Step by Step First Extract Brew

[Guzluka]

Thought my brew was ruined but is actually getting better with a age, a funnyish taste but seems to be getting better witht each sip, dont know whether its my biased or actually is. Next up a porter this friday, trying an extract with specialty grain, im gonna really let this one sit for a while, good things come to those who wait!!!

[RichardG]

Okay, so my 2nd extract brew went on today. I was aiming for something quite malty, Scottish 70/-ish. The recipe is;

1.6kg John Bull Amber LME
1.5kg Coopers Light LME
250g DME
250g Crystal Malt (30 min steep)

25g EKG 60 min boil
25g Fuggles 30 min boil
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min boil

Yeast - Safale S-04
Brew length 21 Ltrs

Given an efficiency of 85%, which was what I achieved on my last extract brew, and should be easily obtainable using extract, I expected an OG of 1043-45 ish. Imagine my chargin then when I actually measured an OG of 1026! Given the ingredients and brew length, together with this being an extract, that's simply not plausible. It implies an efficiency of 50%, which I just don't believe. There could be any number of reasons for this measurement, but I'm more than willing to listen to any suggestions. I've checked the hydro which is currently sat in cold water reading 1.000, so it's not that. The sample tasted really nice by the way. Good malt flavour coming from it, though it's somewhat paler than I expected. Given an attentuation of 75% a FG of 1.007 gives an ABV of 2.5%. Sorry, but I just can't believe that.

[RichardG]

Actually, after due consideration I may have the answer to my OG predicament. Once my wort had cooled sufficiently I poored this through a sieve into the FV. I then topped this up to 21 Ltrs with the remaining water and drew a sample from the top. Now, I suspect that, though the wort pooring gave it plenty of aeration (judging by the foam created!) the subsequent water addition probably hadn't had time to properly mix with the wort. Net result of this is that the sample I took was mainly water, hence the ludicrously lower OG reading. The answer to this next time would be to give the brew a damned good stir before drawing a sample to test, which will also provide additional aeration. It's not a huge issue either way, as the ABV isn't the be-all-and-end-all, but an accurate OG reading would be useful to know that the recipe used had worked out as planned, and to know when the fermentation has reached it's likely conclusion.

[RichardG]

Okay, so it's approaching two weeks in the FV for my 3rd brew. Current gravity comes out at 1014 which is about right given my estimated OG (see my previous posts for that little story!). If it's the same tomorrow it'll be time to bottle.

BTW there's an interesting thread below in which I've been finding out about the use of other specialist grains we can use that need to be mashed, rather than steeped. Enjoy!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21890

[RichardG]

Okay, so brew was bottled today. This has been something of a departure for me with the emphasis on the malt, rather than the hops. Having said that I'm rather pleased with the initial result. reckon I could be onto a good'un in 4 weeks time.

[RichardG]

So today I decided to put my 3rd extract brew on. This was a sort of special bitter style and the recipe was;

Brew lenght 25 ltrs
3.2kg pale LME
1.25kg pale DME
250g crystal malt steeped for 30 mins
Northdown 25g for 60 mins
Fuggles 35g for 30 mins
Fuggles 39g for 15 mins
Irish Moss
Sfale S-04 yeast

The final addition of fuggles was supposed to be 35g, but this would have left me with 4g to store, and I couldn't be ar$ed, so lobbed it in. Water was treated with a crushed campden tablet. Allowing for an efficiency of 85% I was aiming for an OG of 1051, and got 1055... which was nice. I would hope to get a FG of 1014-ish which would give an ABV of some 5% or so. Does mean a long conditioning time though!

One aspect I'd like to discuss. My brew pot isn't the biggest, about three gallons. It's adequate, but in order to keep the boil gravity down I've been boiling some of the extract seperately. Now this is a real faff, and to be honest, next time I'm seriously considering chucking all of the extract in at the beginning and living with the lower boil utilisation. Any thoughts on this?

[RichardG]

Strewth! It's a manic little bugger this one!

[OldSpeckledBadger]

One aspect I'd like to discuss. My brew pot isn't the biggest, about three gallons. It's adequate, but in order to keep the boil gravity down I've been boiling some of the extract seperately. Now this is a real faff, and to be honest, next time I'm seriously considering chucking all of the extract in at the beginning and living with the lower boil utilisation. Any thoughts on this?

Why not use less LME and more DME and add the DME post-boil? That way you should be able to control the boil gravity and only have to have one boil.

[RichardG]

Hmmm.... good point. Have to think about that.

[RichardG]

So this evening I'm bottling my third extract brew, a form of special bitter. The recipe is earlier in the thread, but basic estimated figures were OG 1051, FG 1014, ABV 4.86%. Actual figures were OG 1055, FG 1018, ABF 4.85%. It's come out a nice palish colour and one I'm most interested in seeing the final result. But, that's 4 - 5 weeks away. Oh well. Now all I have to do is think about what to do next!