Some Questions.

Hi I just got a delivery of various crushed grains and some liquid dark malt extract and honey. I am making a honey porter. I have about 4lbs of grain and 3lbs of LDME. This is the first time I made my own recipe, I usually order kits with directions so i need some guidance. How long should i steep this amount of grains before I add the LDME. I also got some irish moss. About what time do i add that and do i use a grain bag or just throw it in? And after the boil do I strain the wort before i put into fermenter and add yeast? Thanks alot.

heres the recipe. What do you think? Its my first time so be easy on me.

3.00 lbs. English 2-row Pils info
0.58 lbs. English Chocolate Malt info
0.37 lbs. Weyermann CaraMunich I® info
3.23 lbs. Liquid Dark Extract info
0.87 lbs. Honey info
1.1 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
0.50 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 15 min. info
0.50 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 1 min. info
Yeast : WYeast 1028 London Ale info

You can put the grains into a grain bag (the largest you can find - it'll fill it) and steep them in as much water as you can get. Probably hold them at about 155 for an hour or so.

Pull your grains (I usually lay them in a saucer and let them finish draining, then add that back to the kettle), add your malt extract and honey, hit a boil, and add your hops. In my experience, when using pellet hops, I never bothered to strain them out when they went into the fermentor (someone will disagree with me on this one). I do when using whole hops however - they're just so much bigger.

If you've made your own recipe, decide which hops are for bittering (they go in earlier in the boil, generally an hour is good) and which are for aroma (last 15 minutes down to flame-out - or even directly into the fermentor / secondary).

Your irish moss goes into the boil alone, about 15 minutes from the end - a half teaspoon is usually enough.

Any more questions?
kvh

*Edit* with that little LDME, you may want to do a mini-mash with your grains to get more sugars out of them. I've only done full mashes, and the equipment is probably something you don't have - hopefully someone will chime in with a simple mini-mash setup....

thanks alot that was sooo helpfull. I actually bought 2 grain bags to put the grains in. I was wondering how i was gonna get all the sugars out of it and a partial mash sounds good..But I have no idea how to do it. Any Ideas? Thanks again. oh one more thing. after the wort is chilled and you put the yeast on top you stir the yeast around in the wort or do u let it stay on top. I have gotton mixed reviews on this. Thanks

I steep my grains for about 40 minutes at 152-155, then strain with grain bag and sparge/rince with about 1/2 gallon at 165. I add the extract & then boil, others add the extract later in the boil. Irish moss for last 15 minutes of boil. Some people add the honey to the primary, but I add mine to the hot wort before cooling. I do not strain my wort after the boil either. Hops and all go right in the primary for a week and then rack to secondary for one more week.

Rehydrate your dry yeast in a cup of warm water. I start mine when I start brewing and cover the glass with saran wrap. When the wort is cooled, pour in the yeast and stir alot to aerate the wort.

ok thanks. So u put the grain in 155 water without a grain bag then u pour the water threw a grain bag into another pot then u rinse it back into the original? Is that somewhat right?

BrooklynBrew said:

ok thanks. So u put the grain in 155 water without a grain bag then u pour the water threw a grain bag into another pot then u rinse it back into the original? Is that somewhat right?

Click to expand...

..That is exactly how I do it.

more details after I get my little guy to bed

great thanks.

I usually use less grains, like 2 maybe 2.5 pounds and more liquid extract 5 to 7 pounds. I start with my medium pot. Heat water to 160 and then add grains. Grains will cool the water a little. After 30 or 45 minutes ( I bottle beer during this time ) I strain through a grain bag into my big pot. Four pounds of wet grains are now going to be as big as a basketball. Let them drip for a minute then place the bag back into the first pot and rinse with maybe 1/2 gallon 165. With this added water your big pot should be pretty full but still have room for extract. I add the extract and then heat to a boil. Some add extract later. Watch for the BOIL-OVER!! All of the sudden it gets foamy and GROWS, QUICKLY! If it gets too near the top, just lift it up for a few seconds. Add hops and set kitchen timer for 1 hour. After 30 minutes add aroma hops #1... 40 minutes#2 ..... moss with 15 minutes left if you use it ( I don't ) and last hops with maybe 5 minutes left. This is not an exact science.

After you add your yeast shake the piss out of your fermentor. The yeast need proper aeration. I usually strain out my hops with a strainer so that helps. Then I shake the carboy for a good five minutes or so.

ok thanks..i used a beer recipe generator and thats how much it told me to get ..next time i will get more extract and less grain..untill i feel like buying the equipment for an all grain....
thanks bigjon, thats what i usually do, i was just confirming.. and is there a difference if i leave everything in the fermenter untill the secondary or should i strain everything first? thanks

Wait a second..... I didn't say your recipe was wrong. I just said that using less grains and more extract is how" I usually brew". There are thousands of ways to make beer and most of them work. Your recipe might be great, but my style is extract with steeping grains and you are going for a partial mash. The 2 row you are using will take the place of some of the extract that I usually use and might even be a better beer!

Keep in mind, I have 3 kids, youngest just turned 4..... and I brew a batch every weekend. I go for speed brewing. Kitchen access is after everyone else has gone to bed on Saturday night. Sanatize, steep, bottle, boil, rack to secondary cool wort and pitch yeast is about 3 hours total.

So I say try your recipe. Beer is beer and there is a thousand ways of making it. Do what works for you and read this forum alot like I do.

Also, honey works like extract. It does not make your beer sweet. The yeast eats it up and turns it into alchohol and makes it taste dry like a dry wine. I like it a lot and use as much as 2 pounds per 6 gallon batch if the recipe calls for it.