first time extract with old peculier

[mrjonnyp]

just want to be 100% on this before i take the leap. im going to be using a 19 litre pot and im having a go at graham wheelers recipe of old peculier.
it calls for 295g crystal malt and 215 ( i take it these are crushed). Do i mix these in with the dme then bring to the boil or do i steep in a seperate pan and then add to the stock pot with the dme?
also what exactly is dry hopping? really want to have a go at this

[crafty john]

Yep crushed crystal, just dissolve the extract at about 60 or 70c and chuck it in. Dry hopping is adding a few hop cones to the keg after transferring, or you can transfer the beer to an intermediate vessel, dry hop in that for a few days then keg or bottle. Some people dry hop in a hop bag with some sanitised marbles in it so it sinks to the bottom and doesn't clog your syphon.

[mrjonnyp]

so it doesnt matter that its only a 19 litre pot caus in grahams book he says to boil 18 litres of water then when its mixed add the rest of the water. with a 19 litre pan would i boil around 16 litres of water then put it in the fv and top up with cold. sorry for the simple questions just dont want to waste my money

[Fuggled Mind]

You can steep the grains in a separate pan in water. Some prefer to add grains to water around 67°C and leave for half an hour then add this water to the boil. I generally add the grains to cold water and put the pan on the hob and using medium heat, allow the grains to steep. Just before it comes to the boil, I remove it, strain and add to my pan for boiling. An hour is a long time but I usually add the extract to my main pot during this time so it has time to boil and get on with cleaning and sanitising my equipment duirng this time (and checking that I don't get a boil over).

Once the steep has finished, I sieve my grains (don't have a grain bag) as I transfer the liquid to the main pot. Once a good boil has got going, I add the hops. I usually end up with 12-13L to add to my FV. I only brew to 19L and top the remainder up with cold water.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Jason

[mrjonnyp]

would this be any good from holland and barrett? http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... 3450&sid=0

[Fuggled Mind]

I've never used Holland and Barrett liquid extract because I live in Switzerland but I've used the Swiss equivalent of food grade malt extract in dried form. However, though it seems to clear like any other malt extract, it's often an expensive way of getting your extract. I only tried it out of curiosity. I'm fairly certain others have tried Holland and Barrett extract and the results have been fine. If you aren't sure, why not ask that question in the kits or extract forums.

If you can get malt extract for brewing (e.g. Muntons or Coopers) cheaper, I'd go with that but from what I can see, the price of H & B extract at two for one looks like a good deal.

Whichever you choose, happy brewing

Cheers

Jason

[mrjonnyp]

ok so iv hit a little snag on this one, its stopped fermenting on 1.030 when by now it should be 1.014. what can i do? i roused the yeast yesterday morning. what do i do now?
Any help is welcome

[Fuggled Mind]

Do you have any spare yeast? S-04 is good for this. There's advice for this situation on the website but you could also check the room temperature.

I had a stuck fermentation very recently with a clone of Salem porter. The cold snap a few months back seemed to shock the yeast and it stuck at 1.016. Rather than rouse the yeast, I racked to a new FV but allowed a lot of the yeast to pass through. I moved the barrel to a warmer room and two days later, it started back up again. I've never read about this method and cannot guarantee it will work for you but I was contemplating pouring it away.

But before doing anything, go to the frequently asked questions section for stuck fermentations

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6930

I hope it all works out for you

Cheers

Jason

[mrjonnyp]

The only yeast i had was youngs wine yeast so iv used some of that this morning, hope it doesnt ruin the flavour too much

[Jocky]

ok so iv hit a little snag on this one, its stopped fermenting on 1.030 when by now it should be 1.014. what can i do? i roused the yeast yesterday morning. what do i do now?
Any help is welcome

Definitely get it a bit warmer to try and wake the yeast up again - put it in a room in your house that stays fairly consistently warm for a few days.

[mrjonnyp]

i keep it in the towel cuboard upstairs, its normally 22c but because of the warm weather the other week we turned the heating of and when it turned cold again it dropped to 16-17c, i have some old bed quilts around it at the mo and its 20c. fingers crossed