Adding hops to extract malt

[Mik]

Hi all,

I've been searching high and low for a simple-ish answer regarding the ins n outs of adding hops to a brew, and although I've found some good stuff and been close to what I'm after I thought it might be better to post away...

I haven't been brewing long, only a few batches under the belt, but love it. As I've started with kits I'm kinda branching into doing slightly more experimental brews by acquiring malt extract not of a kit, 'better' yeast and adding hops. The hops bit is what I've been researching. While its pretty straight forward - you add hops! Where I'm a little hazy is where the boiling comes into it.

In reading up I've been reading about boiling the hops in the wort, but can you boil up any wort, even the 'normal' extract stuff such as: http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/catalog/p ... tegory/27/, because I've also read about DMS or DME(?) malt extracts which which I don't know a lot about which can/have to be boiled(?), or is it fine to just boil up hops in water and just add that to the FV?

So as you can tell I'm not far off kit brewing really, just dipping the toes in a bit and branching a little into experimental brewing world, as I find it more fun and you learn a lot more (by pestering you good folk )

Any help much appreciated,
Mik.

[floydmeddler]

Hey Mik,

Welcome to Jim's. What I used to do was, using a 16L stockpot, I'd boil up the DMS or DME in water and hop accordingly. I'd kept topping up with water too so that it wouldn't reduce too much; the thicker the mix, the less effective the hops will be.

So. for a 1 hr boil I'd add hops as soon as the boil was reached (for bitterness) then when the hour is up, I'd switch off the heat (so no boil) and stir in more. Let them sit there for 30 mins but stir every 10 mins or so. This hop addition will give you flavour and aroma. After that, I'd pour the hot mix through a muslin cloth into the fermenter (to filter off the hops) then top the fermenter up with more water. Put a cover on it then add the yeast the next day when it's around 20c.

Cascade hops are a good choice to go for if you're using that pale extract.

This is a very basic approach, but you will make decent beer.

Hope this helps.

[Mik]

Great thanx for the info Floyd,

So is that extract in the url link I posted in my initial post, is that DMS or DME or boil-able? Is all malt extract boil-able? (I'm not entirely sure what DMS or DME are either to be honest)

I saw this stuff too: http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ingredien ... tract.html, would that be better to use?

Thanx again,
Mik.

[Jocky]

There's very little difference between 'normal' liquid malt extract (that you linked to: http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/catalog/p ... tegory/27/) and the contents of your average kit. A kit contains malt extract that has been hopped (either had hops boiled in it or hop extract has been added), and a can of liquid malt extract is exactly the same, but without the hop flavouring.

So yes, you can use 'any' malt extract (although I wouldn't recommend the stuff from health food shops - stick to brewing malt extract).

You need to boil the hops in wort for several reasons:
- You sterilise the malt extract/wort, reducing chances of bacterial infection.
- It boils off certain volatile compounds from the malt extract that can give you unpleasant tastes in your beer (this gives a big improvement over kit beer imho)
- The malt extract provides the proper conditions for extracting the right chemicals from your hops. Boiling hops in plain water will just give you some nasty flavours in your beer as unwanted tannins and polyphenols will end up in the water (and therefore your beer).

[Mik]

Fantastic, thanx Jocky,

So basically:

• I can boil up that Brupaks stuff if I go for that (would you know if that stuff is good/OK/average..?..), or what ever extract I decide to get, and from what you've said better to do so.

• I put a can or two (would one or two of these be best for a 24ltr/40pt yield?) in with water (I'm assuming 5ltrs.?..), bring to a boil

• Once boiling I add hops (amount of hops is just down to experimentation I'm assuming), leave boiling for about an hour or so(?)

• Put into FV along with rest of water, topping upto 24ltrs

Please add or correct anything. I know this is simple stuff but your info is gold(ings) and will be very useful to me as I advance my brewing skills

cheers,
Mik.

[Jocky]

For 40 pints you'd need two cans of malt extract.


Ideally you boil all of your malt extract with all of the water, plus a bit of extra water to replace what boils off. You should end up with 23 litres of wort that has been boiled for 1-1.5 hours.
At the beginning of the boil you add some hops (these provide your bittering), and then add more later in the boil (which add flavour and aroma).

If you don't have a pot big enough for that then you can boil some of the malt extract with some of the water - so maybe do half or a quarter of each. In the last 15 minutes you add the rest of your malt extract to the boil. There are good reasons why you don't want to have a highly concentrated wort on the boil for long (I'm not going to explain them here - if you want to know then go read http://www.howtobrew.com/ or buy John Palmer's book 'How to Brew'. At the end of the boil you top up with the rest of the water to the full volume.


Really you need to follow a bit of a recipe to tell you what amount of malt extract and hops to use, otherwise there's a good chance you're going to end up with rubbish. Have a look on the recipe thread at the top of this forum. Or you could buy a ready measured extract kit from here: http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beerkits/brewextract.html These supposedly come with full instructions.

[Mik]

Thats all awesome info, cheers fellas.

I'll be boiling my malt / wort like a mad man throwing in hops, lookin forward to it..!..

cheers,
Mik.

[floydmeddler]

Enjoy Mik... you'll never look back.