Our first Extract Brew

Discussion on brewing beer from malt extract, hops, and yeast.
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DDoe
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Our first Extract Brew

Post by DDoe » Mon Feb 08, 2021 4:44 pm

Today hubby and I have got our first extract brew on the go. 5L Citra Pale Ale.

It took almost as long to portion the leftover ingredients and vacuum seal them as it did to brew the beer!

It's in a built in cupboard in our spare bedroom, we figured this would have the most stable temperature.

Onwards and upwards😁🤞👍.

f00b4r
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by f00b4r » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:01 pm

Great job on your first brew!

guypettigrew
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:23 pm

Excellent. Keep us posted!

Guy

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Cobnut
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by Cobnut » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:51 pm

Good luck. Hope it works out well. \:D/
Fermenting: nowt
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!

WalesAles
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by WalesAles » Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:49 am

DDoe,
Good Luck on the Brew! =D>
If you use `The Malt Miller` for your ingredients, you can specify exactly what you need
and you won`t have any leftovers to bag up.

WA

What did you Brew?

guypettigrew
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by guypettigrew » Sat Feb 20, 2021 4:18 pm

Hello DDoe

How's the Citra brew doing?

Guy

DDoe
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by DDoe » Sat Feb 20, 2021 11:23 pm

Hi Guy. Thanks for asking.

It's not been plain sailing but I think it's alright.
Fermentation looked to have started the next day (I peeked and saw the beginnings of some krausen) but the airlock wasn't bubbling. This was the case for a good few days so I decided to investigate further. The lid had unclipped from part of the rim, to let out the CO2 that couldn't escape from the blocked airlock😣, I removed cleaned and replaced the airlock and firmly closed the lid all round....the airlock bubbled! It's now getting on for a fortnight (on Monday in fact) and there doesn't appear to be any more bubbling. I shall leave it until Monday and if I don't see any sign of bubbling I will have a look in the fermenter to see if it looks like it's finished, if so I shall test the SG and go from there.

🤞all is ok!

guypettigrew
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by guypettigrew » Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:44 pm

Sounds good! Don't leave it too long in the fermenter. One of the commonest causes for homebrew not tasting good (IMHO) is being left too long in the FV. Primary fermentation is usually over in 3-5 days, after which cooling the beer and getting into bottles or kegs will protect it from oxidation and infection.

Guy

DDoe
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by DDoe » Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:22 pm

Thanks for that Guy.

It's destined for bottling on Tuesday. It might have been tomorrow but the bottles didn't make it from the shed today so the washing will need to be done tomorrow in order to be ready for sanitizing and filling on Tuesday.

I'm not going to say who didn't bring them in.......but it wasn't me :whistle:.

guypettigrew
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by guypettigrew » Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:00 pm

It wasn't me either!! Doesn't leave many choices.

Guy

DDoe
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by DDoe » Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:04 pm

Oh, I know who it was😉😁😁.

Bottles have been washed and the beer peeked at. The yeast that was on top a few days ago has now dropped. Tomorrow it is then!

DDoe
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by DDoe » Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:54 pm

All bottled now👍.

It went pretty well, except the crown capper is a bit on the cheap and not that great side. 🤞all the caps are on securely. Once we've decided if this brewing lark is here to stay we'll get a better one.

We had a little taster, it was ok considering it was warm flat beer, no homebrew twang from kits of yesteryear!

sandimas
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by sandimas » Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:38 am

Did you use DME or LME? On another brewing forum some of us have come to the conclusion that the liquid stuff causes the homebrew twang, hence why it occurs in tinned kits. Some of us tried some unbranded LME in Extract brews and we all got the twang.

Good luck with the brew, it should be miles better than a kit. I extract brewed for a long time, in fact I now do BIAB with the same equipment (15L stockpot) and add in 1kg DME so I can brew bigger volumes).

DDoe
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by DDoe » Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:50 pm

We used DME.

That's useful information about LME👍. We went for the DME as some (of either type) would be leftover and excess dried is easier to store than the liquid stuff (we vacuum packed it).

I can't see us moving on from extract brewing, mainly as it's a shorter process. Whilst we're not ancient we're not in the first flush of youth either, and the shorter brew day suits us.

sandimas
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Re: Our first Extract Brew

Post by sandimas » Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:16 pm

I may get lambasted for this, but I think AG brewing only gives you a tiny step up in terms of quality on Extract brewing. I stuck with Extract for years and when I eventually went AG I was a little disappointed. Of course with AG you can brew a much wider range of beers with all the different grains, but if you just brew mainly British ales as I do, there's not a lot to be gained.

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