1st Partial Help Please

[Adbrewer]

Hi all,

This is my second time posting and very new to home brewing and first time to partial. Really enjoying this website and all the info you guys share. I've done quite a few K & K brews and have recently made the move to Extract and now I plan to do a Partial dunkelweizen this weekend.

I have very limited equipment (only 20 ltr Big W pot, grain bag and gas stove) but do plan to slowly move to AG in the new year.

I found this recipe and want to give it a try, Ive made a couple of tweaks ie Dry Malt extract to Liquid, as that is what I have on hand. Unfortunatley the receipe didnt give the brew volume but I will shoot for 20 litres in the fermenter.

All ingredients from Country Brewer

Grains:
1.5kg Wheat Malt
1kg Munich Malt
113g Chocolate Malt

Extract:
1.5kg Wheat LME

Hops:
25g Hallertau 8%AA (30min)
15g Hallertau 8%AA (5min)

Yeast:
SafWheat WB-06

Procedure:
Mash grains in bag/brew pot in 7 litres water @ 67C for 60 mins.
Sparge with 5 litres water @ 75C for 10 mins (will use saucepans for this C/o SWMBO :wub: )

Add 1/2 of extract and boil for 30 mins.
Add hops as noted above.
Chill in sink with cold water and ice.

Ferment at around 18C for 14 days.

Prime with 150g Dextrose and bottle.

Is it possible to brew the above with the equipment I have? Or am I going to need another / bigger pot?

Do you think the receipe is ok? I have about 200g of Crystal, more wheat grain and Wheat liquid malt extract on hand and some other hops. I was thinking of subbing some of the Munich or Wheat grain with some Crystal and was unsure if the amount of extract is enough.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Cheers


Adam

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

You will be able to easily make this recipe with your bigw pot. I regularly mash 4-5 kg's in mine. The recipe looks pretty good to me i wouldn't change it.

have fun and good luck.

Cheers

MOM

 

[Mattese]

You will be able to easily make this recipe with your bigw pot. I regularly mash 4-5 kg's in mine. The recipe looks pretty good to me i wouldn't change it.

have fun and good luck.

Cheers

MOM

+1 to not changing the recipe. Half the fun is to try the recipe, figure out what you like/dislike about it, and then tweak it the next time.

Looks pretty good anyway, similar to something I used to brew when I was doing partials.

Good luck!

 

[Steve]

Add 1/2 of extract and boil for 30 mins.

You are going to do a 60 min boil arent you? From memory I used to add the malt at the 15 mins mark i.e. after 45 mins of the boil

 

[Adbrewer]

You are going to do a 60 min boil arent you? From memory I used to add the malt at the 15 mins mark i.e. after 45 mins of the boil

Thanks for the advice guys. Much appreciated.

Steve, I think the recipe only requires a 30 min boil. After reading a few posts on this site, Ive gotten the feeling that boiling just the wort with extract really has no benefit, ie if it were a 60 min boil and first hop addition was 30mins, so the first 30mins just boiling wort with extract having no benefit.

So I'll start my boil/hop additions at 30mins with say half the extract (ive read for better hop utilisation)and will take your advice and put in the remaining extract at 15mins to go...Hope I've explained this clearly.

Anyway thanks again for the help. Sounds like this recipe might be winner.



Adam

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the advice guys. Much appreciated.

Steve, I think the recipe only requires a 30 min boil. After reading a few posts on this site, Ive gotten the feeling that boiling just the wort with extract really has no benefit, ie if it were a 60 min boil and first hop addition was 30mins, so the first 30mins just boiling wort with extract having no benefit.

So I'll start my boil/hop additions at 30mins with say half the extract (ive read for better hop utilisation)and will take your advice and put in the remaining extract at 15mins to go...Hope I've explained this clearly.

Anyway thanks again for the help. Sounds like this recipe might be winner.



Adam

I have never heard of a 30 minute boil. You add your first lot of hops at 60 and then the second lot at say 15 with the tin of extract.

 

[amiddler]

Adding your first hops at 30mins is fine. You will still get bitterness from this but obviously not as much as 60mins. There is a recipie on here for a 10min IPA, yes with only 1 hop addition at 10mins from flame out, only you need to up the addition to get the bitterness required.

Recipie looks great and I wouldn't change the hops.
As for boiling, boiling also evaporates unwanted flavours (someone will chime in and remind me what they are) and it is not uncommon to boil a Lager for 90mins to rid the wort of these compounds. I would still boil for 1 hour adding your first hops at 30mins. You can always top up your fermenter with water if you loose to much volume to evaperation.

Drew

 

[Adbrewer]

Adding your first hops at 30mins is fine. You will still get bitterness from this but obviously not as much as 60mins. There is a recipie on here for a 10min IPA, yes with only 1 hop addition at 10mins from flame out, only you need to up the addition to get the bitterness required.

Recipie looks great and I wouldn't change the hops.
As for boiling, boiling also evaporates unwanted flavours (someone will chime in and remind me what they are) and it is not uncommon to boil a Lager for 90mins to rid the wort of these compounds. I would still boil for 1 hour adding your first hops at 30mins. You can always top up your fermenter with water if you loose to much volume to evaperation.

Drew

Drew, should I add any of the extract at the start of the 60mins then?

 

[np1962]

Drew, should I add any of the extract at the start of the 60mins then?

A major reason for the 60min boil is to drive off the precursors of DMS which can add unwanted vegatative flavours to your beer. This requires an evaporation rate of between 8 and 12% over the hour.
Your extract has been boiled previously so can be added in the last 5 minutes if you like, just watch for boilovers though.
Main consideration with this is you will get best utilisation of your hops with a boil gravity around 1.040. so adding some extract early in the boil may be beneficial.
Another thing to consider when devising recipes is that you can use less hops for the same IBU if boiled for 60 rather than 30minutes.
Not such an issue for low IBU beers but can be if you get into IPA territory.

This is all getting a little complex for someone doing their first partial and I would stick to the recipe you have outlined, get a few done and then worry more about the technical aspects later on.

Good luck and happy brewing.

Cheers
Nige

 

[RdeVjun]

Is it possible to brew the above with the equipment I have? Or am I going to need another / bigger pot?

As per the other posters, your 20L big double ewe stockpot (which may hold only 19L?!) should be fine for the task and this partial mash is a great way to trick up a tin of malt extract. BTW, that kettle can also do 20L batches of All- Grain, use either Nick JD's 20L stovetop guide here at AHB or MaxiBIAB at BIABrewer for 23- 25L. The sparge step plus an over- gravity boil/ post- boil dilution are what makes that method tick and it is really quite simple to achieve.

However, I wouldn't bother with sparging with this first one though, there's probably no real need particularly if you mash the grain thin (i.e. with lots of water), so I'd just combine the mash and sparge water, then just drain it well, squeeze it if you find yourself getting impatient. I hang the bag to drain while the boil is underway and just add the runnings every so often (no later than 20 minutes from boil end though). With only 2.5kg of grain this should be a walk in the park, the wheat could make it a bit fiddly if you were gravity lautering (i.e. draining via a manifold in the mash tun), but I'm quite confident it will be straight forward with the bag.

I'd recommend the longer boil for the grain- derived wort, this will ensure most of the naff flavour compounds are driven off, but also help to very slightly caramelise some of the wort and should lead to a more satisfying taste. The extract doesn't need boiling so I'd add it later in the boil, say 15 minutes from the end. Turn the heat up when you do, and pause the boil timer while it comes back up to the boil. Having said that, it is probably worthwhile adding some of it earlier on as per NigeP62's suggestion.

FWIW, I'm doing much the same as this myself today, I have a tin of extract and the grain for a partial mash, actually I have more than enough grain and hops on hand for over a dozen batches and have done 70- odd stovetop AG batches up to now, but I want to revisit the partial mash as a quick and easy method. Seeing as I recommend it to folks every now and then, its been at least a year since I did this and I figure I should do one periodically myself!

Good luck with it, let us know if you hit any hurdles! :icon_cheers:

 

[Steve]

Drew, should I add any of the extract at the start of the 60mins then?

I was always told to add it at 15 mins to go so thats what I did without any problems.....but Palmer says to add it at the beginning with the wort from the grain:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter18-3.html

See second paragraph under the pic.

So yeah maybe add half at the start and some at 15....up to you.

Cheers
Steve

 

[manticle]

I would add enough in to get the wort between 1030 and 1050 so the hop utilisation will be optimised. Any excess I'd add in 10-15 minutes for thourough mixing (and to sterilise if you are concerned)

 

[amiddler]

Drew, should I add any of the extract at the start of the 60mins then?

As said, it is best to have an SG of around 1.040 for your hops but if you are under or over at the moment it wont make a huge difference. I would stick with adding all of the extract at 15min from flame out, just for ease for your first few brews and boil for 1 hour.

Having said that if you feel you want to add some extract earlier in the boil then do it. Over time you will find what works for you, even if it is different from what others do and you will still make realy good beer.

Let us know how the brew day turns out. Have fun,

Drew

 

[Steve]

Let us know how the brew day turns out. Have fun,

Drew

...and take some pics