Home Made Extract

[Spartan 117]

Hey Guy's,

When I brew I sometimes have some nice sugary liquid left over from mashing/sparging that I don't put in with the boil as I'll have my desired gravity/volume. Just wondering whether there is any use for it, I was thinking maybe use in yeast cultring/starter, or boiling it down to make a syrupy extract that i can keep refridgerated for use in other brews.

Cheers

Aaron

 

[RdeVjun]

Gooday Aaron,
I'd be keeping it for starters for sure, particularly as it is unhopped. Dilute to around 1.040 (if need be) and refrigerate in 500ml or 1000ml glass bottles or larger so it can be steamed/boiled in the bottle to sterilize (using the term loosely) and innoculate with whatever you happen to have on hand or may've just acquired. Breed up from small starters & then step it up to bigger volumes and then you should end up with something pitchable. I have done this from slants and hard- to- get liquid yeast strains (1768 is a good example in my case, but any of the PC lines are what I'm talking about), its not easy or foolproof by a long shot as scrupulous sanitation is the key to success, but certainly achieveable. You'll get many many batches out of a smackpack, PC or otherwise, this way.

I've never mucked around with reducing runnings/wort to an extract consistency (they use heat+vacuum reduction in the factories), it seems pointless to me as it'd just be re- diluted anyway so I fugure we may as well store it at full strength.

 

[Spartan 117]

Yeah that sounds good, what about in regards to an airlock or is a bit of glad wrap over the top nf an elemyner flask?

Aaron

 

[buttersd70]

after I get my wort, I move the tun off to one side, with the tap open and a pot under it....I just let it dribble out. Last brew I did, I left it for the duration of my boil, and got just over 2L out of it....straight into a juice bottle, and into the freezer. When I want to do a starter, I'll defrost it, boil it to reduce by half, cool it in a water bath, and use it. Tony does this, I asked him if he boiled first, or just froze....he said he just froze it straight away, as it's going to get boiled later anyway.

re airlocks....I don't use em (as is well known :lol: ). The closest I come to an airlock is in my starters.....I wash a baloon in no-rinse, and pop that on top of the bottle I do my starters in. Looks rather humourous when it's partially inflated.

 

[Spartan 117]

after I get my wort, I move the tun off to one side, with the tap open and a pot under it....I just let it dribble out.

yeah thats exactly what I do, for starters will it have to be a certain gravity/sugar content for the yeasties to be happy with or should i just aim for what my post boil tgravity should be ?

Aaron

 

[buttersd70]

yeah thats exactly what I do, for starters will it have to be a certain gravity/sugar content for the yeasties to be happy with or should i just aim for what my post boil tgravity should be ?

Aaron

most literature points to 1030-1040.
In the case of the last brew I did, I took a sample of the dribbles....it was 1018. Which is why I will reduce it to half volume when I boil it...this will give me 1036. Poific.

As a side note, the gravity of the dribble being that high tells me that my (batch) sparge wasn't as effective as it should be.....gives me something to think about.

 

[Spartan 117]

As a side note, the gravity of the dribble being that high tells me that my (batch) sparge wasn't as effective as it should be.....gives me something to think about.

:icon_offtopic:
does that matter much, I mean so long as you got the right volume and a close enough gravity should it matter that the dribbles are that high a concentration?

Aaron

 

[RdeVjun]

WRT airlocks, if you've got Butters within cooee, then you know what your answer will be!!

I use Schotts and they're screw- topped, so I just release pressure whenever I happen to be passing and am inclined to give it a shake to oxygenate. Just on oxygenation of starters, its not easy with a closed bottle, be it Schott, Erlenmeyer or garden- variety, but they seem to take off without having to introduce any more. Most of mine are away within hours, a day at the outside and step it up to vigorous starters without opening the enclosure to the atmosphere much at all.

If you BIAB and have a large funnel handy (you hearing this Ben, Tim et al? 'big funnel'), just pop your bag of grain in it and allow it drain into a receptacle, it'll gather the last runnings and you can use that to knock up a starter if its enough.

Obviously, as the lit says, 1.030 - 40 is the target, you might have to reduce it (i.e. boil) to get that target SG, how sensitive our wee yeasties are to that I'm not really sure.

Oh Butters, my BIAB sparge/mashout is usually around 1.030, you should try it one day!

 

[Swinging Beef]

Looks rather humourous when it's partially inflated.

You are so benny hill, some times.

 

[Renegade]

How about having some 5-litre plastic bottles, so you could decant the extra wort from each brew, and freeze them. Keep doing so for each brew, and when you have 20 litres in several bottles, defrost it all, whack it in a fermenter and pitch, to create a 'best of' compilation of all th flavours that the 5-10 last brew-days yeilded.

Who says you can't make a beer cocktail?

 

[buttersd70]

:icon_offtopic:
does that matter much, I mean so long as you got the right volume and a close enough gravity should it matter that the dribbles are that high a concentration?

Aaron

No, not really. It's more a case of un-realised potential. It tells me my sparging isn't as efficient as it could be. Could, as opposed to should. fwiw, there is a school of thought, proposed by TB (with which I tend to agree), that lower efficiencies lead, if anything, to more flavour, if you look at it as a kg of grain/L of output.

You are so benny hill, some times.

More Dick Emery, I would say. :lol:

 

[buttersd70]

How about having some 5-litre plastic bottles, so you could decant the extra wort from each brew, and freeze them. Keep doing so for each brew, and when you have 20 litres in several bottles, defrost it all, whack it in a fermenter and pitch, to create a 'best of' compilation of all th flavours that the 5-10 last brew-days yeilded.

Who says you can't make a beer cocktail?

Obviously, it would require a 60+ minute boil....but it's certainly a thought. An interesting one, at that. hmm.....I don't see any reason why this wouldnt work, and it could lead to some very interesting results. Interesting indeed, if you have the freezer space.....which I do. :lol: .....bit of a long term proposition....and if getting dribbles, you would need ~ twice as much as batch volume, in order to reduce it.....interesting....

 

[RdeVjun]

Like a 'greatest hits' of my last few months brewing career! ROTF!

Might as well throw in any random hop dregs lying about and then a lazy leftover starter. Could be interesting, probably better than the planned stuff...not that different to some 'best of' LPs in entertainment. :lol:

 

[Renegade]

Obviously, it would require a 60+ minute boil....

Oh, I was talking post-boil extra ml's. Already sterile, straight into some easy-to-manage small bottles, into a freezer. Ultra No-Chill. Simply defrost the bank of bottles, transfer to a fermenter and pitch onto it.

if you have the freezer space.....which I do. :lol: .

All you guys with fridges for temp control, there's a freezer in the unit too, right ? Or does the temprite/fridgemate device knock out the freezer function ? If so, it's still cooler in that top cabinet, and at worst your 5 litre bottles of leftovers will still be as cool as cube no-chill.

Might as well throw in any random hop dregs lying about and then a lazy leftover starter. Could be interesting, probably better than the planned stuff...not that different to some 'best of' LPs in entertainment. :lol:

The resultant leftover wort, if we're talking post boil (as I was thinking) is already hopped.

And why would you have leftover starter ? It does raise a nice idea though. If pre-preparing yeast, to save perhaps 50ml from each starter, intended for the same 4-5-10 brews that are sitting in your freezer... Make a new starter form all these yeasts together, and pitch it into the Frankenstein wort.

I wouldn't do that, though. I would stick to a single yeast. I would also crank the wort up with a bit of dextrose in order to hit around 9% ABV. So I would go for a high-tolerance, but neutral, pitching spore.

 

[Bribie G]

With a BIAB brew I often get an extra litre or even litre and a half out of the urn and cool overnight in Schott bottles to let the break drop. Then I can decant off an extra litre of full strength clear wort and have often thought of boiling that down to say 200ml with a bit of caramelisation going on, store in a little popper bottle and freeze for next brew as home made extract. I just use LDME for starters as it's easy and on hand in my accessories cupboard.