Method help!!!!

[kirky]

Hi,

I have been reading the method for extract brewing and am slightly confused to say the least! Can anyone have a look at the method below (as I understand it) to make sure i'm on the right lines. Also not sure on quantities so if somecould let me know that would be great!

Ok here goes....

[*] Get some water on to boil (how much?) and put speciality grains into a grain bag and add to water when at 65 degrees. Keep this at 65 for 30mins, remove and squeeze.

[*] Add the malt extract and bring to the boil stirring woth a paddle.

[*] Throw in some hops.

This is where I get lost!

Do i boil it, cool it down, add to FV and then fill up with cold water and add the yeast? Some help with times and quantities would be great!

I think I know what I'm doing from fermenting stage, although it doesn't sound like it from above!!!!

[BathTub]

Hello Kirky

Depending on the recipe but i boil total amount i.e 23l

put speciality grains into a grain bag and add to water when at 65 degrees. Keep this at 65 for 30mins, remove and squeeze.

i bring to boil that add malt extract

Throw in the amount of hops your recipe states, boil for an hour.

once an hour is up cool has quick has possible - with immersion chiller to around 18-24 degrees

transfer to fermenter and add yeast.

Its not to hard i'm on my 8/9 brew you just learn as you go!! their is alot of members here that have loads of knowledge and their all happy to help !!

[Kev888]

the only things I'd add to bathtub's post are:

I'd usually boil a bit more liquor than needed just to allow for evaporation, losses from water retained in the hops and dead space in the boiler (though you can top up if the boiler isn't big enough).

I also add hops later as well as the ones at the start; the boil extracts bitterness oils but some of the flavour and most of the aroma from them dissipate during the 60 mins - thats why you'll often see recipies suggesting adding some towards the end (for flavour and some aroma) and at the end (or just after) for aroma and some flavour.

If I'm being careful I'll avoid squeezing the grains (theres a theory this can extract things you don't want) and add the last aroma hops when the boiler has cooled to 80 degrees C - but they're refinements.

Cheers
kev

[kirky]

Cheers guys,

Only thing I would say is I have not got a big enough boiler. What is the smallest pan I could get away with. I have a 5 litre pan. Could I boil in this and add water once in the FV?

[potatoes]

Hi there Kirky,

I am newish to extract brewing but I think that 5 litres is too small for a 23 litre brew. I bought an 11 litre pot off ebay. Here is the link if it works...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0458114897

The 11 litre pot works OK for me as I make 20 litre brews. I notice I lose about a 1 litre of water during the boil off but I top this when the boil off is finished to cool the wort faster. I dont have an immersion chiller so the good thing about this pot is I can just chuck the whole pot into the sink and fill the sink up with cold water. This works really well when I need to chill the wort. However, when the water in the sink gets too hot from the pot, I drain it and refill it again. I aim to get this chilled to about 35c as I add it to about 10 litres of water in the FV which chills it further.

Does that help? Also you might want to read http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-1.html

[Kev888]

Yes, 5L seems too small really - the malt/water mix would still be very syrupy at those concentrations. Whilst I've never tried it that thick I'd suspect the boil would be difficult and the hop utilisation very poor (you need thin liquid to wash out the oils). There would also be no headroom to prevent boil over or to accomodate any special grains that you need to mash first.

You can divide the recipe between a number of pots of you have them, but if you split it too many ways its going to get fiddly especially with the grains and grain bags. Ideally go for a nice big pot or two - you can use them for making stews and chilly too

Cheers
Kev