A Pictoral how to brew an extract kit.

Here is an in depth pictorial "How To" thread on extract brewing. This is the Holiday Merry Ale from Brew Your Own Brew. Here is the recipe.

SG 1.062-1.064
FG 1.014-1.016
ABV 6.0%
Color SRM 80.1
IBUs 34.1

6 lbs. Amber Dry Malt Extract
.5 lb. Candi Sugar
.5 lb. 60L Crystal Malt (grain)
.25 lb. Black Patent (grain)
.25 lb. Chocolate (grain)
.5 lb. Carapilis Dextrine (grain)
1 oz. Northern Brewer Hops (bittering)
1 oz. Glacier Hops (aromatic)
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Tbs. Cardamom Seed
1 oz. Dried Bitter Orange Peel
1 Tbs. Nutmeg
Windsor Yeast



This kit calls for a 3 gallon boil.


Once I poured the water in my brew pot I put my grains into the steeping bag.


As the water was warming to 155F I placed the steeping bag into the pot. Some people wait until the water reaches steeping temps, I however don't. Whatever works best for you is fine.


I then tied my steeping bag to the handle of my pot so it's suspended above the bottom of the pot. This way the grains aren't resting directly on the heat.


This is just a cool picture of what the steeping process looks like.

Not that it matters, but here is the brewing shirt I wore today. Yeah, I'm a beer nerd.


While the water was heating to steeping temps I covered the pot so the water could warm up more efficiently.


Once the temperature reached 155F it was time to let it sit for 30 minutes. Keep the grains in the pot at this point. I just thought I would clarify since you can't see them in the picture.


After 30 minutes of steeping it was time to remove the grains. For those of you who haven't noticed I moved my pot to the garage while steeping. I always begin steeping on my stove so I don't use unnecessary propane.


Ready for malt extract.

Once the grains were removed I added my malt extract and candi sugar. This is still at steeping temps. Some people bring it to a boil, remove from heat, add malt extract and stir well then bring it back to a boil. Whichever way works best for you is fine.




Stir well.


Cover and bring to a boil.


Once the wort begins to boil it's time to add the hops. This is one of the times a boilover can occur. You might want to keep an eye on your kettle during this part of the process. One thing I need to mention here is the fact that you can get a ring of hops around your kettle if using hop pellets. Just scrape the sides of your brew pot and put the hops back into the wort. This is so you get the proper amount of bitterness that the recipe calls for. Unfortunately I have no picture of this.

This recipe calls for an hour long boil with a hops addition at the beginning of the boil and at 45 minutes. Since I'm waiting around for 45 minutes now is a good time to have a home brew. Now which one should I choose?


I went with the blueberry chocolate stout I bottled last month. I hope you guys recognize the webpage I was on.


You want to make sure to have a rolling boil.


After 45 minutes it's time for my second hop addition.


Orange peel going in at 45 minutes.


Spices at 45 minutes.

The orange peel was floating so I stirred it in.


I made sure to sanitize my bottling bucket. I use the bottling bucket to aerate my wort.


I also made sure to sanitize my fermenter as well as the lid that I'll be using for this batch.


Once I sanitized the bottling bucket I put 1 gallon of water into it. It's a 3 gallon boil with approximately 1/2 gallon lost due to evaporation during the boil. I add 1 1/2 gallons of ice and 1 gallon of water to make up the difference.


I use 2 of these containers to get 1 1/2 gallons of ice. I ALWAYS cover them while they're freezing. I don't want anything falling into my water in the freezer. I also ALWAYS use filtered water. Remember, if you have poor quality water you'll have poor quality ice.


Once the wort is added to the ice and water it takes about 10 minutes to get to pitching temps.

There is a lot of debate about proper pitching temps on here. I'm not going to get into that, but I pitch if the temperature is between 80F and 60F.


Once everything is mixed and at pitching temps it's time to take your SG. I don't have a wine thief, but a turkey baster works well. Anything that touches your wort (especially after cooling) needs to be sanitized. If you don't sanitize you can and most likely WILL introduce bacteria into your wort. Live bacteria in your wort is NOT A GOOD THING! Please make sure you don't skimp on sanitizing. I keep some starsan solution in a spray bottle close by.


This batch has a SG of 1.062 which is right on par with the recipe.


Time to aerate the wort!

After all of the wort gets transferred to the fermenting bucket it's time to add the yeast. On the dry yeast packet it tells you to mix with warm water and let it cool to pitching temps. You can do this if you'd like, but I always add the dry yeast directly to my cooled wort. Both ways work well.


Once the yeast is added I mix it up to make sure the yeast is mixed in with the wort as opposed to just sitting on top. Once again, the spoon is sanitized well.


I always put my airlock on after it's been sanitized and before I put the lid on the fermenting bucket so as to not push my grommet into the fermenting bucket. Make sure you fill it with water, vodka, Everclear or sanitizing solution. I always use water and have never had an issue. On a side note, my wife loves Marilyn Monroe and wanted to take this picture. You've got to keep the woman in your life happy.


Ready for controlled temperature fermentation. If you don't have a fridge/freezer to ferment in you can use the swamp cooler method with a shirt draped over your bucket. Swapping frozen water bottles in and out helps to keep temps down. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this, but it's just a shirt over your fermenting bucket sitting in a larger bucket with water and frozen bottles in the larger bucket.


Here is the Holiday Spice Ale partying with a raspberry wheat that will get bottled in a few hours. I have enough room for 4 5 gallon batches in this freezer. I also have a thermostat in the form of a probe that hangs out inside the freezer. Certain styles/yeasts call for cooler or warmer temperatures, but generally between 60F - 70F degrees is good. I keep my freezer closer to 62F - 65F. Closer to 70F and you risk off flavors with a lot of yeasts.

Great pictorial!

I love the idea about ice cubes in the wort - nice alternative for wort chiller, if used with care - don't want those boxes to open up in the wort

Thanks and I just dump the ice directly into the wort. It makes up 1 1/2 gallons of the 5 gallon batch.

I dump ice in as well - but usually into the brew pot, not the bottling bucket...brilliant idea! Opens up more opportunity for contamination in the bottling bucket, but so long as sanitizing practices are good, I think this is an awesome approach!

BRAVO!

Smokeater233 said:

I dump ice in as well - but usually into the brew pot, not the bottling bucket...brilliant idea! Opens up more opportunity for contamination in the bottling bucket, but so long as sanitizing practices are good, I think this is an awesome approach!

BRAVO!

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While I'm boiling I soak starsan in my bottling bucket and then I transfer to my fermenting bucket via spigot so I've never had an issue with infection.

This is a great post thanks!

If I can ever talk my friends into brewing I will point them to this post for help.

Great pictorial.

Love the idea of using the bottling bucket + gravity to aerate the wort. Sure beats shaking a fermenting bucket full of wort like it was a paint can.

HerotBrewer said:

Great pictorial.

Love the idea of using the bottling bucket + gravity to aerate the wort. Sure beats shaking a fermenting bucket full of wort like it was a paint can.

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I can't even imagine trying to be effective by doing that with 40 lbs of wort.

I love your method of using the bottling bucket.

Now you've made me question whether I have enough oxygen in mine!:cross:

Nice! I'm pretty familiar with the extract brewing process but it's nice to see some techniques I've never thought of such as the ice addition and the bottling bucket for aeration! Looking forward to seeing the recipe!

Love the idea of the bottling bucket to aerate the wort. I will be doing that from now on, especially since I dont use my bottling bucket anymore.

The Recipe has been posted.

dfc said:

The Recipe has been posted.

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Thanks!

Your original post got me interested in brewing one of those so I went the website of your LHBS and got a general idea of the ingredients but's definitely nice to have the complete list to base my recipe on.

Olddog said:

Thanks!

Your original post got me interested in brewing one of those so I went the website of your LHBS and got a general idea of the ingredients but's definitely nice to have the complete list to base my recipe on.

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No worries. I hope you like whatever Christmas brew you decide to make. I'm just glad I can help.

when i do it I use a rubbermaid container full of ice water and just place my pot in there for half hour and it get's my 2.5 gallons of water to around 75 degrees in around half hour. i put a couple gallons of water on top of the lid to keep it from being buoyant. While it's cooling off I make sure to sanitize the crap out of everything. 1 question for you. You where using a turkey fryer for the boil. You aren't supposed to put the lid on while it's boiling aren't you afraid that if you leave it sit without watching it during the boil a bug or a leaf will fly into it?

sportscrazed2 said:

when i do it I use a rubbermaid container full of ice water and just place my pot in there for half hour and it get's my 2.5 gallons of water to around 75 degrees in around half hour. i put a couple gallons of water on top of the lid to keep it from being buoyant. While it's cooling off I make sure to sanitize the crap out of everything. 1 question for you. You where using a turkey fryer for the boil. You aren't supposed to put the lid on while it's boiling aren't you afraid that if you leave it sit without watching it during the boil a bug or a leaf will fly into it?

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There aren't any trees close to my driveway other than the palms and they don't have any falling leaves. Also, the heat from the pot keeps insects away, so no worries there either.

good post - thanx for taking the time. Will send a few buddies here.

allright cool. will get a turkey fryer in the spring.

sportscrazed2 said:

... You aren't supposed to put the lid on while it's boiling...

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Correct. No lid. Rolling boil drives off DMS compounds, lids keep them in. So, do not boil wort during autumn under an oak tree.

that is all.

Hang Glider said:

Correct. No lid. Rolling boil drives off DMS compounds, lids keep them in. So, do not boil wort during autumn under an oak tree.

that is all.

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BUT, if you do.........just pick the leaves and/or bugs out. A few floaties won't hurt boiling wort. Once the wort is no longer boiling is when the "danger zone" occurs- that's when you want to guard against leaves/bugs/acorns.

Thanks for posting the recipe! I have a few questions for you regarding it.

1. What hops did you add first?

2. Did you strain out the cinnamon stick or did that go into the fermenter?

Really looking forward to brewing this! Thanks in advance for your help!

Nice tutorial... great pictures too.

PirateBrewer said:

Thanks for posting the recipe! I have a few questions for you regarding it.

1. What hops did you add first?

2. Did you strain out the cinnamon stick or did that go into the fermenter?

Really looking forward to brewing this! Thanks in advance for your help!

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The Northern Brewer Hops were added at the beginning of the boil and the Glacier Hops were added at 45 minutes. I just dumped the cinnamon stick into the fermenting bucket with the wort.

TomSD said:

Nice tutorial... great pictures too.

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Thanks. The only one that didn't turn out well was the hops addition at the beginning of the boil. I think the steam made everything blurry.

This is a great contribution that I'm sure will help out a lot of new brewers. Well done!

mojotele said:

This is a great contribution that I'm sure will help out a lot of new brewers. Well done!

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Thank you. Honestly, that's why I put it here. I know a pictorial "how to" thread would have helped me when I got started. Hopefully if anyone has any questions on extract brewing this will help them out immensely.

extract is pretty damn simple if you ask me just follow the directions. i kind of want to get into all grain but don't really feel like spending the extra time or money right now.

sportscrazed2 said:

extract is pretty damn simple if you ask me just follow the directions. i kind of want to get into all grain but don't really feel like spending the extra time or money right now.

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All grain will be my next endeavor. My boss used to brew and he's getting interested in doing it again because I'm brewing. If he starts brewing again he's going to do all grain and I'll watch a few of his batches.

Perhaps I'm missing it in the recipe, but what type of grain was steeped?

What is the supposed OG and FG?

Thanks!!

Verio said:

Perhaps I'm missing it in the recipe, but what type of grain was steeped?

What is the supposed OG and FG?

Thanks!!

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I listed the grains, but didn't list them as grains. Crystal malt, black patent, chocolate and carapils dextrine are the grains that were used. SG is 1.062, FG should be 1.014-1.016. I'll add it to the first post.

dfc said:

I listed the grains, but didn't list them as grains. Crystal malt, black patent, chocolate and carapils dextrine are the grains that were used. SG is 1.062, FG should be 1.014-1.016. I'll add it to the first post.

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Well there you go... I'm a complete newb, so I didn't even know they were grains

Quick question. What is the purpose of aerating the wort ? Do you aerate for all beers ?

Great thread dfc. Made brewing look simple as it can be.

Verio said:

Well there you go... I'm a complete newb, so I didn't even know they were grains

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No worries. I have put (grain) next to all of the ingredients that are in fact, grain. Hopefully this helps.