1st time brewer

[Joshua Moore]

Good morning!


I just started brewing beer. My 1st kit was the Brewers Best Scottish Ale, pretty dang easy and good.

was scanning through a couple recipies here on the site and had a question about water amounts and when to add
Example:
Batch Size (Gallons):5.5

i did not see in the recipe to "start with X amount to boil"

Would it be safe to start with any amount of water? I can boil about 2.5 with the pot i have then add the other 3 gallons into the fermenting bucket.

is that normal to boil and steep with what you can then add the rest of the water later?

Also if the recipe doesn't include bottling instructions (how much priming sugar/water to use) how does one calculate that?

Any help would be awesome

Thank you

 

[Obese Chess]

I assume you are doing extract, which I have not done, but this information should track regardless. Someone else can whack me over the head if it doesn't.

Most recipe building software - Brewer's Friend, Beersmith, etc - will tell you how much water to start with, as well as priming sugar calculations. Regarding priming sugar, honestly, I plan to use carbonation drops because I like to eliminate as much guesswork as possible and the small price premium over regular sugar is worth it to me - I say "plan to use" because I haven't bottled my first batch yet.

Generally speaking, I would not add water to the fermenting bucket unless my original gravity was too high. It's worth investing in a larger pot - they are quite affordable at restaurant supply stores, I think I picked my eight-gallon aluminum pot up for just a hair under $45.

 

[Joshua Moore]

I assume you are doing extract, which I have not done, but this information should track regardless. Someone else can whack me over the head if it doesn't.

Most recipe building software - Brewer's Friend, Beersmith, etc - will tell you how much water to start with, as well as priming sugar calculations. Regarding priming sugar, honestly, I plan to use carbonation drops because I like to eliminate as much guesswork as possible and the small price premium over regular sugar is worth it to me - I say "plan to use" because I haven't bottled my first batch yet.

Generally speaking, I would not add water to the fermenting bucket unless my original gravity was too high. It's worth investing in a larger pot - they are quite affordable at restaurant supply stores, I think I picked my eight-gallon aluminum pot up for just a hair under $45.

And if the recipe was found just in these forums ( i havent found it in the mentioned software yet) would it be better to reach out to them directly?

 

[Obese Chess]

It is fairly easy to manually load existing recipes into the software of your choice. Otherwise it's certainly worth asking the author of the recipe, my limited experience here suggests everyone is happy to help.

 

[ncbrewer]

Lots of extract recipes are based on a partial boil, adding the remainder to the fermenter. You should find out what was the basis for your recipe - full boil or partial boil. Boil gravity affects hop utilization and resulting IBUs, so you need to get it right. If the recipe is for full boil, you would need to adjust the hops addition to compensate. This website has utilization formulas: https://realbeer.com/hops/
Brewing software can do this also.

For priming sugar, you can use the northern brewer calculator. Use the estimated volume going to the bottling bucket. I usually get about 0.40 gallons of trub loss in a 5 gallon batch.

And welcome to HBT.

 

[brewerstime]

Agreed. I'd get a larger pot. It's worth it in the long run. I actually just got two from a restaurant that was going out of business. I saw a FB listing for all their kitchen supplies and scooped them up. Keep your eyes open. There's all kinds of good deals out there.

I too usually use the northern brewer calc. It's a good resource to keep on tap.

 

[ncbrewer]

A full boil can solve problems with hop utilization and caramelization in a high gravity boil, but you would also need a heat source that can handle it, and be able to cool 5 gallons to pitching temperature. A partial boil - say about 2.5 gallons - can also solve the problems. You can add 1/4 - 1/2 of the extract at the beginning of the boil, then add the rest at flameout. The major limitation with late extract addition is the limit of IBUs to about 100. If you have 100 IBUs and than add an equal amount of top-off water, you end up with 50 IBUs. If you're ok with 50 IBUs, a partial boil should work for you.

 

[S-Met]

Just my experience and opinions on extract... my focus is not cheapest beer possible. I aim for a relatively simple and efficient brew process that does not eat into my busy schedule.

Don't buy kits unless you know the extract is fresh, especially if lme! I may model a recipe after a kit, but rarely use one. This helps ensure fresh extract and gives me freedom of hops and yeast.

I don't add extract until flame-out. Essentially minimizes the potential to scorch your extract. I also don't notice any of the "twang" with this method. I can't cite a source, but some on here claim that hop efficiency is greater in h2o than wort.

Partial boil works but your hop efficiency (or whatever its called) decreases. Fix: add a little more hops. Online calcs help if your trying to hit specific numbers.

If partial boil, I try for a little less than 1/2 volume and chill the other 1/2 h2o to speed the chilling post boil.

 

[Joshua Moore]

So question on adjusting a box kit by adding LME or DME.

Box kit says use X amount of priming sugar and water to bottle.

Will this value change?

In the case of the Scottish ale it says you use 3oz and 2 cups of water.

 

[kh54s10]

So question on adjusting a box kit by adding LME or DME.

Box kit says use X amount of priming sugar and water to bottle.

Will this value change?

In the case of the Scottish ale it says you use 3oz and 2 cups of water.

I'm not sure what you are asking regarding adding LME or DME. You can, but I suggest that you buy a kit or use a recipe that already makes the beer you want rather than trying to adjust with extract. At least until you have some recipe building experience.

For bottle carbonating you need to use the proper amount of priming sugar based on the desired level of carbonation that you want AND the volume of beer. The volume being the critical number. Too much sugar or too little volume could over-carbonate your bottles to the point of exploding them.

For making the priming solution, the water amount is not critical, the amount of sugar is. You do need enough water to dissolve the sugar though.

I use this priming calculator to make sure I prime correctly: https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator

 

[Joshua Moore]

I'm not sure what you are asking regarding adding LME or DME. You can, but I suggest that you buy a kit or use a recipe that already makes the beer you want rather than trying to adjust with extract. At least until you have some recipe building experience.

For bottle carbonating you need to use the proper amount of priming sugar based on the desired level of carbonation that you want AND the volume of beer. The volume being the critical number. Too much sugar or too little volume could over-carbonate your bottles to the point of exploding them.

For making the priming solution, the water amount is not critical, the amount of sugar is. You do need enough water to dissolve the sugar though.

I use this priming calculator to make sure I prime correctly: https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/priming-sugar-calculator

So i am going to buy the Brewers Best Scottish Ale( favorite style of beer)

I am going to add the additional LME to bump up the ABV, wasnt sure if that was going to effect the priming sugar needed

 

[kh54s10]

So i am going to buy the Brewers Best Scottish Ale( favorite style of beer)

I am going to add the additional LME to bump up the ABV, wasnt sure if that was going to effect the priming sugar needed

No it won't affect the amount of priming sugar.

Depending on how much additional extract you use you could throw the recipe out of balance though. If you use a recipe builder software you can find out if you also need to add more hops to keep the IBU/hop balanced with the malts.

 

[Joshua Moore]

No it won't affect the amount of priming sugar.

Depending on how much additional extract you use you could throw the recipe out of balance though. If you use a recipe builder software you can find out if you also need to add more hops to keep the IBU/hop balanced with the malts.

i downloaded the trial of beersmith 3. How would one know by using the software that it is with in balance?

 

[kh54s10]

i downloaded the trial of beersmith 3. How would one know by using the software that it is with in balance?

Beersmith is a tool that you will need to mess around with to learn how to use it properly. The most important part is getting your equipment profile dialed in properly. When you have that you can compare. Put the recipe as is in the software and look at the IBU scale. Then add the extract to the recipe and see what happens on that scale. If it goes too far to one end or the other, you will either have a malt forward beer or at the other end (too many hops) it will be bitter or very hoppy. The best way is to note where the scale is then add extract AND hops to keep the pointer in the same position.

There are online calculators that are more plug and play.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

So i am going to buy the Brewers Best Scottish Ale( favorite style of beer)

I am not sure how big of a fan I am of the Brewer's Best kits. It has been many years since I used one, but they are an easy place to start. I am a bigger fan of online and local stores that sell recipe kits packed with fresh ingredients.
Examples from Morebeer:

• 4.5% ABV 80 Shilling: https://www.morebeer.com/products/scottish-export-80-extract-beer-brewing-kit-5-gallons.html
• 8% ABV Scotch Ale: https://www.morebeer.com/products/scotch-ale-extract-beer-brewing-kit-5-gallons.html

The Brewer's Best kit is for a 3.25% - 3.5% ABV beer. If that is not what you want, then I would look to a different kit. Adding a bit of malt to get to a 4% beer is probably fine, but pushing this kit to a 5% or above beer just adding extract will push the malt out of balance with the specialty grains and hops.

Note that the term "Scottish Ale" is applied to a wide variety of beers. Many Scottish Ales are low ABV (4% ish) served on cask. Americanized Scottish Ales tend to be high ABV, but there is a basis for high ABV Scottish/Scotch Ales brewed currently or historically in Scotland.