Hello

[BigMick]

Hi, I've been lurking for a while and thought it was about time I joined.
Just bottled my first brew - Bulldog Four Finger Jack, and already got my second on - Cortez Gold.
I'm planning on sticking with kits for now but intend to put my own mark on them when I'm happy that I can do an acceptable brew - adding extra hops, using different fermentables in one can kits etc.
Already found some interesting stuff on here and imagine I won't have a great deal to add for a while, but we'll see

Cheers. BigMick

 

[Smileyr8]

Good luck on your journey.
I have never made a beer that was undrinkable, my advice to you is make plenty of notes (if your memory is anything like mine you will forget things you have done).

I use this format for my notes:-
Coopers Brewmaster Irish Stout
Dried Dark Malt 500g
Dried Medium Malt 500g
Dark Muscavado Sugar 750g
Cascade hops 70g
35g boiled in the wort for last 10 minutes
35g for dry hopping on 3rd day
Dark Muscavado Sugar 105g (for batch priming)
Orig Grav = 1049
Final Grav = 1012
5.0% ABV
Bottled 08/06/2014
23 litres / 40 Pints
£0.65 Pint
Tasting Notes
Very good from first taste 3 week in
Improving all the time
Improvement Notes
Maybe a little more hops in the boil, boil for longer maybe 20 mins with a split.
Rating *****Stars

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum Mick. :thumb:

 

[Gorty]

Hi Mick, may your journey be a happy one. :drink:

 

[BlackEcho]

Hello Mick :)

 

[pms67]

Good luck on your journey.
I have never made a beer that was undrinkable, my advice to you is make plenty of notes (if your memory is anything like mine you will forget things you have done).

I use this format for my notes:-
Coopers Brewmaster Irish Stout
Dried Dark Malt 500g
Dried Medium Malt 500g
Dark Muscavado Sugar 750g
Cascade hops 70g
35g boiled in the wort for last 10 minutes
35g for dry hopping on 3rd day
Dark Muscavado Sugar 105g (for batch priming)
Orig Grav = 1049
Final Grav = 1012
5.0% ABV
Bottled 08/06/2014
23 litres / 40 Pints
£0.65 Pint
Tasting Notes
Very good from first taste 3 week in
Improving all the time
Improvement Notes
Maybe a little more hops in the boil, boil for longer maybe 20 mins with a split.
Rating *****Stars

Welcome mate,
Smileyr8---- don't the kits recommend not to boil the wort ?
Do you find it affects the brew in any way ?
I've never boiled the canned wort,too scared to ruin it.

 

[Fil]

welcome and enjoy your brewing and the results

- modern kits it seems dont ask you to boil the tins contents in a solution prior to diluting with cold water to bring it down to yeast pitching temps..
kits of old sure did.. perhaps the modern liquid malt extract has been 'hot broken' in its manufacturing process? if using dry malt extract which afaik is freeze dried, a boil to achieve a hot break will aid the clarity of the final beer.
Now im not a expert but i have come accross an internet myth about brewing and its even spread in some of the whitelabs (The US Yeast Lab) how to vids!!

Hot break isnt as some sources suggest achieved when a boil initially foams, the initial boil foam is NOT hot break.. hot break is a flocuation of proteins that ocours when the liquor has been boiled a bit..

i captured it in a photo about 40 mins into a gentle simmer of a 1040 dme solution..

the clarity of the base solution is much higher when the hot break forms and eventually falls out as trub in the fv


sorry for hijacking your intro BigMick..

and the word im searching for when i say flocuation is to describe the cloud like clumping in the liquid,

 

[Smileyr8]

Welcome mate,
Smileyr8---- don't the kits recommend not to boil the wort ?
Do you find it affects the brew in any way ?
I've never boiled the canned wort,too scared to ruin it.

As Fil suggests above I tend to boil with the spray malt, and the brew notes listed turned out really nice, I can't comment on the clarity with it being a stout. But it was a very sad day when I cracked the last bottle.

 

[BigMick]

Thanks for the welcome folks. Smileyr8, I like the way you record your brews, might start using a similar method myself. Although it shows a level of organisation that I am yet to reach.:-)

 

[Smileyr8]

Thanks for the welcome folks. Smileyr8, I like the way you record your brews, might start using a similar method myself. Although it shows a level of organisation that I am yet to reach.:-)

Thanks, it keeps from making the same mistake twice (my memory not being as good as it used to be) and also helps me record anything I have done thats good and worth repeating.