New Brewer - Question On Boiling

[argon]

Hey all... first off great bunch of forums here... im learning heaps.



Ive got my first ever batch bottle conditioning at the moment, from a kit I got for the bday over 12 months ago. Thought it was gonna be all good, till I did a bit of reading and saw that using yeast over 12 months old was not a good idea. I dont hold high hopes for this one, but its definitely hooked me in. The argument with the mrs about homebrew costing less is not really flying at the moment after buying some more equipment... but im sure itll all pay off in time.



Found out recently that my grandad used to Homebrew for over 50 years and a few of my uncles do it too. One even used to work at a CSIRO and use the lab conditions for his brewing... so im glad ive picked up the obsession.



Anyway... did the second batch a couple of weeks ago after visiting the LHBS for the first time and picking up a kit labelled Little Creatures Pale Ale added a bag of Cascade hops 20 mins before ending the boil and another bag after 72 hours in the fermentor.



A question for you all... should I be boiling the extract from the kit? It says on alot of the hopped extract that theres no need for boiling, but I cant imagine getting decent results out of just the kit instructions.



Sorry I dont remember the exact contents of the kit.. as im new to it all i got too excited and just cooked up the batch and forgot to take note of everything.

 

[manticle]

Hey all... first off great bunch of forums here... i'm learning heaps.



I've got my first ever batch bottle conditioning at the moment, from a kit I got for the b'day over 12 months ago. Thought it was gonna be all good, till I did a bit of reading and saw that using yeast over 12 months old was not a good idea. I don't hold high hopes for this one, but it's definitely hooked me in. The argument with the mrs about homebrew costing less is not really flying at the moment after buying some more equipment... but i'm sure it'll all pay off in time.



Found out recently that my grandad used to Homebrew for over 50 years and a few of my uncles do it too. One even used to work at a CSIRO and use the lab conditions for his brewing... so i'm glad i've picked up the obsession.



Anyway... did the second batch a couple of weeks ago after visiting the LHBS for the first time and picking up a kit labelled "Little Creatures Pale Ale" added a bag of Cascade hops 20 mins before ending the boil and another bag after 72 hours in the fermentor.



A question for you all... should I be boiling the extract from the kit? It says on alot of the hopped extract that there's no need for boiling, but I can't imagine getting decent results out of just the kit instructions.



Sorry I don't remember the exact contents of the kit.. as i'm new to it all i got too excited and just cooked up the batch and forgot to take note of everything.

You can boil the kit if you want to remove the flavouring additions and add your own but there's no real need. it should be stterile and you can still add your own hops to a short boil or to the hot water. It's a good thing for cheap kits (eg farmland special at $2.95) or if you have a kit you've made and didn't enjoy the flavours). If you get into that though you may as well use unhopped extract and do your own hopping from beginnng to end.

 

[Kleiny]

Your hop addition in the boil is giving you a flavour contribution and you get the best from your hops if they are boiledin some extract (part of the can or LDME).

Your addition at 72hrs, this is 72hrs after fermentation has started and not from when you put the wort into the fermenter, dont let 72hrs be your guide it should be added once the krausen ( yeast high activity shown as a froth) calms down and this addition will give you flavour and aroma.

So no you dont have to boil the can contents but it will help if you boil some form of extract for the hop addition.

Welcome and good luck argon

Kleiny

 

[argon]

Thanks mate... maybe next time i want to really tweak things i'll just use unhopped extract.

Gotta bottle on the weekend and put on another batch straight after. I have two tins sitting in the cupboard at the moment and was planning to go to the LBHS tomorrow.

Anyone offer any suggestions for these,

Coopers Australian Pale Ale
Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner

 

[muckey]

If you do use unhopped extract you'll need a bittering hop addition as well as a flavour and aroma addition

as for the kits unfortunately I cant offer much these days <_<

 

[zebba]

Your hop addition in the boil is giving you a flavour contribution and you get the best from your hops if they are boiledin some extract (part of the can or LDME).

My understanding was that it was only for bittering purposes that you needed to do this. I would guess that a 20min boil was primarily for flavour, not bittering, so concerns about maximising hop utilisation wouldn't be grounded in this case?

This isn't a "I'm right, ur wrong" post BTW. I'm a noobie, and still learning. I'm concerned with getting my facts right, not yours, so just want to know if my understanding was correct or not And anyway, adding some LDME to the hop boil is certainly not going to hurt anything

 

[muckey]

you dont have to boil hops in wort

you do get better utilization if you boil them in wort so your're correct there

some people note a grassiness or other flavours in hops just boiled in water as opposed to wort

Having said that, some time back i had a brew that needed a bit of a hop boost and while butters was visiting he did a small hop boil in some wort (malt extract mixed in water) to adjust the bitterness.

I've also uses water boils of hops and used them in beers to experiment with hop flavours

 

[Bribie G]

When adding hops late to the fermenter you are usually looking for aroma, not flavour or extra bitterness. One good way of doing this is to make the hops into 'hop tea' in a sanitized teapot (I have a glass teapot that I got from an op shop and keep it just for hop tea). Just pretend you are making normal tea with a kettle of boiling water, leave it for 20 mins and pour the liquid into the fermenter.

This is different to boiling in order to extract bitterness or flavour.

 

[zebba]

some people note a grassiness or other flavours in hops just boiled in water as opposed to wort

Interesting. I've done one boil (my first coincidentally) that wasn't in wort, and it finished up with some grassier flavours which haven't been in other attempts that were in wort. I put it down to the hop veriety (Tettnanger) at the time. I would love for it to not have been the hop though 'cause I loved the majority of the flavour the Tettnanger gave, just not the grassy aspect.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[The Big Burper]

etc, etc,

Anyone offer any suggestions for these,

Coopers Australian Pale Ale
Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner

A,

Coopers APA is Ok, the best of the two is the Morgans Golden Saaz Pilsner, needs
no additives, it has a beautiful malty taste and is well hopped. Add about 700g dex
to up the alcohol content. I keg this one, but it would taste even better bottled and
left for a couple of months.

cheers
Dave

 

[argon]

Thanks heaps for the feedback. Definitely makes things a little easier for myself not doing the whole 60 min boil thing. Gonna put the Pilsner on tonight after I pick-up a 2nd fermentor.

I think i'll play around a bit with the hops as well... might do the "hop tea" maybe with some extra Saaz after the fermentation has really slowed down. Boiling in wort seems a good idea too last thin i want is grassy flavour.

I think startng out is hard, cause after i bottle this weekend i'll have 120 bottles of beer that i can't drink yet...

 

[Kleiny]

i'll have 120 bottles of beer that i can't drink yet...

Everybody has this problem the key is to wait until their ready.

The extra saaz will go along way to making a nice beer