My first extract brew

[Xeno]

I brew a lot of dme brews as well as all grain.
3kg dme for 22 litres along with any steeping grains or spices and whatever hops Dark Farm hop club sends me.
I always boil full volume as I would with all grain.
Had some pretty good beers if I do say so myself.

 

[damienair]

Just did my first extract kit this evening. I enjoyed the process. I just had a 9 litre stock pot, so 30 minute steep of the grains in 2 litres of water at 67 degrees, 2 litres of water at 80 degrees to rinse the grains, added 1 of the LME cans and topped up with water. 60 minute boil, added the other can of LME after coming off the heat. Cooled to 50 degrees and added it to the FV. Topped up with water to 23 litres. I had 5 litres of water in the freezer to help dropping the temp to 22 degrees and pitched the yeast. Looking forward to giving this Citra Pale Ale a go in 6 weeks time.

 

[damienair]

The Citra Pale Ale turned out fantastic. Really nice beer and right up there in my top 3. I made up my second full extract kit yesterday. It’s a **** Dastardly Dunkel Hefeweizen from The Homebrew Company. Their full extract kits are down to just €18 at the moment. I’m going to pick up a couple more full extract kits during the week. For the price of 1 premium kit you can have 2 full extract kits. It’s a no brainer.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I find DME to be very good for the pay off in time Vs end product. Just missing a bit of body but maybe some Dry Wheat Malt extract could make up for that. Damn, should have ordered some in my last order.

Steeping grains works but they aren't mashed so will be almost entirely unfermentable (though I do try to do a brief mini-mash if I'm steeping, so I heat the water to 65 and then dunk a small amount of grains and stand them for about 10 minutes), before boiling and adding about half of the DME and hops for a short 15 minute boil. Rest of the DME goes in at the end just to dissolve.
Very quick brewday.

 

[Sandimas]

Their full extract kits are down to just €18 at the moment. I’m going to pick up a couple more full extract kits during the week. For the price of 1 premium kit you can have 2 full extract kits. It’s a no brainer.

What brand of extract do they supply with their kits these day? I used to buy these a few years ago, the first batches were great but then then changed the LME to unmarked tins and whatever was in there didn't taste good, so I stopped buying them. I guess they've switched again if they're good again now.

 

[damienair]

What brand of extract do they supply with their kits these day? I used to buy these a few years ago, the first batches were great but then then changed the LME to unmarked tins and whatever was in there didn't taste good, so I stopped buying them. I guess they've switched again if they're good again now.

This kit the Dunkel Hefeweizen came with 2 Kg of DME. The Citra Pale Ale came with 2 unmarked cans of LME. You can also buy the grains and yeast separately. I live in Ireland and sometimes if I’m passing on the motorway with work I veer off and The Homebrew Company is just 15 minutes away. They are very friendly and I’m sure if you were to request DME instead of LME there would be no problem.

 

[dad_of_jon]

DME extract for me mainly, I do sometimes pimp kits and sometimes I do a partial mash. Extract gives me a great beer for the shortest brewtime. for something extra special i'll do a partial mash but only once or twice a year. Extract is IMO more expensive than AG or KIT - Although these days with energy prices being so high a full AG 20l+ boil might not be that much cheaper than DME extract.

 

[damienair]

I had one of my Citra Pale Ales yesterday evening and it was gorgeous. My favourite kit of all time was Mangrove Jacks Pink Grapefruit IPA. I had a full batch which has been conditioning for the past month. It’s my 3rd time to make the Pink Grapefruit IPA. I tried one straight after the Full Extract Citra Pale Ale and I have to say I was disappointed. I should have had the Pink Grapefruit IPA first. The Citra Pale Ale blows it out of the water.

 

[Saan]

I only do extract brewing the results are consitentley excellent.

Hi there, I'm really interested in trying some simple extract brewing. Would you be willing to share some recipes?

 

[Sandimas]

Hi there, I'm really interested in trying some simple extract brewing. Would you be willing to share some recipes?

What type of beer do you want to brew, to help us narrow it down? There are tons and tons of recipes out there, you can turn many AG recipes into Extract recipes as the extract replaces the base malt, provided the rest of the grains don't need mashing (e.g. Crystal Malt) then you can just steep these in hot water and do a boil, adding in half the extract at the start and the rest at the end.

 

[Saan]

What type of beer do you want to brew, to help us narrow it down? There are tons and tons of recipes out there, you can turn many AG recipes into Extract recipes as the extract replaces the base malt, provided the rest of the grains don't need mashing (e.g. Crystal Malt) then you can just steep these in hot water and do a boil, adding in half the extract at the start and the rest at the end.

Thanks for the quick reply. I like Pale Ales and I have 4 x 1.2kg pouches of light LME & 400g of Galaxy hops. No speciality grains though. Would it be possible to do an extract SMASH type brew with what I've got?

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Thanks for the quick reply. I like Pale Ales and I have 4 x 1.2kg pouches of light LME & 400g of Galaxy hops. No speciality grains though. Would it be possible to do an extract SMASH type brew with what I've got?

Absolutely. I did a smash using 2.5kg light DME and galaxy and it turned out delicious.
5g Galaxy @ 60 mins
20g Galaxy @ 15 mins
20g Galaxy @ 5 mins
60g dry hop after 5 days

Not sure of there is a conversion needed when comparing DME to LME.

I did the hop boil on the stove top with about 4litres of water then added that to a fermenter with the DME, stirred, then topped up to 23L with cold water.
All water was treated with 1/2 a campden tablet.

Yeast was S-04 but an doing the same now woth US-05 to compare. Turned out about 3.7%

 

[Sandimas]

Looks a good recipe, but really need to know the AA of the Galaxy hops to work out the IBU bitterness: ideally aim for 40-50 with this type of brew. And use US-05 or MJ Liberty Bell to yeast bring out the hop flavour.

3 of those pouches 3.6kg will give you an OG 1046 brew for a 23L brew, a nice gravity for that type of beer. 25g of "average" AA Galaxy boiled for 60min will give 40IBU of bitterness. I'd go for:
20g Galaxy @ 60 mins
30g Galaxy @ 10 mins
60g Galaxy 30min hop steep after boil is finished

I'm not a fan of dry hopping but feel free to do a dry hop too. I came up with the above using Brewers Friend, other recipe cals are available https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator

 

[Nottsbeer]

When I did extract brewing years ago I used the Wheeler & Protz book Brew Your Own British Ale at Home - some great clone recipies with extract volumes given. I'd recommend the book if you see it around

 

[Saan]

Absolutely. I did a smash using 2.5kg light DME and galaxy and it turned out delicious.
5g Galaxy @ 60 mins
20g Galaxy @ 15 mins
20g Galaxy @ 5 mins
60g dry hop after 5 days

Not sure of there is a conversion needed when comparing DME to LME.

I did the hop boil on the stove top with about 4litres of water then added that to a fermenter with the DME, stirred, then topped up to 23L with cold water.
All water was treated with 1/2 a campden tablet.

Yeast was S-04 but an doing the same now woth US-05 to compare. Turned out about 3.7%

Cheers, did you add any extract to the hop boil or just water?

 

[Saan]

Looks a good recipe, but really need to know the AA of the Galaxy hops to work out the IBU bitterness: ideally aim for 40-50 with this type of brew. And use US-05 or MJ Liberty Bell to yeast bring out the hop flavour.

3 of those pouches 3.6kg will give you an OG 1046 brew for a 23L brew, a nice gravity for that type of beer. 25g of "average" AA Galaxy boiled for 60min will give 40IBU of bitterness. I'd go for:
20g Galaxy @ 60 mins
30g Galaxy @ 10 mins
60g Galaxy 30min hop steep after boil is finished

I'm not a fan of dry hopping but feel free to do a dry hop too. I came up with the above using Brewers Friend, other recipe cals are available https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator

Would you recommend a partial boil or add the full volume of water and LME from the start?

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Cheers, did you add any extract to the hop boil or just water?

No, just water. Less sticky when cleaning up afterwards

 

[Sandimas]

Would you recommend a partial boil or add the full volume of water and LME from the start?

Full volume, if you do less you'll end up with less IBU although you could add more 60min hops to compensate. I usually do a smaller-volme boil and add more hops, but even if you don't you'll still end up with a good beer. I usually add LME at the start, it can darken the brew a little but it's easier adding it then, just make sure you stir well as it can sink and burn on the bottom.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I normally treat about 21 litres in the fv with half a campden tablet then remove 4-5 litres to boil along with with a cheap bottle of gs and once boil is reached add 100g of galaxy at flameout. - then 2.5kg of DME and 500g of DWE stirred into the water in fv. After 30 mins I add the hot wort strained through a fine mesh bag. topped up with bottled water to around 22 litres. pretty much instant pitching temp.

 

[ChrisR73]

I’m a big fan of extract brewing because I just don’t have the time, kit or space for all grain for 23l batches.
I’ve done a few 5l batches with all grain, and occasionally add a kilo of grain to the Maris Otter extract I most often use but prefer not to.
I fund that all grain tends to be a touch heavier, a little maltier with a few OG/FG points up but barely noticeable.
I’ve also switched to 30 min boils and focus more on a good hop stand and heavy dry hopping.