I Think I'm Gonna Do It

[churchy]

Hi guys I was just watching a dvd I borrowed from my hbs"Introduction to extract home brewing" and thought I could do this.Is it realy that simple.

Crush some grain and put in a sock
Add sock to a pot of water and heat, take sock out after the water starts to heat up.
When the water starts to boil add malt and stir and add hops
after 45min add mor hops and after 50min add more hops
After a hour cool water down add to barrel and pitch yeast.

something to that effect.


Cheers Andrew

 

[katzke]

Hi guys I was just watching a dvd I borrowed from my hbs"Introduction to extract home brewing" and thought I could do this.Is it realy that simple.

Crush some grain and put in a sock
Add sock to a pot of water and heat, take sock out after the water starts to heat up.
When the water starts to boil add malt and stir and add hops
after 45min add mor hops and after 50min add more hops
After a hour cool water down add to barrel and pitch yeast.

something to that effect.


Cheers Andrew

About that easy. Make sure the sock is clean, dont want any locker room smells.

Bags for the hops are a bonus also but not needed.

You can even get around the bag for the grains if you have a way to use a strainer to separate the grains from the wort.

Being American I have an affinity for K&K brewers. Brewing that way over here is considered, well bad, to be nice. I think it is because no one ever takes the time to do it correct.

The big advantage to using extract and specialty grains with your own hops is you can make any beer you like with little more effort.

As a side note I envy you in the land of OZ. I have to go to a special home brew store to get any ingredients. I keep reading you can go to Kmart and get bottles and such.

 

[Jazzafish]

Do it. It really is that easy.

When I did partials I had a large ss strainer that sat in the pot with grain and water. Slowly heated it up to 65*C and let it rest for 30 mins, then turned the heat back on and removed the strainer and grain when it hit 78*C.

Plenty of good partial recipes on the recipe database.

 

[churchy]

On the dvd it showed you how to rack into the secondary fermentor with a air lock and stored it at room temp for a month before bottling(a Ale beer) just wondering would a air lock be required if you are cold conditioning in a fridge for lagers.

Thanks Andrew

 

[Thirsty Boy]

On the dvd it showed you how to rack into the secondary fermentor with a air lock and stored it at room temp for a month before bottling(a Ale beer) just wondering would a air lock be required if you are cold conditioning in a fridge for lagers.

Thanks Andrew

Not really, lots of people here on AHB do their cold conditioning in a plastic (food grade) jerry can. All sealed up to keep the oxygen out. You would need it conditioning at room temp because some fermentation might still take place and your CCing vessel might blow up

TB

 

[matti]

As standard for ale you allow it to ferment out prior to racking.

For lager you rack 2/3 way into the fermentation cycle.
If you fridge it and not use an airlock as Thirstyboy suggested, you either need to burp the fermenter or jerry can every day until fermentation is finished.
Then you CC/lager it.


just wanna add DO IT!

 

[churchy]

Ok I was looking through the articals and it said once the secondary is finished then you can cold condition.I'm currently primary fermenting a czechs pislner and five days will be up tomorrow, then I will raise the temp a little for two days before racking.Is second fermentation realy necesary! or I can cold condition with a air lock! Seems the same thing but CC will be in the fridge.

Andrew

 

[matti]

Ok I was looking through the articals and it said once the secondary is finished then you can cold condition.I'm currently primary fermenting a czechs pislner and five days will be up tomorrow, then I will raise the temp a little for two days before racking.Is second fermentation realy necesary! or I can cold condition with a air lock! Seems the same thing but CC will be in the fridge.

Andrew

No you don't have to but it will benefit from it.
Old yeast can taint the final product.
By racking you will separate the old yeast and give the vital yeasts cells a chance to finish the job properly.
Ideally once you finished the diacetyl rest. Rack and lower the temperature slowly 3-4 degrees every day.
This way you will not shock the yeast and it will finnish the job and clean up any residual esters and so fourth.
This is the part of the benefit of lagering/cold condition beers.
If you chill it too quickly the yeast will drop out and go to sleep.

 

[braufrau]

Do it. The difference between an extract with specialty grains and hops compared to a kit is amazing.
Its the biggest jump in quality you can make with no outlay for equipment!

BTW - steeping grains is not the same as a "partial".

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Be warned


Partials WILL lead to AG...

 

[Tony]

Stu is right. Very VERY right!

Once you get a taste for it.......... your gone.

I remember a local fella that gets on here now and then comming by my place for a brew day. He told me he was happy brewing with kits and sugar.

A couple of AG beers from my tap, a bit of time on here and next thing he is cutting the top out of kegs, buying a grain mill ect.......Goner!

cheers

 

[churchy]

Whats the difference between partial and extract brewing? There seems to be more recipes for AG.Another question was , say for example I wanted to make a VB style beer, is there a recipe then for K&K ,extract and AG or it doesn't work like that.Just trying to get my head around it all , I'm getting a headache.LOL


Andrew

 

[matti]

Whats the difference between partial and extract brewing? There seems to be more recipes for AG.Another question was , say for example I wanted to make a VB style beer, is there a recipe then for K&K ,extract and AG or it doesn't work like that.Just trying to get my head around it all , I'm getting a headache.LOL


Andrew

Aussie bitter kit
Brewcraft kit converter #42 S-04 yeast at 16 degrees.

Not great beer but similar to VB

edit you meant other then K+K.
Look on AHB sponsor website Grain and grape.
They got Steeping and partial recipes for popular beers./
cheers

 

[churchy]

Yeh but could you make it from AG or it's another kettle of fish.Looks like I'm gonna have to buy some equipment.

 

[matti]

http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/articles_your_first_brew.htm

oops to late.
Yes get into it and you'll never drink VB again

 

[Weizguy]

Whats the difference between partial and extract brewing? There seems to be more recipes for AG.Another question was , say for example I wanted to make a VB style beer, is there a recipe then for K&K ,extract and AG or it doesn't work like that.Just trying to get my head around it all , I'm getting a headache.LOL


Andrew

G'day Andrew,

VB is not a particularly favoured beer on this forum. We prefer to make beer with more flavour, that's all.
Why limit yourself to this example? You may find that German or Czech pils is more to your taste, after you free your mind of the constraints of local beer styles.
Maybe it's VB that's giving you the headache? :lol:

It's more likely that you'll be able to replicate beer of that style with all-grain and cold fermentation. It's difficult to replicate those flavours with kits or extract, mostly due to the limited range of colours and flavours of those extracts. It' easier to brew a beer of a certain style, than to accurately replicate a favourite beer.

Before you pick a target beer to make, you probably should get a taste of a range of beers. You could start at your local bottlo and start buying a few singles every time you go for a case of your fave mega-brew, as it sounds like you may be limiting yourself to brews from the "big few", rather than the "small and many".

Best of luck in your brewing crusade. Testify!

Les out

 

[schooey]

Before you pick a target beer to make, you probably should get a taste of a range of beers. You could start at your local bottlo and start buying a few singles every time you go for a case of your fave mega-brew, as it sounds like you may be limiting yourself to brews from the "big few", rather than the "small and many".

What a great piece of advice.... :beer:

I've been thinking about my 'beer appreciation and brewing journey' a lot in the last month or two. The whole debate about whether entering the world of mash brewing and drinking craft brewed beers makes you a beer snob or not, and without hi-jacking this thread into another "I brew AG beer: Down with commercial 'megaswill'..blah blah blah" thread, I reckon this piece of advice above is one of the best things you can read at your stage of 'your journey'.

Without blowing anyones trumpet for them, someone gave me a similar piece of advice about three years ago. Back then, I thought all dark beers were crap, hated wheat beers with a passion and thought the only good thing to come out of Belgium was chocolate. Today I look back and think how narrow minded I was and how lucky I was I took heed of the advice I was given.

The point I'm making is, your best possible result is to be able to make a beer that you are really happy to drink, if it tastes something like VB and you're happy, and you can make it time after time, you only really need to please yourself at the end of the day. Blokes like me should respect that too, but I'd be very surprised if you do open your mind and buy a few different beers as suggested above, that you don't get a bit bigger of a thirst for more....

 

[Cocko]

Extract = Using Speciality grain [Steeping] for flavour and colour + LDME or other sugars to make up SG....

Partial = Using malted grain [Mini mash] so you actually extract fermentable sugars and then top up SG with sugars LDME etc...

Anyway, simple answer is - dive in mate! Add the grain, you won't regret it and as YOU say... Its easy!!

2 cents - probably wrong but thats how I see it...

Either way GO FOR IT BRO!!
:icon_cheers:

 

[schooey]

I remember a local fella that gets on here now and then comming by my place for a brew day. He told me he was happy brewing with kits and sugar.

A couple of AG beers from my tap, a bit of time on here and next thing he is cutting the top out of kegs, buying a grain mill ect.......Goner!

cheers

:huh:

Which one?

My wife still blames you, and she's never even met you.... :lol:

 

[buttersd70]

Before you pick a target beer to make, you probably should get a taste of a range of beers. You could start at your local bottlo and start buying a few singles every time you go for a case of your fave mega-brew, as it sounds like you may be limiting yourself to brews from the "big few", rather than the "small and many".

Probably the best single piece of advice that can be given to a new brewer, IMHO.