Stupid Rookie Question

[Double_Maxim]

Hi all, first post and not last post here...

I've got myself the ingredients for the recipe in the link below for Summer Lightning except I've substituted the grains for a 1.8kg can of light liquid malt extract.

Can anyone help alter the recipe to suit using the malt extract?

i.e do I need to add sugar? and how much water do I start with for the boil? also do I need to add the bag of brewers sugar I also bought today etc..

Any help would be massively appreciated!

Cheers in advance

Edit: would help if I posted the recipe link! http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/recipes-summer-lightning

 

[pittsy]

hi to get the OG reading of 1049 you would need approx 3kg of extract but as you only have 1.8kg of liquid extract you could either add another 1.2kg of light dried malt extract (my advise ) or add 1.2kg of brewing sugar (or just 1.2kg of sugar) i would use the biggest pot you got and add the extract to warm water and then boil then you need to add once boiling your hops as recipe states for 80 min once 80 min boil done transfer to fv once cooled then just add cold water to get 23l mix very well slashing lots , more bubbles the better then once cooled to around 20c take hydrometer reading and add yeast , ferment as stated :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

You need more hops for a smaller boil volume. Your best course of action is to use a recipe calculator. Put the original recipe in to get the abv, ibu and colour. Make the abv up with the malt extract. After that, add hops to the recipe until you reach the ibu. After that, bobs your uncle.

Sugar will make a thin beer, make it up with dme if you can...

 

[Double_Maxim]

Rob I'm sure that was a very informative post but it's bamboozled me :lol:

I'm starting to worry I've gone a bit far ahead of myself with the talk of smaller boil vol = more hops and the talk of calculators :lol: I've only brewed one kit before and probably should have tried another before I moved onto trying a recipe but it just seemed as if I'd only have to boil it!

I've borrowed a large stock pot off a chef friend of mine, its a 17L, so I take it I'll have to add more hops to the boil as I'll be watering it down to achieve 25L in the FV? or have I got the complete wrong end of the stick?

Cheers again!

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome

 

[RobWalker]

You will, 17l is a good size though :-) ill put it in a calculator for u when i get home so yiu can see the adjustments :-)

 

[Double_Maxim]

You will, 17l is a good size though :-) ill put it in a calculator for u when i get home so yiu can see the adjustments :-)

top stuff! :thumb: I've been playing around with the various calculators today and I think I've been putting in the correct info but I'm not sure what I'm meant to do with the results :)

I'd never even heard of a brew calculator until yesterday :?

 

[Double_Maxim]

Hi and welcome

:

Thanks!

 

[RobWalker]

The original recipe comes up at; 1.059 OG, 47.6 IBU, 10.7 EBC

For an extract, 3 gal boil version of this recipe you will need;

2x 1.8kg tins Light Liquid Malt Extract
OR
1x 1.8kg Light Liquid Malt Extract + 1.5KG Extra Light Dry Extract
OR
You can replace SOME of the extra light DME with sugar, but you can't do lots unfortunately. Beer kit enhancer of the same weight would suffice...so...
1KG Light DME + 500g Sugar + 1.8kg Light Liquid Malt Extract will be your best bet for quality AND taste.

For a 3 gallon boil you will be looking at;

85gm Challenger (90 min)
25gm Goldings (10 min)
9g Goldings (Flame Out)

Here's your readings and recipe;

1.00 kg Extra Light Dry Extract (5.9 EBC) Dry Extract 30.3 %
1.80 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract 54.5 %
86.00 gm Challenger [7.50%] (90 min) Hops 45.0 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
9.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (1 min) Hops 0.1 IBU
0.50 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 15.2 %

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.015 SG (1.010-1.012 SG)
Estimated Color: 12.1 EBC (19.7-39.4 EBC)
Bitterness: 48.1 IBU (14.0-20.0 IBU)
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.6 %

Hope that all makes sense. Any more sugar and you're going to be looking at a very thin beer...

 

[Double_Maxim]

The original recipe comes up at; 1.059 OG, 47.6 IBU, 10.7 EBC

For an extract, 3 gal boil version of this recipe you will need;

2x 1.8kg tins Light Liquid Malt Extract
OR
1x 1.8kg Light Liquid Malt Extract + 1.5KG Extra Light Dry Extract
OR
You can replace SOME of the extra light DME with sugar, but you can't do lots unfortunately. Beer kit enhancer of the same weight would suffice...so...
1KG Light DME + 500g Sugar + 1.8kg Light Liquid Malt Extract will be your best bet for quality AND taste.

For a 3 gallon boil you will be looking at;

85gm Challenger (90 min)
25gm Goldings (10 min)
9g Goldings (Flame Out)

Here's your readings and recipe;

1.00 kg Extra Light Dry Extract (5.9 EBC) Dry Extract 30.3 %
1.80 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract 54.5 %
86.00 gm Challenger [7.50%] (90 min) Hops 45.0 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
9.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (1 min) Hops 0.1 IBU
0.50 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 15.2 %

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.015 SG (1.010-1.012 SG)
Estimated Color: 12.1 EBC (19.7-39.4 EBC)
Bitterness: 48.1 IBU (14.0-20.0 IBU)
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.6 %

Hope that all makes sense. Any more sugar and you're going to be looking at a very thin beer...

That's brilliant thanks!

I have a couple of questions though.. my challenger hops are 6.8% and not 7.5%, what difference would that make to the recipe? Also the original recipe is brewed to 5.0%, where does the extra 0.6% come from? (although I'm not complaining :lol: )

Would I be better off going for an all DME recipe instead? I'm keen to avoid adding any sugar at all but would also like to keep the costs down as the LME at my local shop is 12.50 a can

 

[RobWalker]

Ah weird, I put the recipe into beersmith using their quantities and it came out much higher...must be because of the FG and efficiency - efficiency isn't a part of extract brewing so no worries :p

In that case, try this...

Amount Item Type % or IBU
0.50 kg Extra Light Dry Extract (5.9 EBC) Dry Extract 17.5 %
1.80 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract 63.2 %
73.00 gm Challenger [7.50%] (90 min) Hops 44.8 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
9.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (1 min) Hops 0.1 IBU
0.55 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 19.3 %
1 Pkgs London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.049 SG (1.045-1.060 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.010-1.015 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Color: 11.4 EBC (9.9-27.6 EBC) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 48.4 IBU (30.0-50.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 3.9 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.7 % (4.5-6.0 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.0 %
Actual Calories: 216 cal/pint

That compensates for the lower FG and what have you, and i've made it so you'll only have to buy one bag of malt extract to keep costs down. :)

 

[Double_Maxim]

Ah weird, I put the recipe into beersmith using their quantities and it came out much higher...must be because of the FG and efficiency - efficiency isn't a part of extract brewing so no worries :p

In that case, try this...

Amount Item Type % or IBU
0.50 kg Extra Light Dry Extract (5.9 EBC) Dry Extract 17.5 %
1.80 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract 63.2 %
73.00 gm Challenger [7.50%] (90 min) Hops 44.8 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
9.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (1 min) Hops 0.1 IBU
0.55 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 19.3 %
1 Pkgs London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.049 SG (1.045-1.060 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.010-1.015 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Color: 11.4 EBC (9.9-27.6 EBC) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 48.4 IBU (30.0-50.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 3.9 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.7 % (4.5-6.0 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.0 %
Actual Calories: 216 cal/pint

That compensates for the lower FG and what have you, and i've made it so you'll only have to buy one bag of malt extract to keep costs down. :)

Thanks again mate.. how does the AA 6.8% of the challenger hops affect the recipe? (as opposed to the 7.5% in beersmith)

 

[puravida]

That percentage difference is negligible. You'd not notice at all.

Also, the percentage they quote on the pack is taken from the hops as they are packed. In reality their character changes and they generally degrade over time.

One of the things I think we all love about brewing is the number of variables open to us. To an innocent bystander we have malt, hops, water & yeast. But we all know better :)

 

[Double_Maxim]

That percentage difference is negligible. You'd not notice at all.

Also, the percentage they quote on the pack is taken from the hops as they are packed. In reality their character changes and they generally degrade over time.

One of the things I think we all love about brewing is the number of variables open to us. To an innocent bystander we have malt, hops, water & yeast. But we all know better :)

I'm just discovering that myself!

 

[RobWalker]

I just learned this today. Made a hallertau golden ale, went by the calculations, thought i was putting too much in. Long story short, theres too much bitterness. Trust your common sense as well as the calculated readings! My first original beer was made through pure guesswork, and i still brew it regularly, best thing ive ever made!

 

[Double_Maxim]

Right I'm ready to start my brew but have altered my ingredients slightly and got some dried malt extract, I also got the AA of my challenger hops wrong yesterday . After looking at the book today in the shop I saw that the IBU is 38 also which wasn't included in the recipe either. Rob kindly did me a calc but I think it might be out of the window now, could anyone do me a favour and recalculate as I'm a bit lost as to how much hops I should be adding and I'm not sure if I am getting the right answers...

The recipe i'm looking to achieve is here:

To make 23 Litres.

E.B.U 38
O.G. 1049
P.G. 1011
ABV 5%

Grist:
4.990kg Pale ale malt (4 EBC or less)
(assumes 75% effeciency)

Hops:
Start of boil 46g Challenger Hops
80 mins into boil 15g Goldings
End of boil 9g Goldings

Method:
Mash temp 66C 90mins
Sparge temp 77oC
Boil 90 minutes as vigorously as possible
Irish Moss or Protafloc in last 15 mins

Fermentation and conditioning:
Yeast = Wyeast London III or S-04

My ingredients are as follows.....

3Kg Light DME 10% EBC
Goldings Hops AA 5%
Challenger Hops AA 6.2%
S-04 Yeast
Irish Moss

Boil Volume 16L
FV Volume 23L (so i'm topping up with 7L water to the wort)