The next stage - Extract brewing

[bossdrums]

Well I’ve now brewed my first kit, see this post and I’m now looking to move to the next stage, which I believe to be extract brewing ??

I’ve searched on this forum and have read a lot of useful info and a great guide on moving from kits to all grain however, there doesn’t seem to be much talk on extract brewing, why is this ??

It seems the next natural progression for me, as I have the fermenting kit (from brewing with a kit) and all I need to get hold of now is a 15 litre stock pot to boil my malt extract and hops in.....

I’d love to see a section added to the "Beer Brewing "How To..." Guides" section, on this process, or if anyone could give me some advice that would be fantastic.

I’m looking to brew a hoppy English pale ale, any ideas on what malt and hops I’d need (something like Badgers Hopping Hare)

Thanks to all comments in advance...

 

[falafael]

to tell ya the truth, am looking into this myself, if you want, i can put up recipes on here using extract, such as mild, srong bitter, bitter, brown ale etc!
Something for the next few months to look into myself!
Thanks

 

[A T]

I've never done an extract brew, like most the brewers on here i was impatient and jumped straight into all grain. If any extract brewer on the site wants to do a "how to" just pm myself or any of the admin team and we'd be delighted to help you in any way we can

 

[tubby_shaw]

I did / have done quite a few extract brews :thumb:
I will post something up when I get chance :thumb:
In the mean time if you have any questions just ask :

 

[bossdrums]

I guess my main questions about extract brewing would be based around recipes/quantities/timings etc...a base ale recipe would be really useful with tips on how to manipulate this recipe to provide a guideline to the amateur, i.e. me...as I understand the amount/type of hops really effect the flavour, as does the timing that they are in the boil for.....

I find this a little confusing so would like to get my head around the whole boil process before leaping to the next stage

 

[tubby_shaw]

Here goes then,

Basic bitter. 23L
Starting gravity 1.044, 28 IBU, estimated a.b.v 4.2%

Ingredients
3kg pale liquid malt extract OR
2.8kg pale dried malt extract
250g crystal malt

70g Goldings 4% aa 90 min boil
20g Goldings 4% aa 15 min boil
10g Goldings 4% aa hot soak

Dissolve the malt extract in as much dechlorinated water as you can safely boil.
Contain the crystal malt in a nylon or muslin bag and suspend in the malt extract solution. This crystal malt addition will add residual sweetness, colour, body and a toffee flavour to the beer.
Raise the temperature to 70 C stirring occasionally and remove the bag containing the crystal malt and throw away the spent grains.
When the malt extract solution comes to the boil add the first 70g of hops, these hops will add the bitterness to the beer.
When the boil has been on for 75 minutes add the second quantity of hops, these will add some hop flavour to the beer.
After 90 minutes switch off/ turn off the boiler and allow the wort to stand when the wort as cooled to 80C add the final batch of hops and allow them to soak. These hops will restore the hop aroma to the beer.
You now need to separate the bitter wort from the hops, this can be done with a dedicated hop strainer or by pouring the wort through a large kitchen sieve into your fermenting vessel.
This now needs to cooling to around 20C. You can just snap on the lid and allow to cool naturally or you can use whatever cooling methods are to hand.
Once cool it is time to pitch the yeast and then treat your beer exactly the same as if you were brewing from a kit.
The above recipe can be altered by the amount and type of malt extract, the type and amount of coloured malts steeped, the type and amounts of hops, the hop addition times, the type of yeast the fermentation temperature etc, etc
But experimenting is half the fun
The other half is drinking the results of the experiments :grin:

If time and commitments allow I will brew an extract beer next week and take copious pictures to illustrate. :)

 

[bossdrums]

thanks, that's a fantastic start and has given me the confidence to give it a go...hopefully if I start a brew in the next couple of weeks by the time it comes to bottling, my first kit brew will be ready for drinking.

 

[bossdrums]

Once cool it is time to pitch the yeast and then treat your beer exactly the same as if you were brewing from a kit.

forgot to ask what type of yeast would you recommend and if dried should I sprinkle on top of the wort of re hydrate ??

Thanks again

 

[tubby_shaw]

Once cool it is time to pitch the yeast and then treat your beer exactly the same as if you were brewing from a kit.

forgot to ask what type of yeast would you recommend and if dried should I sprinkle on top of the wort of re hydrate ??

Thanks again

This is Safale SO4 just sprinkled onto the top of the wort when it was 22C

I would recommend it for most traditional bitters :thumb:

 

[falafael]

did you do that extract beer then tubby??

 

[tubby_shaw]

I haven't done it yet F
I am currently drinking myself stupid(er) to free up a keg for it to live in :lol:
It will be my next beer brew and I will post the brewday here :thumb:

 

[bossdrums]

...so I've finally got round to doing my first extract brew based on tubby_shaw's recipe above...

I got to grips with the boil and the whole hops business however, after sieving out the hops, see below, I found that there were a few bits left in the fermentor, they look to be seeds from the hops that have managed to get through the sieve. I didn't want to try a fish these out in case I ruined the brew....so I pitched the yeast and put the lid on.

My question is, will this small amount of hops/seeds in the brew effect the fermentation process ??

 

[EskiBrew]

My question is, will this small amount of hops/seeds in the brew effect the fermentation process ??

Well done :clap:
It'll be fine :thumb:

 

[tubby_shaw]

Well done bossdrums :clap:
As EB has said it'll be reet :thumb:
All those little bits of hops debris will be thrown up with the yeast head and will stick around the inside of the FV :sick:
But don't worry it wont hurt anything
I hope it turns out well :pray:
Keep us informed of progress :

 

[Vossy1]

When your yeast head really gets going it will throw a lot of debris material on top of the yeast head.
The yeast head will appear light in colour, the debris and break will be dark...see pic above.
You can skim the darker material off the yeast head using a sanitised metal spoon, or whatever you like to use, as long as it's not made of wood (hides nasties in it's structure which is very porous).

 

[bossdrums]

thanks all for the replies....it's bubbling away nicely now so will see how it turns out

 

[stixy]

sorry to hijack this post but thought my questons fits in well with this thread!
i want to get a extract brew under way today but not sure what kind of beer ill be making and if ive got enough of certain ingreadiants, so heres what ive got,

1kg crystal malt
1kg light spray malt
226g fuggles
226g goldings

the above recipie uses 2.8kg of pale malt extract where as i only have 1kg, will this cause a major problem, or as it only uses 250g of crystal malt could i just use more of this instead also what is the difference between fuggle and golding hops as the above recipe only uses goldings so if i added a little fuggle would it drasticly alter the taste,prehaps i could use them to dry hop???
all advise greatly appricated,thanks

 

[tubby_shaw]

The malt extract provides the base sugars for the beer, which will be mostly fermented and turned to alcohol and CO2. The crystal malt provides, residual sweetness, flavour and colour, the sugars in the crystal malt are mainly dextrins and unfermentable by brewery yeast.
If you simply substitute crystal malt for pale malt extract you would end up with a sweet, dark beer with low alcohol.
To make a balanced beer with the ingredients you have available you will need to reduce the brew length.

Try,
10 litres OG. 1.036 35 IBU
1kg spray malt
150g crystal malt
35g Fuggles (3.5% a.a ?) 60 min boil
15g Fuggles steeped at end of boil

 

[stixy]

lovely thanks ill give it a go,however how about if i topped up the spray malt with beer kit enhancer to get up to the required 2.8kg as i believe this is just a 50/50 mix of malt extract and sugar??

 

[tubby_shaw]

lovely thanks ill give it a go,however how about if i topped up the spray malt with beer kit enhancer to get up to the required 2.8kg as i believe this is just a 50/50 mix of malt extract and sugar??

If you use a kilo of beer kit enhancer you would be able to up your volume to 18L :thumb:
You would also need to use 75g of Fuggles to bitter your brew :thumb:
I personally would up the crystal malt to 200g