2nd Brew down

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toughen

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Hi Guys,

Put my second brew down last night. I have attempted Boonies LCPA Clone - http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4814

1 tin Morgans Stockmans Draught
1.5 kg of Morgans Extra Pale Malt Extract (Liquid)
15g of Cascade pellets - 15min
10g Cluster pellets - 15 min
US56 Yeast.
12g of Chinook Pellets (dry hopped at rack)

So I think I stuffed it up, but I'll tell you what I did.

- Sanitized everything
- Sat the tins in hot water then emptied both into a pot with a few litres from the kettle
- Chucked Cascade and Cluster in(I'm assuming here I should have waited for it all to boil first)
- Brought it to the boil and let it boil for only a few minutes because it was already in there for about 15 mins or more
- Sat it in a sink of cold water for a few mins to bring the temp down
- Tipped it all in the fermenter (through a sift as I don't have any hop socks)
- Topped up to 23L (ended up about 25 degrees)
- Stirred and then pitched the yeast

So here's the problem... I checked the gravity before pitching the yeast and it was only at 1035! Is it just the boil I messed up or did I do something else wrong? Can I fix it?

Next question is when and how long should I dry hop with the Chinook?

Thanks for your help
 
Righto, firstly - Relax have a homebrew. It will be fine. The flavours may not be as intended by boonie, but i highly doubt this will be a bad beer.

Your issue with the OG being low can be due to a number of reasons.
  1. your malts weren't mixed thoroughly. I still have issue with this too. I stir the bejeeysus out of my wort when im getting it into the FV with the cold water, but i still get strange OG readings. for my calcualtions (such as ABV) i use the calculator provided in Ian's spreadhseet located at the top of this forum. If you haven't got it already, i highly recommend it.
  2. The malts weren't dissolved. Unlikely due to the fact that you boiled all of your malt, including your kit (i'll get back to this lower down).
  3. Probably a few other reasons, but i would say these could be the two main culprits.
to answer your 2nd question,
dry hopping - some like to do it for only 3-4 days, some leave it for longer. as you dont own a hop sock its harder to control how long you leave the dry hop in for (other than controlling it by bottling).
I've made something similar (used more cluster because i couldn't get chinook) and left them in for a week and a bit, loose.
My advice is to add them 5 days before you plan to bottle. But however long you plan to leave the hops in for, take note of it somewhere. Get yourself a brew diary or something. These notes are your best friend for improving beers. If the beer tastes grassy, maybe you left them in too long. you can refer to your diary to see how long you left them in, and next time you brew this great recipe, only dry hop for half the time.

However, i have some general advice for you on your brew method.

Boiling your stockman kit isn't recommended. The reason behind this is that it is hopped malt extract. When you boil hops, like you did in your brew, you are adding flavour, aroma and bitterness. when you boil the hops for an extended period of time, you tend to get little flavour and aroma, but more bitterness. a lower boil time imparts less bitterness, but more aroma and flavour. By boiling your kit, you are undoing the good work Morgans did in creating a balanced kit for you by lowering the flavour and aroma you get form the kit, and making the brew more bitter.

when boiling hops for a brew, you want to try and get the gravity of the water you are boiling to 1040. which is roughly 100g ldme per 1L if i remember correctly. By adding over 3kg of LME (1.5kg extra pale LME and 1.7kg of your stockmans) you are making a super high gravity liquid. The ability of this high gravity liquid to take on flavour from the hops is reduced a great deal due to the volume of dissolved sugars (malt) present in the liquid. So in short, a boil with a gravity too high means you get less flavour/aroma/bitterness out of your hops.

Boiling your hops. Yep, you're on the money about the hops. let the liquid come to the boil, then add them.

Dont stress. Its a learning process. I'm sure your beer will be fine. Its a great recipe.
 
The low gravity reading is due to either not mixing the malt properly or your hydrometer is out of whack. A kit plus 1.5kg of liquid malt should give a gravity higher than 1035.

Also, don't boil kits. For a few litres hop boil like that just use 400-500g of the unhopped liquid malt, and yes, wait until it comes to the boil before adding any hops.
 
Awesome, thanks. You've just answered everything. Being a (complete)newbie I have struggled to find detail on the finer details of the process, but I believe that is due to everyone doing it slightly different. I have played with Ian's spreadsheet but figure I'll use it more when I'm coming up with my own recipe's in the future.

So with the Stockmans I should tip it in at flame out and just mix it in well? (this would also help cool the mixture)

I'm keeping a spreadsheet of ingredients and process for each of my brews :)


I'll get a stocking and boil it for my dry hopping as I want to reduce the chance of bottling any.

Thanks again.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about bottling any hops. it usually just sits on the yeast cake after a while. but it certainly wont hurt by using a stocking.
Yeah, add your stockmans once you have taken it off the stove.
Ian's spreadsheet calculates how much dry malt or liquid malt extract you will need to use go get your boil gravity right. The quantity depends on the volume of water you are using, and if you are using any specialty grains.
 

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