Today was a big learning day to say the least.
Tried my first extract today. Took way longer than i thought but im thinking its because i went the wring way about it.
I called into MottleyBrew the other day explaining what i wanted to do. A recipe was suggested for me and i was all set.
After mashing it took nearly an hour to get from 72 to 100, once i got there it was was plain sailing for the boil
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk309/celica-ste/Brew_zpsfhxibhbr.jpg?t=1483819814)
This is were I ran into problems, I now have a list of things i need to sort.
First is a wort chiller. It took far too long for 18L of wort to chill to pitching temp. about 3 hrs in a fridge. My pot was too big to fit in my sink to cool down
I also need to sort a tap for the pot as moving the wort to Fv was a pain, I tried using my auto siphon but it was too hot for it.
SG also came out disappointedly low 1.028 ??? I wanted this to be lighter than my first batch so i could drink it during the summer for regular enough BBQs but would have liked it higher than that.
I decided last min to add 125g of grapefruit cest to the boil for 5 min.
On the plus side i got an InkBird 308 and heat belt to use with a fridge i picked up a few weeks ago and setting that up was so simple.
What OG were you aiming for? I just threw your fermentables into beersmith there and for 18 liters it was estimating 1.036
What temp did you mash at?
Mashed in 18L at 72 for 30 min, would an hour have got better results?
brewersfriend had it at 1.046 but i realised my mistake now, i put in 21L, I topped up my 18L with the can off LME and 1L of boiling water then topped up to 21L
Aw that explains it. 72 seems quite a high mash temperature as well your FG might be pretty high.
what temp should i be mashing at? and is 18L too much to be mashing is?
Not really for a partial mash like that. I assume you just had the grain in a muslin bag or something? For a. Medium bodied beer I'd probably be shooting for around 65 degrees
Afaik 2 row has to be mashed not steeped, they're not the same thing.
Extract brewing, you're generally using the extract to replace the base malt so you can skip the mash step. What you're describing is partial mash brewing, but as armedcor says you have to get the temperature right.
72 is the right temperature for steeping, but too hot for mashing.
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American 2 Row is our Pils/Lager Malt, is that what you used?
MT in 64-68 range depending in grain and dry or sweet beer, without making it complicated lower M temps drier beer from lower FG, higher MT higher FG, sweeter beer.
Poor yield can be also down to grain size and temp, what did you crush grain with?
OG1028 would be safe enough to give to the kids as I suspect will max out at 2%.
Top tips for anybody trying out new kit or piece of equipment, don't cut your teeth on a challenging recipe, try it with water first or a SMASH (Single Malt Single HOP) if a balls up no biggie on wasted ingredients or money, and you may surprise yourself with the result.
Steeping is what I did alright, terminology mix up.
The grain was crushed for me in MB.
I don't really get extract tbh, probably because I never did it :( my advice is start looking at how you can go AG, you will get there longer term in any case.
steeping at 72 will get you to 68 final temperature but you might have to use a heat source to maintain 68 over an hour.
Measure after you steep and have the ice cubes/boiled kettle handy
Quote from: CH on January 09, 2017, 12:07:17 AM
without making it complicated lower M temps drier beer from lower FG, higher MT higher FG, sweeter beer.
Acronym is MALT:
More Alcohol? Lower Temperature!
Quote from: Stecleary84 on January 08, 2017, 08:11:25 PM
Today was a big learning day to say the least.
Tried my first extract today. Took way longer than i thought but im thinking its because i went the wring way about it.
I called into MottleyBrew the other day explaining what i wanted to do. A recipe was suggested for me and i was all set.
After mashing it took nearly an hour to get from 72 to 100, once i got there it was was plain sailing for the boil
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk309/celica-ste/Brew_zpsfhxibhbr.jpg?t=1483819814)
This is were I ran into problems, I now have a list of things i need to sort.
First is a wort chiller. It took far too long for 18L of wort to chill to pitching temp. about 3 hrs in a fridge. My pot was too big to fit in my sink to cool down
I also need to sort a tap for the pot as moving the wort to Fv was a pain, I tried using my auto siphon but it was too hot for it.
SG also came out disappointedly low 1.028 ??? I wanted this to be lighter than my first batch so i could drink it during the summer for regular enough BBQs but would have liked it higher than that.
I decided last min to add 125g of grapefruit cest to the boil for 5 min.
On the plus side i got an InkBird 308 and heat belt to use with a fridge i picked up a few weeks ago and setting that up was so simple.
Sorry for your trouble OP. Every brew is a learning experience. Just horse it down and get on with planning your next brew.
That's a huge amount of crystal malt? 3.55 lbs or 1.61kg, especially in an amber extract beer. There's going to be a lot of colour and residual sweetness in that (but then, it is pretty low gravity). Be careful using that much crystal malt if you decide to brew higher gravity beers in future.
I'd have a problem with using 2.5 oz of probably the most expensive hop variety available as a 60 min addition. That makes no sense whatsoever. You'd be much better off using a neutral bittering hop like Magnum or Northern Brewer and saving the Amarillo for flavour/aroma additions. Not a very good recipe at all imo, I'm surprised a homebrew shop is giving that kind of advice out.
I think you should persevere with extract, at least for a while. There's lots to learn before you go AG. To this day, some of the best beers I made were partial mashes. They're great because they don't need a big investment in equipment, and you can do your boil on the stove.
Holy cow just noticed that crystal now somebody dropped a decimal point somewhere :o
Heres so more extract inspiration
https://byo.com/mead/item/31-20-great-extract-recipes
The shop suggested adding more Crystal instead of a second can of LME.
I've no idea about recipe quantities so just went with what was suggested. ???
Whoa, thats really disappointing, you do get a small amount fermentables from lighter crystal colours but its definitely not a substitute for a can of LME :(
Quote from: Stecleary84 on January 09, 2017, 12:55:49 PM
The shop suggested adding more Crystal instead of a second can of LME.
I've no idea about recipe quantities so just went with what was suggested. ???
Jesus wept. As CH says, that's crap advice. It's no substitute. You are not replacing like for like.
I'd recommend using dried malt extract for your next batch. It's a more stable product than LME, and in my experience gives a better flavour.
Next time you do a brew, throw your recipe up here first and some experienced brewers can give you some advice.
If you wanted to play it safer, you could try an extract kit, like this:
http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/extract-beer-kits-c-164.html
Yep be keen to get you back in the saddle and fix your initial speed wobble.
DME is good too just a bit of care in addition to stop it clumping in the boil, LME is equally tricky but dissolves in boil easier I think.
A pain in the ass to deal with alright. Just know the heat off completely while you add the DME and get it fully dissolved, and you'll be right.
Oh i wont be letting it put me off brewing, it;s reassuring to see it looking like the recipe was a dud rather than any thing I'd done wrong.
Thanks for the tips lads
I'll just use it as an excuse to drink more beers.
I'd highly recommend "Brewing Classic Styles" for its reliable recipes, both extract and all-grain. Some (most) of the recipes are available online, if you want to try before you buy.
http://www.brewerspublications.com/books/brewing-classic-styles-80-winning-recipes-anyone-can-brew/
I'd be having a word with whoever recommended that recipe. Between the enormous amount of crystal to the 60 minute hop additions to the steeping of 2-row I'd be looking for an explanation on why all this was recommended.
the recipe he was working off actually calls for DME not LME
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=93048
It also only calls for a pound of crystal... Which still seems like quite a bit for steeping
Could be because it's only L40
Quote from: Stecleary84 on January 08, 2017, 08:11:25 PM
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk309/celica-ste/Brew_zpsfhxibhbr.jpg?t=1483819814)
As a matter of interest why are you mixing SI(metric) and imperial units? Mixing the two can cause real trouble especially when you're unsure of the parameters of recipes.
In general, extract recipes 2 x 1.5kg tins of extract or 3kg dry extract plus about 500g of speciality grains for steeping. There are qualifiers of course, so partial mash recipes will have more grains etc.
Quote from: cruiscinlan on January 09, 2017, 11:58:32 PM
Quote from: Stecleary84 on January 08, 2017, 08:11:25 PM
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk309/celica-ste/Brew_zpsfhxibhbr.jpg?t=1483819814)
As a matter of interest why are you mixing SI(metric) and imperial units? Mixing the two can cause real trouble especially when you're unsure of the parameters of recipes.
In general, extract recipes 2 x 1.5kg tins of extract or 3kg dry extract plus about 500g of speciality grains for steeping. There are qualifiers of course, so partial mash recipes will have more grains etc.
I don't get you, everything is in lbs and Oz there???
Quote from: Stecleary84 on January 10, 2017, 06:42:39 AM
I don't get you, everything is in lbs and Oz there???
Indeed, but the colours of malts here are in EBC instead of Lovibond and you're also adding water in litres and measuring temperature in celsius.
Just mentioning it as it can cause a lot of confusion especially if you're using those terms when buying ingredients when everyone is using SI.
This actually turned out to be a very nice beer from the bottle but didn't work in the mini kegs at all, far too much head, I'm guessing it's so much crystal malt causing it.
I'm well able to pour a pint, I worked in bars for 14 years and other beers I had in the keg never had this issue
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170217/6c1586ec88124a3c5fdbb945a17cc399.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170217/f4f93ab86f86f7c062bfae47004ab171.jpg)
And I thought that was a new Sierra neveda cap a cino beer
Quote from: Bubbles on January 09, 2017, 03:37:38 PM
I'd highly recommend "Brewing Classic Styles" for its reliable recipes, both extract and all-grain. Some (most) of the recipes are available online, if you want to try before you buy.
http://www.brewerspublications.com/books/brewing-classic-styles-80-winning-recipes-anyone-can-brew/
That's a really good book for the extract brewer. I have been reading through this one over the last few days. The recipes call for LME mostly and in most instances specific LME's that I have not seen over here, but I think you would be able to add generic LME or DME and maybe tweak the recipe's with some extra steeping or small mash.