Tweaking IPA kit recipe for Late Extract Method

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
R

rode_orm

Active Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2013
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
Brewing the "Dead Ringer" extract kit tonight. This kit is a Bell's Two Hearted clone. Being my 3rd brew, I am considering trying something new -- late extract addition. From what I understand, late extract method requires tweaking the hops due to higher hop utilization.

I am doing 3 gallon boils, topping off to 5 gallons in the fermenter.

The kit's default recipe is as follows...

1lb Crystal 40 specialty grains
9lb LME
1oz Centennial @60min
1oz Centennial @20min
2oz Centennial @5min
...
1oz Centennial dry hop

If I were to only add 4.5lbs of the LME at the start, and the other 4.5lbs at flameout (or maybe w/15 minutes to go?), should I lower the hop amounts to maintain the designed level of bitterness?

Thank you for your assistance.
 
rode_orm said:
Brewing the "Dead Ringer" extract kit tonight. This kit is a Bell's Two Hearted clone. Being my 3rd brew, I am considering trying something new -- late extract addition. From what I understand, late extract method requires tweaking the hops due to higher hop utilization.

I am doing 3 gallon boils, topping off to 5 gallons in the fermenter.

The kit's default recipe is as follows...

1lb Crystal 40 specialty grains
9lb LME
1oz Centennial @60min
1oz Centennial @20min
2oz Centennial @5min
...
1oz Centennial dry hop

If I were to only add 4.5lbs of the LME at the start, and the other 4.5lbs at flameout (or maybe w/15 minutes to go?), should I lower the hop amounts to maintain the designed level of bitterness?

Thank you for your assistance.
Click to expand...

Hops utilization doesn't depend on the amount of the extract in the boil. It used to be thought so, but since about 2008 that's been disproven.

Just use the hops as written, and it will be fine.

I would add the bulk of the LME at flame out, so it doesn't stop the boil and mess up the hop schedule at 15 minutes. A good rule of thumb is to use 1 pound or so of extract per gallon of water in the boil at the beginning, and the rest at flame out.
 
Ah, that makes sense as the big thread I was reading was from 2007!
 
I just brewed this almost exact recipe, not the kit as it was cheaper to buy the ingredients elsewhere. Yooper is right, just keep the hops the same and do the late addition. I found it easiest because of how my LME was packaged to add 3lbs to start.

On a side note, I typically use a 6.5 gallon carboy for fermenting without the need for a blow off in most brews up to an OG of 1.065. This one was a first and luckily I caught it before a giant mess. If you don't have a ton of head space in your fermenter, I suggest using a blow off tube until the most vigorous part of fermentation has ended then switch to an air lock.
 
Brewing with late extract addition went great. Did 3lbs to start, then 6lbs at flameout as suggested.

Unfortunately during cleanup I found my whirfloc tablet had gone unused. I guess this beer will be a bit cloudy, but hopefully still taste awesome... perhaps Biofine Clear would help?

One of these days I'll finish a brew mistake free!
 
How quickly were you able to cool your wort to pitching temps? If you were able to do it efficiently then you should be fine as long as you give it a fair amount of time in the fermenter. I rarely bother with a secondary unless adding fruit. I would go 3 weeks in primary, then add your dry hops for 7 days, then bottle/keg. You should have a fairly clear beer aside from maybe a touch of chill haze.

Oh, and I'm curious to know if you used a blow off tube or just an airlock or if you even needed a blow off? It should be about that time for one if you are going to need it or you aren't keeping your temps at the low end.
 
brtisbuck said:
How quickly were you able to cool your wort to pitching temps? If you were able to do it efficiently then you should be fine as long as you give it a fair amount of time in the fermenter. I rarely bother with a secondary unless adding fruit. I would go 3 weeks in primary, then add your dry hops for 7 days, then bottle/keg. You should have a fairly clear beer aside from maybe a touch of chill haze.

Oh, and I'm curious to know if you used a blow off tube or just an airlock or if you even needed a blow off? It should be about that time for one if you are going to need it or you aren't keeping your temps at the low end.
Click to expand...

Relatively quickly. I gave the LME 10 minutes to pasteurize after flameout and then turned on the water for the wort chiller. By 30 minutes after flameout I was at pitching temps.

I hooked it up to a blowoff tube. I learned the hard way with my last batch (an American Amber Ale) which I found flowing out of the airlock one morning. I used US-05 yeast which was re-hydrated. The krausen has risen to within a couple of inches from the bottom of the neck of the 6 gallon carboy. Right now I'm at about 58 hours after pitching yeast and the temperature is kept at between 68 and 70ish. How was your fermentation?

Thanks for the advice.
 
I used Wyeast 1056 for mine. I pitched lower than I normally do, say about 70 where I normally pitch at about 78/80. I keep temps 64-65 with an ambient temp of about 62. It started slow and at 24 hours I had about 1.25" of krausen. At 48 hrs it was just entering my airlock, and at at 5 days I switched back to the airlock. I'm at 15 days and still bubbling, but nothing crazy. It's hard to see what is going on in there due to the krausen residue left on the sides of my fermenter.

If everything looks normal in another 7 days I will dry hop and stay on schedule. Because I typically just due a 4 week primary, I usually don't bother checking gravity until bottling day.
 
Yooper said:
Hops utilization doesn't depend on the amount of the extract in the boil. It used to be thought so, but since about 2008 that's been disproven.
Click to expand...

Yuck! The formula I use for for figuring out bittering assumes that it does! I boil my hops just after steeping so the wort is very thin, but I still might be effing things up.
 

Similar threads

Tony B
First batch
Replies
10
Views
648
Kornssj
Kornssj
F
Converting an extract recipe to all grain
Replies
2
Views
239
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
jturman35
Red IPA recipe
Replies
16
Views
2K
Indian_villager
I
Collin Evans
Fermentation Lag
Replies
5
Views
201
sibelman
sibelman
BiddoBrasserie
Extract OG way lower than target
Replies
21
Views
1K
BrewnWKopperKat
BrewnWKopperKat

Latest posts

Back
Top