Beginner extract brewing howto

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This is probably a dumb question, but I'm brand-new at this: How do I carbonate my beer? I have a Mr. Beer-type kit and my process is thus: Mix ingredients and let it ferment for 4 days with 10-15 added psi from attached CO2-dispenser, place in fridge and let ferment for another 8 days with 5-10 psi from CO2-dispenser, take out of fridge and dispense beer into growler, add carb tabs (5 per 12 oz, as per instructions), cap and let sit outside of fridge for 7 days. My beer tastes good, but it's completely flat. I don't have a bottling hose or siphon, so I think that might be the issue, but I'm not sure. What am I doing wrong here? Don't assume I'm doing anything that I haven't explicitly detailed above. Any help is appreciated!
 
Also, this is a thread on generic howto on brewing an extract kit, the specifics around a Mr Beer can be found in other threads that discuss Mr Beer specifically, do a thread search and there will be loads of information on them. I know next to nothing about a Mr Beer, I've never used one.
 
Hello everyone, I'm new to Homebrewing an to HBT. I just did my first brew day last week and I'm loving this great hobby already. I came here from reddit.com/r/homebrewing. We had a lot of beginners like myself asking questions on the basics of homebrewing with extract so I put together an album here: Homebrewing for Beginners.

Hope you find it useful if you have made it 15 pages into this thread!
 
Hello everyone, I'm new to Homebrewing an to HBT. I just did my first brew day last week and I'm loving this great hobby already. I came here from reddit.com/r/homebrewing. We had a lot of beginners like myself asking questions on the basics of homebrewing with extract so I put together an album here: Homebrewing for Beginners.

Hope you find it useful if you have made it 15 pages into this thread!

Very nice write-up! The only thing I would add is to have a water spray bottle handy when your wort first comes to a boil - it's great for knocking down foam and preventing boilovers! Also, the pitching and fermenting temps will be yeast dependent - 75F could be too warm for some strains. Fermenting temps are as important as all the other steps.
 
Very nice write-up! The only thing I would add is to have a water spray bottle handy when your wort first comes to a boil - it's great for knocking down foam and preventing boilovers! Also, the pitching and fermenting temps will be yeast dependent - 75F could be too warm for some strains. Fermenting temps are as important as all the other steps.

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I'll update it this weekend if I'm not brewing!
 
...We had a lot of beginners like myself asking questions on the basics of homebrewing with extract so I put together an album here: Homebrewing for Beginners.l I
Hope you find it useful if you have made it 15 pages into this thread!

No doubt someone will benefit from your project, thank you for your hard work putting it together. I only wish that you had not show cased Northern and Midwest. They are both fine companies. I have done Internet business with both of them.

My thought is that if a new brewer is able to do a search and find homebrewtalk.com on their own, they should also be able to find equipment and supplies on their own. If they haven't already.

JW
 
Why should you not get oxygen in the priming mixture? won't the yeast just use it up during conditioning?
 
Oxygen post fermentation, causes oxidation and off flavors. Even though new fermentation is about to happen, it is only enought to carb the beer, and your yeast is already a massive colony post ferment.
 
7) When you get new equipment, do a test run with it before you use it for real. For example, I picked up a pump and a plate chiller. I practiced moving water around before I used it in a brew session.
So important I got a hand me down corny keg and failed to test it with co2 before putting beer in it and low and behold there was a pin hole in it that showed up after 30 psi of pressure...beer ruined.
 
I want to add cherry flavoring to a bock, If i was to simply add a jar of cherries and the juice to the wert, would this have the desired effect?
 
I wanna use a dark malt but I want to also do a dark candi, do I boil this with the malt or add at end of boil?
 
I want to add cherry flavoring to a bock, If i was to simply add a jar of cherries and the juice to the wert, would this have the desired effect?

Are you talking about REAL cherries? Or the cheap candy sugar cherries? Cuz the difference will be noticeable there.

I would suggest adding a jar of REAL cherries to your secondary fermentation (I assume you are doing a secondary??). Might as well add the juice as well. That small amount of juice will have a minimal affect on the overall 5 gallon batch anyway, so might as well add all of it.
 
Why should you not get oxygen in the priming mixture? won't the yeast just use it up during conditioning?
This is a little bit of a sticky wicket. Most of the micro-biology and carbonation scientists I've listened to and read actually say to not worry about it unless you are introducing Oxygen in massive quantities (i.e. splashing and stirring vigorously etc) getting a bottle conditioned beer to oxidize is really tough and usually when I see it the person admits to having poured their primary into their secondary instead of siphoning it. I'd trust the professionals and just minimize it and try not to worry :)
 
You've never heard of late extract addition? It's pretty much the default method of brewing with extract these days, as people have realised that adding all your DME/LME at the start of the boil, especially when only doing a partial boil, means significant changes to hop additions to adjust for the high boil gravity....and further darkening of the end beer.

Why "should" you boil the extract for the whole hour? There isn't a reason...if you're concerned about bacteria that problem can be solved by boiling it for less than a minute.

For more info, read here: http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/02/20/better-beer-with-late-malt-extract-additions/

I think this sticky would benefit from the update.

Oh okay, didn't know about that. But to be fair, I've been all grain for about 3 or so years, I did my last batch of extract maybe a few months after I wrote the sticky, I'll clarify a touch, let me know if you think it makes sense.

Hey guys, just wanted to ring in with my 2 cents. Most beginners are doing late extract only when the directions tell them to, so I don't know if it's something that should be accepted as a "universal rule" or anything. The main bulk of recipes online are still old recipes and don't call for late extract. Most of the kits that are super bitter or IPA-esque are late extract. It's a good thing, but if you do it with a kit that doesn't call for it you may end up with a 70 IBU oatmeal stout or 100 IBU scotch ale, so maybe it should just be amended with a link to the process of late extract or some kind of stipulation to follow kit recipes instructions first? Just my 2 cents.
 
No,it doesn't matter a whole lot which recipes you use late extract additions with. I've done it with everything from kit-n-kilo to pb/pm biab beers. Ales to hybrid lagers. For example,with AE beers I do a pb of 2.5-3.5 gallons in my 5 gallon BK/MT. I add 1.5-2 pounds of plain light DME to it for all hop additions.
At flame out,I add the remaing DME from the 3lb bag I use along with all the LME,Cooper's can,whatever. Stir in completely & cover to steep a couple minutes. Since the wort was still boiling hot when late additions were added,& pasteurization happens @ 160F,steeping covered a couple minutes works fine. Lighter color & cleaner flavor results. As long as good ferment temps are used as well.
 
I don't know that it would burn, but I tie the drawstring cord around the pot handle to never let it touch the bottom.
So you've been bitten by the brewing bug, hopefully. It's a really rewarding hobby. For me it started out a hobby which lead me to go pro.

Don't know why you would burn the bag, when using any grain, you do not want to boil the grains at all! Simply steep them in 150-160 F water, usually 15-20 minutes is sufficient, you're not converting anything. After the steep, remove the bag, don't squeeze! This will add off flavors and tannins.

You can now bring this tea to a boil. I usually boil before adding the extract, if I am doing an extract brew. This can help it from sticking to the bottom and it dissolves a lot faster, especially when using a liquid extract. If using dry malt extract, expect clumps and sticky hands, and watch for boil overs. I find that DME (Dry Malt Extract) boils over more than using LME (Liquid Malt Extract). Stir is until it is dissolved. Some people boil until they see a protein break, you'll see a foam when it first starts boiling, when the foam finally dissipates, you have just completed your break. Now you can add your hops and whatnot. A few things to remember, don't cover! This will create cooked vegetable flavors in your beer.

Use Irish moss, this is a kettle coagulant, you add this about 15 minutes to the end of the boil.

If you are worried about haze in your final product, simply dissolve some gelatin in water and add to your primary, then rack to your secondary. Finings like gelatin will reduce the amount of time it needs to spend in secondary and you will end up with a clearer beer.

Good styles to start out with: Stouts, Pale Ales, and IPAs, why? You can mask a lot of mistakes with darker malts and hops.

Chilling, some people use an ice bath, just be sure to keep it covered in the ice bath so you don't get and wild yeasts. Lactobacillus can take over quickly if you leave the lid off for too long, this will make your beer sour, which is great if you're trying to make a sour. Chill as fast as possible. At around 160-170 F there are a lot of bacteria that can and will infect your beer. You want to chill to about 65-70F if doing an ale, too high you might kill the yeast or end up with gallons of acetone.

Other methods of chilling. Invest in an immersion chiller. You can usually chill your wort down to target temp in 15 minutes or so, but you are still risking infection if exposed to open air.

Better still, plate chillers. These are closed, no exposure to air, they can be hell to clean because they get clogged. You can usually back flush these pretty easily. To avoid clogging, right before transferring, if you have a valve on your kettle, drain off some of the wort till you see no more sludge. This is called cast off. A plate chiller should cool your wort down pretty quickly, but be sure to regulate the flow or it won't cool all the way, this is especially important if you are doing over 5 gallons at a time. You can top off will cold water, but again, you risk contamination.

Avoid splashing it around too much, a little oxygen is okay, it helps the yeast along, but too much and you will end up oxidizing your beer and it will have off flavors.

Once your wort is safely transferred and chilled, add your yeast. You can start off with a starter, mix some cooled wort with the yeast, some people do this the day before and keep it refrigerated until brew day, if you don't go this route, if using liquid yeast, shake it up in the vile or if using a smack pack, smack it at least an hour prior to pitching. Dry yeast, you can usually just pitch it as is, fermentation make take a little longer to start, but it will start.

Avoid lifting the lid to check out how fermentation is coming along if using a bucket. I'm not a huge fan of carboys because they can easily be exposed to light, which will skunk your beer. So be sure to keep it in a cooler, darker place.

On transfer day, like I said above, if you are worried about clarity, add some dissolved gelatin before transferring. I do this so there is a more even mix. Again, avoid sunlight, extreme temperatures, and checking under the lid.

On bottling day, if you are going that route, you can clean your bottles in the dishwasher, but to be extra safe, put them in a solution of iodifur or star san, but only do this after the are cool. These are no-rinse sanitizers. With iodifur, be sure to not use too much or you will get this almost medicinal flavor. Bottling trees are extremely useful for letting that excess liquid to drip out, just be sure to sanitize the bottling tree.

Priming, boil the corn sugar that might come with the recipe kit. You'll want to boil this for about 15 minutes to sanitize it. Avoid using table sugar, this will give your beer a cidery flavor. An alternative to corn sugar is to dissolve malt extract. Add this to your bottling bucket, some people let the priming liquid cool before adding, but it really isn't that necessary, it will cool when the beer hits it. Adding the priming liquid first and then racking your beer into it, will help to provide a more even mix. Don't bother stirring or shaking it, this can lead to oxidation and/or infection. Another alternative is to use priming drops, it's basically a sugar pill which you drop into each bottle. Just make sure your hands are clean. Now bottle! The spring loaded wands are a good way to go, make sure it presses down on the bottom of the bottle, let it over flow just a bit, you are more likely to get a more even fill and this will help to get excess air out, which could lead to beer spoilage and oxidation. Make sure your caps are sanitized, again, you can use a few different no rinse sanitizers, I usually use a bowl of solution to soak my caps, contact time should be anywhere from a few minutes to about 15 minutes. Spray bottles of the same sanitizers work in a pinch too, but I'll cover that later. If bottling solo, once the bottle is filled, place the cap on immediately, you don't have to crimp it just yet. Just letting it sit there with the cap on loose, can let excess air escape, which is a good thing. When you have your bottles lined up and filled, use the capper. Store in a room temperature room, with little to no light. Alternatively, after you've waited about a week after bottling, let it age a little in the fridge. Avoid over priming and excess temperature fluctuations, or your bottles will explode. You can use a little less recommended priming sugar and it will carbonate, it will just take a little longer.

Sanitizing: Can't stress this enough. Sanitize everything! Also, I highly recommend getting a spray bottle and either fill is with sanitizer or isopropyl alcohol. Before connecting any hoses, be sure to spray the ends of the hoses and any valves.

Hope this helps.
 
Since sugar is dry,you don't have to worry about nasties too much,as they need air,food & warm moisture to propogate. I just boil 2C of water for a couple minutes,& stir the priming sugar in tillthe water goes clear again. Works fine with no problems.
And when the wort is boiled,o2 is driven off. So when it's chilled pour it through a fine mesh strainer to get the gunk out & aerate it a decent amount. I chill my wort to 75F,strain into Fv,then add chilled water to recipe volume & stir roughly at least 3 minutes to mix well & aerate a lil more. Take OG sample,pitch the yeast & seal it up. Aerating is good before the yeast is pitched to aid in the reproductive phase. It's after it starts fermenting or nearly done that aeration is bad.
The beer likely won't get infected at 160F plus,as pasteurization happens in seconds at 160F.
 
I don't know that it would burn, but I tie the drawstring cord around the pot handle to never let it touch the bottom.

thats a good little trick, not that i worry about burning the bag, but just so i can get it out when I;m done with it. I have tongs somewhere but the wife seems to always comandeir my good kitchen tools. lol

if i miss[pelled anything its because i am enjoying an arrogant bastard. drink up
 
Couldn't this sticky be updated to discuss, and encourage, late extract addition? I think point 4 is a little confusing.

4. Bring the water to a boil. Remove the boiling water from the stove, to avoid a boilover. Mix the malt extract into boiling water slowly and mix well (if you don't mix well you can get scorching of the extracts). Put back on heat and boil for the designated time (usually 60 minutes), watch closely to avoid a boilover so as to avoid a sticky mess. Also at this time add the bittering hops at the start of the boil w/ the malt(s).

Could be:

4. Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling turn off the heat. Add enough malt extract to bring your boil gravity up to 1.040 (4oz DME or 4.5oz LME per quart of water). Mix very well (if you don't you can get scorching of the extracts). Put heat back on and bring back to the boil. Once the boil begins add the bittering hops, and start your boil timer (usually 60 minutes).

This may be true and late additions may work best for 2-3 gal partial boils. But I have never seen the wort darken as a result of using light LME with a full boil. (6.5gal) I made a brown ale today that was spot on in color and OG. I used 6.6lbs of Breiss extra light (4 L) LME and added this to my steeped specialty grains and boiled for 60 min. Remember "brew lore" is out there and the best way to tell is to do it yourself, take notes, and see what works for you and your setup. Your results are your results, don't let anyone convince you that what you are doing is not correct. If it works for you, then do it. :mug:
 
You've never heard of late extract addition? It's pretty much the default method of brewing with extract these days, as people have realised that adding all your DME/LME at the start of the boil, especially when only doing a partial boil, means significant changes to hop additions to adjust for the high boil gravity....and further darkening of the end beer.

Why "should" you boil the extract for the whole hour? There isn't a reason...if you're concerned about bacteria that problem can be solved by boiling it for less than a minute.

For more info, read here: http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/02/20/better-beer-with-late-malt-extract-additions/

I think this sticky would benefit from the update.


A good read. Thanks
 
I am a basic newbie but have made beer in the Mr Beer kit, all went well. My wife bought some mixes for a 5 gallon batch which is 2.5 times more than Mr Beer. So we bought a 5 gallon kit.

With Mr Beer I would cook the wart on my stove with no issues. The pot was not very big for a 2 Gal batch. So now I have the kit for 5 gal but the instructions suggest using a 6 gal stainless steel pot. Again no problem with the pot size. My problem is with my stove. It is a ceramic cook top and my wife says it cannot boil large 5-6 gallons worth of anything. To prevent the stove from breaking the ceramic top, they installed a thermostat which cycles the burner on and off. I guess that too much heat is lost for the stove to keep up with. However, I have a couple thoughts:

Thought #1
So I thought that I would use a propane burner that came with a turkey deep fryer. That is until the beer making kit instructions stated to not do this in my shed or garage. I don't feel safe enough to run this in the house...What are the reasons that I cannot cook my wart in the garage?

Thought #2
Are there other ways that will allow the use of a smaller pot? I've thought about using a smaller pot, one that will boil water on the stove and then adding water to the fermentation bucket and once the cook time is done, pour that in with water already in the bucket. This will make the wart thicker until it mixes with the water.

Thoughts or ideas? I'd really like to get a batch made for Christmas fun.
thanks!
 
Thought #2
Are there other ways that will allow the use of a smaller pot? I've thought about using a smaller pot, one that will boil water on the stove and then adding water to the fermentation bucket and once the cook time is done, pour that in with water already in the bucket. This will make the wart thicker until it mixes with the water.

You can do a partial boil as you described. Late addition of part of the extract is common if using a partial boil - then you won't have thicker wort during the boil. See this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/late-extract-400922/
 
ncbrewer,

I read the whole post and it was interesting. Most of it was outside of my question but the general message addressed what you already stated. As a newbie, there were tons of acronyms that require some additional research. I believe that I got/guessed most of them.

Thanks for responding!
 
During the boil I noticed that there is a lot of sediment on edge the pot do I need to pushed it back into the boiling water?
 
It's usually the grainy hop bits from the pellets disintegrating in the boil that wind up on the sides. I scrape'em back in myself. I wind up straining the chilled wort into the fermenter anyway. This also aerates the wort.
 
This past Saturday a friend and I brewed our first beer with a brown ale kit purchased at our LHBS. We went by the instructions and ended up with an OG of 1.054 once the wort had chilled. Transferred it to our primary fermenter and pitched the yeast. By Sunday bubbles were happening kinda slow, picked up fast on Monday, and have come to a complete stop today. The kit said that the bubbles should slow down after 4-6 days and then transfer to secondary fermenter. It's the 3rd day for us and the bubbles have stopped. What should we do? Go ahead and transfer to secondary fermenter or just leave it a few days more? Should we take another SG reading?
 
Shouldn't be much to worry about. Fermentation is a factor of many variables, the yeast, the balance of nutrients in the wort, and the temperature. Most of my ferments tend to finish the aggressive fermentation stage in 48 hours. Then they slowly finish off over a few days. You don't ever need a secondary, unless you're adding dry hops, or other additions that need to happen after primary fermentation is over. Otherwise I usually just leave my beer in the fermenter for 2 weeks before transfer to kegs/bottles. If you're curious, take the time to sanitize your sampler, get a bit, and measure the gravity. See if its near what is expected for the recipe/yeast. (just make sure it stays near that FG for 3 days before you try to do anything to it. )
 
Shouldn't be much to worry about. Fermentation is a factor of many variables, the yeast, the balance of nutrients in the wort, and the temperature. Most of my ferments tend to finish the aggressive fermentation stage in 48 hours. Then they slowly finish off over a few days. You don't ever need a secondary, unless you're adding dry hops, or other additions that need to happen after primary fermentation is over. Otherwise I usually just leave my beer in the fermenter for 2 weeks before transfer to kegs/bottles. If you're curious, take the time to sanitize your sampler, get a bit, and measure the gravity. See if its near what is expected for the recipe/yeast. (just make sure it stays near that FG for 3 days before you try to do anything to it. )

Thanks! I've been reading a lot about the secondary fermentation, and some say do it and others say you don't need to. The only reason I thought that I should is because of the instructions. I think I'm going to take a reading today and leave it alone.
 
I have had some brew that don't have the bubbling action like I've seen in others. I just leave it in the primary for the recommended time, then at the end, check gravity readings. Usually I'm very close to where is suppose to be. I'm just a rook though only made five brews so far, so my expertise is nill to none. Take it as you want.


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I am in the market to get started with some brewing. I am just trying to put together a little setup for some 5 gal extract batches. I am at the point where a brew kettle and a bigger primary are all I am searching for.
I've come to an interesting point in looking into the primary container. The standard considerations, of course, but I also just found another option. I want to hear what anyone else might think about it.
33qt Air Tight Container
301037.jpg

I guess, my issue is with paying $15+ for a plastic pail because they can call it a fermenter instead of a bucket. This doesn't save money, but it is bigger (33qt, little more than 8 gal - should never need blow off with an airlock installed for a 5 gal batch, right?) and adds that touch of convenience with the wheels.
I am still trying to track down what kind of plastic it is. I don't expect that to be an issue though. Anyone come up with any reasons this would be a stupid idea?

Once I bite the bullet on paying more for a bit of plastic than I would like to, and track down an older relative looking to exchange a large kettle for my company and raking some snow off of the roof, I will be set to try this out.
 
I am in the market to get started with some brewing. I am just trying to put together a little setup for some 5 gal extract batches. I am at the point where a brew kettle and a bigger primary are all I am searching for.
I've come to an interesting point in looking into the primary container. The standard considerations, of course, but I also just found another option. I want to hear what anyone else might think about it.
33qt Air Tight Container
301037.jpg

I guess, my issue is with paying $15+ for a plastic pail because they can call it a fermenter instead of a bucket. This doesn't save money, but it is bigger (33qt, little more than 8 gal - should never need blow off with an airlock installed for a 5 gal batch, right?) and adds that touch of convenience with the wheels.
I am still trying to track down what kind of plastic it is. I don't expect that to be an issue though. Anyone come up with any reasons this would be a stupid idea?

Once I bite the bullet on paying more for a bit of plastic than I would like to, and track down an older relative looking to exchange a large kettle for my company and raking some snow off of the roof, I will be set to try this out.

How will you stop oxygen from getting in this container without a blow off tube or bubbler? If it is sealed really tight, what will stop the cover from blowing open from the pressure created from fermentation? Just asking.
 
I definitely plan to drill a hole, and grommet it for an airlock. My hope (and what you all might know more about) is that with the extra space, I would almost never need to have a blow off. The extra space would keep anything from bubbling over, I think.

But to answer your question, I will definitely put an airlock in the top to release pressure.
 
Seems like a really cool solution. We just got one of these for our pet food and I really like the thing. The one we got isn't exactly the same, but it's plenty strong for the purpose. The little wheels don't hurt either.

The only concern I might have is whether or not the thing is REALLY air tight. You see this stated, but it's not all the same thing. Airtight for pet food may not really be airtight the way we need it to be.

Other than that, you have people who are "glass-only" (me being one), but if you're not of that school of thought, it looks cool.
 
The only concern I might have is whether or not the thing is REALLY air tight. You see this stated, but it's not all the same thing. Airtight for pet food may not really be airtight the way we need it to be.

Lots of brewers use buckets that don't seal airtight. I've read lots of threads here on HBT about this. I don't seal the lid at all for the first few days, just in case of a really high kraeusen (I put a roughly 1 pound weight on top to keep it pushed down to keep fruit flies out).
 
Lots of brewers use buckets that don't seal airtight. I've read lots of threads here on HBT about this. I don't seal the lid at all for the first few days, just in case of a really high kraeusen (I put a roughly 1 pound weight on top to keep it pushed down to keep fruit flies out).

I have been hearing more and more of this, too. It seems that a five gallon pail with the average lid likely wouldn't remain airtight under pressure either. It seems that under pressure, the air would create a steady flow out, and as pressure lessens, the lid would seal again. Maybe that's just too simple, I don't know.
I will check them out to see how tight it really is. With an airlock, I think it should stay sealed pretty well. I'll let you know what I decide on. Change in plans, and I might be moving. That might be a hold on building up a little brew station.

Thanks for the thoughts and advice on this.
 
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