Boiling extracts vs. hot water

I've been boiling water, tossing it in to my bucket and then dissolving my extracts, and then topping up with cold water. I'm two batches complete and everything is fine.

However I read in an old school brewing book that boiling the extracts for 15 minutes makes a better tasting brew. Any idea why?

Also curious to know, if I'm adding extra fermentables (i.e 300g more dry malt) to produce a 6%'ish alcoholic brew, is there any benefit of adding 1/4 or 1/3 extra yeast if I have spare packets kicking around?

Here's my take..
If you are brewing with extracts that contain hops.. you are fine.. This is for brews such as Coopers kits., etc

But, if you are brewing with non-hop flavored extracts, you should have at least a few pounds of extract in the water so you can better utilize the hops. You can add half the extract to the boiling water (turn of the burner while you do this.. and mix VERY well) then add the hops per schedule and add the remaining extract at flameout.

I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.. but it works for me.

And adding extra fermentable s such as DME should be fine.. same with extra yeast if it's the same yeast.. else you may change the flavor expected

Excellent, thanks. Yup, using Coopers. The first batch was a Coopers and 800g of LDME. I had extremely high yeast activity. My second batch was a Coopers with 500g MDME 280g of Palm sugar and 240'ish brown sugar. The yeast activity was active but not nearly as active as the first batch. I understand there's concerns with the molasses, but after one week this brew is tasting amazing, and quite strong. In hindsight however I was wondering if that 1/3 to 1/4 extra yeast might have been helpful.

Thanks

I forget how much dry yeast Coop's provides.. 5 gm's?? I've been using Safale 05 and I believe it's 7gms. Another thing I have been doing is to hydrate the yeast first in a bit of wort before pitching.. let it multiply a bit before pitching. I take a cup of wort and cool it quickly in a glass or jar to about 22*C and pitch the yeast as the rest of the wort is in the cooling process. Can't say for sure if it is a real benefit.. but it "feels good" and works well for me.

ThePonchoKid said:

I've been boiling water, tossing it in to my bucket and then dissolving my extracts, and then topping up with cold water. I'm two batches complete and everything is fine.

However I read in an old school brewing book that boiling the extracts for 15 minutes makes a better tasting brew. Any idea why?

Also curious to know, if I'm adding extra fermentables (i.e 300g more dry malt) to produce a 6%'ish alcoholic brew, is there any benefit of adding 1/4 or 1/3 extra yeast if I have spare packets kicking around?

Click to expand...

I'm a noob to brewing so take what I say with a grain of salt, but what you are talking about sounds solid if you are using prehopped extracts. I was listening to a podcast of Brew Strong (http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/698) and they were talking about how it wasn't necessary to boil the extracts because they are basically wort already and had been boiled previously. All you needed to do was pasteurize which at temps. as low as 161 degrees F (72 degrees C) should only take 15 seconds or so. Now if you are adding hops on your own then there are potentially other issues such as hops utilization and IBUs, but that is still something I am trying to understand.

Well, I'm going for a partial grain this weekend. Going to have to do a boil

I didn't realize that the hop factor is the deal breaker. I had just assumed what you did. That you're boiling something that has already been processed. Even says in the instructions that boiling isn't mandidtory.

Exactly.. If you are brewing a hopped extract... you do NOT want to boil it. Add it at flameout. Only if you want to add additional hops for BITTERING do you need to boil the extract.

With the Coops kit.. boil the water. Heat the can of Coop's, pour it into the FV and rinse the can with hot water. Add the hot water and mix well. Simple as that... and that's probably what you did the first times.

I haven't gotten to partial/BIAB yet.. and may not. I like what I'm getting now.

DeathBrewer's Sticky thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/ makes it way too tempting.

What are you making that's keeping you happy, Bill?

I would definitely switch yeasts...or at least double it. Coopers is 5g sachets, but all the Safale/lager (fermentis) is 10/11g sachets, as is Windsor and Nottingham packets.

Yeast pitching and health is crucial to making the best beer. If you make the perfect wort, but then under pitch, you've done yourself a disservice

No coopers is 7g per package.



And no do not boil coopers kits unless you want to remove the hop profile and unbalance the beer.

I always pitch into fermenter i dont not rehydrate and i have never had an issue ever.