lots contradictory information on brewing

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emmpeethree

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i've gotten alot of contradictory information and i'm wondering if anyone can help me figure it out.

1. brew kits (ie coopers cans) do not contain enough fermentables to make a well flavoured beer and sugar or preferably dry malt extract should be added to give the beer more alcohol, body and flavour

is this only the case with the coopers kits that recommend adding additional fermentables or all of them? one person even suggested adding TWO of the coopers kits to make a 5 gallon batch. why doesnt coopers just make larger cans if one can is not sufficient to make a batch of beer?

2. conditioning/priming should be done in bottle (powdered sugar or a mixture of warm water/sugar) or sugar should be added fermentor after 2 weeks to give it carbonation and clear it up (2 questions really, should it be done in bottle or fermentor and should it be done with raw sugar or sugar diluted in water)

3. liquid extract should/shouldnot be boiled with other fermentables
 
1. Because it would be too expensive for a lot of people. Malt is more expensive by far than table sugar, or whatever else it is they recommend you add for fermentables. You can add sugar to make a beer with regular beer strength, even if it isn't as good as an all-malt beer.

2a. You can't carbonate in the fermenter, as the carbonation would escape (unless your fermenter is also a keg). You need a closed vessel, i.e. a bottle, to force the CO2 into solution.

2b. You should boil the sugar in a small amount of water for ten minutes to ensure that it is sanitized.

3. I have never heard anyone advise not to boil LME with other fermentables. You might want to add it near the end of the boil for various reasons (lighter color, better hops utilization), but you can absolutely boil LME with whatever other fermentables you are using. NOT, however, any specialty grains (they are never to be boiled).
 
I can't imagine where you are getting all this contradictory information but it sure isn't on this board. First of all if you are new and using coopers kits, I suggest you just follow their directions and make beer. Using any kit as a first time brewer and trying to fiddle with it until you have made a beer and aquired and read John Palmers book "How to Brew" in order to make better beer is in my opinion risky and putting the cart before the horse. John also has an earlier version of his book online and is my first "Bible of Brewing" and it's free.


1. brew kits (ie coopers cans) do not contain enough fermentables to make a well flavoured beer and sugar or preferably dry malt extract should be added to give the beer more alcohol, body and flavour
is this only the case with the coopers kits that recommend adding additional fermentables or all of them? one person even suggested adding TWO of the coopers kits to make a 5 gallon batch. why doesnt coopers just make larger cans if one can is not sufficient to make a batch of beer?

See above.

2. conditioning/priming should be done in bottle (powdered sugar or a mixture of warm water/sugar) or sugar should be added fermentor after 2 weeks to give it carbonation and clear it up (2 questions really, should it be done in bottle or fermentor and should it be done with raw sugar or sugar diluted in water)

See previous post and above re: Palmer's Book.

3. liquid extract should/shouldnot be boiled with other fermentables

Gee, read Palmer's book!:rockin:
 
the_bird said:
3. I have never heard anyone advise not to boil LME with other fermentables. You might want to add it near the end of the boil for various reasons (lighter color, better hops utilization), but you can absolutely boil LME with whatever other fermentables you are using. NOT, however, any specialty grains (they are never to be boiled).

I’ve heard that I should boil this kit anyway… what’s the truth? There’s a lot of misunderstanding about no-boil kits. Boiling is necessary for the brewing process, but these kits have already been boiled! The manufacturer brews the beer (including boiling) all the way up to the point where they could add yeast and ferment it. But instead, they concentrate and can it. So all you need to do is add water to the concentrate, and then add yeast to ferment. The whole point of no-boil kits is to let someone else (professionals) do the dirty work!

You won’t “improve” a no-boil kit by boiling it. Anyone who says you need to boil doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Blind taste tests by different manufacturers, using experienced brewers and trained tasters, have proven that no-boil kits actually come out somewhat better without re-boiling them. Re-boiling is over-boiling!

from: http://www.annapolishomebrew.com/INSTnoboil.asp
 
Hey man, calm down, Here, have a dancing banana :ban: you asked some questions and we are trying to help.:) If you want to find out for yourself what you like, brew two beers with the same kit, boil one and not the other, try and compare. That would be the best way to find out what you prefer. I always boil, but thats because I always add hops to extract kits. Boiling hops for bitterness and flavor is neccesary. And don't forget Relax, Don't worry, Hava a homebrew:drunk:
 
emmpeethree said:
You won’t “improve” a no-boil kit by boiling it. Anyone who says you need to boil doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Blind taste tests by different manufacturers, using experienced brewers and trained tasters, have proven that no-boil kits actually come out somewhat better without re-boiling them. Re-boiling is over-boiling!
The point isn't in improving the quality of the beer through application of heat, it's sanitation. Generally, tap water has some bacteria in it. Boiling it kills any contaminants and leaves you with a sanitary environment, so long as you take care of it after cooling. Were I to do a no-boil kit, I would bring my water to a boil for about 10 minutes, kill the heat, and add the contents of the kit while the water is still hot. The hot water will quickly dissolve the extract, and I could even use it to rinse the cans of all their syrupy goodness. Then I'd cool it quickly, carefully transfer it to my sanitized fermenter, aerate, and pitch.
 
Most of the point of not boiling "no boil hopped canned kits" is to retain the sparse hop character of the kit. It really isn't nesessary to boil to make the beer, but rather as was said, to boil to sterilize/sanitize the water.
 
Well, no-boil kits are quite a bit different from "regular" homebrewing, which means that the information on them will vary quite a bit.
 
Price in very important to many people, as mentioned.

Having done exactly two canned no-boil kits (they were free), they both said you could boil them to increase the bitterness. They both had hops in them, not just hop extracts and oils. There are no-boil kits which only have hops extracts and oils, other than sanitation there is no reason to boil them.

The first "beer" I made was with a BrewSack: pour in boiling water, cool, add yeast. Let it ferment, dump down drain.

Bottom line: There are more ways to homebrew than there are homebrewers. Anyone who needs an absolute, invariant approach, probably needs to stick to store bought or only purchase one style of one kit from one manufacturer and follow the directions exactly.
 
If your still confused after everything is said and done, let me know.....Its easy to get intimidated about this stuff but its much simpler then you might imagine......

What gets complicated are all the fine details like, how would this ingredient change my beers taste? Or troubleshooting a problem that comes out of the blue but as far as your basic beer goes, its not that complicated....
 
I think it was touched on already, but the only reason to boil a no-boil kit is to ensure sanitation (or if you wanted to add more bittering hops). I guess the question is, is adding the pre-hopped LME to boiling water enough to ensure sanitation or should you then boil that mixture for another 5 minutes or so. I suppose it gets down to splitting hairs and how paranoid you are.

Personally, I'd just steer clear of no boil, pre hopped LME altogether. The kits that most mailorder suppliers sell (steeping grain, LME/DME, hops and yeast) are just as easy to make and I am sure they will taste better.
 
another contradiction i've come across is whether or not to stir the yeast after pitching.

john palmer encourages

"With the fermenter tightly sealed, pick it up, sit in a chair, put the fermenter on your knees and shake it several minutes to churn it up. This mixes the yeast into the wort and provides more dissolved oxygen that the yeast need to grow."

while on my beer kit (the brew house - unconcentrated wort) it says

"sprinkle yeast on top. do not stir"
 
The reason to shake is because the yeast need oxygen to do their work. By shaking, oxygen is dissolved into the wort. This can also be done, although not quite as effictive, by just pouring into the primary vigorously, splashing it around. If you just boiled the wort, chilled it, and then gently transferred into the primary, the yeast wouldn't have enough O2 to do their job.

BTW, I would trust anything Palmer suggests over anything written on a kit.
 
I think the reason that some kits have the "do not stir" instruction is for sanitation. It is unnecessary to stir yeast into the wort - it knows what to do. Stirring, especially with a wooden spoon, has the potential to introduce infection causing contaminants. Shaking the sanitized fermenter, on the other hand, does not come with the same contamination risk, and is quite beneficial if you haven't aerated by other means.
 
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