# Tcb - New "wet-pak"



## Daveee (9/10/03)

Well I was in my local Country Brewer amd was asking about porters. I noticed they have recently released these new "wet-paks" , which is deemed full malt extract brewing.

After much deliberation I bought one for $27.
Inside is what I guess is about a 2l bottle filled with the malt extract. There is also some hops, not sure which kind. And 150gm of grain.

The instructions say to pour out the conents of the bottle into a large saucepan and fill and empty the bottle again into the saucepan and start that up to boiling. Boil and stir it for an hour. 

Once you have emptied the first bottle you are to put the grain into the bottle and fill it with hot tap water. And let it steep for an hour. Then you strain the grain water into the brew. 

After the boil you add the hops and let it sit for 10 mins, covered. Then put it in the sink and try and bring the temperature down. 

Then you chuck it all into the fermenter, pitch the yeast and Bob's your uncle (He's mine at least!).

How does this sound to everyone?
I'll let you know how I go!


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## Murray (9/10/03)

A couple of questions...

Is the malt extract hopped? By adding the hops after the boil as you have explained, you won't be extracting bitterness. Then again, boiling the extract for an hour would decrease the bitterness if it was pre-hopped. Odd.

Do you add the strained grain water to the extract before boiling? Or boil for an hour, add the grain water and continue to boil?


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## Daveee (9/10/03)

Sorry, I got it a little wrong. The instructions are a little vague. 

I'll type some of the steps word for word

3) While the malt is heating, empty the contents of the large sachet (grain) into the malt bottle and then half fill with hot water from the tap ... rest the cap on top and leave to soak for the duraction of the cook.
4) As the malt reaches boiling, reduce the heat to produce a slow simmer ... simmer for 60mins while stirring regularly.
5) Nearing the end of the cook, strain the contents of the bottle prepared earlier (grain) into the saucepan using a colander or straining bag ... half fill the bottle with warm water from the tap and pour through grain (sparging) ... this will also remove the remaining grain stuck in the bottle. Discard used grain!

What is the cook? Is the cook the point up until it boils? When do you guys think I should add the grain? Also It doesn't mention hops in the malt extract.


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## Armstrong (9/10/03)

Hi Guys,

The bottle full of malt has hops pellets in it already ... so the 60min cook extracts the bitterness ... the addition of hops at the end is for flavour and aroma.

When they say "towards the end of the cook", it implies at the end of the 60min simmer.

These brews make great beer with alot more hop flavour than most ... I'm sure you will be pleased


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## RegBadgery (10/10/03)

I like the idea of these combination packs. Grumpy's has a great range in south Aust. Living in NSW I've not tried them but people on the grumpy discussion list seem pretty happy with them. It's great that brewshops provide this sort of all-in package and I hope it goes well for CB.

cheers
reg


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## Cero (10/10/03)

Hi Daveee -

A mate and I have recently started brewing again (not that we had much experience before LOL!). We are just about to bottle the TCB Porter (will let you know how is it is 4 weeks!

We simply followed the instructions as you have done.

Cheers -
Cero.


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## PostModern (10/10/03)

I'd be inclined to steep the grains in a separate container and add the wash from the grains and sparge to the boil for the full 60 minutes. Even use the wash to rinse the remaining extract from the bottle in place of the tap water if the volume of your boil is an issue.

Is there any reason the steep water and sparge _shouldn't_ be boiled for an hour, Armstrong?


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## Armstrong (11/10/03)

I can't see a problem with boiling the steep water ... just lengthens the total time to make the brew and I don't know whether there would be that much benefit ... but it wouldn't hurt, put it that way


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## Daveee (22/10/03)

Well I finally put this one down.
To be honest the hardest bit was waiting for the malt extract to come out of the bottle! God it was thick! Either that or constantly stirring the bastard.

It all went well, when it got to boiling it boiled over ever so slightly, but I quickly cleaned that up. So it's all good now! It's in the fermenter. I'll let you guys know what it's like in a couple of months.


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## johnno (22/10/03)

Davee,
These look good. I had a look at them on the site.
These are for people like me. Just mix and drink.
Cant wait for your update on this one.
Who knows I might have already put one of these down by then as I'm currently looking to put a brew on.


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## Trough Lolly (23/10/03)

Daveee said:


> It all went well, when it got to boiling it boiled over ever so slightly, but I quickly cleaned that up.


Daveee,

In a funny way, the boilover proves that the kit you are using has got plenty of goodies in it to make a good brew! One thing I do to avoid nasty spillage of precious wort before the hot break is to use a cleaned and sterilised spray bottle that has sterilised (pre-boiled but cooled) water in it. When the foam is going ballistic, I often use a few quick squirts to calm the surface tension down quickly before turning down the burner which works a bit slower than water sprayed directly onto the boil. Some people suggest you can blow on the foam, but I don't exhale sterilised air, especially if I have a stubbie whilst I do the boil :blink: !!

I prep the spray bottle when I hydrate the yeast...

Cheers,

TL


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## GSRman (23/10/03)

It sounds like this is pretty much extract-brewing except that you use hopped extract and you don't get to folllow your own recipe  


I have a squirter bottle full of 70% metho and water mix, i use to as a bit of a cleaner/sanitiser when i brew up, to wipe down benches and squirt on bottles before i open them etc..


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## deebee (23/10/03)

I am not sure, but I don't think these wet packs are hopped extract as in the same as a kit. They contain extract with raw hops in it.

Hence the boil extracts bitterness and puts it into the brew rather than isomerises and removes it from the brew.

I have heard good reports about them


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## nicko (23/10/03)

ive tried the bitter and the american pale...both very nice


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## Daveee (24/10/03)

Well it's happily fermenting away, although it seems to have lost about 0.5l volume. I haven't really noticed this happening before? I guess it's the suagrs fermenting out?

Also does anyone know how long I should let it ferment for or what sort of SG i should be aiming for? It's using an ale yeast (I think) at about 22-24 degrees. I'm guessing about a week? and the SG might be somewhat high?


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## Trough Lolly (24/10/03)

Daveee,

If you have hop flowers or solids (not just pellets) they often soak up some of the wort - hence the apparent loss of volume.

Give your brew at least one week in primary before secondary racking (if you want to give the wort extra conditioning off the trub / yeast cake). You'll be right to rack and bottle or keg once the brew has stayed at a steady SG for at least 48 hrs, but if you can, I recommend secondary conditioning to clarify and improve the beer overall, before bottling/kegging.

What was your initial gravity and how many litres is the wort? Having not made this brew, I would guess at an FG of around 1010 - 1012, depending on volume of wort.

Cheers,

TL


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## big d (26/10/03)

has anyone else tried the american pale ale other than nicko? i believe it is a very nice drop.im very tempted to order one soon.i believe it got a placing at the recent home brew comp in nsw?
cant be to bad then.and the price is going up by 2 bucks next month.gee that will break me....ha ha ha


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## deebee (27/10/03)

Big D, how's your Deliverance SNPA going?

I made mine today (I know slack, taken ages to get around to it) and I was interested to find cascade flowers in the muslin bag with the crystal grains. i guess that makes it like first wort hopping?

Apart from that, I used centennial for bittering and flavouring

And Gough/Shawn, (Is that you posting on LCPA on Grumpys? Think you are one and the same?) Probably not fair to boast about competitor's product on grumpy's forum so i will say it here:

Deliverance bags are similar to masterbrews BUT they bag up the grains separately so you can steep without the hassle of straining and reduce the degree of tannins extraction. This is the one thing that really sh*ts me about those masterbrews - they are a hassle to strain. Don't think I will buy too many more if this SNPA bag turns out a good one. They are put together by TWOC brewshop in Bibra Lakes, outer Perth metro.


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## big d (27/10/03)

hey deebee hows it going
im slack also but have an excuse.double hernia just out of hospital operation went way too wrong so am on the mend and no lifting.so they say.im planning on putting it down mid week as my order from grumpys should be in with all those cascade hops to add.planning on doing kit as per instructions except will add wyeast american ale 2 and coopers lme can as base plus extra hops to about 30-40 ibus.
probably not fair as i will have no idea as to how this kit is bog standard.
then again i may put it down as standard and do the second kit beefed up at a later date.


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## deebee (27/10/03)

Jeez mate, I wondered where you got to, no posts for a while. Hope you're getting better. Take it easy.


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## Gough (27/10/03)

Deebee,

Yep that's me on the Grumpy's site. Thanks for the reply. Fair enough not wanting to spruik a competitors product on their site. I'd never seen or heard of it so was just interested and wasn't really thinking of 'brands' if you know what I mean. Sounds like an interesting setup. I'm still just steeping and straining from a separate saucepan into my boiler at the moment. Fairly agricultural I guess but it seems to work OK so far. Always thought the 'muslin' bag sounded like a bit of a hassle to organise/sanitise etc. How do you find it from that perspective?

Big D,

Sorry to hear you've been crook mate. Get well soon.


Shawn.


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## big d (27/10/03)

thanks fellas.im on the mend but a bit tender down below.not enough to stop me putting down that deliverance sierra nevada pale ale this morning.hey deebee i opened up the muslin bag and found it also packed with hop flowers.pretty impressed with what roy from twoc hbs puts together.
i didnt add any extras as i decided to see how it is straight up.
just used a coopers 1.5kg lme can and safale s04 yeast
now the waiting begins to see how it turns out.


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## deebee (27/10/03)

Big D, let us know how she goes.

Gough, muslin is handy. Make a big teabag and it takes out all the hassle of straining. Easy to "sparge" by just dunking the teabag in another litre or less of hot water. Don't worry about sterilisation coz the liquor goes in the boil after steeping.

Then empty the grains in the compost, turn the bag inside out for a quick rinse and clean (could put it in the washing machine) and it's ready for use again.


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## Gough (27/10/03)

Fair enough, might have to give it a go.

Shawn.


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## Jazman (27/10/03)

i hate the way grumpies do their grains in the mbrews but with my bucket in bucket i have been using for my mashes it would be easier anyway i do part mashes now so i dont have to worry about it


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## crackers (28/10/03)

big d
hope your feeling better


i too only have heard ravings about the american pale ale,
so i brought it but have not put it down yet.
hope to in the next couple of days, sat at the latest.
will let you know how it goes.

cheers
crackers


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## big d (28/10/03)

thanks crackers.i reckon i will place an order next pay day.im itching to try this brew even put it down with an american ale 2 wyeast.


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