Extract brewing - can it be made this simple?

[Drzava]

I'm currently doing kits and am generally happy with the results. I have no plans to move to all grain or full boil extract brewing due to a lack of time / space / patience. However, I wouldn't mind dabbling a bit with extract! Seems to me the main hurdle with extract brewing is getting a moderate - large volume up to boil, and then boiling this for an hour+ for hop bittering. What are peoples thoughts on using isomerized hop extract to bitter the wort and skip the long boil altogether? Instead, only steeping speciality grains as required in ~65C water, and boiling this for 10 - 15 minutes for sanitization plus the addition of flavouring and aroma hops as necessary. Is the hop extract a fantastic substitute for bittering hops - or absolutely hopeless? I was thinking of doing a 'mild' IPA as follows (very roughly!):

Steep 200g crushed Carapils in 65C water for 30 minutes.
Remove grain and bring liquid to the boil. Add 20g hops (say Falconer's Flight).
After 10 minutes, remove pot from heat, and add another 20g hops.
Add 2 x 1.5kg pouches light LME to FV and rinse with sieved liquid from pot into FV.
Add sufficient hop extract to FV for correct bittering level (say 35 IBU).
Top with water to 20L and pitch, ferment as normal. Dry hop with 60g 3 days before bottling.

Can it really be done this easily, or am I missing something?!

[beerfly]

Yea it can be that easy. Had a beer that used hop extract and you would not know it if you were not told. Sierra nevada hop hunter is a good example too.

[googoomuck]

What's the minimum amount of water you can use to boil hops for the hour? As in if I steeped grain for 30 minutes in three litres of water then boiled for the hour for hop additions. I know there will be loss through evaporation, but will the wort just be concentrated? Can I then just top up with boiling water to get to pitch temp?

[Drzava]

Finally started this (my first extract brew!) the other day, attempting to make a Metalman Pale Ale type beer. Boiled 20g Summit / Cascade pellets in 1.5L water for 10 mins, and swirled in 20g more after removing from the heat. Got loads of crap from the pellets in the beer - looks like finer meshed nylon bags are preferred over muslin bags with their larger openings for hops? Hopefully it'll settle out. Didn't bother with Carapils out of pure laziness. Added this to two pouches of Craft Range LME (one out of date), topped to 20L at 19.5C and fired in ~200ml trub from my previous brew - Milestone Donner & Blitzed, which used Gervin GV12. OG 1.050, which is higher than I thought it might be. Was fermenting well after 24 hours. Plan now is to dry hop for 3 days with 60g Summit / Cascade after 8 - 10 days.

Didn't add the isomerized hop extract yet - this is actually out of date since August, even though it wasn't sold as such. Few notes on it as well which can only be found by delving deep into the Brouwland site - 1ml in 10L adds 6 IBUs (HBW site says 4), it should be stored in the fridge (doesn't even state this on the packet), and should be used to make up a maximum of 70% of the total bitterness. The last point suggests that I shouldn't use it as I intend to - making up most or all of the bitterness - but I only found this out after buying it. Hopefully it'll work out OK!

[Dunkel]

I'm awaiting the results of this with interest. It would be a great, easy way for kit brewers to switch to extract 

[Drzava]

1.013 as of last night. Hoping to get it down to 1.010 or below. Probably too early to dry hop tomorrow, and I'm out of the country Thurs and Fri, so will likely dry hop Saturday and bottle Tuesday (2 weeks total in FV). Sample tastes decent enough - quite hoppy actually - but is of course a bit 'sweet' as it hasn't been bittered yet. Darker than I thought it would be though.

[Drzava]

Bottled this up last night after dry hopping with 60g of Summit / Cascade for 4 days. Added the hop extract while racking. It seemed to turn milky in the beer, but apparently dissolved OK after. FG 1.010, so about 5.6% in the bottle. We'll have to wait a couple of weeks to try a bottle - but the bucket sample was very promising! Fingers crossed, but hopefully this will be a good'un!

[Tom]

I'm led to believe that you get better results by boiling the hops with some extract. You could do this by adding a dollop or  two of extract to the boil. I'm interested in your results.
You could replicate the dextrins from the carapils by using a less attenuitive yeast, to finish higher.
Also, adding your hop bitterness before fermenting could help reduce lactic acid bacteria's effect.

If this works it will be an excellent time saver for a lot of pressed brewers!

[Pepin The Short]

I recently brewed my first extract beer ,an Irish red ale kit from Get`er brewed .
http://www.geterbrewed.com/irish-red-ale-extract-brewing-kit/
Because at that time i only had a far from massive pot and only the cooker to work with .I couldn't boil the entire volume at once ,so i steeped the grain which come with the kit along with a small amount of carapils & chateau crystal .Once they had steeped for roughly 90min, I ramped it up to a boil before adding one LME can to the pot .

I didn't want to add both cans as it would make for a very thick boil , I was a little worried about it burning or making the wort too thick to absorb the hop goodness .now because i was only boiling and adding hops to half the brew i figured hey what will the IBU`s be on this ? I know IBU`s are a little nebulous anyway ,so i threw some target hops in thinking ah that will make up for there not being a proper boil .maybe tarrget wasn't the best choice in the world but hey lol

Brew og was up round 1059/60ish due to the extra DME i added .It finished out at 1014ish (never 100% when it comes to reading these) .I`d say the actual kit makes a really nice brew as is  lol and def wouldn't advise anybody to do as I did . But yeah if you aren't sure about the finale IBU`s and do want to add some extra hops to say a half volume boil ,I`d go with something a tad less harsh than target can be ,esp if like me you`re just starting out . Or maybe a little more of whatever hops come with the kit .

It was my 4th ever brew and first extract kit ,so hey I`m happy enough with it .And if I can hack my way to the end of a brew day without destroying the entire kitchen or myself , then I`d say it`s gotta be that simple .... Wee bit like myself 

[Drzava]

Well, the verdict is..........



Just over two weeks in the bottle now so still cloudy, but it tastes bloody good to me! Nicely bitter and hoppy, with the 'earthy' aftertaste I associate with Cascade-heavy beers. If I paid €6 for this at a craft beer pub I wouldn't be complaining.

[Drzava]

Well, all of this pale ale seems to have mysteriously 'disappeared'! Bottled another batch the other night, hopped with Summit, Cascade and Mosaic. Looking forward to it!