Questions On Boiling & Bg

[DougB]

Hi Guys,

I'm a fairly new brewer and I'm thinking about trying an all extract brew. I'm having a problem getting my head around the boiling process, in particular the "Boil Gravity" part. I understand the principle but I need some advice on putting it into practice.

I thought the easist thing would be for me to ask some questions and hope that the more knowledgeable guys would answer them for me. This is for a 10ltr boil.

1. How much of the Grain Bill & how much water go in at the start.

2. When is the remainder of the grain added.

3. Ian H's spreadsheet & Brew mate both give amounts of grain to add to obtain 1.040. Is this in addition to what's in the Grain Bill and when is this added.

4. If I use a kit when does this get added. I always understood that kits didn't need to be boiled.

Thanks in advance Guys. I've been doing a lot of reading but I haven't found any articles that explain the process step by step.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

There are two reasons for boiling for an extract brew:

1. Hops need to be boiled (if you're using unhopped extract), to extract bitterness, flavour, aroma (the longer the boil the more of the former, and less of the latter 2 you get).
2. If you steep some grains, you'll need to boil these to get rid of funny flavours and stuff that can ruin your brew.

Steep grains are different to mash grains in that they contain little or no diastatic power (the ability to convert the grain into edible sugar). So don't count on a steeped grain (without a mash grain to help it along) adding anything other than a bit of flavour. It won't add much gravity, if any.

Steep your grain in water about 70 degrees for about half an hour (before boiling) - too low and nothing comes out, too high and you get tannins (like bitter tea).

Hope this helps.

Goomba

 

[bignath]

Hi Guys,

I'm a fairly new brewer and I'm thinking about trying an all extract brew. I'm having a problem getting my head around the boiling process, in particular the "Boil Gravity" part. I understand the principle but I need some advice on putting it into practice.

I thought the easist thing would be for me to ask some questions and hope that the more knowledgeable guys would answer them for me. This is for a 10ltr boil.

1. How much of the Grain Bill & how much water go in at the start.

2. When is the remainder of the grain added.

3. Ian H's spreadsheet & Brew mate both give amounts of grain to add to obtain 1.040. Is this in addition to what's in the Grain Bill and when is this added.

4. If I use a kit when does this get added. I always understood that kits didn't need to be boiled.

Thanks in advance Guys. I've been doing a lot of reading but I haven't found any articles that explain the process step by step.

In addition to LRG's reply (which i agree with), i'm a little confused though. You say you want to do an "all extract" brew but then mention when the grains get added. Not to be pedantic, but there wouldn't be any grains in an all extract brew. I'm just wondering if there are other things you may be confused about. Seriously not trying to be an idiot, just trying to help clear up ANY confusion.

What might be a good idea, is it sounds like you have a recipe formulated as you've quoted both "da spreadsheet" and brewmate (both excellent pieces of software).

If you give us the recipe you've got, we can walk you through it step by step and hopefully clear up any terminology and process confusion all at the same time.

 

[stux]

You should perhaps consider skipping the extract brew and just doing a small BIAB

Learning extract brewing is really not something you need to do if you plan on doing all grain one day

 

[DougB]

In addition to LRG's reply (which i agree with), i'm a little confused though. You say you want to do an "all extract" brew but then mention when the grains get added. Not to be pedantic, but there wouldn't be any grains in an all extract brew. I'm just wondering if there are other things you may be confused about. Seriously not trying to be an idiot, just trying to help clear up ANY confusion.

What might be a good idea, is it sounds like you have a recipe formulated as you've quoted both "da spreadsheet" and brewmate (both excellent pieces of software).

If you give us the recipe you've got, we can walk you through it step by step and hopefully clear up any terminology and process confusion all at the same time.

Big Nath, sorry about that. I referred to the Extract as Grain because it appears in the "Grain Bill" ingredients list drop-down boxes in Brew Mate. If you replace "Grain" with "Extract" in my questions thats what I need to know. I haven't actually formulated a recipe yet. I've just been taking recipes from the RecipeDB on this site and plugging them into the spreadsheet & Brew Mate to see what I get.

 

[loikar]

Big Nath, sorry about that. I referred to the Extract as Grain because it appears in the "Grain Bill" ingredients list drop-down boxes in Brew Mate. If you replace "Grain" with "Extract" in my questions thats what I need to know. I haven't actually formulated a recipe yet. I've just been taking recipes from the RecipeDB on this site and plugging them into the spreadsheet & Brew Mate to see what I get.

So what's the recipe you want to go with?

once you provide the details, we can provide the assistance :icon_cheers:

 

[DougB]

So what's the recipe you want to go with?

once you provide the details, we can provide the assistance :icon_cheers:

OK The one I've been playing about with in the programs is:

1.7kg Bitter Kit (any)

500g DME

250g Dextrose

250g MaltoDextrin

150g Crystal Grain

12g Goldings Hop Bag

Safale US05