Gear Required For An Extract Brew?

[milob40]

ok so it's time to step up to the plate and have a go at extract so a couple of questions.
what size pot do i need?
how long do i boil without turning the wort to toffee :unsure: ?
how much water do i use to boil the ingredients?
and i need an easy recipe for a kick arse lager
or ipa. the "kiss" principle will apply here.
my lhb is more k&k orientated so powdered malt might be easier to access.
i think he does have some light and dark liquid maltin a standard goop size can.
i have some cascade and halletau hops in fridge but can order more if needed.
can i still use a steeping kit to improve it or just some steeped grains?

 

[Camo1234]

ok so it's time to step up to the plate and have a go at extract so a couple of questions.
what size pot do i need?
how long do i boil without turning the wort to toffee :unsure: ?
how much water do i use to boil the ingredients?
and i need an easy recipe for a kick arse lager
or ipa. the "kiss" principle will apply here.
my lhb is more k&k orientated so powdered malt might be easier to access.
i think he does have some light and dark liquid maltin a standard goop size can.
i have some cascade and halletau hops in fridge but can order more if needed.
can i still use a steeping kit to improve it or just some steeped grains?

Hey mate... give this one a go: LCPA Recipe

This was my third ever brew and it is awesome! only 3 weeks old and tastes great! Very simple and you can read up on my newbie questions that have already been answered!


Good Luck

 

[Punkal]

Ok ill try to answer some of your questions...

Pot size? First what batch size are you going to do? You will need at least 20% extra room in your boil pot/kettle to be safe from boil overs and also to be able to add enough extra liquid to cover your boil off...

Boil times? A normal boil time is 60 minutes there are many reasons for this but the most obvious is hop utilization, how long before its toffee... well that would probably be maybe 6 hours or so...

Boil Volume? You will be looking at about 5-15% more than your desired batch size, this is because some of the water will leave the pot as steam during the boil...

Recipe? There are a lot of recipes in the database have a look there you should be able to find something you like. I would try for a basic pale ale or something similar they usually have few ingredients and would be a lot easier than a IPA.

Grain? You have to use grain that is where you get the majority of your malt flavors... I would buy some steeping grains, maybe even try mini mashing (using base malt and specialty grains and less LDME).

Hops? If the recipe you chose need different hops than you have but you have a similar type of hop try that and see how it goes...

There are guides here and on google that are easy to find, I have read John Palmers how to brew its a great book the first edition is free on the net and it has way better info than i could ever give you... Give it a read at least the part called Your first extract brew or similar...

 

[Punkal]

Boil Volume 2: Sorry there is another method for boiling, Get at least 5L ((more is probably better)(used this water for steeping/mini mash first)) of wort of around 1.040 gravity and boil your hops in that, once that is done add the rest of your LDME mix in until dissolved and then add water.

 

[Pennywise]

ok so it's time to step up to the plate and have a go at extract so a couple of questions.
what size pot do i need? I would suggest one of those bigw 19L pots
how long do i boil without turning the wort to toffee :unsure: ? A 60 min boil is pretty much the norm, you shouldn't turn anything to toffee as long as you are sensible with water/dme ratios
how much water do i use to boil the ingredients? In the pot size I suggested, I'd start with between 10-14L with a water/dme ratio of 10:1 (so for eg: 10L water & 1kg of dme)
and i need an easy recipe for a kick arse lager
or ipa. the "kiss" principle will apply here. Cant help with Lagers, and my IPA's are deffinatly not easy, so I'll leave that to someone else
my lhb is more k&k orientated so powdered malt might be easier to access. This will be fine IMO
i think he does have some light and dark liquid maltin a standard goop size can. Keep in mind that liquid malt is 20% water, so if using that, you'll need to account for it in your water/lme ratio so you can monitor the hop utilisation
i have some cascade and halletau hops in fridge but can order more if needed. Depends what beer you want to make, if going an IPA, you'll deffinatly need more hops
can i still use a steeping kit to improve it or just some steeped grains? Again, depends on what you want to make, if the steeping kit suits the beer style, why not? If it's your first extract I'd even suggest to use one so it's one thing you dont have to stress about, of course, only if it suits the style your making

Have a look through the recipe DB, pick out a recipe you like and I'm sure we could convert it to extract for you, really the main thing to do is just replace the base malt with extract, and sometimes adjust the bittering due to the different boil vol/gravity.

Edit: Grab a copy of Beersmith or Promash or the Kit & Extract Ianh done up, will make life much easier when formulating recipes

 

[DU99]

most likely a very big pot 20 litre.... for starters..i also got a coffee frother thermometer..help's with temp..rest has been covered by other's..

 

[Pennywise]

Ahh good point, deffinatly grab yourself a little thermometer. While it's not as important to monitor the temp of your steeping grains, generally 70'ish degrees will do, but it's a good thing to do so when/if it comes time to go partial/AG you'll be better rehearsed in that part of the process.

 

[ekul]

I'd get a 19L pot from bigW. Its a good size pot and if you ever go to all grain you'll still use it.

A simple recipe would be

2.5kg light dried malt extract
.5kg dextrose

hops
40g cascade 4.6aa% @ 60
20g Cascade @ 20
20g cascade @ 0
10g cascade dry hop (throw it in the fermenter when the beer is nearly finished fermenting)

to do this i would:

get 5.5L of water
add 500g of dried malt extract

Start boiling
Start timer count down

With 60min to go add 40g cascde, with 20 min to go add 20g cascade, with 0 min to go add 20g cascade and the rest of the dried malt and dextrose. Pour into the fermeneter and top up to 23L. ferment with US05 yeast @ 18C

To make the beer more bitter get some centennial hops and use 35g @ 60 instead of the cascade.

Have a look at neils centarillo, its a pretty good recipe http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=867

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

ok so it's time to step up to the plate and have a go at extract so a couple of questions.
what size pot do i need?
how long do i boil without turning the wort to toffee :unsure: ?
how much water do i use to boil the ingredients?
and i need an easy recipe for a kick arse lager
or ipa. the "kiss" principle will apply here.
my lhb is more k&k orientated so powdered malt might be easier to access.
i think he does have some light and dark liquid maltin a standard goop size can.
i have some cascade and halletau hops in fridge but can order more if needed.
can i still use a steeping kit to improve it or just some steeped grains?

Just noting that you live in Qld. Whereabouts are you? If you are in Brisbane, Northside and the LHBS is the one at Kedron, I've used their goop and it's fine. However, I don't purchase there any more, especially since going AG (but even if I weren't I'd not go there) as I'd rather take a drive down to capalaba and have better yeast, more hops and more range of malts, grains and the like to access (and good advice).

Goomba

 

[milob40]

hey thanks guys, i'm looking at batches for a standard fermenter or even 2.
i live in mackay but the hbs here doesn't stock fresh hops or grain.
i think he can order it in though.
my question is do you need to boil 20+ litres per batch or can you boil say 10 litres then add water
like ekuls recipe (a lager style ekul?).
this would mean i would double the ingredients then dilute in both fermenters.
i have in my fridge
90gm cascade
8gm citra
15gm sorachi ace
15gm amarillo
40gm halletau.
15gm cluster
what other hops should i invest in?
also i take it that liquid malt is stronger so i would use 30 percent less?
i brew mainly lager with steeping kits at the moment.

for having a session i prefer the lager styles but when i just want 1 or 2 beers, not likely h34r: then i love a good pale ale.
coopers mild ale is a favourite of mine.

 

[Silo Ted]

my question is do you need to boil 20+ litres per batch or can you boil say 10 litres then add water

You don't have to boil the full batch, if you have been using tap water to top up your kit creations in the past, then the same rules apply.

a 19L Big W pot is a great buy for around $20, because it gives you plenty of free space for steeping, boiling etc. And its an indespensable vessel for down the track if and when you get into partials, then AG. Pays for itself after the first brew.

 

[ploto]

The equipment I am currently using for my extract brews is a 10l pot for boiling, a small saucepan for steeping grains, a candy thermometer for checking the steeping temperature, and a large fine mesh sieve for tipping the steeped grain liquor into the boil and then to strain the cooled boiled wort into the fermenter.

I have found that the 10l pot is the easiest and most manageable way for me, using 500g of dry extract in a 6l boil + hops etc. At that size it can be boiled on the stove top without trouble and is still easy to cool in a laundry tub with cold water & ice. 6l seems to be just enough to give a reasonable hop utilisation according to some comments I've read and what the extract spreadsheet suggests.

Once cooled I add the 6l to the rest of the extract or cans, fill the fermenter with tap water and off she goes. Anything larger than that and I may as well do a full boil and step up to ag / biab, which I do intend to do sooner or later.

 

[milob40]

just curious on best grains for steeping and can this be done in the pot before or after the boil?

 

[brad05]

Hi milob. Glad to see another brewer from Mackay. Unfortunately the lhbs here are not very good when it comes to anything other than goo. Also make sure you check the expiry dates if you buy the morgans liquid extract. I have a few hops in my freezer if you want to mix up the variety a little. Send me a pm if your interested.

 

[milob40]

Hi milob. Glad to see another brewer from Mackay. Unfortunately the lhbs here are not very good when it comes to anything other than goo. Also make sure you check the expiry dates if you buy the morgans liquid extract. I have a few hops in my freezer if you want to mix up the variety a little. Send me a pm if your interested.

hi brad, thanks for the offer, only place i can find malt in town is big w but i clean it out each time to put down 1 extract brew.
i decided to use all of my cascade hops in this first attemp and dry hop some amarillo.
what type of beer are you brewing? our lhbs doesn't even carry fresh hops or malt.
are you sourcing elsewhere?