Steeping vs buying LME/DME?

[Brew2Day]

I just done a wilko light larger kit with 1kg of Munich malt and mashed it about 75c (or there abouts) and then rinsed with boiled hot water.

I do about 1ltr of water to every 500g of grain (you might want to get it extact as I round it up)

When I mashed my 1kg of Munich I did in about 4.5ltrs of water and got about 3.2 ltrs back. I was about 15pts off my target gravity, Next time i'll add some honey to adjust the gravity.... it really isn't hard to partial mash but you do need at least a 10ltr pot.

 

[baggybill]

Some outstanding info there clibit - thanks for taking the time to write up and post it!

Found myself looking at large stock pots in Wilkos today <-- oh dear :shock:

I must resist...:nah:

 

[BruinTuns]

go on baggybill...go on...
you know you want to...
just give in..
you'll be mine in the end..:twisted:

 

[clibit]

BTW, if you want to make a bigger batch, you can do a partial mash in the style of an extract brew, with a partial boil. So you could do a 20 litre batch using extract to make up half the gravity, and grains the other half. Soak your grains and then make the volume up to about 11 litres and boil with hops, add your extract at the end and cool in the sink for a while (down to about 40C perhaps), then transfer to Fv via a sieve and top up to 20 litres with cold water.

London Pride 20 Litres
OG 1048
Bitterness 33 IBUs
ABV 4.6%

Maris Otter 1500g
Dried Light Malt Extract 1400g
Crystal 400g
Black malt 50g

Target 10g 60 mins
Northdown 14g 15 mins
Challenger 14g 15 mins

Method: Soak all the grains in a fine mesh or nylon bag in 6 litres of water at 65*C for 45-60 mins. Keep the pot well wrapped to retain the temp.

Remove the bag and place on a colander over the pot to drain. Either place the bag in another vessel in another 6 litres of water at about 75*C, leave for ten minutes and stir and then combine the two worts. Or just pour hot water through the grains in the colander until you have 11-12 litres to boil. You could boil a kettle and then fill to almost the brim with cold water. Probably three times for about 6 litres. You will lose about 1 to 1.5 litres of water to the grain, soaked in. If you have a 15L pot, fill to about 2-3 inches from the top. You need to test that your cooker will boil this amount.

Bring wort to the boil and add Target hops. You could use Admiral or Pilgrim hops instead. Or some Challenger or Northdown, and use 14g instead of 10g.

After 45 mins add the 15 min hops. 15 mins later switch off. Stir in the dried extract gradually.

Put the pot in cold water in the sink, change the water when it gets warm. Put the lid on when the temp gets down to 80C to protect against infection.

Pour the wort through a sterilised sieve into your sterilised FV. When the temp drops to 20*C take a hydrometer reading and pitch the yeast.

If the OG is below 1048 you could mix some DME with a little boiling water and add it to the FV. 100g DME will add about 2 gravity points in this 20 litre recipe, so for example would raise OG from 1045 to 1047.

 

[BruinTuns]

Thanks again clibit, brilliant stuff.
I've bookmarked your posts and will be giving it a go in the new year.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

I have tendency to steep my grains in hot water (64degrees ish) then after extraction bang up the temp and add in LME for a fuller bodiied beer, I also increase the hops to counterbalance all the maltiness as I prefer a bitter to a malty beer

 

[clibit]

I've put a guide in the how to section of the forum.

 

[baggybill]

Great guides, thanks for those. I've a funny feeling I might be making good use of them in the New Year

Do you have any info/tips/guides on your yeast re-use? Good yeasts can add a bit of cost to a brew - especially liquid yeasts.

Which yeasts do you like/use? What jars/pots (Wilkos?) do you use for washing & storage? How long do you store it for and do you make a starter with it on re-use?

Sheesh, so many questions... what have I got into?

 

[clibit]

I'm very basic when it comes to yeast. I re-use yeast by salvaging it at bottling time from the FV, I use a sterilised spoon to put it into sterilised tupperware containers. It keeps well in the fridge - smell it when you open it. But only open it when you need to. Really good hygiene is needed around yeast.

I have mainly used dried yeasts to date. Sticking to English/American yeasts, as I generally do, some are very neutral, others provide a sweet fruitiness. I use both types. Safbrew S33 and Mauribrew 514 are sweet and fruity, I like them.

Nottingham/Gervin and S04 are less flavoured and slightly tart. I use Gervin in beers where I want the hops or the grains to do all the talking. I'm not a huge S-04 fan but many people are. I find it a bit sulphurous or something.

I have recently used Mauribrew Weiss yeast in a few beers, its not a real Weiss yeast, it's like a spicy ale yeast. Good in certain beers if you like a spiciness. I have a stout that it works really well in. The stout is very strongly flavoured, from the yeast and a lot of black malt.

S33 does not attenuate very well, it leaves an OG around 1018 in many beers, and I have combined it with Gervin to get the best of both worlds. Great flavour from the S33 and better attenuation from the Gervin, to reduce the sweetness to a level I prefer.

S05 is the standard American yeast, very neutral, which means you taste the hops and grains pretty much as they are. Which I also like. Like Gervin, but even more neutral.

I have used White Labs WLP002 liquid yeast a few times. I really like it and it is very popular with home brewers and microbreweries. It has a lovely flavour, a bit sweet, and it ferments quickly and clears really well. Micros like it partly cos it enables quick turnaround, their FVs are not tied up with one beer for long. But it also makes great beer. Wyeast 1968 is the same or extremely similar.

 

[BruinTuns]

baggybill, here: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=50170&goto=newpost

EDIT
clibit beat me to it..

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

Gervin G12 dried yeast is miy preference

 

[baggybill]

Doh

Never spotted the 'yeast' thread. Might have guessed BruinTuns was one step ahead of me. Thanks guys, really appreciate your input