please help, extract advice.

[sam51]

hi all, after making woodfords nelsons revenge, wherry, and st peters red.
I want to make an ale from extract.
I love the above, and if I had a choice in a pub, I like the Cornish tribute,
so please help me make an extract beer,
tell me what I need, and how to do it.
thanks sam.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Have a read through the How To here, it's for a Stout but the principle is the same.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2672

Then you just need to select a recipe of your choice.

Graham Wheelers Brew your own British Real Ale would be a good book to buy for some guidance and some recipes to get you started.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brew-Your-Briti ... 1852492589

 

[Strongarm]

hi all, after making woodfords nelsons revenge, wherry, and st peters red.
I want to make an ale from extract.
I love the above, and if I had a choice in a pub, I like the Cornish tribute,
so please help me make an extract beer,
tell me what I need, and how to do it.
thanks sam.

Definitely go for it.

I went straight for extract after reading John Palmers How To Brew section on it and a few other website. Its very easy so I suggest doing the same.

Can't help on recipe but I found when I started googling extract recipes I found loads.

 

[Pjam]

Yep. Go for it.

I just did my first and really enjoyed the process.

I used LME and found it worked well, you'd need 1.2kg LME for 1kg DME. Plan sober. Make notes. Start making ice ..... you won't make enough!

You'll need a good thermometer, big muslin squares and massive weights to sink those hop / grain bags.

You'll love it

 

[Chris_1984]

I would start off small; what sort of style do you want to brew?

*Shop around and get yourself some speciality grains
*Wilkos do cheap DME. You can also get plain liquid malt from Holland & Barrett
*Cheap hops from ebay/ebid - maybe pick up 2/3 small packs and keep them in the freezer
*Get yourself a large, semi-decent stockpot


(I personally started off doing tiny 1/2 gallon batches using demijohns I got off freecycle, with a few different 1kg grains and the odd packet of cheap hops. Now, I have my own shed which I HAD TO BUILD!) :rofl:

 

[clibit]

EXTRACT BREW

Equipment: Large pan 10-15 litre capacity, muslin bag or sieve, kitchen scales, thermometer, hydrometer, fermenting bin.

Ingredients: Malt extract, steeping grains, hops, yeast.

1. Gather all equipment and ingredients, recipe and instructions.

2. Collect, treat (crushed campden tablet) about 23/25 litres of water and then put say 8-12 litres of the water in the pan and heat to about 65*C.

3. Pour crushed steeping grain into a muslin/mesh bag and tie the open end in a knot. Steep for 20 minutes and then turn the heat on again. When the water reaches 78°C remove bag and discard grains. If you don't have a bag, scoop the grains out with a sieve as best you can. A bag is good though.

4. Bring to a boil, remove the pan from the burner and stir in the extract. I prefer dried to liquid.

5. Return wort to boil. Add hops at times determined by the recipe.

6. Cool the wort. When the 60-minute boil is finished, cool the wort as rapidly as possible. Use a wort chiller, or put the kettle in an ice bath in your sink.

7. While the wort cools, sanitize the fermenting equipment – fermenter, lid or stopper, fermentation lock, funnel, etc

8. Put about 5 litres of cold water into you fermenter, then pour in the cooled wort. Leave any thick sludge in the bottom of the pan.

9. Add more cold water as needed to bring the volume to required level for the recipe, usually between 19 and 25 litres.

10. Aerate the wort. Seal the fermenter and rock back and forth to splash for a few minutes, and/or stir/whisk like mad and/or use a sanitised jug to lift and pour the wort from a height.

11. Measure specific gravity of the wort at 20*C with a hydrometer and record.

12. Add yeast once the temperature of the wort is down to pitching temp, around 18-20*C.

13. Seal the fermenter and install airlock if you use one.

14. Move the fermenter to a warm, dark, quiet spot until fermentation begins.

Now you just need recipes. You could start by buying 'EXTRACT BEER KITS' from the Homebrewingcompany, link at top of forum. Good recipes, good value. They also sell muslin bags etc. I don't work for them.

 

[Sandimas]

I love the above, and if I had a choice in a pub, I like the Cornish tribute,

Here's an Extract kit for Tribute :-)
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beerkits/ ... ecipe.html

Not done that one, but their Proper Job recipe was spot-on. :thumb:

 

[sam51]

this seems fairly straight forward,
but how do you boil at the given times, to a set temperature/

 

[clibit]

Generally boil for one hour and add hops at the times stated in the recipe. The times are the number of minutes from the end of the boil. So if the recipe says

Fuggles 10g 60mins
Goldings 15g 15 mins
Goldings 30g 0 mins

You add 10g fuggles at the start of the boil, 15g Goldings after 45 mins (15 mins before the end of the boil) and 30g Goldings at the end of the boil when you switch the gas/electric off. The hops steep in the hot wort for a while and then you cool, or you cool to about 80C, add the hops, and then steep a while before cooling to yeast pitch temperature.

Hope this is what you were after?

 

[sam51]

I love the above, and if I had a choice in a pub, I like the Cornish tribute,

Here's an Extract kit for Tribute :-)
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/beerkits/ ... ecipe.html

Not done that one, but their Proper Job recipe was spot-on. :thumb:

I have had a look at this, but what yeast to use as there is a choice of 3.

 

[Sandimas]

I have had a look at this, but what yeast to use as there is a choice of 3.

They'll all work - depends on how much you want to spend. I nomally do my Extract brews with the cheaper Nottingham yeast and it comes out fine.

 

[sam51]

so I need some sort of pot or pan that holds 20 to 30 litres of water.
or an electric one, any suggestion please.

 

[clibit]

No you don't need to boil that much for an extract brew. Some extract brewers boil the full quantity, but a lot boil maybe half the final quantity, and add to cold water in the FV. So you could get a Wilko stock pot for £15, they hold about 15 litres. From the kitchen section. I now do all grain, and use two of them to make 20 - 25 litres at a time, 10 -12 litres in each. I often make two different beers, by using different hops in each pot, and/or using steeping grains to vary the beers.

But for now just boil the hops and extract in 10-12 litres water, then add to the FV and top up with cold water. Unless you want to splash out on a 30 litre pot now. Maltmiller and the Homebrew company at the top of the webpage both sell them.

 

[Strongarm]

I've been using one of these

http://www.wilko.com/pots+pans/wilko-st ... vt/0322498

It only holds 16l, but I've been boiling 10-12l then top up at end with cold. Helps with the cooling down too.

 

[sam51]

hello guys, I really could do with your expert advice,
I am going to give this a try.
I have been out and brought the following,
a 16 litre pan from wilkos.
500grams of muntons medium spray malt.
1 Thomas coopers light malt extract.
1 Thomas cooper amber malt extract.
500grams of brupaks caramel malt ebc60 light crystal malt. (a bag of grains)
a packet of mangrove jacks yeast mo7.
a 100grams of northdown hops.
a 100 grams of Willamette hops.
a 100 grams of cascade hops.
please can some one give me a recipe,and how to use this lot,
and a plan, im sure you can help me make a decent barrel of ale with this lot.
: sam.

 

[sam51]

anyone,please

 

[clibit]

You have loads of recipe options. Procedure above.

What sort of beer do you like? How bitter? How much hop flavour? How strong? Name some beers you like.

 

[sam51]

You have loads of recipe options. Procedure above.

What sort of beer do you like? How bitter? How much hop flavour? How strong? Name some beers you like.

hi mate, when in a pub. I tend to try any real ale or bitter.
I like them all, except the porter style beer,
the two pubs when I frequent them, all sell real ale,
these are from various brewery's I have never herd of,
so that's a good thing, at least there still going.
I like a good bitter, and some times a golden ale,
I am trying to brew a good tasting ale.
sorry for been a pain.

 

[clibit]

You're not a pain, we've all been there. Here's a possibility:

Sam51 Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Hops (g): 140.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010 (°P): 2.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.24 %
Colour (SRM): 9.7 (EBC): 19.1
Bitterness (IBU): 41.1 (Average)
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.500 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Amber (40%)
1.500 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Light (40%)
0.500 kg Dry Malt Extract - Amber (13.33%)
0.250 kg Crystal 60 (6.67%)

Hop Bill
----------------
20.0 g Northdown Leaf (8.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Cascade Leaf (9.2% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Cascade Leaf (9.2% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Willamette Leaf (5.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
30.0 g Cascade Leaf (9.2% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.3 g/L)
30.0 g Willamette Leaf (5.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.3 g/L)

Fermented at 18°C with Mangrove Jacks M07

 

[clibit]

This recipe gives you about 5.2% ABV. If you left the dry malt extract out, the ABV would drop to 4.4%. You could use 250g instead of 500g and ABV would be about 4.8%.

Here is a simplified version of the instructions I copied and pasted above:


Steep the crystal grains in a pan for about 30 minutes in water at about 65-70C. Wrap the pan in a towel.

Meanwhile soak the cans in boiling water.
Maybe open just one can and add to the stockpot and rinse out the can to get all the extract into the pot.
Strain the grains after 30 minute steep and add the liquid to the pot.
Top up the pot to about 2 or 3 inches below the top and heat to a boil.

When it starts boiling ( Zero minutes) add the Northdown hops 20g.
After 30 mins add the Cascade 20g.
After 50 mins add Cascade 20g and Willamette 20g.
After 60 mins turn the heat off.
Cool to about 80C then add Willamette 30g and Cascade 30g. Put the lid on and leave to steep.

Sterilise the fermenter and the lid, a sieve, whisk, hydrometer and thermometer.

Add the contents of the other can to the fermenter and rinse with boiling water again.
Add the beer and hops from the stock pot to the fermenter, pour in from a height to make it foam.
Add cold water up to 23 litres, from a height to make it foam.
Cool to 20C approx (check with sterilised thermometer, or use a stick on thermometer)
Fish the hops out with a sterilised sieve and take a reading with the hydrometer.
Whisk the wort with a sterilised whisk.
Sprinkle the yeast on the top and attach the sterilised lid.