A Guide to "Extract with Specialty Grain" Brewing

[carniebrew]

Yeah, I like that idea tricache...what I might do is attach a document to the post that shows how to make the full extract version of Dr Smurto's Golden Ale. I have been waiting for the recipedb to come back online so I could link to it first though.

I agree there's little info for full extract brews around here...it's a hell of a lot more popular in the States from the looks, so if you don't mind converting pounds, ounces and gallons you can get a heap of info from sites based over there.

 

[JBrew]

Hi all,

A question regarding the partial boil method..

About to attempt Extract Brew #1 and will be boiling up around 4L and topping up to 23. Will topping up with tap water compromise the wort and if so whats the alternative?

Cheers,

j

 

[carniebrew]

It hasn't ever done so for me...and the zillions of kit brewers out there that often use nothing but tap water on a regular basis.

 

[Nick JD]

Kit and Kilo brewers get away with pitching only 6g of sick, badly stored yeast entirely due to the 20L of oxygenated tap water they add to the gloop.

Extract brewing also benefits from this. I have never got why (Americans especially) people do "full volume" extract brewing.

 

[bum]

As compared to a 4L boil? Really?

I'm not saying a 4L boil is no good (made many decent beers that way myself) and nor am I saying full volume boil with extract is entirely necessary to but to suggest that one does not present a benefit over the other is a little misleading.

 

[Nick JD]

As compared to a 4L boil? Really?

I'm not saying a 4L boil is no good (made many decent beers that way myself) and nor am I saying full volume boil with extract is entirely necessary to but to suggest that one does not present a benefit over the other is a little misleading.

Please list the benefits.

Turn over a new leaf, bum - attempt constructive critisism - or, really step out of your comfort zone and actually offer some of your enormous wealth of brewing knowledge in a way that not only tells others they have it wrong, but actually shows them how to do it right. Like the way you do it.

 

[bum]

I boil full volume. It is good.

Does that help?

(Unless they've been culled/editted out) the limitations of a small boil have already been discussed in this thread.

 

[Nick JD]

You make extract beers?

Have the limitations of a full volume boil be discussed? Like need to oxygenate the wort?

 

[bum]

I have done. You told me to talk about what I do.

There's no pleasing some people!

 

[glaab]

I did a similar extract brewing thingo about 18 months back but never got around to posting it.
Attached if anyone wants to ave a look, i'll finish it one day and post, Cheers

View attachment extract.docx

 

[Scottye]

It hasn't ever done so for me...and the zillions of kit brewers out there that often use nothing but tap water on a regular basis.

Hey J

I can't see there being any issue with this, I did it with all my kits and bits brews and now with my extract brews. I started out in kits and bits with 2l boils, short boils, increased to 4l and the last two which were really good used a 6l boil.

 

[bum]

Like need to oxygenate the wort?

Yeast only has specific oxygen requirements if the full volume of liquor has been boiled?

This sort of talk you like to engage in is entirely misleading and I feel endlessly (and frequently) sorry for the new brewers who value your opinion.

 

[glaab]

still making friends bum?

won't tap water have more oxygen than boiled wort?

doesn't boiling drive the oxygen out?

 

[Nick JD]

still making friends bum?

won't tap water have more oxygen than boiled wort?

doesn't boiling drive the oxygen out?

Bum spends too much time thinking of witty put-downs to actually understand what the thread topic is currently discussing.

You're correct - and this was my point. Adding large amounts of tap water to small boil extract beers is quite probably better for yeast health (one of the top beer-quality factors) than doing a full boil, cooling and not oxygenating (which is what so very many people do).

A "quick splash" into the fermenter is by no means adding as much oxygen as tap water contains.

 

[bum]

still making friends bum?

won't tap water have more oxygen than boiled wort?

doesn't boiling drive the oxygen out?

Yes it does in both cases.

Do you have any reason to suggest that tap water inherently has enough ppm of O2 to satisfy your yeasts optimum requirements? Because that is what you are supporting - "directly use tap water and you no longer need to consider oxygenating your wort".

[EDIT: added quote]

 

[glaab]

I can't find that quote anywhwere, someone must've deleted it.
Anyway, like I said in my extract .doc, I do a 5L boil to make 50L extract and
just hold the hose up a metre or so above the fermentator and thrash the bejesus outa it with
an aerating paddle and I see krausen in a few hours.

 

[slash22000]

Adding large amounts of tap water to small boil extract beers is quite probably better for yeast health (one of the top beer-quality factors) than doing a full boil, cooling and not oxygenating (which is what so very many people do).

Right, but that's not really a full volume boil problem, it's a brewer problem.

The only disadvantage to a full boil I can think of is the need to cool a larger volume of wort, which if you "no chill" is basically irrelevant. I suppose "getting the equipment" is a disadvantage, but not if you intend to move to all-grain eventually anyway.

I don't think the requirement to oxygenate the wort is really a "disadvantage". It's something people should be doing whether they're boiling or not and it's a good habit to get into. I think anybody with the knowledge/equipment to be doing a full volume boil knows enough to oxygenate the wort afterwards. Again, it's something you have to deal with later down the track anyway, so might as well get started now.

The advantages of a full volume boil are well documented. A quick Google search brings up basically unlimited results. Sterilises the wort, improves the water, improves hop utilisation, reduces caramelisation for better flavour, colour and attenuation ... You can argue the finer details but I don't think you can argue that the results of a full volume boils are worse than partial boils. The process may be slightly more complicated, but the result tends to be superior. So sayeth the mighty Google.

 

[manticle]

Bit OT but the term 'partial boil' while seemingly in accepted use, suggests a kind of whimpering simmer and could easily be confused with the idea of a partial mash (which suffers admittedly from a similar kind of association).

I know this has been alluded to previously.

 

[slash22000]

Yeah I was thinking that but not really sure how else to put it.

Partial boil ... boiling part of the water ... mini-boil? ... micro-boil? ... Honestly, I'm not sure what else to call it.

 

[bum]

"Small boil" was the previous accepted term. Only marginally less vague. Perhaps there was a more descriptive term before my day.