recipe confusion

[BLACKPAINT]

Hi All!
I started brewing using kits last year and I am now making the leap from kit to Malt Extract. I have carefully put together all the equipment, sourced the ingredients and read the relevant books. I have chosen my Ale 'Big Lamp Bitter' and using the recipe from Graham Wheeler Real Ale Book I was ready to go last night when I fell at the first hurdle, the recipe.
After meticulously recalculating the quantities (I am starting with a 1.8kg tin of malt)There is no mention of sugar or yeast. Earlier in the book it explains when to add them and that the cane sugar has been substituted for invert sugar but no mention of quantities. So do I just assume the quantities are as per a kit i.e 1kilo sugar per 25litres of wort and 5g yeast?

I am sure I am missing something that is staring me right in the face, as the book is highly regarded and in it's third addition.
best regards

 

[PureGuiness]

The big lamp bitter recipe doesn't call for any sugar - just pale malt (in this case LME) and some crystal malt to steep.

Yeast won't be added until you have completed the boil and let the wort cool down to pitching temperatures.

Hope that helps.

 

[PureGuiness]

Also noticed how much LME you were using. If you really are looking at doing a 25ltr brew length then the required amount of LME is 3170 grms - or about 2.25 litres.

What method are you using to brew this? How big is your pot to do the boil? Are you boiling the hops in a smaller amount of extract to counteract the loss of efficiency you would have in a pot smaller than the intended brew length?

 

[graysalchemy]

If you are doing extract brewing you shouldn't need sugar.The only reason you add sugar to a kit is that there isn't enough malt in the kit in the first place to keep down costs.

as above according to Grahame's book you need 3170 g of Malt extract syrup, so really you need another tin.

According to the book I see you also need 220g of pale malt, 49g of Golding hops at the start of your 60 minute boil and 10g od fuggles ten minutes from the end

With regards to yeast one packet of your choosen yeast would be fine.

 

[jonnymorris]

According to the book I see you also need 220g of pale malt...

220g of crystal, not pale malt.

 

[graysalchemy]

Thanks for the correction.

 

[BLACKPAINT]

Thanks for the quick replies chaps. That has made clear the whole sugar situation. Cheers for that.
Because this is my first extract brew I was aiming for a small run hence the odd quantity (one tin at 1800kg) and I was aiming to amend the other quantities accordingly making a total of 14 litres
1800/3170 = 0.56782 so my 25 litres becomes 14.195 so therefore 49g of hops becomes 27.82.

one tin, less waste, less mess,

(the crystal malt/pale malt typo in the last repl ydid confuse me to a point where I almost put the whole unused kit on ebay )


regards
BP

 

[PureGuiness]

Good luch with the brew day. I'm sure you'll end up making the best beer so far and then it's not a major step up to AG brewing ;-)

 

[jonnymorris]

so my 25 litres becomes 14.195 so therefore 49g of hops becomes 27.82

This may not make a lot of difference but have you taken into account the alpha-acid content of your hops vs those used in the recipe? The Golding hops in your book are based on 5.7% AA. If yours have less AA you'll need more of them and visa versa.

Apologies if I'm being pedantic but I only realised this myself yesterday so it's quite fresh in my mind.

 

[BLACKPAINT]

Good point about the AA%. I'll buy another tin of malt just to keep it proportional. Oh this will be one very expensive brew.
cheers
BP

 

[PureGuiness]

And that is the main problem with extract brewing. It isn't cheap.

 

[pittsy]

And that is the main problem with extract brewing. It isn't cheap.

very true but miles ahead of kit brews and worth the extra cost , still way cheaper than buying it by the bottle from the shops though

 

[PureGuiness]

.... and the logical next step is AG which is much cheaper and a step change in quality again.

 

[pittsy]

.... and the logical next step is AG which is much cheaper and a step change in quality again.

nothing more to add ,as pure guiness says :thumb: