Extract brewing for beginners

[leon103]

Hello All

I have been kit brewing on and off for about 6 years and would like to try my hand at extract brewing. I will be honest I haven't done much research but I was today given a large tea urn that I thought would be ideal for this. I have all the usual kit that comes with kit brewing. Do I need anything else?

Where is the best place to start for a beginner?

[Grumpydev]

I've been getting some friends into brewing and got them jumping straight into extract, this is the simple recipe / instruction sheet I gave them.. turned out pretty good too

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/213 ... %20IPA.pdf

[leon103]

Thanks. That all seems simple to follow. I need to find a way of cooling my urn without blowing the electrics lol.

Also on the recipe it didn't say when to add the yeast.

[Grumpydev]

Well spotted, I'll fix that

[leon103]

Are there such things as extract kits or is it all individual recipes?

[Grumpydev]

Not sure, I'm sure some homebrew stores will do something - if you pick up Greg Hughes' book (which is still a ridiculous £3 on amazon : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Brew-Beer- ... ughes+brew ) there's quite a lot of extract suitable recipes in there.

[leon103]

Thanks will do.

I think I will try your recipe first. At what temperature do you keep the fermentation bucket at and the same with the bottles?

I suppose I can transfer the contents of my urn into the fermentation bucket to cool in ice water?

[Caddarn]

I've just finished my 2nd extract brew and have been browsing this section of the Northern Brewer site:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew ... tract-kits

If you click on a beer you fancy and then choose the additional information tab you'll find a link to a pdf which has a list of all the ingredients and a detailed method of brewing.

I've found that it eased my fears on trying a different method and don't know if I'll do many/any kits again now I know how simple extract brewing is.

[leon103]

I've just finished my 2nd extract brew and have been browsing this section of the Northern Brewer site:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew ... tract-kits

If you click on a beer you fancy and then choose the additional information tab you'll find a link to a pdf which has a list of all the ingredients and a detailed method of brewing.

I've found that it eased my fears on trying a different method and don't know if I'll do many/any kits again now I know how simple extract brewing is.

Thanks. They look lovely, shame it's an American site otherwise I would be tempted.

[Caddarn]

Don't get me wrong, I've not ordered any ingredients from them, just pinched their recipes. So far I've been able to find everything I needed from UK based web stores or my LHBS.

[Grumpydev]

Thanks will do.

I think I will try your recipe first. At what temperature do you keep the fermentation bucket at and the same with the bottles?

I suppose I can transfer the contents of my urn into the fermentation bucket to cool in ice water?

Somewhere around 20 degrees, so somewhere pretty warm in your house, with the key being that the temperature should be reasonably stable - with the bottles a week or two somewhere warm, then the same again somewhere cool.

Yeah, you could transfer to the bucket then cool in there, bear in mind that this recipe is for a 10L batch (which will get you 19-20 500ml bottles), I designed it for the 12L wilko pots and for half a normal "set" of ingredients, but you can scale it up if you need to.

[leon103]

Thanks both. My local brew shop as closed. What sites do you guys use. I have used hop and grape previously and they do extract kits, plus the home brew company looks decent

[Grumpydev]

Malt Miller is also excellent.

[sbond10]

Brewuk, the home brew company and get er brewed all do extract kits

[leon103]

Thanks will check them out. Will try a recipe first.