Extract without Hop strainer / hop-bed filter or cold break?

[WishboneBrewery]

Is it possible to make an Extract brew without a Hop strainer / hop-bed filter of cold break material?
If a dark beer or stout was made would you get away with just a boil up, cool, and sypon off (or strain into FV).
Just wondering.

Once we move house and I have more room I will definitely being having a go at Extract, maybe AG, but for the moment I'll just be tweaking Kits... but if there is an in-between stage where I could try small scale Extract brews it would be good for learning.
Cheers

[OldSpeckledBadger]

It's the way I used to do it in the old days and the way I'm to try for my next brew (probably an Old Speckled Hen clone). By using DME instead of LME I'll avoid the hot break/cold break problem and a fine sieve should take care of the rest.

[WishboneBrewery]

So you can still add special crushed malt grains in a bag then?? Do you not get Break proteins from the grains?

Cheers

[Waffty]

So you can still add special crushed malt grains in a bag then?? Do you not get Break proteins from the grains?

Cheers

Speciality grains don't need to be mashed, as in essence they're there for the flavour/mouth feel & not their fermentable content. So simply steep them to release these flavours and add them to your wort. If you're using say 200g to 400g of grains, then I split the mixture between two bags, to help he flavour defuse & like a tea bag, don't be afraid to give it a 'dunk' every now and again.

So it goes something like this, steep speciality grains for 30mins (flavour etc is released), stir in the LME, DME etc & bring to the boil, there will be a protein break but this isn't great, then in goes the hops, boil, boil, boil, cool, ferment, job done.

[WishboneBrewery]

Good stuff...
thanks for that.
Maybe I can sneak a small extract brew in amongst the kits
I've got some hops to collect from BarleyBottom, maybe I'll come back with more than I've ordered!

[WishboneBrewery]

Ooo,.... and I've just noticed there are actually some recipes in Graham's book that don't actually require anything more than spray malt and hops
Thats got to be worth me trying