Welcome some thought on my technique

[peterlonz]

I have for the last 2 years or so been basing my brews on Coopers Real Ale Kits.
I add about 300g of freshly crushed crystal malt grains heated between 65 & 75 Deg C for 30 mins - understand this is "steeping". Anyway I have difficulty keeping within that temp range even on a small gas flame & wonder how others manage this issue?
I also add about 25 g of hops boiled for 10 mins before adding to wort (pellets still in bag). I leave this sock of hops in the wort until ready to keg, usually about 12 days after pitching. This time is dictated by a rather slow settling of insolubles which would otherwise collect in bottom of keg.
I add also 1 Kg of BE2 but find this hard to dissolve completely & often end up with floating lumps on the surface where the yeast will be pitched, seems there should be a better way? BTW I have followed Coopers advice & used a hammer occasionally to break up the lumps, not pretty & it still takes ages to dissolve.
The brews are consistent generally speaking. Some guidance on suitable hops would be appreciated.
I have tried Willamette, Fuggles, Galaxy but can't get a handle on most suitable type or quantity.
I like my beer malty & hoppy.
Thanks

 

[malt and barley blues]

For your crystal why not cold steep for 24 hours saves a lot of mucking around with temperature control.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

+ 1 for the cold steep, don't know anything about the BE2 but there is a couple of threads on here about it. One here https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/boiling-with-be2-brew-enhancer-2.38093/ my hops for English ales are Fuggles, Williamette, Goldings, and my favourites are Challenger and Pilgrim.

 

[captnhaddock]

So from what I'm reading, it looks like this is "special" DME. Personally, I'd take some of the steeping water, warm it to 90/100f and slowly stir in the powder, allowing you to avoid clumping. Then incorporating the resulting syrup and mixing that in with the rest of the water and LME prior to casting your yeast.

 

[MHB]

From memory BE2 is 50% Dextrose (Corn Sugar), 25% LDME and 25% Maltodextrin (Corn Syrup), with the relatively low LME content it dissolves pretty easily in hot water, probably the "steeping" water you soaked the Crystal Malt in is as good as anything.
I suspect you are confusing Steeping and Mini Mashing, Crystal malts are already mashed (the starch has been converted into sugars) so instead of trying to hold the temperature in the mashing range (65-75oC mostly), any temperature will work but as always hotter is faster, provided you stay under 80oC where the chance of extracting tannins goes up.
As easy as anything is to put the malt and hot water in a thermos or other insulated container for 15 minutes or so, then strain out the grain, a rinse with some extra hot water will get you a bit more extract.

I would want to boil the liquor, all malt has Lacto Bacteria on it, if you don't boil it for at least 10 minutes you have a good chance of getting an infection, Good time to boil any taste hops to.

Captnhaddock - Please this is a (mostly) Metric country, we got off the silly non system when I was still in short pants.
For mine your welcome here (more and different views are good) but just as a matter of basic manners try to post in metric. I have to convert when I'm chatting on some American fora so fairs fair.
Mark

PS
Peterlonz I just hope you are using a hammer while the BE2 is still in the bag - the mental image of someone whaling away at the top of a brew with a hammer was just a bit too much before a second cup of coffee...
M

 

[altone]

Personally I'd ditch the BE2 and use all light malt, or malt and maltodex if you are trying to boost the mouthfeel.
As for hops.... do you want an Aussie pale and American or English beer?
The Coopers real ale can be used as a base for them all.
I like English and American, so for English would add East Kent Goldings or Fuggles (I love Fuggles)
For American, Citra, Cascade and/or Amarillo are my usual choices.
For Aussie maybe Pride of Ringwood or Pacific Gem might work - never actually tried them though.

Good luck

 

[malt and barley blues]

Forgotten about the vacuum flask, used that a few times myself as well.

 

[captnhaddock]

Metric[/U] country, we got off the silly non system when I was still in short pants.
For mine your welcome here (more and different views are good) but just as a matter of basic manners try to post in metric. I have to convert when I'm chatting on some American fora so fairs fair.
Mark

Pedantically speaking, there's no practical need to boil, so long as you can bring & hold your wort to somewhere between 171f / 77c & 180f / 82c for 5-10 minutes, which is sufficient to sanitize and allow your yeast of choice (once your wort is cooled) time to dominate.

Yes Mark, I'm aware that the world has largely moved to the Metric system, it was a slip of the tongue so to speak.

 

[MHB]

I would be more inclined to boil the extract, anyone who has smelt expended grain after a day or two will know how effectively Lacto can survive even mashing out at or neat 80oC.
As the OP is a kit brewer and the instructions for making up a kit usually call for a couple of litres of boiling water, its pretty easy to, do you steep, extract the sweet water, bring it to the boil, use this boiling sweet water to steep any taste hops, then use it to dissolve the LME and any other adjunct.
Ticks all the boxes, sterilises the wort, gets the most "taste" from hops and helps with the making up of the kit.
Mark

 

[peterlonz]

Thanks to all for the suggestions.
Hammering away at a plastic bag of BE2 (can't recall the exact composition) is not fun because you need care to not break the plastic bag & still some larger lumps refuse to break up amongst the powdery debris. Freshly selected BE2 seems to be OK & is largely free of this problem.
I have tried dissolving in near boiling water but that takes ages, not nearly as easy as many suggest.
Regarding the hop options again thanks but can't see "Real Ale kit" being used for a how a pale ale.
I have used Fuggles before & think I should for now stick with that despite I have quite a range of 50g sealed hop packs.
On the issue of boiling the wort in whole or part: in over 30 years of brewing I have never boiled malt/wort & in that period zero infections.
I do add boiling water to the malt extract in the fermenter in order to dissolve it, maybe that's close enough. I then add the water from what I thought was steeped crushed crystal malt (is this steeping?)
which is below 80C to the fermenter before adding the BE2.
I often use 2 sachets of Coopers Yeast, sometimes recycled US-05 - unable to tell the difference when fermentation temp is held in range 19 - 20 C. The Coopers yeast starts more quickly & settles faster.
Again thanks,

 

[captnhaddock]

On the issue of boiling the wort in whole or part: in over 30 years of brewing I have never boiled malt/wort & in that period zero infections. I do add boiling water to the malt extract in the fermenter in order to dissolve it, maybe that's close enough. I then add the water from what I thought was steeped crushed crystal malt (is this steeping?)

Hammering away at a plastic bag of BE2 (can't recall the exact composition) is not fun because you need care to not break the plastic bag & still some larger lumps refuse to break up amongst the powdery debris. Freshly selected BE2 seems to be OK & is largely free of this problem. I have tried dissolving in near boiling water but that takes ages, not nearly as easy as many suggest.

Hi Peter, (IMHO) I think that's the thing, people are very afraid of infections for all the wrong reasons . It's not so much that you're going to catch an infection from the ingredients in so much as you're going to catch an infection from dirty / contaminated equipment (no, i'm not saying that it can't or won't happen, rather it's less common for airborne infections to be the issue & LME is Auto-sterile anyway).

Regarding the BE2 lumps do you have a blender with blades? Try chopping up the lumps in that (much like making home made confectioners sugar).

Here BYO's overview & method of how to steep grains (sorry units are in American...)

 

[brewgasm]

You could away Preheat your oven to 60 or 70 and bung it in there once you hit your strike temp on the stove top and add your grains. You should be able to hold your temperature for an hour with the oven off and the steep covered.

On clumping I avoid using coopers BE and their dme. If you have access to a LHBS get your fermentables from them. I don't experience clumping with my suppliers.

 

[An Ankoù]

I have for the last 2 years or so been basing my brews on Coopers Real Ale Kits.
I add about 300g of freshly crushed crystal malt grains heated between 65 & 75 Deg C for 30 mins - understand this is "steeping". Anyway I have difficulty keeping within that temp range even on a small gas flame & wonder how others manage this issue?
I also add about 25 g of hops boiled for 10 mins before adding to wort (pellets still in bag). I leave this sock of hops in the wort until ready to keg, usually about 12 days after pitching. This time is dictated by a rather slow settling of insolubles which would otherwise collect in bottom of keg.
I add also 1 Kg of BE2 but find this hard to dissolve completely & often end up with floating lumps on the surface where the yeast will be pitched, seems there should be a better way? BTW I have followed Coopers advice & used a hammer occasionally to break up the lumps, not pretty & it still takes ages to dissolve.
The brews are consistent generally speaking. Some guidance on suitable hops would be appreciated.
I have tried Willamette, Fuggles, Galaxy but can't get a handle on most suitable type or quantity.
I like my beer malty & hoppy.
Thanks

Hi.
Pommy brewing in France so not sure about some of your references:but. The temperature range for crystal malt isn't critical as it contains no enzymes and doesn't need converting as that's already been done in in the malting process. You just have to keep the temperature down below about 80C so as to not extract tannins from the husks. Never heard of BTW but what your describing is what I know as spray malt and it's horrendous stuff to get to dissolve- why not add extra malt extract? Mangrove Jacks do a great one- a bit pricier but you don't need to hammer it.
For full on hops, use Galaxy and Enigma if you want to stick with Oz hops, otherwise put some Citra in. The other hops you mention are of quite a different character.
Hope this helps.

 

[peterlonz]

Yes several LHBS do make up fermentable material packs in different ratios & in general they don't clump but that may be due to a reduced storage time.
I like the pre-heated oven idea, I had not considered it because I always assumed it would severely limit any ability to stir the grains But does this matter??
regarding CAPTNHADDOCKs comment re infections - not sure exactly what you are saying. I'd suggest amongst experienced brewers any infection is very rare. By now they have learned techniques to keep everything clean & start only with a clean sanitary fermenter. I do remain however surprised at the very frequent references to rinse free sanitisers. I use 50% bleach to sanitise my fermenter & very hot tap water (>80+ C solar heated) for everything else. Even with recycled yeast where maybe the risks are higher I get no infections ....ever>

 

[Reg Holt]

I do hope I am interpreting this wrong, but you are not putting bleach and 80 C water together?