AHS Brew Kit Instructions

Hi all,

I am going to be brewing a kit from AHS and the instructions say to boil 2.5 gallons of water. I can easily fit 4 gallons of water in my brew pot. Do I need to use just the 2.5 gal or can I boil as much water as i can fit? Will it make the beer taste different? What are the consequences of using 4 gal instead of 2.5? Thanks for all your help.

Mike.

You will get better hop utilization and less darkening by boiling 4 gallons. I think its better to do a larger boil so go ahead . It will be somewhat more difficult to cool down though so keep that in mind.

Thanks for the quick reply Blender. I got a wort chiller for xmas so I'm looking forward to using that. I'm going with a Boddington's Clone from AHS and have read that some recipes might need adjustment or will taste different or off...do i need to adjust the hops and times for this recipe?

grains 15min at 155 degrees

1/4 lb crystal 60L
1/4 lb Honey malt

Malt Extract

6lbs Extra Pale Extract
1 can Lyle's Golden Syrup
1/2 lb Malto Detrin

Hops

60 min 3/4 Oz Fuggle
45 min 1/4 Oz Fuggle
55 min 1/4 Oz Golding

Thanks again for the quick response. I love this board!!!!:rockin:

First off, don't use the full 4 gallons for the steeping, go with the recommended volume of water for the steep. You can either just add the rest of the water at the end of the steep or you can heat it up to about 165 and rinse the grain after steeping. Expect to boil down to about 3 gallons at the end of the hour boil. So have 2 gallons of good water cool and ready to top up (if you can put it in the freezer adding it will help bring your wort temp down faster).

Second, are those times on the hops minutes to boil or minutes from beginning of boil? I think in this case you will want to decrease the bittering (60 minute) addition and not change the flavor or aroma addition.

Post the expected IBUs and the AA% (from the pack) of the hops and someone can recommend the exact amount of hops to leave out.

Yes, I ran it through Beersmith for you- but I don't know the AAUs of your hops. Using 4.5%, though gives you an IBU of 12.1 in a partial boil. Just changing that to a full boil gives you 20.8. So you can see the bitterness changes with the full boil. Boiling 4 gallons gives you 17.3 IBUs.

Let me know the AAUs of the hops, and I'll be able to tell you exactly.

Good advice on the steeping, it's been awhile since I have done that. Also when adding the extract it will take up volume in the pot so I would add the extract (take the pot off the flame) and then fill to your 4 gallon volume. Personally I don't think the Fuggle bittering addition will be a problem but that is your call.

Sweet...thanks for the replies....AAUs are below.

Fuggle 4.7%
Yakima Golding 4.2%

Thanks for all your help!

Mike

Beerific...those times on the hops are minutes to boil..

Ok, using your recipe in a 4 gallon boil (and remember to steep those grains in the correct amount and just add that "tea" to more water after the steep) gives you 18.0 IBUs. The smaller boil the recipe suggests give you 12.6.

You can either use the recipe as is with your bigger boil (18.0 IBUs is still a pretty mild bitter) or you can reduce that first fuggles additon to just under 3/4 of an ounce to get you closer to the recipe.

I'd probably just use the hops as directed- 18 IBUs sounds better to me that 12 anyway for that beer!

(Oh, I'm assuming 1 pound of Lyle's golden syrup- if it's different that will change slightly!)

One thing no one has asked yet is, what do you mean why you say your kettle will "fit 4 gallons"? Is it a 4 gallon pot? You want to make sure you leave plenty of space to avoid boilovers. I do a 3 gallon boil in a 5 gallon kettle and I can barely contain them. Just food for thought.

YooperBrew you assumed correct on the syrup....thanks for the response. sounds like i don't need to make many changes to the recipe. I will steep 2.5 gal and add the other 1.5 gal for the boil. Thanks for all your help!...this will be my second brew and I can't wait to get the third started...LOL...i'm definitely hooked!

JadedDog...thanks for the concern. i have a 30 qt turkey fryer pot that i'm using. I helped my brother brew his first batch and we had plenty of space for 4 gallons and room to prevent any boil over.

vthokie98 said:

YooperBrew you assumed correct on the syrup....thanks for the response. sounds like i don't need to make many changes to the recipe. I will steep 2.5 gal and add the other 1.5 gal for the boil. Thanks for all your help!...this will be my second brew and I can't wait to get the third started...LOL...i'm definitely hooked!

Click to expand...

You'll want another 1.5 gallons for the boil. You'll boil off a gallon in an hour or so, and the other two quarts will come in handy to make sure you end up with at least 5 gallons in your fermentor. Use Distilled or RO water for your extra boil water since the extract has was made with water that had the proper mineral content.

Thanks everyone for your input. I steeped the grains in 2.5 gal at 155 and then added the rest of the water to get 4 gal. It was a success.

EdWort - thanks for the apfelwein recipe...i'm on my second batch and it's been a crowd favorite. It will definitely be a staple continuous brew.

Mike.