Beginner extract brewing howto

Hey guys I'm new to the brewing scene and need some advice. To begin with, I'm brewing my first IPA extract kit. I forgot to take and initial specific gravity reading, and I do not know what the ending specific gravity should be. The kit says let it ferment for two weeks; however, my temp is a little low (64 degrees) and I'm wondering if I should leave it in longer. Also, I noticed that my secondary carboy does not have an airlock. Should I put an airlock on it during the dry hop phase. Sorry for the huge question. Thanks


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64F is fine for most ale yeasts. But Cooper's starts getting slughish at 64 or less. Look for an FG of around 1.010 to 1.012. You also don't need to secondary in order to dry hop. Many of us do it in primary. Either way,wait for the beer to get down to a stable FG first & setle out clear or slightly misty before 1 week dry hop.

unionrdr said:

64F is fine for most ale yeasts. But Cooper's starts getting slughish at 64 or less. Look for an FG of around 1.010 to 1.012. You also don't need to secondary in order to dry hop. Many of us do it in primary. Either way,wait for the beer to get down to a stable FG first & setle out clear or slightly misty before 1 week dry hop.

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Thanks for the response. Why did my kit come with a glass carboy. What's the benefit of fermenting in glass carboy? Is it used for another purpose?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

It depends on what size it is. A 5 gallonone would be for secondary. A 6 or 6.5 gallon one would be for primary.

Hi there I'm new to the forums and brewing, other than a mr.beer kit but I've wanted to kick it up a notch. I've picked up some Coopers Canadian Blonde extract and I just have a few questions. I'm going to use a 6.5 gallon pail with an airlock for my fermenter and I'm wondering if that is even large enough to contain all the krausen or will I need a blow off for. If that is the case would I be able to only fill it up to around the 5 gallon mark for more room or would it alter the taste too much. A higher abv is fine I'm shooting for a 5-6% beer anyways.

I also use a 6-1/2 gal bucket fermenter and fill to five gallons. No blow-off tube, but I leave the lid loose with a 1-pound weight on top for the first five days just in case. Never had the kraeusen overflow. The beer (not ambient) temperature is controlled at low to mid 60's - I feel that helps prevent an over-active fermentation.

Dood44 said:

Hi there I'm new to the forums and brewing, other than a mr.beer kit but I've wanted to kick it up a notch. I've picked up some Coopers Canadian Blonde extract and I just have a few questions. I'm going to use a 6.5 gallon pail with an airlock for my fermenter and I'm wondering if that is even large enough to contain all the krausen or will I need a blow off for. If that is the case would I be able to only fill it up to around the 5 gallon mark for more room or would it alter the taste too much. A higher abv is fine I'm shooting for a 5-6% beer anyways.

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Typically you do only fill the buckets up to the 5 gallon level to allow plenty of room for the krausen. Most typical beer kits and recipes are designed for these 5 gallon batches.

I just bought a new one last night:



The green line right above the South Bay label is the 5 gallon mark. You can see there's several inches of headroom, so you should be fine. These lids have a rubber O-ring to seal tightly, and a hole with a grommet for the airlock.

Thanks for the replies ill stop living in fear of a for sure blow out but ill still keep an eye on it. Lol I just don't want to lose any. Ill have to post back with the results of this brew and hopefully many others. What's better than a hobby that produces beer!

haugenlee said:

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

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.

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I'm still pretty new... Couldn't all that extra head space cause an issue?

Dood44 said:

Thanks for the replies ill stop living in fear of a for sure blow out but ill still keep an eye on it. Lol I just don't want to lose any. Ill have to post back with the results of this brew and hopefully many others. What's better than a hobby that produces beer!

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Ironically I just had my first blow-off this week - from my Mr. Beer LBK. I tried a new recipe with yeast I hadn't used before, did a full boil, and tried to jam just a little bit more into the LBK than I should have. Fortunately I was nervous enough about it that I put it in the spare bathroom shower. When I checked it the next morning a little had dribbled out the vents.

Kevin B.

Ya i think I'm going yo be stashing it in the bathtub for the first few days.

Dood44 said:

Ya i think I'm going yo be stashing it in the bathtub for the first few days.

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This is what I use when I'm concerned. Works great If it's hot in the summer you can also add/ice or water to be sure it don't get to warm.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0086ANONG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

bberg said:

I'm still pretty new... Couldn't all that extra head space cause an issue?

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I guess that's why I asked. I would only use it as a primary. I think that wouldn't be as big of an issue in the primary as it would in the secondary as the space would pressurize with gas release from fermentation, quickly pushing oxygen out. I think letting it sit too long in the primary after the most aggressive fermentation is happening could cause some oxidation. I would not want to consider this for secondary because of the extra head space and higher risk of oxidation.

With all of that said, I base all of my ideas off of what I have read, no experience. So, I am very open to hearing anything - experiences or theories - on why this would or wouldn't be a good idea.

In general,too much head space will fill with co2 in primary,never a good idea in secondary. Secondary is after fermentation,so only dissolved co2 bubbles out & may not be enough to fill the extra space. In primary,it can dissipate through dissolving back into the beer or bubbling out to create an equilibrium. Then infections in the smallest amount of air or lack of sanitizing anything that touches it can infect it. Or not cleaning & sanitizing spigots before fermenting in the bucket. I had that happen once.
And it doesn't push o2 out,but rather the co2 absorbes the o2,then pushing gas out the airlock to equalize the internal pressure as more co2 is produced in primary.

I am working on my second 5 gallon brew. I am purchasing my recipes/ingredients from my local brew shop. I have noticed there are many companies on-line that sell the same or similar recipes quite a bit lower in price. My dumb question is, do the on-line sellers send along the brewing instructions with their recipe kits?

I'm not near good enough to start brewing without the recipe instructions. Maybe someday I will be that good, but not right now. Anyone have a good company in mind, either a sponsor on here or otherwise?

Thanks

Riggs1 said:

I am working on my second 5 gallon brew. I am purchasing my recipes/ingredients from my local brew shop. I have noticed there are many companies on-line that sell the same or similar recipes quite a bit lower in price. My dumb question is, do the on-line sellers send along the brewing instructions with their recipe kits?

I'm not near good enough to start brewing without the recipe instructions. Maybe someday I will be that good, but not right now. Anyone have a good company in mind, either a sponsor on here or otherwise?

Thanks

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Yes, they do. In fact, most of them let you read the list of ingredients and the instructions online before you buy them.

Kevin B.

Also keep in mind the shipping cost + kit price when considering one. I like Midwest & Northern Brewer,as they are the closest to me with fresh ingredients.

Riggs1 said:

I am working on my second 5 gallon brew. I am purchasing my recipes/ingredients from my local brew shop. I have noticed there are many companies on-line that sell the same or similar recipes quite a bit lower in price. My dumb question is, do the on-line sellers send along the brewing instructions with their recipe kits?

I'm not near good enough to start brewing without the recipe instructions. Maybe someday I will be that good, but not right now. Anyone have a good company in mind, either a sponsor on here or otherwise?

Thanks

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I have only recently started doing the 5-gallon kits as well. I have ordered from 4 different places, and all have come with an instruction/timing sheet. I suppose quality differs from company to company, but the contents pretty much remain the same in my experience.

I have to recommend Jasper's and Northern Brew to you. Their instructions were great and very specific. Jasper's did not come with bottle caps, which I wish I had known before ordering, but that's my fault for not checking. Out of the 4 that I've ordered from, Jasper's and NB were the best. Jasper's had faster shipping (2 days for standard shipping). Other than that, they're very similar.

As for the price, I've found that with shipping they usually cost the same for me whether I buy in store or online.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your second 5-gallon batch!

Hi peeps. I am quite new to brewing and I have some questions here..

I am about to start my 3rd batch, which will be the 'Admiral Reserve' by Woodforde's.

Firstly, is it better to use mineral water? as the water here in the south of England is very hard.

Secondly, i assume the 'hop enhancer' they supply is more for flavor rather than the initial bitterness and this should be added at the end of the boil?

Thirdly, during the primary fermentation, is it better to use a heater belt or tray? or would an aquarium thermostatic heater be better? My house is cold all of the time!

Fourthly, when transferring to bottles, it states to use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar per bottle but can I put more in to gain a higher abv?

...and finally, what are the benefits of siphoning from the primary vessel into another vessel prior to bottling?

If you can answer any of these questions, it would be much appreciated as I am keen to get going on it soon.

Cheers dudes,

Noodle or @noodleface84 on twitter!

noodleface84 said:

Hi peeps. I am quite new to brewing and I have some questions here..

I am about to start my 3rd batch, which will be the 'Admiral Reserve' by Woodforde's.

Firstly, is it better to use mineral water? as the water here in the south of England is very hard.

Secondly, i assume the 'hop enhancer' they supply is more for flavor rather than the initial bitterness and this should be added at the end of the boil?

Thirdly, during the primary fermentation, is it better to use a heater belt or tray? or would an aquarium thermostatic heater be better? My house is cold all of the time!

Fourthly, when transferring to bottles, it states to use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar per bottle but can I put more in to gain a higher abv?

...and finally, what are the benefits of siphoning from the primary vessel into another vessel prior to bottling?

If you can answer any of these questions, it would be much appreciated as I am keen to get going on it soon.

Cheers dudes,

Noodle or @noodleface84 on twitter!

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Unfortunately, I can't help much on question 2, but I can offer at least what I've gathered from these forums and experienced myself.

1) I have been told that worrying about the minerals in the water you're using should come after you're experienced everywhere else. I do not do this, and my beer tastes good.

3) Does the aquarium heater go inside of the beer? If so, I would say use a heating belt. If not, I'm sure it doesn't matter as long as it holds your target temperature.

4) Again, as far as I know, the priming sugar serves mostly to carbonate the beer. If you want a higher ABV you should add the sugar before putting the beer in your primary. And make sure you use enough yeast...that's important in getting a good fermentation, especially a higher ABV one.

5) If you're talking about racking to a bottling bucket, it can help keep the beer clear of the yeast cake and any hop particles. It's also easier to bottle when it's not on a yeast cake. If you're talking about racking to a secondary fermentation chamber, welcome to the debate haha. I think the general consenus on here is that racking to a secondary is not necessary or beneficial really. But racking to a bottling bucket helps keep your beer a little clearer and you can more easily avoid getting yeast cake in your bottles.

Hope this helps a little.
Cheers!

Yeah, an aquarium heater would fit inside the fermentation vessel. I assume it would be hard to keep it sterilized? trouble is, a heater tray or belt apparently get too hot!!!

and yeah i was referring to transferring the brew from the primary fermentation vessel to a bottling bucket. Not a secondary fermentation vessel.

May need to invest in a bottling bucket as well.... its getting expensive, this little hobby of mine!!!

noodleface84 said:

Hi peeps. I am quite new to brewing and I have some questions here..

I am about to start my 3rd batch, which will be the 'Admiral Reserve' by Woodforde's.

Firstly, is it better to use mineral water? as the water here in the south of England is very hard.

Secondly, i assume the 'hop enhancer' they supply is more for flavor rather than the initial bitterness and this should be added at the end of the boil?

Thirdly, during the primary fermentation, is it better to use a heater belt or tray? or would an aquarium thermostatic heater be better? My house is cold all of the time!

Fourthly, when transferring to bottles, it states to use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar per bottle but can I put more in to gain a higher abv?

...and finally, what are the benefits of siphoning from the primary vessel into another vessel prior to bottling?

If you can answer any of these questions, it would be much appreciated as I am keen to get going on it soon.

Cheers dudes,

Noodle or @noodleface84 on twitter!

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For 1, if the first batch was great, or even good, your water is probably fine. Tweaking water, as someone else said, is usually after you get a few batches down the road.

2. I've never heard of a hop enhancer, so I'm clueless.

3. you can use any, I've put the fermenter in a tray of water with the aquarium thermostat with no problems and others use the belt all the time. don't put it in the vessel, you won't be able to seal it or keep it sanitary easily.

4. You do NOT want to add extra sugar at bottling or you will create bottle bombs. Also table sugar adds some off flavors if I recall, that is why usually people use corn sugar for bottling or adding alcohol. The latter should be added in the fermentation so that you don't explode bottles.

noodleface84 said:

Yeah, an aquarium heater would fit inside the fermentation vessel. I assume it would be hard to keep it sterilized? trouble is, a heater tray or belt apparently get too hot!!!

and yeah i was referring to transferring the brew from the primary fermentation vessel to a bottling bucket. Not a secondary fermentation vessel.

May need to invest in a bottling bucket as well.... its getting expensive, this little hobby of mine!!!

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Ok. As pompeiisteaks said above, I'd stay away from putting the aquarium heater IN the beer. His idea with keeping the primary in heated water is a good one.

I didn't think a bottling bucket was necessary, but I've found it to be very useful! I would definitely consider it.

I've been priming with table sugar for a couple of years now - I don't think it tastes any different than using corn sugar. But I like the idea of mixing up a priming solution in water and boiling it for 10 minutes - good for sanitation. Then gently pour it into the bottling bucket, and rack the beer on top of it with a swirling motion, and mix gently with a long spoon. This works well for distributing the priming sugar evenly.

Firstly,don't use mineral water. Spring water,RO,or distilled would be better. Secondly,never heard of hop enhancers over here. Aquarium heaters are used in the swamp bath tub the fermenter would sit in. You can use this priming calculator to figure out how much sugar to use by weight; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html,so a small digital scale will come in handy.
You can also weigh hops,grains,extracts as well with it. Then boil 2C of water in a small sauce pan for a few minutes. Remove from heat & stir in the priming sugar till water goes clear again. The sugar is dry,so no nasties would grow on it. And since pasteurization happens in seconds @ 160F,no need to boil the snot out of it. Then cover & cool while you sanitize the bottling bucket,racking tubes,bottling wand & tube,etc. Start racking beer into bottling bucket. Then slowly pour the priming solution into the swirling surface of the beer.

unionrdr said:

Firstly,don't use mineral water. Spring water,RO,or distilled would be better. Secondly,never heard of hop enhancers over here. Aquarium heaters are used in the swamp bath tub the fermenter would sit in. You can use this priming calculator to figure out how much sugar to use by weight; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html,so a small digital scale will come in handy.
You can also weigh hops,grains,extracts as well with it. Then boil 2C of water in a small sauce pan for a few minutes. Remove from heat & stir in the priming sugar till water goes clear again. The sugar is dry,so no nasties would grow on it. And since pasteurization happens in seconds @ 160F,no need to boil the snot out of it. Then cover & cool while you sanitize the bottling bucket,racking tubes,bottling wand & tube,etc. Start racking beer into bottling bucket. Then slowly pour the priming solution into the swirling surface of the beer.

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Take into account that if you use distilled or reverse osmosis water, you are going to need to add salts, minerals, etc. Spring water is a good one, especially if it really is spring water and not just from the tap. I would recommend getting you hands on your local water quality, it will give you most of the details you need. You could use that data and put it into an application such as Beer Smith.

As far as bottles go, if reusing bottles, make sure you rinse them out. Put them in the dish washer, don't worry, most amber bottles can withstand the heat. Most dishwashers don't hold temperature high enough to sanitize, so once they cool, put them in a no rinse sanitizer like StarSan. You can use Iodifur, which is iodine based, but you run into the potential of having off smells and flavors.

If you want to minimize your bottling time, I remember the days of being a homebrewer, go with 22 oz bottles. The other option is kegging. Cleaning kegs are a lot easier if you get a keg washer. You can find them at most homebrew stores. They come with hook ups to clean both your gas in and beer out Cornelius Keg Posts. I do a three step cleaning, I start out with PBW, though you'll want to rinse it with hot water. Second I do another rinse with Iodifur and the third step with StarSan. Can never be too careful.

unionrdr said:

The sugar is dry,so no nasties would grow on it.

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unionrdr: I feel that microbes can fall onto dry sugar and stay there until it is put into your beer, and then grow in the wet environment. I had to re-prime several bottles some time ago due to bad cap seals, and a few bottles went bad. I agree that it is rare - lots of brewers have primed with dry sugar successfully.

chicoporter said:

Take into account that if you use distilled or reverse osmosis water, you are going to need to add salts, minerals, etc. Spring water is a good one, especially if it really is spring water and not just from the tap. I would recommend getting you hands on your local water quality, it will give you most of the details you need. You could use that data and put it into an application such as Beer Smith.

As far as bottles go, if reusing bottles, make sure you rinse them out. Put them in the dish washer, don't worry, most amber bottles can withstand the heat. Most dishwashers don't hold temperature high enough to sanitize, so once they cool, put them in a no rinse sanitizer like StarSan. You can use Iodifur, which is iodine based, but you run into the potential of having off smells and flavors.

If you want to minimize your bottling time, I remember the days of being a homebrewer, go with 22 oz bottles. The other option is kegging. Cleaning kegs are a lot easier if you get a keg washer. You can find them at most homebrew stores. They come with hook ups to clean both your gas in and beer out Cornelius Keg Posts. I do a three step cleaning, I start out with PBW, though you'll want to rinse it with hot water. Second I do another rinse with Iodifur and the third step with StarSan. Can never be too careful.

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This also depends on whether you're using extracts or not. The extracts already have the minerals in them from the water they were produced with. So no need to add more. As for myself,I use White House Artisian Springs water that comes from 6 different springs in the bedrock here in NE OH. Works great from AE to PB/PM BIAB.

ncbrewer said:

unionrdr: I feel that microbes can fall onto dry sugar and stay there until it is put into your beer, and then grow in the wet environment. I had to re-prime several bottles some time ago due to bad cap seals, and a few bottles went bad. I agree that it is rare - lots of brewers have primed with dry sugar successfully.

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Microbes generally do not survive long in dry environments. They need moisture,food & warmth to propagate. In this case,it's most likely from loose,leaky caps. I had that happen when the bell on my red baron wore out,causing the same thing. As the bottles carbonated,the leaky ones would give off a malty smell that wound up tasting oxidized. Again from the leaky caps.

the manufacturer of the malt extract i plan to use says it has already been boiled in the factory, and wont need to be boiled again. is that the case with all malt extracts?

Basically,yes. DME doesn't darken in the boil as readily as LME does. So I generally use DME in the boil,LME at flame out. You especially don't want to boil pre-hopped extracts,as it messes up the hop additions already in it.

oh right. according to john palmer you've gotta boil everything! its confusing me! i am keen to get it right this time!

You can also check out my recipes under my avatar for some ideas on how I used pre-hopped LME cans in recipes. Easy to do.

so if i want to increase the abv, i simply add x amount of corn sugar along with my chosen pre hopped liquid malt extract? how much would i add? i believe the calculator is meant for the bottling phase?

Priming calculators are just for the bulk priming phase in the bottling bucket. Recipe calculators for how much of what to add to the recipe itself.

Okay, So the brew has now been bottled and is now sat in 'secondary'. My ABV appears to be 3.9%. Will this pick up at all during 'secondary'?

3.9% is fine for an ale, but on the box is says you can get a maximum of 5.5%.

I was advised to use a single vessel to ferment and bottle from. According to the bloke in the shop, he reckons when you transfer from one vessel to another, you are introducing more oxygen...

anyways, all is good. thanks for everybody's help.

I use a bottling bucket,as many of us do. I use a piece of tubing on my fermenter's spigot that goes down half way around the bottom of the bottling bucket & rack the beer to it from the bottom up as it were. No oxygenation that way. Then pour the priming solution into the surface of the beer. A few gentle stirs with a sanitized spoon to mix the solution well with the beer. Then bottle away.

What is the average alcohol content of the beermaking kits?

sdrhadrg said:

While steeping grains in a grain bag, the bag generally lies at the bottom of the pot, correct? Isn't there a danger of the bag burning?

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Not really. I use a nylon paint strainer bag & since I'm only heating it to 152-156F, it doesn't happen.

zdfhdth said:

While steeping grains in a grain bag, the bag generally lies at the bottom of the pot, correct? Isn't there a danger of the bag burning?

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Every time that I steep grains the grain bag does not touch the bottom of the pot. I floats so there is no danger of burning. I have even tried to get it to sink to the bottom, but it just floats right back up.

When I steep or mash, the bag is near the bottom. But with the crushed grains evenly wetted, they should be in suspension like a soup or stew. I wrap my tun in a quilted winter hunting coat to hold the temp while steeping or mashing.