Malt Extract + Brew Enhancer

[lano]

Thanks again,

I do very much appreciate the posts. You have almost talked me into it

I think that you think that I have more skills and experience than I actually have!!!

this is my process at the moment;

1. put can of goo in sink of hot water - 10/15 mins
2. add BE to fermenter with a little hot water - stir to disolve
3. tip in goo (rinsing out can with a little hot water to get the all the good stuff)
4. fill rest with cold water (probably up to 23L but who knows!)
5. put yeast bag in cup of boiling water - 10/15 mins
6. wait for temp if not all ready achieved
7. tip in yeast bag and cup of water
8. add yeast
9. put top on - wait a week
10. bottle!

So, I am not boiling anything at the moment. wholw thing takes me about 30mins (if that).

Dont despear, i will give your recepie a go.... As soon as I have more bottles, I will try it!

Thanks for all of you assistance.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

You have adequate skill. Now I've seen your process, it is much easier to comment on why your brew went bung.

It appears as though the reason your yeast didn't ferment very quickly is that you probably killed most of it by putting it into a cup of boiling water. It would have also have affected the taste as well.

Each yeast variety has its own "sweet spot", which can vary between 7-23 degrees C. I choose Nottingham dry yeast, as it has an ideal range of 14-21 degrees C. If you have yeast at too high a temp (like boiling or hot water), it is unlikely to survive. If you have yeast above about 25 degrees, it'll survive, in fact it will rapidly multiply, but it will also give some funky flavours to your beer.

Yeast health and hitting it's perfect range is one of the single biggest time and flavour components to getting beer to taste right. Unfortunately (and this has been a source of debate on the forums), the Coopers tins say "ferment at 25-30 degrees C", when in fact it is way above the ideal temp range for any ale yeast (which coopers yeast is).

So that may be one problem solved.

As for your current process, I'll copy + paste and show you where extract brewing will differ from what you do (in italics):

1. put can of goo in sink of hot water - 10/15 mins - boil water in pot (takes 5-15 minutes).
2. add BE to fermenter with a little hot water - stir to disolve. Get goo and whack in boiling water.
3. tip in goo (rinsing out can with a little hot water to get the all the good stuff). Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at 60 min, 30 min, 15 min per recipe.
4. fill rest with cold water (probably up to 23L but who knows!) Same
5. put yeast bag in cup of boiling water - 10/15 mins. Don't do this (saved 15 minutes)
6. wait for temp if not all ready achieved. You may choose to leave it cool down on its own. This is called "no chill". I do it for some of my beers and come back the next morning to unscrew lid and put in yeast packet. This saves time on brew day.
7. tip in yeast bag and cup of water Don't do
8. add yeast - Tip in dry yeast - same
9. put top on - wait a week same
10. bottle! same

As for bottles - there are a number of brewers even more experienced than I that use plastic bottles, such as what you get with cheap lemonade in them and re-use them to bottle - Bribie G being one I recall. New caps can be purchased at Big w. So if you drink softdrink already, just save them bottles.

Another time saver - bulk priming. That means when you are ready to bottle, rather than measure out a spoonful and put in each bottle, measure the total you will use (say 30 bottles x 5g per bottle = 150g), boil the kettle, dissolve sugar and pour into fermenter, giving a gentle stir (but try not to stir yeast cake up). This will also allow you to deal with multiple bottle sizes (stubbies, 750 ml, 1.25L plastic), because the sugar has been measured for the total.

Glad to help. I was once a K&K brewer, and like I said, which I'd gone to extract quicker. It was easier than I thought it would be and gave me a massive boost in beer quality and flavour.

Also, once I figured out what hops tasted like what, made it much easier to play with flavours. To make it easier for you - just think - German beer tastes of german hops, english beer tastes of english hops, American Pale Ale - American hops.

I'm going home, so hope to hear of your success, one way or another, very soon.

Goomba

 

[pk.sax]

Iano, if you've ever made a risotto, then the process of making beer from extract is not much more involved (or time consuming). You add things at the right times in the cooking process to keep their effect in the end result optimal. That is why he hops going in at different times, longer boil to retain bitterness, shorter boil to retain flavour and even shorter boil to retain aroma. The respective hop oils being extracted and retained(/not boiled off). Especially if someone exp'd gives you a balanced up recipe it's gold gl on ur adventures, mine is awaiting a hydro test in the laundry

 

[fasty73]

I have used BE1 and BE2 with my cans of Tooheys New and noticed a big change in the malt flavour, didn't like it much so I am sticking to using dextrose. I did a batch with BE1 and Light dry malt, only bottled it 2 days ago, so I have a bit of a wait before I can say what it tastes like. It took 24 days in the fermenter though.

 

[Hatchy]

Thanks again,

I do very much appreciate the posts. You have almost talked me into it

I think that you think that I have more skills and experience than I actually have!!!

this is my process at the moment;

1. put can of goo in sink of hot water - 10/15 mins
2. add BE to fermenter with a little hot water - stir to disolve
3. tip in goo (rinsing out can with a little hot water to get the all the good stuff)
4. fill rest with cold water (probably up to 23L but who knows!)
5. put yeast bag in cup of boiling water - 10/15 mins
6. wait for temp if not all ready achieved
7. tip in yeast bag and cup of water
8. add yeast
9. put top on - wait a week
10. bottle!

So, I am not boiling anything at the moment. wholw thing takes me about 30mins (if that).

Dont despear, i will give your recepie a go.... As soon as I have more bottles, I will try it!

Thanks for all of you assistance.

A couple of suggestions:

1. put can of goo in sink of hot water - 10/15 mins
1.1 put the kit yeast in the fridge for a rainy day & rehydrate proper bought yeast
2. add BE to fermenter with a little hot water - stir to dissolve
3. tip in goo (rinsing out can with a little hot water to get the all the good stuff)
4. fill rest with cold water (probably up to 23L but who knows!)
5. put yeast bag in cup of boiling water - 10/15 mins
6. wait for temp if not all ready achieved
7. tip in yeast bag and cup of water
8. add rehydrated yeast & 50g of hops
9. put top on - wait until finished
10. bottle!

Around $20 at a decent HBS for 100g of hops & 2 sachets of yeast will give you 2 batches with subtle changes to yr brewday My suggestions won't make yr brewing take longer but should give you better results.

 

[lano]

Sorry guys,

By Yeast bag, I meant HOP BAG (sorry was in a hurry!)

As for bulk primming - im happy doing what I do as far as bottling. Doesnt take much time and I dont believe I have any need to change that process.

I will give the Extract Brew ago. But probably in a few months.

Thanks all for your assistance and suggestions! :icon_cheers:

LANO