Extract questions

[TRXnMe]

OK, I just brewed my first AG beer thanks to the back to basics challenge.

Now I don't have big enough kit to brew AG at 20+ litre quantity as yet, so I'm thinking extract brws are te way to go.

I can get 3kg of extract, plus hops etc for well under 20 quid from the sponsors.

So, what recipe would you suggest to pop my etract cherry on?

Also, the wife wants a christmas ale, I'm thinking extract is a good basis for this, so, any recipe suggestions for a good christmas ale from extract?

Thanks in advance.

I'm working on the AG kit, but it's either expensive, or time consuming and right now I've got neither time nor cash

 

[fbsf]

I did a basic extract recipe to cut my teeth on, which was (for a 10L brewlength, boiling 5L for 60mins and topping up with cold water in the FV):

500g light DME
500g dark DME
1 Jar Honey
20g Goldings at 60 mins
10g Goldings at 10 mins
Safale S40.

It has produced about 9 litres of lovely dark-ish ale - details are in my blog which is in my signature.

 

[TRXnMe]

Sounds good, I can scale that up to make the usual 23 litre brew length :)

I've been doing some digging and am thinking of this for the christmas ale: -

2.5kg of light dry malt extract
0.5 kg of dark dry malt extract
0.25 kg of crystal malt
0.25 kg of pale malt
2 sticks of cinamon
a few cloves
2 teaspoons of ginger
0.25kg of mixed dried fruit, for the christmas flavour

50g cascade for 60 minutes of the boil
25g cascade for the last 10 minutes
5g as the boil ends

I'm thinking that with that amount of DME and malt it might be OK for a 25 litre brew length, while still being a decent strength? I'm not looking for too high an alchohol level, 4 to 4.5 percent will do me fine.

If anyone knows of a hop with a more christmassy flavour then I'd be pleased to give them a go.

 

[oldjiver]

With extract I used a little cheat with crystal or black malt. I have one of those plastic coffee cones where you put a filter paper in and pour boiling water through to make coffee. I used to put some coloured malt in the filter and pour through about 2 pints of boiling water, and hey presto!! a clear extract to add to my can of malt. I then just boiled the lot together with the hops and got a reasonable brew.
So my brew would be 3kg malt extract, (should give you around 180 deg.) 150 gm crystal malt filtered, and 50 gm fuggles or goldings. Add a bit of sugar if you want more alcohol. (up to 500gm no more) for 5 gallons.

 

[fbsf]

Now there's an idea. Use a coffee machine to make your speciality grain additions, and then just bung it in the brew!

Genius!

 

[alanywiseman.]

You may extract tannins by using boiling water is the only issue.

 

[oldjiver]

You may extract tannins by using boiling water is the only issue.

The coloured malts are such a small proportion of the brew I never noticed a problem.
Might be interesting to use a lower temperature and see what happens though.

 

[Pearlfisher]

I've made my first extract ,the golden summer ale from the sponsors , but it's still conditioning ,quite simple to make with clear instructions.

Let you know in a few weeks what it tastes like.