First brew under my belt, now a couple questions

[ndeer44]

I brewed Emma's brown ale from NB and just sealed it in my primary. Some minor details wern't as expected so i have a few questions.

1. I was expecting some hot and cold break to be on the bottom of the kettle after cooling and pouring into the primary, but I just had a little bit of clumped substance still floating in the liquid. I used a big ice bath and was able to get it down to ~80 in 12 minutes. Is there supposed to be any trub when using an extract? If there was, does affect the flavor much if left in before being racked to secondary (I want to free up primary).

2. I went from 2.8 gallon pre boil down to 1.8 gallons, is that too much loss during boiling?

3. I tasted the sample while testing OG (1.042 when called for 1.046) and had decent flavor but was extremely watery. Of course there is no alcohols yet, but is this expected.

Thanks!

 

[Dynachrome]

1. I was expecting some hot and cold break to be on the bottom of the kettle after cooling and pouring into the primary, but I just had a little bit of clumped substance still floating in the liquid. I used a big ice bath and was able to get it down to ~80 in 12 minutes. Is there supposed to be any trub when using an extract? If there was, does affect the flavor much if left in before being racked to secondary (I want to free up primary).

You're thinking too hard for first brew my friend. Extract has very little solids left before fermentation. You will get some foam on top when the yeast work. After about a week that will settle down and go away. The trub will be on the bottom then. it will look like a light grey cake. Try not to disturb it when you transfer to your bottles or bottling bucket

2. I went from 2.8 gallon pre-boil down to 1.8 gallons, is that too much loss during boiling?

That sounds like a lot of loss. You gravity below sounds good though.

3. I tasted the sample while testing OG (1.042 when called for 1.046) and had decent flavor but was extremely watery. Of course there is no alcohols yet, but is this expected.

It should taste sweet now. What does the kit/recipe say for final gravity?

Cold break is for someone who has a few brews under their belt. I have brewed for about five years and have never gone after that pixie.

 

[ndeer44]

That sounds like a lot of loss. You gravity below sounds good though.

What can cause this much loss and is it a problem?

It should taste sweet now. What does the kit/recipe say for final gravity?

It tastes sweet, but very dilute dilute. FG should be 1.012.

 

[Captain Damage]

I don't think your boil off rate is excessive at all. My boil off is 0.95 gallons / hour. For extract beers you can partially cover the kettle to reduce your boil off, but be aware this may increase your chance of boil over.

 

[masskrug]

1. Not sure

2. I anticipate boiling off at least 1 gallon an hour.

3. 1.042 is not a huge beer. I would not expect it to be overpoweringly sweet.

 

[m1batt1]

2. I went from 2.8 gallon pre boil down to 1.8 gallons, is that too much loss during boiling?

3. I tasted the sample while testing OG (1.042 when called for 1.046) and had decent name but was extremely watery. Of course there is no alcohols yet, but is this expected.

Thanks!

I'm assuming you topped off with water to get to your volume for the kit? If so that explains the slightly more watery taste and slightly lower OG. Wort is much more dense than water and because of this they don't mix real quickly. So assuming you ended at the correct volume and you used what came in the recipe your OG should actually be 1.046.

And the excess boil off is only a problem if you don't have enough clean water available to compensate for it at the end of the boil.


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