Extract brewing questions

[DC]

Hi all, I am looking to do a few extract brews before I go onto AG (busy sourcing equipment). My questions are as follows.

1. I am assuming I can use either LME & DME when making an extract brew
2. When doing an extract brew can I put the speciality grains & hops in bags whilst boiling.
3. Do I need to boil a full 5 gallons of wort or can I boil say 2 ½ gallons & then add cold water after the boil to make up to the final required volume.

I have watched these 4 videos on U Tube for making an extract brew. Is this the normal procedure for extract brewing or can it differ from brew to brew?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCqRH-fFRP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_166a3hQ ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs1AKfGa ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXymI6Gg ... re=related

So is it as simple as boiling up the LME or DME with speciality grains & hops in bags and then topping up with the remainder of the water up to 5 gallons? Or do I need to boil the full 5 gallons of wort with the grains & the hops

Any help greatly received

Cheers DC

Cheers DC

[ashbyp]

Hi all, I am looking to do a few extract brews before I go onto AG (busy sourcing equipment). My questions are as follows.

1. I am assuming I can use either LME & DME when making an extract brew
2. When doing an extract brew can I put the speciality grains & hops in bags whilst boiling.
3. Do I need to boil a full 5 gallons of wort or can I boil say 2 ½ gallons & then add cold water after the boil to make up to the final required volume.

Cheers DC

1. Yes you can use either,or a mixture of both. 3kgs or LME + 1kg of DME will give you about a 1050 og beer, ie: quite strong

2. Normal procedure is to steep the speciality grains before the boil. So, add water to your boiler, bring to 65 degrees. Put grains in grain bag and steep for 30mins. Remove grain bag and bring to boil. Now add extract and hop additions as per the recipe

3. Boiling 2.5 gallons and topping up with water is fine, although you will lose some of that 2.5 gallons to evaporation and just by soaking up into the hops. Boil as much as your pot will allow is the best thing todo - you really wanted to end up with 2.5 gallons after the boil.