Extract Newbie Questions

[macleanb]

Hi Guys

I (and my "brew buddy" Ian) aregoing to attempt our first extract at the weekend which I hope to be an ESB clone.

Having surfed a fair bit there seems to be two camps (most specifying the second)

1. Make speciality grain "tea" and boil this with hops. All other fermentables in FV.

2. Make speciality grain "tea", add other fermentables, then boil with hops.

I was wonderring on your opinions of which is better, or more likely what the pro's and cons of each method are.

[macleanb]

Hi Daab

Thanks for the reply. I wasnt clear, what I meant was "make the extract tea, remove grains, then boil just this with hops and add DME/LME in the FV" vs adding LME/DME at the start of the boil

[macleanb]

Thanks again Daab, I intend to use the recipe in your link. I quite like a bit of sweetness to my beer, and was thinking of using the Windsor yeast - what do you think?

Also i have "candi sugar" is this suitable, or do I need to stick to soft brown?

50/50 Treacle/dextrose for priming?

[macleanb]

Thanks Daab - will do. I wont use the treacle, but it doesnt need to be messy, just shove it in your saucepan with dextrose and boil with alittle water (total 400ml) - then it's all syrup! My 50ml syringle then allows me to squirt required prime into each bottle (usually 10ml).

I used 50/50 for my coopers real ale, my first sample at 1 week was like in yer face treacle flavour, and I thought I'd over done it. 10 days later (and still a couple of weeks off) its all mellowed in very nicely .


ttfn benm