Critique my planned extract brewing process

[beerandgarden]

In advance of my first foray into extract brewing (after doing 2 prehopped kit brews), I've written up my planned process so that I stand a better chance of not missing something vital when I brew up my first extract batch tonight. I've based the process on what I've learned from various sources and on what I've got available to me. It would be awesome if some of you guys could take a look at it and let me know if I'm missing something or make suggestions for any improvements you can think of.

I have the process written up here:
http://beerandgarden.com/extract-brewing-process/

Cheers,
Aidan

[Fuggled Mind]

Aiden,

I've never seen such comprehensive brewing notes. I never thought of myself as a lazy brewer until I read this

It seems you have it all covered but what may I ask is a sediment reducer?

Only criticism is an environmental one. Is it really necessary to cool water by putting it in the fridge?

What style or recipe are you brewing?

Would be good to hear how you get on with your first foray into extract brewing.

Good luck and all the best

Jason

[beerandgarden]

Aiden,

I've never seen such comprehensive brewing notes. I never thought of myself as a lazy brewer until I read this

It seems you have it all covered but what may I ask is a sediment reducer?

A sediment reducer is just a plastic thing that is connected to inside of tap. Came with my BrewCraft equipment kit. It's like a short tube that has a slit facing upwards, so you draw out the beer from above the trub. I actually forgot to insert it this time (so much for all the detailed notes, you still forget things!) It does make it hard to get out the beer at the bottom of the FV so I had actually wanted to try without it anyway.

Only criticism is an environmental one. Is it really necessary to cool water by putting it in the fridge?

I got a tip about cooling the water in advance to make it quick and easy to get to pitching temp and I thought it was a good idea, esp since I have a spare fridge that I'm now using for brewing. Don't see much environmental downside since you would need to freeze more ice for wort cooling otherwise which also requires energy consumption.

What style or recipe are you brewing?

An American Pale Ale - you can see my recipe here: http://beerandgarden.com/first-extract-recipe/

Would be good to hear how you get on with your first foray into extract brewing.

Good luck and all the best

Jason

I brewed it up last night and now I'm waiting for some airlock action to start. Having put my process down on paper and then doing it for real, I do have a few slight concerns about my process. I would be interested in opinions from experienced brewers on these concerns.

1. A lot of exposure of wort to air - risk of contamination? It took quite a long time to get the wort from the brew pot into the fermentor because I used a sieve to strain out the hops gunk. There was quite a lot of gunk building up in the sieve and blocking it, so I had to pour a little, then work it with my spoon and pour some more. So it probably took me 10-15 mins to transfer the wort into the fermentor. Just wondering if a lot of exposure to the air during this time is a concern?

2. Risk of contamination from stirring spoon? There was a lot of froth on top of the wort in the fermentor after I had given it a good shake to mix and aerate. I used my long handled stirring spoon for stirring the wort a few seperate times (e.g for stirring in the yeast). Each time I used it, when I pulled it out, the handle was covered in froth. I just placed it sitting on top of the brew pot (which I guessed should be fairly sanitary). But I'm a bit concerned that all that froth on the handle would make it easy to pick up contaminants from the air. Maybe next time, having a tall container of pre-boiled water to stick it into in between usage would be a better idea?

3. Risk of contamination from hands? Your hands end up touching the sanitised surfaces and even the wort itself - it's hard to avoid. Of course I did wash my hands and even had them in water with some bleach. But you are always touching other unsanitised surfaces throughout the process. Should I be concerned about risk of contamination from my hands? Do you guys do anything special to keep hands sanitary?

4. Fermentor spigot contamination risk? I took an OG sample from the fermentor spigot (I had taken one from top with sanitised jug but SG measured lower than expected so I took another sample from bottom to compare). Could this contaminate the spigot and result in contamination when bottling? I thought of this when bottling my previous 2 batches and did give the spigot nozzle a bit of a clean with some bleach solution. But it's not possible to thoroughly clean it while still attached to a fermentor of beer. Should I be concerned about contamination risk?

5. Not enough air dry time for some sanitised items. With Sodium Metabisulfite you are supposed to air dry for 1 hour. But there were a few things that I had to sanitise on the go, e.g. stirring spoon, and they only got a few minutes dry time. I know something like Star San or iodophor is the ideal solution here and plan to get some. But should I be concerned having used Sodium Met in this way?

6. Is there a contamination risk from paper towels? I used paper towels to sit sanitised things on while air drying. I also dried off excess sanitiser with paper towels when needing something in a hurry (e.g. stirring spoon).

Also I have some niggling worries about my recipe. OG came out at 1.042, quite a ways of the 1.050 target. The wort tasted pretty bad - very bitter and hoppy. I hope it's not an indication of final taste. Previously I've just done 2 batches of home brew, both from pre-hopped kits and the wort tasted good in both cases. Just worried that since the OG came out lower than anticipated, I might have over hopped it. I'm considering skipping the dry hops.

It's been 10.5 hours since pitching and fermentation has not started yet. This time I rehydrated my yeast. For previous 2 batches I just sprinkled the kit yeast on top and in both cases it was bubbling away by next morning. I thought the rehydrated yeast was supposed to kick into action faster, so I'm a bit surprised by that.

[potatoes]

My critique
-do you really need to steep the in a separate pot? I would just put them in the brew pot. Save a lot of pissing around and its easier to keep 6 litres of water at a constant 65- 70c temp than 1 litre of water. Otherwise, fine.

[DaveyT]

Aidan
I was returning to this posting to give you my tip on ice. I use those plastic take away trays to make massive ice cubes. Takes a few days as I don't want to overwhelm the freezer with all of them at once. They work a treat, though; retaining their temperature for a while. I add them in stages, too, if things are slowing down.
I think you're doing OK. I've only done six of these things, now. If I get worried about sanitation I just think about what people must have done a thousand years ago, or whenever beer started out. A paper towel's nowt.
See how it turns out and adjust accordingly. I'm not sure about the gravity, mind. When I use Beer Engine, it always turns out a bit stronger than the software predicts. Are you sure you put the numbers in right?
In terms of fermenting, I'm not sure what your plans are, but I've started leaving the primary alone for two weeks on the advice of those on this site. My first two brews got battered as I was checking the gravity everyday. I rouse everything the day after pitching the yeast, but try and leave alone after that.
Hope this helps.

DaveyT

[beerandgarden]

My critique
-do you really need to steep the in a separate pot? I would just put them in the brew pot. Save a lot of pissing around and its easier to keep 6 litres of water at a constant 65- 70c temp than 1 litre of water. Otherwise, fine.

The reason I did this is so I can have my grains steeping while the larger volume of water is boiling up - saves time. I was under the understanding that the grains should be steeped in a smaller vol of water such as 1 litre. But it probably makes more sense to steep in a larger vol of water? So your way is probably better. My boil volume is 10L, so I guess it should go like this:
- bring 7L up to steeping temp and steep in that
- use another 1L hot water for rinsing
- bring the 8L up to boil
- add LME (1.5L)
- another half litre boiled water to rinse LME can

[beerandgarden]

Aidan
I was returning to this posting to give you my tip on ice. I use those plastic take away trays to make massive ice cubes. Takes a few days as I don't want to overwhelm the freezer with all of them at once. They work a treat, though; retaining their temperature for a while. I add them in stages, too, if things are slowing down.
I think you're doing OK. I've only done six of these things, now. If I get worried about sanitation I just think about what people must have done a thousand years ago, or whenever beer started out. A paper towel's nowt.
See how it turns out and adjust accordingly. I'm not sure about the gravity, mind. When I use Beer Engine, it always turns out a bit stronger than the software predicts. Are you sure you put the numbers in right?
In terms of fermenting, I'm not sure what your plans are, but I've started leaving the primary alone for two weeks on the advice of those on this site. My first two brews got battered as I was checking the gravity everyday. I rouse everything the day after pitching the yeast, but try and leave alone after that.
Hope this helps.

DaveyT

I use plastic ice cream containers to make big blocks of ice.

Yeah the gravity has me a bit baffled. I've used 2 different calculators - BeerSmith and Kit & Extract Beer Designer so I'm pretty sure about the numbers. My full recipe is on my website - http://beerandgarden.com/first-extract-recipe/. I took 2 samples one from top and one from bottom so probably not a mixing issue. The only thing I can think of is that the malt is not as concentrated as it should be. I used a tin of Blackrock Light LME and a jar and a half of a cheaper amber LME.

I don't touch it after pitching yeast - is it a good idea to give it a bit of a shake after pitching? I havent heard of shaking it up a day later. I will leave it in fermentor for 2 weeks min plus 5 days cold crash.

[DaveyT]

I'd give it a good thrash the day after you pitch your yeast, like. Maybe even the first couple of days, but I'm not sure about that. The trick is to get oxygen to it while the yeast is still feeding off it. Do it too late and things start oxidising.
Haven't had a chance to check your recipe; this is a mac and Beer Engine is on a PC elsewhere. I was once told to check the paper in the hydrometer; sometimes it slips. That might be worth looking at.

[potatoes]

My boil volume is 10L, so I guess it should go like this:
- bring 7L up to steeping temp and steep in that
- use another 1L hot water for rinsing
- bring the 8L up to boil
- add LME (1.5L)
- another half litre boiled water to rinse LME can

That's what i have been doing. So sounds like a plan . Also I noticed a huge different in taste between a beer with no steeped grains and a beer with steep grains. So its a very good step in extract brewing. How did your brew day go?

[Fuggled Mind]

Also I noticed a huge different in taste between a beer with no steeped grains and a beer with steep grains.

Couldn't agree more. I always wanted to replicate beers like summer lightning but found that as it's only ingredient is pale malt extract, the taste was more like that of a beer kit. Grains lend a real fresh beer taste. Sometimes I feel for biting the bullet and going all grain, but when done properly, you can brew some real nice beers with extract (or beers I'm more than happy with).

Cheers

Jason

[Fuggled Mind]

Hope all went well following your brew day. I have a few comments regarding your questions.

2. Risk of contamination from stirring spoon? There was a lot of froth on top of the wort in the fermentor after I had given it a good shake to mix and aerate. I used my long handled stirring spoon for stirring the wort a few seperate times (e.g for stirring in the yeast). Each time I used it, when I pulled it out, the handle was covered in froth. I just placed it sitting on top of the brew pot (which I guessed should be fairly sanitary). But I'm a bit concerned that all that froth on the handle would make it easy to pick up contaminants from the air. Maybe next time, having a tall container of pre-boiled water to stick it into in between usage would be a better idea?

If in doubt, use two spoons I have one for the brew and another that I use purely for stirring the wort. As soon as the boil is done and the brew is cooled, I take the other spoon from a weak sanitised solution (tiny quantity of diluted bleach in a spare brewing bucket), wash it and it's ready for use. I'm sure that your proposed method will be fine. I was doing that myself for the best part of a year.

3. Risk of contamination from hands? Your hands end up touching the sanitised surfaces and even the wort itself - it's hard to avoid. Of course I did wash my hands and even had them in water with some bleach. But you are always touching other unsanitised surfaces throughout the process. Should I be concerned about risk of contamination from my hands? Do you guys do anything special to keep hands sanitary?

Don't worry too much about this, I used to be constantly rubbing my hands in alcohol gel for fear of contaminating my beer. Now I just trust that they are clean and if in doubt, wash them. I use bleach for sanitising and cleaning and I guess that keeps your hands sterile enough.

Also I have some niggling worries about my recipe. OG came out at 1.042, quite a ways of the 1.050 target. The wort tasted pretty bad - very bitter and hoppy. I hope it's not an indication of final taste. Previously I've just done 2 batches of home brew, both from pre-hopped kits and the wort tasted good in both cases.

Don't worry about how the wort tastes before pitching the yeast. The only time I worry about that is when it tastes watery (as happened once when I accidentally made a recipe to 23L instead of 19L).

Keep us updated. I always like to hear about other extract brewers experiences.

Cheers

Jason

[beerandgarden]

How did your brew day go?

It went pretty well, I think, but the proof of the pudding will be in the drinking. I did encounter a few wee issues and concerns, I've written a post about it in my blog: http://beerandgarden.com/third-batch-fe ... nd-grains/
It's definitely significantly more time and effort and cost than mixing up a kit beer so will be interesting to see if it will be worth it (considering I was pretty happy with the result of my first kit beer).
Cheers,
Aidan

[beerandgarden]

Hope all went well following your brew day. I have a few comments regarding your questions.

If in doubt, use two spoons I have one for the brew and another that I use purely for stirring the wort. As soon as the boil is done and the brew is cooled, I take the other spoon from a weak sanitised solution (tiny quantity of diluted bleach in a spare brewing bucket), wash it and it's ready for use. I'm sure that your proposed method will be fine. I was doing that myself for the best part of a year.

yep, did come to that conclusion, and also a tall container for no rinse sanitiser might be good for sticking the spoon into between stirs.

Don't worry too much about this, I used to be constantly rubbing my hands in alcohol gel for fear of contaminating my beer. Now I just trust that they are clean and if in doubt, wash them. I use bleach for sanitising and cleaning and I guess that keeps your hands sterile enough.

I reckon some sanitary wipes could be a good idea.

Don't worry about how the wort tastes before pitching the yeast. The only time I worry about that is when it tastes watery (as happened once when I accidentally made a recipe to 23L instead of 19L).

Keep us updated. I always like to hear about other extract brewers experiences.

Cheers

Jason

It got off to a slightly slower fermenting start than the kit beers despite rehydrating the yeast and doing much more aeration, but I am doing it at a lower temp (20C +/- 2). Anyway, the airlock is bubbling away nicely at the moment and there is a nice aroma from the fridge. I'm blogging about my brewing experiences so you can keep updated at http://beerandgarden.com/
Cheers,
Aidan

[kane]

Just finished reading your latest blog entry, always enjoyable reading about other peoples experiences.

The wort tasted pretty bad - very bitter and hoppy. I hope it's not an indication of final taste.

Have only done two extract brews myself so im only going by what i've experienced. But with the two brews i have done the wort has been extremely bitter just before pitching the yeast.
However after only a week in the fermenter the harshness seems to almost disappear (i left them both in the fermenter for 2 weeks before bottling, by this time the hop bitterness definitley calms down).

I also used a sieve to drain the wort, which was extremely time consuming having to keep emptying it, so i might try siphoning or something next time.
I wouldn't worry too much about exposure with the air, afterall when aerating, you're trying to get as much air into the wort as possible. So chances are if there are contaminents in the air getting onto your spoon, they will already be in the air mixed with the wort. I think as long as the yeast gets going pretty quickly, everything else doesnt really have chance to grow.

I think DaveyT said it best:

If I get worried about sanitation I just think about what people must have done a thousand years ago, or whenever beer started out.

Hope it turns out well! Keep us updated!
Kane

[DaveyT]

Thanks for the support, Kane.
I've just cracked open a Black Sheep, though, and it looks like I might need to rethink such nonchalance! (I've opened another thread for that, btw, so any help would be greatly appreciated.)