Additives For The Non A.g Brewer

[flanbos]

hey guys

im not an ag brewer but i wanna try some things like honey and chocolate beer, can i add the ingredients into the wort when i put my kit and dextrose and just mix it through????

 

[dreamboat]

Leave the dextrose out Flanbos, and add some dry malt extract instead - maybe 700grams, boil it up in around 4 litres of water for 30 mins or so, with 20g of hop of your choice. Add that to your kit, use a decent yeast, ferment at the right temps, and you are making vastly improved beer.
Leave the honey and chocolate out until you are making good beer on a regular basis, then start playing with the oddities.


dreamboat

 

[morry]

I usually use DME, but Ive never boiled it for a few minutes. Whats the point behind that?

 

[GMK]

I agree with Dreamboat.

For when u get there:

Honey:
can be added directly into the fermenter or boiled first - boiling gives better clarity - but i prefer directly.

Chocolate:
I have used Dark Compound Cooking choc in the boil - melt it slowley first - then add the water and malts hops etc.
If u want to add it in the fermenter - add it at the secondary or CC stage.
Again needs to be melted and stired in with out aerating the beer.

Alterantive for the secondary is chocolate essence or i have been told by others - chocolate ice cream topping - not the ice magic stuff that goes hard but the liquid.
This - due to the high sugar content and how much u add - might induce a tertiary ferment.

Hope this helps...

 

[Tallgum]

I usually use DME, but Ive never boiled it for a few minutes. Whats the point behind that?

I boil mine for a few minutes to get all the lumps out , I use a 10lt pot , put about 5lt of water and slowly put the dme in whilst stirring then let it boil for a minute or two .

 

[flanbos]

cheers fellers

dreamboat, i already do u dme, is what u described preety much a partal mash??

 

[flanbos]

Tallqum,

after you boil it do u wait for it to cool or just bung it in?

 

[Tallgum]

Tallqum,

after you boil it do u wait for it to cool or just bung it in?

Yeh Flanbos, I just bung it straight in, then bung the kit in after its been sitting in hot water loosening up, bung in any additional hops, but I let it cool down before I bung the started yeast in. Then I bung a stubbie in my gob. :chug:

 

[dougy]

cheers fellers

dreamboat, i already do u dme, is what u described preety much a partal mash??

No, its not.

 

[dreamboat]

Flanbos,
By doing a little 30 minute boil, you will extract some additional bitterness out of the hops, as well as ensuring that you have sterilised the dry malt. This type of arrangement will add both flavour and body to your beer, with some additional bitterness to balance it all out.
Partial mash involves getting some crushed grains and soaking those in 65C ish water for an hour or so to extract the sugars, then utilising the liquid from this into your boil. This adds at least another hour or hour and a half to your brew day, but you will get better flavours, and more control over your flavour from it.
It is a slippery slope from partial mash to full mash


dreamboat