Simple question about storing ingredients

First of all, this is my first post and I have never made beer in my life before so i have a few questions i couldnt find through research and i greatly appreciate any help.

1. I was planning on buying liquid malt extract in bulk in order to save on costs, is it possible to store the extra that i dont use in the first batch or should i only order it by what i need for the batch. If it can be stored, how do you store it?

2. About the hops....i plan on ordering leaf hops...im sure they ship them dry??? What is the best way to store what i dont use initially?

3. I absolutely love IPA's and would like to start out making one. does anyone have a simple ipa recipe they would recommend i start with?

Thanks for the help i know it is probably annoying helping a newb that hardly knows anything but i appreciate it.

Helping "newbs" is what we're here for. We all started at the same place.

As for your questions...
1. If you have a food saver, it's the easiest way to store grains, hops, extract, etc. Just vacuum seal them and stick it in the freezer. Grains don't need to go in the freezer, just put them in a cool dry place.

2. As said above, hops should be stored in the freezer. They will be shipped dry. I would suggest working with pellets for your first few beers. They won't give you as many problems when racking or straining into the fermentor.

3. I'll look through my recipes when I'm off work and see what I can find. In the mean time, search this site. It shouldn't be too hard to find an IPA recipe.

If i were you and buying extract bulk, i would buy Dry Malt Extract (DME). Thats just my preference though. A good farily easy IPA that i made is as followed:

9lbs of light LME (or Extra light if you have it sitting around)

12oz Caramel 60L Malt
8oz Victory Malt
6oz Castle Aromatic Malt

1oz Centennial-60min
0.5oz Cascade-40min
0.5oz Centennial-30min
0.5oz Cascade-20min
0.5oz Centennial-10min
1oz Simcoe-5min
Dry hopped in secondary with 1oz Magnum and 1oz Centennial for 2 weeks

White Labs California Ale Yeast WL001 with a good sized starter (1.5L) because my OG was 1.064.

Let me know if you have any questions about it.

Another option would be a kit - they come in all styles of beer, with all the ingredients all measured out and ready to go. Any of the major online suppliers (Austin Homebrew, Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, Brewmaster's Warehouse) carries kits, and they will produce a solid brew. Kits are an excellent way to start if you are a little uncertain/nervous about the whole process.

I also agree that dry malt extract would be the way to go, and stick with light or extra light. It's a lot easier to handle and store. Just as with any food item, keeping it sealed away from oxygen is a good thing, and with dry extract you don't want it to come near humidity or water.

As far as the hops go, I also buy my hops by the pound. Use my vacuum sealer to repackage in 1 and 2 ounce packages. Then I put those in freezer bags and store in the freezer. These keep for a long time.

I do think that pellet hops last for longer then fresh whole hops. But it's all a personal choice, I like both, pellets are just a bit messier (but for an IPA are great because I always seem to get better hop extraction from them.)

cheers
~r~

thanks for all the help guys...looks like i'm going with dry extract when i start buying ingredients in bulk. i think my first batch is gonna be a simple ipa kit and i'll just tweak the hops a little bit because i love extra hoppy ipa's.

Austin Homebrew Supply has a ton of kits available. Check them out.

thebamaking said:

1. I was planning on buying liquid malt extract in bulk in order to save on costs, is it possible to store the extra that i dont use in the first batch or should i only order it by what i need for the batch. If it can be stored, how do you store it?

Click to expand...

BUMP to ask a similar question.

I'm only set up to do 2.5 gallon batches currently (I'm limited by space and by SWMBO) and have noticed most cans of extract are for 5 gallon batches.

If I use half a can of say Cooper's, and put the other half in the freezer I should be good, right? How long will it stay approx?

I'm very new to this so I'm taking it very slow. I'm still in the no boil, prehopped liquid extract phase, but I'll get there. LOL

Most of the extract I have seen comes in 3.3 lb cans, you should need that much liquid extract (or more) for most 2.5 gallon batches.

remilard said:

Most of the extract I have seen comes in 3.3 lb cans, you should need that much liquid extract (or more) for most 2.5 gallon batches.

Click to expand...

Really? Man I must be confused then. LOL

Back to reading.

+1 on the use of Dry Extract. It holds up much better when stored for long periods of time. You want your Liquid Extracts to be fairly fresh.
I was a big liquid user and one day decided to give the dry a try. I was bown away by how easy it was to use. It is also less messy for me as well.
Since moving to primarily all grain brewing, I still keep the dry around in case I need to bump up my gravity.