Advice for my next step

[scorpien222]

I have been brewing for a good six months now beer an wine all of the beer I have done so far has been from kits I am wanting to take the step from kits and more to extract brewing (I don't have the space for a mash tun at the moment).
Any advice on simple starter recipes I am wanting to start with maybe just a one gallon batch as I only have a pan big enough for that.

I

 

[HerbieHowells]

By kits do you mean pre-hopped extract a la Coopers? Or steeping grain with extract kits? That will help someone know what your next step should be.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

If you want to see how well you've progressed, you can always try cloning one of your favorite beers.

 

[scorpien222]

I have been doing kits with pre hopped malt the very easy way lol

 

[nymtber]

Get a kit with unhopped extract and steeping grains. No matter what the kit says, keep the steeping water around 155°F which I find better (some say up to 170, I think thats too hot) and steep for about 30 minutes. Or if you want to start slower, get a simple kit with just extract and hops.

Northern brewer has a TON of kits, and so far all but one has turned out very good, and that was MY fault, not the kit! They also ship fast, usually I can order monday and get package Friday. Their instructions are very well-written, as well.

 

[HerbieHowells]

In that case, I would say then that your next step is to try extract with steeping grains. Here is John Palmer's primer on that technique. This thread will also be helpful.Your local homebrew store (or Northern Brewer, as mentioned above,) might have some suggested recipes on hand, or you could probably find a very simple English or American Pale Ale recipe to get you started. Take a look, for example, at This recipe, from the HBT collection. A basic American pale ale, made by steeping some Crystal, bringing the water to a boil, adding extract and hope, and boiling for a set period of time. That should get you started. Once you have steeping with extract down, you can brew many different styles of beer, and even start cloning some of your favorite commercial brews.

 

[DaNewf]

Add a 20litre pot (can be had cheap, <$20) and a 5 gallon paint straining bag (couple dollars? I forget) to the gear you already have and you are set to do partial mash brewing or small batch (3 gallons or less) all grain brewing using the BIAB style of mashing.

I've done a couple small all grain batches of oatmeal stout like this but more often I am partial masning based off a Cooper's prehopped kit.

Here's one I've done recently and really liked (I modified a recipe I found online)

Coopers English Bitter canned kit
Chocolate malt 30 g
Crystal 150 g
Canadian 2 row 2.25 kg
Mash @ ~155F
Fuggles 10 g @ 30 mins
Fuggles 20 g @ 5 mins
Cooper's kit yeast

Mash the grains BIAB style for 60 or 90 minutes (I forget which I did for this brew).

When mash is complete stir grain before lifting/rinsing/squeezing the grain bag.

Boil the wort for 60 minutes. The Cooper's kit (not added yet) is prehopped so there is no 60 minute bittering hop addition. I may not have needed to boil for a whole hour but I did it anyway. Add the Fuggles as prescribed above.

When the boil is finished add the Coopers English Bitter kit to the brewpot and stir it in.

Chill the brew pot in an ice/water bath.

Empty the brewpot into your fermenter (I poured through a strainer). Top up to 23 liters at the right temperature and pitch the yeast.

This is just an example. Google partial or mini mash using prehopped beer kit. You should find a better explanation than the one I just gave as well as more recipes done using this method.

 

[scorpien222]

Thanks for that guys plenty to go on there very helpful I will let you know how I go on I have found a website that sells extract kits I am tempted to try one of those and see how I go on.

 

[scorpien222]

Oh and I might give the able recipe a go thanks again

 

[scorpien222]

In that case, I would say then that your next step is to try extract with steeping grains. Here is John Palmer's primer on that technique. This thread will also be helpful.Your local homebrew store (or Northern Brewer, as mentioned above,) might have some suggested recipes on hand, or you could probably find a very simple English or American Pale Ale recipe to get you started. Take a look, for example, at This recipe, from the HBT collection. A basic American pale ale, made by steeping some Crystal, bringing the water to a boil, adding extract and hope, and boiling for a set period of time. That should get you started. Once you have steeping with extract down, you can brew many different styles of beer, and even start cloning some of your favorite commercial brews.

Would I be right in thinking in the pale ale recipe you sent me the link for that when you transfer the wort from the boil to the fermenting bin that you just leave all of the boil hops in or should you filter them out as there is no mention of removing them in the recipe ?

Thanks

Justin

 

[scorpien222]

Also if I doubled the boil time could I use half the hops ?

 

[RM-MN]

Also if I doubled the boil time could I use half the hops ?

No, in general it doesn't work that way. It typically takes an hour of boiling to isomerize all the hop oils. That isomerizing is what creates the bitterness that we like in our beer. At the end of an hour, the hops are all done. If you boil longer you don't get (much) more bittering from them.

 

[scorpien222]

No, in general it doesn't work that way. It typically takes an hour of boiling to isomerize all the hop oils. That isomerizing is what creates the bitterness that we like in our beer. At the end of an hour, the hops are all done. If you boil longer you don't get (much) more bittering from them.

Hi thanks for the response if you look at the recipe I was refering to above it only involves a 15 minute boil but quite a lot of hops gene what I was asking if I was to boil for 30 mins rather than 15 will half the hops do the same ?

 

[RM-MN]

I'm sorry, I didn't read all of the recipe. The bittering hops are already in the Coopers canned kit I believe so your other hops are for flavor. It still won't work to boil half the hops for twice as long as these hops are for flavor and aroma and if you boil them longer you boil off the aroma which is a big part of flavor. You'll end up with a beer that is more bitter because the extra boil time will isomerize the hop oils and less flavorful at the same time. In this case you should follow the recipe.

 

[HerbieHowells]

On your first question, leave the hops in while you cool, and then leave them in the brew pot when you transfer to secondary.

On the boiling time, you are on the right track, but I wouldn't assume that you could double the time and half the hops and expect the same beer- it isn't always as ordered as we hope it will be. That recipe uses a technique called hop bursting to get its bitterness from 15 minute additions. An illustration of the logic of hop bursting: 1 ounce of a hypothetical hop, if boiled over an hour, might add 25 IBUs to a beer. The same ounce, if boiled for a shorter period of time, might add only a quarter of the 25 IBUs. In that recipe, you add more hops to make up for the lower IBUs obtained from the shorter boil; four ounces of the hypothetical hop over the shorter period of time get you to the same 25 IBU that you might have gotten from boiling one ounce for an hour.

The problem with just cutting the addition in half is that nature tends to work on curves rather than straight lines (that's the best way I can explain it as a non-science guy). The rate of IBU return over time will diminish. So it probably would not work perfectly, although you still might end up with some good beer.

 

[scorpien222]

Thanks alot for the responses I lie in the UK and I have been looking around for hops and the other ingredients and I have to say they aren't as cheap as I would like hence the question of if I double the boil time can I use half the hops how much do you guy pay for the hops ? I only seem to be able to find 100gram packs which are 3.53oz and they are around £6 - £7 which is around $9.79.

 

[scorpien222]

That should have said live not lie lol. .

 

[HerbieHowells]

Depends on the variety, but I usually guess $2.00 to $2.50 per ounce at my LHBS. So it's a little less expensive. I think hop bursting is about getting as much flavor and aroma from the hops into the beer, which might be more important in making American ale as opposed to some English ales.

You might want to check out the Northern Brewer website for some recipes that use fewer hops. Go to their extract kit section, look for a beer that looks good, open that link, and then click on the "more information" tab. From there, you can find a PDF of the recipe.

 

[scorpien222]

Depends on the variety, but I usually guess $2.00 to $2.50 per ounce at my LHBS. So it's a little less expensive. I think hop bursting is about getting as much flavor and aroma from the hops into the beer, which might be more important in making American ale as opposed to some English ales.

You might want to check out the Northern Brewer website for some recipes that use fewer hops. Go to their extract kit section, look for a beer that looks good, open that link, and then click on the "more information" tab. From there, you can find a PDF of the recipe.

Thanks for that I will check it out.