Help right now.

Yakima 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.
J

jordanhollins

Active Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2011
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
AS I'm typing this my wort is about to boil on my first brew ever. I have a coppers larger kit and it came with 1kg of sugar (enhancer)
I have read how to brew and it says don't follow the instructions that come with the kits, instead follow John pharmers instructions cause they are more Indepth

So that is what I'm doing. How ever I any find in his book where to add the sugar???
In The coopers instructions it says add it at the same time as the extract concentrate

So when do I do this???
 
My wort is yet to boil and yet to go into the hot break. Do I wait for it to cool or add it now???

Help please
 
most every kit, you can add the dextrose before boiling. just so it gets dissolved into your wort, then add the LME or DME.

Relax... Don't worry, have a home brew. (or in your case, a commercial brew)
 
Well, I'm new too but if I had to venture a guess without any research... I'd say that you should add it with the extract like the kit says. If in doubt, revert to the manufacturers instructions. BTW... when you add anything, especially the extract, kill the heat until you get it mixed in well or you'll risk scorching.
 
Please tell me you're not boiling the pre-hopped cooper's can?! They should never be boiled. Just boil a couple gallons of water,stir in the brew enhancer. Take BK off the heat & add the cooper's can,stirring till no more LME can be scraped off the bottom.
 
Thanks guys. Started freaking out there. It's now in and on its way to boiling. (it haven't yet)
 
unionrdr said:
Please tell me you're not boiling the pre-hopped cooper's can?! They should never be boiled. Just boil a couple gallons of water,stir in the brew enhancer. Take BK off the heat & add the cooper's can,stirring till no more LME can be scraped off the bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes that's what I'm doing. I thought I was meant to boil till the hot break. Yes a coppers can.
 
You should NEVER boil pre-hopped extract. It destroys the hop profile,& darkens the LME. Then you wind up drinking beer with that "extract twang". With cooper's cans,in their simplest recipe form,you boil some water. Take it off the heat,add the enhancer,& the cooper's can. Stir til totally dissolved. Cover & let it steep 10-15 minutes to pasteurize,which happens at 160-170F.
 
Ok. It's off the heat. It never re boiled after the water had boiled.

I was just following the instructions in the book. ( not the coppers) cause in the book, 1st chapter it takes about how this is all too basic etc. so I thought sure I'll follow what the book says over riding coppers instructions.
Should I not do that again?
 
I just started reading HTB myself, but I would suggest *never* to specifically disregard the instructions provided with a kit without knowing exactly why you're making the change. The instructions may be painfully vague, but should at least be accurate.
 
jordanhollins said:
What's craigtube?
Click to expand...

Go to Youtube and search for craigtube. He has some good info and some not so good. I suggest watching a lot of the Youtube videos, reading all the stickies on this sight. Read the posts and search other sites. Get as much knowledge as you can.

In essence, read everything and then you will learn what to ignore as bad or outdated information.

Welcome and happy brewing.
 
He's probably the oldest home brewer on youtube. He uses cooper's cans in all kinds of brews. We stumbled onto his videos before we started buy equipment ourselves. He's good at showing how easy it is in the correct steps for using the pre-hopped cans. I've done a truck load of brews with cooper's cans combined with other ingredients. That's why I can tell you what should be done with them. You can check out my recipes for an idea of just what can be done with those cans.
 
jordanhollins said:
Ok. It's off the heat. It never re boiled after the water had boiled.

I was just following the instructions in the book. ( not the coppers) cause in the book, 1st chapter it takes about how this is all too basic etc. so I thought sure I'll follow what the book says over riding coppers instructions.
Should I not do that again?
Click to expand...

What book are you reading. The book is most likely generic instructions for UNhopped malt extract. You cannot do that for a hopped malt extract
 
hnsfeigel said:
I just started reading HTB myself, but I would suggest *never* to specifically disregard the instructions provided with a kit without knowing exactly why you're making the change. The instructions may be painfully vague, but should at least be accurate.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately a lot of kit instructions are very vague and some are very inaccurate.

That said following the vague directions for prehopped extract kits is better than going by a book, usually with more complete information, and unwittingly using unhopped extract directions.
 
hnsfeigel said:
I just started reading HTB myself, but I would suggest *never* to specifically disregard the instructions provided with a kit without knowing exactly why you're making the change. The instructions may be painfully vague, but should at least be accurate.
Click to expand...

Everyone here seems to recommend "how to brew" by John Palmer. So I followed his directions. He explains very well why to disregard the coppers directions, even ever step why to disregard.

Is it wrong to follow his book?
 
So what I getting here is that I'm using a hopped LME.

and following what he said is for I hopped. Ok. I don't think I did anything massively wrong. But I now have 3 gallons of hot wort. Instead of 2 liters like the instructions say I should. I'm trying to cool it down in the snow.
 
jordanhollins said:
Everyone here seems to recommend "how to brew" by John Palmer. So I followed his directions. He explains very well why to disregard the coppers directions, even ever step why to disregard.

Is it wrong to follow his book?
Click to expand...

That's why I clarified that I hadn't read yet... I'm not familiar with what he recommends. I was more speaking generally about going "off recipe" as a newbie. I will have to scan for that part now out of curiosity.

BTW, if any of that came off condescending it wasn't supposed to... just a thought on limiting the variables to avoid mistakes. :)
 
That's fine,I use a couple gallons in the BK. They just use 2L to mixe it all up in the fermenter. I did that only once,the 1st time. Then I tasted it (the OS lager that came with my micro brew kit). It was light & malty,pretty good really. for a light pale ale,since they give you ale yeast with it. But it needed some hops,sp I had to come up with a solution. A hop tea at the point where the water boiled for 15 minutes. Then remove hop sack,take it off the heat,add cooper's can. Def better,but still needs more.
So I went back inside my head to come up with yet another way. then it hit me. Use half a 3lb bag of plain (un-hopped) DME in the boil,so I could then do normal hop additions. Then add the rest of the DME & all of the cooper's can at the end. Then cover,& let steep for 10-15 minutes. Place BK in the sink,then fill the empty space to the top with ice. Top that off with cold tap water till a thermometer in the BK reads between 65-70F (pitch temp).
 
Thanks everyone. Let's hope this all worked out.
Next time I'll follow the instructions to a tea.
 

Similar threads

J
Brew Demon - 2 Gal. Dark Sweet Cherry Hard Cider Recipe Kit
Replies
2
Views
369
GoodTruble
G
Luxy
Beer enhancer required if brewing purely from DME?
Replies
37
Views
2K
Rish
R
_Keven
First time brewing how do I prime with belgian candi sugar?
Replies
4
Views
761
Jeroen79
J
D
Fermentation duration
Replies
8
Views
651
DTT
D
Tony B
First batch
Replies
10
Views
728
Kornssj
Kornssj
wps-hbt2

Latest posts

Back
Top