Help with a few beginner questions

So I am about to brew my first batch tonight, a Brewer's Best kit for an Imperial Blonde Ale, and had a few questions I wanted to get cleared up before starting.

1) When adding the hops during the boil, do you just dump the hops straight into the pot? I have always seen hops added while in a muslin bag, but the instructions just say to add them and nothing about using a bag.

2) Is it necessary to boil the bottled water used in the process, or is that water already considered 'clean'?

3) We have 'crushed honey malt' in our package, and I hope my assumption is right in that those are the grains that need to be steeped at the beginning of the process?

Any other beginner comments/suggestions that would help with our first brew would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

1. Yes, just toss the hops right in.

2. I'm not sure I understand the question. The water that you put into the pot will be boiled, which should sanitize it. Your top-off water (to be added after the wort has cooled, if you are doing a partial boil) should be boiled or bottled water, to make sure that it is sanitary.

3. Yes, you should steep those grains at the beginning (before the boil) at around 155-160F. Do not exceed 170F for the steeping of the grains. Steep for 30 minutes or so.

I hope this helps! Good luck! :rockin:

One more quick question, the recipe says to steep the grains in 2 gal of water. Will it matter if you use 2.5 gal instead, most other recipes I have seen said to use 2.5.

I never boil my top off water. I personally think that it's over kill. Now if your water's not safe to drink, then don't use it in your beer. Plus, if you boil your water, you have to a larger volume that must cool down to pitching temp. The longer your wort sits waiting for yeast, the more chance there is for something else to grow in it.

ClemsonBrew08 said:

One more quick question, the recipe says to steep the grains in 2 gal of water. Will it matter if you use 2.5 gal instead, most other recipes I have seen said to use 2.5.

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Nope.steep in as much water as you want.It's like making watered down tea.

Joos said:

Nope.steep in as much water as you want.It's like making watered down tea.

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+1 on this, just note that if you move to mashing (even partial) the concentration of the water becomes more important.

brian_g said:

I never boil my top off water. I personally think that it's over kill. Now if your water's not safe to drink, then don't use it in your beer. Plus, if you boil your water, you have to a larger volume that must cool down to pitching temp. The longer your wort sits waiting for yeast, the more chance there is for something else to grow in it.

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Come to think of it, I never did either when I used tap water. Good call.

Nice to see someone else from the Clemson family here!