get that though.


Pretty much the same post copied and pasted, sorry. I did have a search through, but nothing jumped out at me, nor on the extract brewing guide Daab mentions in another thread. Hope you can help!

[Wirdart]

Cheers Daab. I am a little stuck for cash at them moment, so the boiler will have to wait. My brother does have a couple of the 5L fermenters for his wine, wonder if he will mind me drilling holes in them!

I think the idea behind the unhopped extract and think it would suit me to begin with, as I dont have too much room or time right now. That being said, I am itching to get going in a full mash, even if it is a mini one first!

[oblivious]

You could also try a late extract addition; the extract is all ready sanitised as it’s canned. Add about 20% of the DME/LME at the start of the boil and the rest is added with a couple of minutes to go.

[oblivious]

I presumed some part of the wort would be boiled

[Wirdart]

Could it be boiled in parts? say a gallon at a time with half the extract and half the hops?

Hmmmm, Cheers guys. Will probably hold out a bit on this then, til I get a boiler. Dont fancy wasting a batch due to burning or not enough hop flavour.

Mini mash may be the way then Daab..... I can hear the dark side calling!

[sparky Paul]

Interesting thread, all good info.

This was something I was considering trying too, prior to (hopefully) getting an AG setup going this summer. As a full size brew isn't much more work than mini-mash with the right equipment, I reckon I'll hold off too...

[PieOPah]

When I used to extract brew, I only ever boiled half the amount I was planning on making. This meant that I would be topping up over half with cold water. I only did this as I had no means of cooling.

This method always worked well for me.

The only problem was that it was cheaper to make kits. On the plus side it did push me to AG brewing a lot quicker

[Wirdart]

Sorry PieOPah, what do you mean when you say you only boiled half the amount? Did you boil half the extract kit then the 2nd half?

I can see that the normal kits would be cheaper, but I thought it might be way to make a beer of my own flavour etc, without having to go full grain just yet. Is it worth it do you think?

[monk]

Though I've done a few all-grain batches now, I still brew a lot of extract+specialty grains.

My method is sort of a combo of several different methods:

I steep the grains, then sparge and top up water to the 3.5 gallon mark. I bring it to boil, then add about 1 lb of extract (this is ~20% of the total extract). I boil this diluted wort with the hops for about 35-40 min, then add the rest of the extract for the last 20 min of the boil. This allows it time to get back to boiling and make a hotbreak. I end up with about 3-3.5 gallons of wort, which I chill and add to the fermenter. i top up with cold water to 5 gallons.

Having only one pound of extract in 3.5 gallons of water makes for better utilisation of the hops (according to the Beertools equations, at least) and there's no carmelization or darkening of the wort.

There's lots of ways to make great beer, this is just the method I've put together over time because it works well for my system, it's fast, and very simple.

Good luck finding your preferred method! Cheers,

Monk

[monk]

I just reread the o.p. and thought maybe you don't have the ability to boil even 3.5 gallons yet. Sorry if the preceding post was unhelpful.

[PieOPah]

I'm fairly sure he means he boiled all the extract and hops in half the water, added it to the fermenter and topped up to 5 gallons.

You would still need at least a 3 gal pot to do this.

That's exactly what I did DaaB.

Although it would probably take longer, I am sure that you could do you boil in batches.

[charlie]

Better still, skip extract brewing, it's expensive anyway, go straight for all grain on a small scale, if you already have a 1 gal pot you are almost there 8

I tried to post this yesterday but it didn't work so I am coming late to this discussion but

from LHB http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/item1904.htm for 15kg and
http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/item1905.htm for 25kg.
Both approx £2/kg which mans at an average of 3kg ber brew by the time you've added grains, hops and boiled it approx £10 or £0.25/pint or £0.43/litre.

My lhbs will sell me 15kg of John Bull pale extract for £30.00.

Seems cheap enough to me as good quality kits are approaching £17.00