Yesfan

Recipes 

Some more questions.


I ordered the Brown Ale kit from NB, so plan on trying the techniques mentioned here. The Brown Ale recipe includes some specialty grains to steep. The kit mentions to steep the grains for 20 minutes, or until the water temp hits 170 (whichever comes first). Seems I've read here some folks bring the water temp to 170 first, then steep the grains for 20 minutes. Which is correct? If either way's fine, then which would be more beneficial?

Also, besides the steeping grains, there's only a single LME and single hop addition (fuggle) to add to the boil. Instead of boiling both for 60 minutes in 2.5 gallons, per instructions, could I just boil the hops for 60 minutes in 4 gallons of water and add the entire LME contents towards the end? I thought maybe just add the entire LME at 10-15 minutes before the end of the boil.

Yooper

Recipes 

It doesn't matter a bit. Either way is fine. It's like asking "which is better to heat soup? Microwave or saucepan?" Truly, it doesn't matter. You're making a "tea" from the grains and you just don't want to exceed 170 degrees.

I"d probably add a bit of the LME to the beginning, and then add the rest of the extract at flame out. It would be easier than adding it with 15 minutes left, because it will stop the boil when you take it off of the heat and stir it in. I'd probably add about 1/3 of it at the beginning, and the rest at the end.

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Brulosopher

Recipes 

I'd bet cash money you will be cleaning up a gigantic sticky mess of you try to boil much more than 3 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle... UNLESS you use this magical (and cheap) stuff called FermCapS. Whew doggy, this stuff is amazing! You could very easily/safely boil 4 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle- just use about 5 drops in your 4 gallons of wort. Seriously, magical.

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Easiest Method for Harvesting Clean Yeast

Keezer/Kegerator Build

Recipes Worth Brewing... Over and Over and Over Again:
Tiny Bottom Pale Ale (House Pale Ale)- Sessionable, crisp, earthy/floral
Brulosopher's Dark Brown Ale - Creamy, subtly complex, incredibly quaffable
Brulosopher's Blonde Ale - Crisp, dry, nice malt-hop balance

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." - FN

Yesfan

Recipes 

I'm know I'm pushing the envelope on the boil amount, but the wheat recipe I brewed came no where near to boil over at 2.5 gallons. I followed my first batch recipe to a T (2.5 gallon boil, 2wks ferment, 2wks bottle condition, etc.), so I'm thinking of seeing what I can tweak by going with another simple recipe so I'll know what my limitations are. Just like the last batch, this is mainly to hone my noobie skills.

I'm just going to increase my boil amount to an additional gallon for the time being and go with adding a 1/3 of the LME at the beginning and the rest at the end.

Brulosopher

Recipes 

FermCap!

__________________


Easiest Method for Harvesting Clean Yeast

Keezer/Kegerator Build

Recipes Worth Brewing... Over and Over and Over Again:
Tiny Bottom Pale Ale (House Pale Ale)- Sessionable, crisp, earthy/floral
Brulosopher's Dark Brown Ale - Creamy, subtly complex, incredibly quaffable
Brulosopher's Blonde Ale - Crisp, dry, nice malt-hop balance

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." - FN

Yesfan

Recipes 

I may look into that. There's some other things I need to order, so may add that to the list.

Brulosopher

Recipes 

FERMCAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's cheap, get it... you'll never look back

__________________


Easiest Method for Harvesting Clean Yeast

Keezer/Kegerator Build

Recipes Worth Brewing... Over and Over and Over Again:
Tiny Bottom Pale Ale (House Pale Ale)- Sessionable, crisp, earthy/floral
Brulosopher's Dark Brown Ale - Creamy, subtly complex, incredibly quaffable
Brulosopher's Blonde Ale - Crisp, dry, nice malt-hop balance

"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." - FN

MMJfan

Recipes 

I usually boil between 6 to 6.5 gallons in my 7.5 gallon brew kettle and I'm usually left with well over 5 gallons by the end of the boil.


I'm going to have to invest in some of this sh!t! I haven't had a major boil over but I've come close a couple of times. Made a xmas ale over the weekend and I had over 10 lbs of liquid extract to add and the wort level was right up to the brim of my brew kettle. I thought for sure I was in trouble, but I managed to keep it under control! But that FermCap sounds like it would have helped tremendously!

Transamguy77

Recipes 

When I was doing extract I used to start with 3 gallons of water in a 5 gallon pot and add 1/2 the LME or ALL the DME at the beginning and keep a spray bottle close, as long as I was watching it I never had a boil over. Even now I have a 7.5 gallon pot and start with 6+ gallons and as long as I'm watching it I don't have a boil over.

Northern Brewer has a video on YouTube the shows them making the exact same kit (Caribu Slobber if I remember correctly) with both a partial and full boil and show the pros and cons of both.

zacster

Recipes 

I used 2 pots when I was doing extract up until this year. I'd just split the LME and hops between the two and get about 3.5 gallons at the end, and then top off to 5 gallons. That's probably at the low end of boil size for a 5 gallon batch. I switched to all-grain and full boil but I can't say that my extract partial boil batches were that much different in the end. I made some pretty good beer that way.

For steeping grains, I always kept them around 150 to 158, depending on recipe. The high end produces unfermentable sugars which give the beer mouth feel and a touch of sweetness, desired in certain styles. I know now why this works, but at the time I just followed the recipe without knowing much about the chemistry.