Extract kit procedure ?

Hello just received my first kit and I've read the instructions about heating the 2.5 gallons of water up an adding the syrup and specialty grains and then top off with cold water to reach 5 gallons . But can I just heat up 5.5 gallons then add the ingredients and continue ?

Why would you want to do that? Then you'll have to cool the whole thing down. Using cold water helps speed down the cooling, so you can pitch your yeast.

Yes I get that but I only have a 10 gallon pot and a 2 gallon , I figured I could use the bigger one and break in my new chiller ? But as long as I end up with 5 gallon of cooled wort in the end I child be good right

That's true. I don't have a wort chilller, so I would never do that, but if you do, by all means, give it a try!

If you have a wort chiller I would do a full boil. That said, you need to account for boil off so you actually need to start at six gallons or more. Also, its pretty likely that you won't be able to boil that on a stove top so you'll need a burner of some kind to do so. I mention this because you didn't say anything about it yet.

Yes , I have a turkey fryer burner , I was wondering besides to cool the wort faster y to split it up , becouse I believe I read on here In the extract forum that some ppl add the dme or lme half at the boil and then half at flame out to give the beer more richer flavor or something that was monthes ago . So I'm good to go ?

coinhall09 said:

Hello just received my first kit and I've read the instructions about heating the 2.5 gallons of water up an adding the syrup and specialty grains and then top off with cold water to reach 5 gallons . But can I just heat up 5.5 gallons then add the ingredients and continue ?

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2.5-3 gallons of water is fine. But you always steep the grains in 150-160F water for 30 minutes first. And make sure the grains are crushed first. Remove grain bag,then add about 1.5lbs of extract & do your hop additions. At flame out,add remaining extract cover & steep at least a few minutes. This will pasteurize it,since it'll still be 180F+,& pasteurization happens at 162F. Chill the wort down to pitch temp & strain into sanitized fermenter,topping off with the chilled water. Stir roughly 5 minutes to mix the wort & water better & aerate a bit.

If you have a wort chiller and a 10 gallon pot then YES do a full boil! Start with 6.5 gallons of water and you'll end up with about 5.25-5.5 gallons which is generally still within OG range. I always do a full boil when I can. while you're at it, do a late extract addition, too.

Yeah what does the late extract addition do ? Enhance flavor ? Finished it last night pitched yeast around 70 to 72 degrees , waiting on fermintation signs . I definitely need a better burner it was 38 last night and it barely boiled the 6 gallons ?? Any recommendations ? Blichman banjo or anything else ?

Oh so that's y my cream ale is so dark lol , awsome thanks , ill remember that next time , they should add that in the instructions

coinhall09 said:

Oh so that's y my cream ale is so dark lol , awsome thanks , ill remember that next time , they should add that in the instructions

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I think the extract twang is what I'm dealing with right now. I have 70 bottles and 5 gallons ready to add to that stock pile and I'm praying the latest brew (a bock) doesn't have that twang. Somehow I missed gravity by a mile (went OG 1.076 to FG 1.010, target was 1.070 and 1.022) for the first time. I'm going for a late extract addition this time.

As far as a burner, I went to Home Depot and bought a $50 turkey fryer and got a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot with it. Burner works great when you finally get it set up. I missed a step or they forgot to tell me that there was a flame detector!

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

unionrdr said:

The late extract additions should take care of the twang. It did for me. That,& using plain DME in the boil,saving remaining DME & all the LME for flame out additions.

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My next batch is a honey wheat so we will see how it looks.