Malt Extract Boiler

[The Cat]

Hi @The Cat

Yep, definitely hooked now, and it looks like you're making purchases already thinking about stepping into AG ... even so, like Cheshire Cat suggests, there's little benefit to boiling your extract when making extract brews ... and many extract brewers take advantage of that and do a reduced size boil, saves time in bringing it up to a boil, energy keeping it boiling and time spent cooling it all down to pitching temp

Basically, if your recipe involves steeping grains you'd do your steep first and get the wort off those, then you'd add water to just a little over 1/3 (or half) the volume you're looking to make, and dissolve 1/3 (or half) of your extract into that and bring it up to boil ... the idea is that the boil ends up at around the gravity it would be if you were boiling all the extract in the full volume (plus a bit to allow for boil-off), the utilisation of the hops is dependent on the gravity of the boil so by boiling in wort of the same gravity there's no need to adjust the recipe ... then you'd boil your hops, adding them for the timings in the recipe, and once the boil is finished cool the wort, transfer to FV, add the rest of the extract and top up the FV to your chosen volume (if you top up with cold water, you can stress less about chilling the boiled portion right down).

No need to boil the full volume, unless you're already "practicing" for AG

Cheers, PhilB

Only now am I fully understanding everything you suggested I think. I was looking at it from an AG angle.

If I am using extract then I should be looking at it more as an enhanced version of the kits I've been doing I think - I do use a little boiling water but not much so there is no need to do a boil here if I look up @Cheshire Cat 's tea method. I can use the enhancing grain at around 70 or whatever the recipe suggests and after that treat it more like a kit brew - I think

 

[terrym]

@The Cat
My suggestion to you is to get familiar with recipe builders like the BF one here, which is what I use.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculatorI do partial mash (a combination of AG and ME brewing) and used to do extract brewing, and use/used this calculator.
The BF calculator compensates for adding some of the malt extract to the fermenter, bypassing the boil stage, and will give you a much better idea of what quantity of hops you will need rather than a blanket 'use all of the hops', and juggling ME quantities that goes in the boil and boil liquid volumes, so that you achieve the utilisation and balance of hops required by a recipe . And further, in my view, making up a hop tea and only using that will only provide aroma and flavour not bitterness, or if it does you have no idea of how much. That's why brewers boil their hops, with a schedule of hop quantities vs. timings to get the correct balance of hop bitterness, flavour and aroma.
However, finally, there is of course no reason why you can't use short cut or broadbrush approaches to hop additions, its just that the outcome is less predictable. Which is why I am suggesting you get to grips with a calculator, which you will eventually find a useful and perhaps essential item in your brewing toolkit

 

[The Cat]

Thanks @terrym I shall look at that today - got plenty of time before I dive in.

 

[terrym]

Thanks @terrym I shall look at that today - got plenty of time before I dive in.

Good to hear.
I suggest you start with a very basic recipe then juggle the numbers around to see how that affects things like gravity and IBUs.
For extract brewing there is a drop down specifically for extract brewing, and under ingredients a menu for steeping grains if you want to try that, which also allows for adjusting where each individual component will be placed e.g boil or fermenter.
It is a bit daunting at first, but like all things in life the more you use it the easier it becomes