First Extract Brew advice

[gjohnk]

Hi all.

Im about to try my first ever Extract brew, having done a couple of fairly successful 'kits' and would appreciate some little bits of advice.

I wanted to do my first brew with as simple a recipe as possible, and have come across this one (might have been on this forum somewhere actually).

23L
3 kg (2 tins) Coopers Liquid Malt Extract Light
190g pale dry malt extract
55g Goldings (full boil)
20g Goldings (final 20 mins)
5g Irish Moss (last 10 mins)

Some of the many questions I have are!!

1 - Are the 190g dry malt just for steeping and to be removed before adding the liquid malt? If so how long should I strain them for (20 mins or so?).

2 - The final volume should be 23L but how much water should I use in the boil?

3 - How long should i boil for?

4 - I take it the irish moss is added whilst the liquid is still boiling? (i thought it was after).

5 - I have a packet of Muntons Premium Gold Yeast, is this an adequate yeast?

If anyone give me any answers or suggestions I would much appreciate it.
Thanks!

 

[johnboy]

Hi,

Welcome to the wonderful, confusing and sometimes contradictory world of extract brewing. I'll try and answer your questions for you but remember, if it seems a bit daunting just relax and have a homebrew - the world seems a better place if you do.

1. The 190g of Dry Malt Extract is the same as the Liquid Malt Extract with the water taken out (about 20%). It dissolves just like the Liquid version. I think you might be confusing it with speciality grains (steeping grains) which can be soaked in hot water to make a kind of pre-boil "tea" to which you then add the extract as normal. You can leave the 190g out if you want - If my calculations are right it should only result in a slightly weaker beer.

2. Try and get a big a pot as possible for the boil. I tend to boil 13L. I think anything above 10L should be alright. Don't forget to leave enough room in the pot for foaming - especially when you add the Dry Malt Extract!!! If you can't get a large enough pot you can split the recipe in half and boil in two pots; not as practical.

3. Most recipes call for a 60 minute boil.

4. The irish moss is added during the boil.

5. Muntons Premium Gold is fine as a yeast. I've not had any problems although I have switched to Nottingham now.

Good luck :thumb:

 

[corby_brewer]

4. The irish moss is added during the boil.

Add it at 10 - 15 minutes from the end of boil, and rehydrate it before adding it :thumb:

P.S. Good Luck :thumb:

 

[johnboy]

Hi Corby-Brewer,

Just wondering why do you rehydrate the irish moss? I like to know the sciency stuff. :wha:

 

[corby_brewer]

Dont know the sciency reason why, but i asked a question not so long back -
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=6031&start=0&hilit=IRISH+MOSS

And thats the reply TubbShaw gave me.

 

[gjohnk]

Thanks for the advice.
I just need to crack on really - whether it works perfectly or has a few errors its the only way I'll learn!!

:thumb:

 

[Muddydisco]

2 - The final volume should be 23L but how much water should I use in the boil?

In my boils I normally lose 4-5 ltrs so you want somewhere around 27-28ltr pre boil, But that is for a boiler not a stove top boil you may get more if you have 2 large pots giving twice the surface area.

 

[gjohnk]

What a great site this is - thanks to all the experienced brewers who keep answering the same (often obvious) questions that us newbies keep asking!!

I do need to ask however:
- any suggestions on how much brewing sugar I should add to beer when putting into keg (23L brew)

 

[tubby_shaw]

It all depends on how fizzy you want your beer to be :thumb:
Although to be honest if you are using a plastic keg there is not much point adding more than 50g as any more CO2 that is produced will be vented by the pressure relief valve

 

[leondz]

Good luck! Best tip I had for extract brewing was to try and mix in the powders before the boil starts, else steam makes any dry malt extract clump up and stick to the bags, and it's not the most pleasant of things to deal with in the first place. Enjoy!

 

[gjohnk]

Hi all.

Thanks for the advice, thought people might appreciate an update (no? im giving you one anyway).

So I finally did this brew - but did it without any dry malt (so just 2 tins of Coopers LME - 1 amber and 1 light).
All went well, cant believe how long it took though. Just lots of time waiting for water to get to boiling temp really.
So it went smoothly until my digital thermometer decided to stop reading accurately. Unfortunately this was when I was cooling the wort and it was reading 33C for a long time. Finally got it to 24C and added the yeast but later worked out the thermometer was no good so I think the temp was actually 17C ish - much lower than Id hoped.
Its well insulated now and fermenting very nicely actually.
Does this lower temp just mean the fermentation will take longer than if it was a bit warmer?

My original gravity reading was 1.036
Which is lower than I would have thought (is that right?) but probably as I added no dry malt and maybe should have done a little less water.
However after 2 days its down to 1.018.

Any advice on how low I should hope to get the reading? Or do I just leave it until it stops fermenting? (10 days or so?).

So i think its gone ok. Just worried it might come out a little weak but I suppose the kits I did only started at 1.040.

Is good fun so far though, and the bubbling noise coming from the barrel in my cupboard is reassuring!

J