A series of beer related questions

1.) A.) First off, I will say that so far all I have done is extract brewing with grain steeping. I also only use dme and tend to stay away from lme. I was recently told that I should be adding my dme at the last 15-20 minutes of the boil and before that to just be boiling my steep water sparged up to proper boil volume while making my hop additions. The person that told me mentioned caramelization of the malt as an issue when boiling the dme for the whole 60 minutes and that the hops aren't fully utilized. B.) Why do some people split up the dme into additions in the beginning of the boil and at the end. Any advice?

2.) What are the benefits of doing a 0 minute hop addition? I know it's good for hop aroma character, but why is it better than a 5 minute addition?

3.) Is it a good idea to transfer my beer to the secondary once the head has subsided in the primary?

4.) Should my primary fermentation temperature for ale be the same as my secondary's temperature? I've heard that a few degrees cooler in the secondary makes for clearer beer.

5.) How many CC's of Idophor should I be using in 5 gallons of water to get it to a 2 minute contact time for sanitation?

Cheers!

1A&B) The reason people tend to use the late extract addition method is because boiling extract for 60+ min can tend to make your beer darker than normal. The argument against this is that you get better hop utilization when your wort has a higher specific gravity. Adding some extract at the beginning and some towards then end splits this difference.
2) Again, this has a lot to do with personal preference, but also remember that the wort does not cool immediatley after the burner is turned off, so hops are being utilized for more than "0 minutes" Take a look at this chart for general hop aroma/flavor/bittering
3) The "head" is more accurately known as "krausen", but you will hear a lot of debate about whether or not to use secondary. At the very least if you want to use secondary, wait a good 2-3days after the krausen has subsided before moving. Do a google search for opinions on secondary (there a lots)
4) Cooler temps are better for clearing your beer and most of the flavor/work done by the yeast will be done by this point, so a cooler temp for secondary would be a good idea in many cases, but not by any mean necessary
5) Don't use iodopher, so can't help you there, I'm sure somebody else will chime in

Iodopher, full cap for 5 gal, 1/2 for 2.5 gal. bottle should have similar instructions

Thanks. I like the fear and loathing avatar hopsalot.

pgenius said:

1.) A.) First off, I will say that so far all I have done is extract brewing with grain steeping. I also only use dme and tend to stay away from lme. I was recently told that I should be adding my dme at the last 15-20 minutes of the boil and before that to just be boiling my steep water sparged up to proper boil volume while making my hop additions. The person that told me mentioned caramelization of the malt as an issue when boiling the dme for the whole 60 minutes and that the hops aren't fully utilized. B.) Why do some people split up the dme into additions in the beginning of the boil and at the end. Any advice?

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Boiling hops with only water - or very low-gravity malt wort - can extract a harsh, undesirable bitterness. Boiling in a relatively low-gravity wort, say 1.035 - 1.045, will improve utilization when compared to a concentrated, high-gravity boil.

Here's a practical example. Let's say you're brewing a very simple beer:

5 gallons

5 lbs Briess Gold DME
1 oz Cascade hops pellets @ 6% AA - 60 minutes

One pound of the specified DME in one gallon of water will yield a gravity of ~1.043. If you're only boiling two gallons and you add all the extract at once, your boil gravity (before dilution in the fermenter) will be 1.107! That means you get around 14% hops utilization, or 14 IBU.

If you add two pounds only, your wort gravity will remain 1.043, your hops utilization goes up to 25% and your IBU increases - due to increased utilization - to 24.

Caramelization is due to complicated, heat-caused chemical reactions in the malt sugars which make them brown. Google "Maillard reaction brewing" if you're really interested in some of brewing science's fiddly bits.

2.) What are the benefits of doing a 0 minute hop addition? I know it's good for hop aroma character, but why is it better than a 5 minute addition?

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Hops flavor and aroma are derived from extremely volatile essential oils, which are rapidly devolved - and lost - through boiling. Any boiling. The longer you boil, the more is lost. Adding the hops at flameout (or "0 minute") ensures enough heat will still be present to sanitize the hops, but enough heat will be lost to prevent significant loss of essential oils.

3.) Is it a good idea to transfer my beer to the secondary once the head has subsided in the primary?

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This depends on many different factors. There are many discussions of secondary fermenters on HBT, including when and how they are useful. I suggest taking the time to read through those threads thoroughly.

4.) Should my primary fermentation temperature for ale be the same as my secondary's temperature? I've heard that a few degrees cooler in the secondary makes for clearer beer.

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I haven't heard any hard data supporting this. Usually time and substance additions (or both) clear a beer, though rapid "crash-cooling" will also help precipitate particles which cause clarity issues. But that's more than 'a few degrees cooler'; that's taking the beer from fermentation temperature to near freezing as rapidly as possible.

Good luck!

Bob

Here's a practical example. Let's say you're brewing a very simple beer:

5 gallons

5 lbs Briess Gold DME
1 oz Cascade hops pellets @ 6% AA - 60 minutes

One pound of the specified DME in one gallon of water will yield a gravity of ~1.043. If you're only boiling two gallons and you add all the extract at once, your boil gravity (before dilution in the fermenter) will be 1.107! That means you get around 14% hops utilization, or 14 IBU.

If you add two pounds only, your wort gravity will remain 1.043, your hops utilization goes up to 25% and your IBU increases - due to increased utilization - to 24.

Click to expand...

When should I make my dme additions and what quantities (according to this recipe) if I'm doing a full boil at 6 gallons to get the best hop utilization? I use the software program BeerSmith with my recipes, is this calculated in any way in this program?

If you're boiling 6 gallons, I can't see any advantage to adding the extract late. It'll screw up the utilization, by having a lower gravity wort than the recipe expects. If you're doing a full boil, you can follow the hopping instructions in the AG recipe, or use some brewing software to make sure it's what you're expecting.

keep the advice coming

+1 to Yooper. If you're doing full boil, there's no reason on earth to practice late addition.

Bob