time to bite the bullet!

[kay-jay]

Hi All,

Today is the day! gonna start my first extract brew today. its loosely based on daabs' esb recipe only i'm substituting the lme for dme.

hopefully todays endeavours will prove to be successful. when i've got a few successful brews under my belt i plan to go ag and replicate some of my grandads recipes from the 70's ( i've posted 1 recipe from his journal in the recipe forum "grandads 1974 recipe")

i will report back on any success/failure, however any tips or advice in the meantime would be very much appreciated.

cheers

KJ

[Spikesdad]

good luck... lets us know how it goes

[Dances]

bueno suerte senor espero que es..............

Sorry, couldn't help it when I saw your signature.

You will soon be doing AG when you realise it is much easier than you first thought.

Good luck and post the recipe if good.

[kay-jay]

Hi all,

okay so last night i went to my dads (he has the space and the equipment) and performed my first extract brew! heres how it went....

recipe based loosely on daabs' esb recipe in another thread (cheers chris). i replaced lme for dme and altered a couple other things to achieve the desired strength in brew engine. OH YEAH AND I ONLY DID A HALF SIZE.

RECIPE

DME 500 GRAMS
CRYSTAL MALT 70 GRAMS
SUGAR PALE SOFT BROWN 435 GRAMS

E.K GOLDING 30 GRAMS (35 MIN BOIL)
" " " 5 GRAMS (LAST 10 MINS OF BOIL) (ALPHA 4.6)
1 SACHET GERVIN YEAST 11 G
VOLUME 9 LITRES (BOIL 6 LITRES)

CALCULATED O.G 1.039
CALCULATED FINAL G 1.000

EXPECTED ALCOHOL CONTENT 5.1% ABV

BITTERNESS 35EBU

COLOUR 13.

So i started off in the usual way sterilising etc, while bringing brew liquor to 60-70 deg c. threw my crystal malt in, in a muslin beg and steeped for 30 mins while maintaining this temp range. during this time i stirred the bag very gently with a glass tube thermometer much like you would a teabag with a spoon. reason for this was it kept settling on bottom and i didn't want it to scorch and taint the brew.(also meant i kept my eye on the temp!)
removed bag after 30 mins added spraymalt and stirred until fully dissolved, turned up heat to bring to boil. had difficulty achieving boil so had to use lid almost completely on, but not quite.
threw in 30 g hops at start of boil (total boil 35 mins). ahh at last! a different aroma! kitchen no longer smells like a sodding horlicks factory after all its a different kind of nighttime drink i'm after he he!

(prepared yeast starter in between the hopping)

25 mins later added remainder of hops for last 10 mins of boil.
clock watchin the timer i had set for the boil....3 mins to go and all going good......oh sh1t i.ve not put the sugar in....mad panic 30 secs later sugar in and stirred phew! would have been a weak brew without that (much like horlicks??)

beep beep beep

time up, killed the heat poured directly in to f.v through what can only be described as a fantastic bit of kit for draining straining and filtering ( grandads from years ago!! i'll post pics sometime in the future) topped up with bl to target volume of 9 litres, stirred ,temp check about 20 degrees. yeast pitched, snap seal lid fitted with airlock bobs your uncle job done and no significant errors ( i hope)....oh sh1t whats that on the side...oh bugger its my irish moss! never mind i'm sure i read somewhere that extract brews are generally pretty clear without moss, finings etc.

i'll report back when ive been back to my dads to check on the ferment.

thanks guys for all your support

KJ

[Dances]

Pretty much how my extract brews go - should turn out fine - but I have found I need the Irish Moss to help a bit.

Would like to see the strainer as I just pour through a sieve which tends to work but not perfect.

How did you get the temp down to 20°C and how long did it take?

[kay-jay]

hi all,

dances- i just added more brew liquor to top up from 6litre boil (minus evaporation) to the 9l target brew size, was pretty much in correct temp range after that!

so - i just went round to my dads and found no visible signs of ferment!! placed it in front of a rad left for a while and checked again, temp last observed was 18 degs and climbing and there is now visible signs of a froth forming on top, observed through side of f.v

hoping that it is now starting to ferment properly - will check again tomorrow and report back.

btw the yeast i used was gervin, anybody know if its any good?

cheers

KJ

[kay-jay]

hi everyone,
just a quick update.

f.v is now at 24 degrees and is bubbling nicely. about an inch of foam on top. can't wait to be able to drink it.

can anyone answer a quick question about bottling.... how much space should i leave at the top of the bottle??

cheers

KJ

[Dances]

From what I have read on this site, I wouldn't let it get any warmer than your 24deg or flavour could be affected.

I use a bottling wand which auto sets the bottle head space which is usually about 1 inch and always turns out great.

[kay-jay]

hi all,

today my f.v is about 22-23 degrees. the vigorous ferment seems to have stopped and the foamy head observed through the side wall of the f.v seems to have dropped, in fact it looks more like a scummy residue on the side walls of f.v rather than a foamy head now . . . . is this normal??? i'm hoping that this just means that the yeast has worked its magic on the bulk of the fermentables and its action has therefore died down, but i'm unsure because i have no previous experience.

if anyone can shed any light on this i'd be very grateful. also can anyone tell me how long i should leave the brew in the fermenter before priming and bottling?? is it a set period or should i be looking out for specific signs that it is ready??

cheers guys and thanks again for all the valuable advice.

KJ

[phildodd]

Yes this is perfectly normal. The big, foamy head dies down after a couple of days and the yeast carries on working in a more sedate way.

[stitch]

Leave it in the fermenter for 5-7 days.

Towards the end start checking the gravity. If it remains the same for two days on the trot, it is finished.

[kay-jay]

hi everyone,

thanks for all the advice. ive just checked the gravity and its got down to 1.006, does that sound about right?? i'm gonna check again tomoz and if same, bottle it. can anyone tell me how much water to mix with my priming sugar??

oh and by the way when i tested the gravity, i drank a bit of it and it seems pretty much like beer! phew, a huge relief.....in fact it tastes like black sheep only a more pronounced flavour.

if i leave it til mid march will it be ok to drink?? i hope so cos thats my birthday and i would really like to drink it for that.

cheers guys

KJ

[stitch]

ive just checked the gravity and its got down to 1.006, does that sound about right?? i'm gonna check again tomoz and if same, bottle it. can anyone tell me how much water to mix with my priming sugar??

Yep - that looks good, it's unlikely to go down any further. But do check.

Mix with as little boiled, cooled water as possible. How much water depends on how much sugar. Enough to dissolve the sugar, ie. 200ml or so for, what, 20 grams of sugar for your 9 litres? Or, even better, use the beer.

[kay-jay]

cheers stitch,

unfortunately i forgot to test the o.g does this mean that i will be unable to work out the abv%. its not essential but i would like to know roughly how strong it is.


i was planning on using about 32 grams of sugar for my 9 litres.

cheers

KJ

[stitch]

I just had a look at your recipe; there's quite a lot of brown sugar in there! The FG may well drop further than 1.006 - the recipe predicts 1.000 which might be right.

And you're right, you won't be able to calculate the %ABV without measuring the original gravity, but whatever software you're using (Beer Engine?) should have got it about right.

32g of priming sugar seems more reasonable than my estimate.

Cheers!