Help Needed!

[bconnery]

OK....

I know now what to do next time.... Learning from your mistakes is what it's all about and I'm not going to be daunted by this failure and will continue experimenting with and improving my methodology for all-extract brewing.

1. Will definately buy a 15l stock pot,
2. steep the grains in at least 2-4l water from cold,
3. increase volume of water to 10l,
4. bring to a rolling boil,
5. add hops gradually as per recipe,
6. Take off the heat and add DME up to 1kg at a time
7. return to boil for only 5-10 mins, to stop wort darkening too much.

How does this sound? better methodology or am I still missing something?

My caramalized brew is going along very nicely, the CPA yeast I have grown has formed the best looking krausen I have yet to see. What do you reckon this caramelised brew will taste like....burn't? Is there a style of brew available that deliberately caramalises the malt sugars before fermentation? (Clutching at straws this brew may be redeemable!)

Thanks again for all your help!
Cheers,
Patrick

10L will be plenty. I rarely got up to quite that much...

Your grain water also depends on the amount of grain. I used to go on using a mashing level amount when steeping as well. which means 2.5-3L per kilo of grain, and a little for a mini rinse/sparge. So when you are talking about 100g that's about 300ml water. I used to up the amount when dealing with smaller amounts.

I used to try and have about 6-8L in the pot. Best bet is to use something like beersmith which allows you to formulate a recipe with a specified boil amount, and adjust the hop levels and other ingredients accordingly.

I used to use Tasty Brew on line recipe formulator but found Beersmith to be far superior for extract based recipes because of that flexibility.

Could be a hybrid scottish ale perhaps? Or a flanders red? These both employ an amount of kettle caramelization.

I have in fact deliberately done this on a number of occasions, although not quite to that level. Chances are you will have a slightly sweet beer as the hop levels weren't upped to compensate. This won't necessarily be an issue. Time alone will tell...

 

[Pandreas]

Just to add a note of finality to this thread.....

I am now drinking my caramelised beer. It tastes and smells burnt and is not particularly pleasant. I must say, however, that it IS drinkable. It doesn't hold much of a head and is reddish in color.

The POR hops bittering is barely noticeable, as was anticipated by more experienced brewers. However, burning the malts gives a bitterness to the brew aswell... Not the right sort of bitterness, but bitterness nonetheless.

I now have a 18.9 litre stock pot I picked up at the Warehouse for $13.95. BARGAIN!!

Also have my methodology fully sorted out. Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[warra48]

Your 18.9 litre pot will be perfect for what you are trying to do.
DME dissolves much better in cold water, rather than in hot. Try filling your pot with 10 litres of cold water, and dissolving 1 kg if DME. This will give a boil gravity of about 1040, which is perfect for hop utilisation. Bring to boil, and add first hop addition, and watch for boil overs. Add other hops at apporpriate times, and gradually add the last of the DME bit by bit during the last 10 min of your boil to ensure it dissolves, There is no need to boil all the DME for an hour. I would also recommend you leave this mix to ferment in your primary for at least 2 weeks, as DME seems to take longer to fully attenuate.
Of course, LME extract in cans, eg Coopers or Morgans, are much easier, and will give a more beer like result.
Good luck, don't give up, as we all have stuff ups in our brewing journey. Half the fun is in learning and improving. The other half is, of course, the drinking. Have just downed a terrific amber ale.