2-stage extract brew - would this work?

[fbsf]

Hi all,

I've got a bit of spare time over the weekend, so was thinking of doing an extract brew. Nothing fancy, just some dark DME, a bit of honey and some Cascade hops.

I've got a spare FV to put it in, and fancied doing a 2Gal batch. But I've only got a 7 Litre pan to boil it in. Which is where my 2-stage idea comes in.

Basically, I start with a 4.5L batch, boil that up, cool it to pitching temp, and get it going. Could I then prepare a 2nd 4.5L batch, cool it to the right temp, and then add that to the already-started batch in the FV? It would be done as close together as possible, but would there be any downsides to doing this?

Cheers, FBSF.

 

[alanywiseman.]

why not just boil up 6L water with DME then cool and top up water?

 

[jonnymorris]

why not just boil up 6L water with DME then cool and top up water?

+1. Effectively what I do albeit a smaller quantity. You might like to consider boiling half your DME with the hops and adding the second half towards the end of the boil to get better hop utilization.

 

[fbsf]

I hadn't thought of that - I was just concerned that with too much DME dissolved in the liquor the hops maybe wouldn't give all their flavour properly.

With 6L in a 7L pan I'd be a little concerned about boil-over though. However, I could do it with 5 and then just top up with chilled water afterwards - that would be fine, and would reduce the cooling time.

 

[fbsf]

I was planning on doing the following as I wanted to keep this as simple (and cheap) as possible - does this sound reasonable, or is it likely to turn out like a dogs dinner?

1/2kg Muntons Dark DME
1/2kg Muntons Light DME
375g Honey

30-min boil with 45g Goldings hops at 30 mins, then dry hopping with 5g goldings after 7 days.

This would be making a 10L batch. Beer Calculus says it should come out at about 4.7% and be a malty medium brown.

 

[jonnymorris]

I'm no expert but I would have thought you'd want some bittering hops in at the start of boil. Even aroma hops need a bit of boiling.

 

[RobWalker]

I boil up 2 gallons and top up to 5 all the time. you just need more hops due to low utilization :)

lemme know if you want a hand putting a recipe together.

 

[fbsf]

Hi Rob,

Yes please, any pointers wouldbe very welcome!

I'm thinking malty but fragrant, if that makes sense - nothing particular, just a nice first brew!

 

[RobWalker]

I would highly suggest doing this...

Batch Size: 10.00 L
Boil Volume: 5.50 L 
Boil Time: 60 min 

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU 
0.50 kg Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM) Dry Extract 36.5 % 
0.50 kg Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 36.5 % 
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 24.8 IBU 
0.37 kg Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 27.0 % 

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.047 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 7.7 SRM
Bitterness: 24.8 IBU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.5 %

5.5L will be okay for a boil size. What I would suggest doing is controlling the heat to ensure the hot break's gentle. Running a spoon over the foam to expose the liquor underneath helps too. Your hops will gain a lot of size when boiling too, I generally use high alphas for bittering so I can use more aroma and flavour hops. Ie my last one was HNB for bittering, then bobek at 30 and 10 for flavour. You can only really taste the bobek, it's a decent way to work if you want a lot of late hops. Again, just a suggestion that one.

You need to be accurate with your measurements at this size, so make sure you measure the 5.5L line before you add your DME! measure your hops to the gram to ensure correct bitterness too. you're gonna have to do a 60 min boil, with a 30 min boil you're losing about 10 IBU's from your hops, and it gets cramped in there very fast!

I have my pan ready marked at 9L, I'll add 3L boiling water from the kettle to start, stir in the DME (takes up a lot of room!) and then top up to the line. You are probably looking at around a 20% boil off, so you will need about 5.5L top up water I reakon. If you're water treating, get it ready in your FV beforehand.

I used to make something very similar to this with just light dme and some extra bits and bobs, it was delicious! Lots of honey, but thinning it up helps with bittering too. If you want a thicker body, let me know and i'll re-calc. Chuck in your honey at flame out to preserve the aroma.

 

[fbsf]

Thanks Rob - that's brilliant. I'm off to my LHBS lunchtime so your timing was perfect! :

Should I be adding any hops at flameout or dry hopping as well?

I'll follow that to the letter and see how it turns out as a 1st extract. Getting excited now!

 

[RobWalker]

you can do them if you want, they won't affect the IBU (or at least hardly at all) and will add nice hop aroma. I usually use 10g and chuck them in gradually over the last 10 mins.

steeped hops need to be in there 20 minutes which is usually during cooling, so I would either use aroma hops in 10 to 0 mins, or dry hop and avoid flameout hops.