First attempt at extract + grain

Hello all!

Went to the local brew shop and got some supplies, did some research, had some thoughts,...

Here's what I got:

-1 three pound bag dry amber extract
-1 one pound bag extra dark dry extract
-1 one pound bag chocolate malt
-1 one pound bag crystal 60L malt
-crystal hops
-cascade hops
-liberty hops
-challenger hops
-tettnang hops
-willamette hops

Here's what I plan to do:

Using a coffee grinder set to it's coarsest setting, grind the chocolate and crystal malts. Steep them with a gallon of water each at ~160 degrees F for ~40 minutes (too long?). Filter wort thru coffee filter.

Cook extract- throw both the amber and the extra dry in at the same time, using the appropriate volume of water and other ingredients. I will substitute half of the corn sugar with brown sugar.

Now, should I use this wort as part of the volume of liquid used to cook the extract, or should I cook the extract with water THEN add the wort after cooling? I'm figuring that I might cook off some of the flavor/aroma of the wort by using it in the cook of the extract.

As for the hops, I have no idea, either about how long or about which ones. Usually, I put the hop pellets in a small straining bag, throw it in with the cook, and leave it in for the entire ferment. I've seen people using this hops for 30 minutes, that hops for 5 minutes,...with no mention about leaving any hops in for the entire ferment.

Which hops and for how long would you all use?

I'll check the specific gravity of the mixture- I'll add corn sugar to get the SG to around 1.065. I'll then use either

-Safale US56 Dry Ale Yeast
-Saflager s23 Dry Lager Yeast
-Nottingham Brewing Yeast

Which do you all think?

After fermentation, I'll filter it as best I can, prime it with corn sugar, bottle it, wait ~1 week, then drink.

Any pointers, observations, criticisms,...would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
Chris

What are you trying to make? It looks like a chocolate porter or a really heavy sweet brown. If you add brown sugar, this would end up really sweet. Molasses, chocolate and caramel? I'd stick with corn sugar.

Use the wort from the grains in the boil.

Nottingham is probably the best bet of the three.

This is going to take more than a week in the bottle to condition. A SG of 1.065 means 8-10 weeks from the start of the ferment to drinking.

Hops, depends on what you are trying to make. None of the hops you have are standards for Browns or Porters and you'll need a fair amount of bittering to balance all of that sweetness.

Hmmm. I second all that David said above. I would shy away from the large amount of brown sugar, especially. Also, unless you really know it's what you want, I might cut down the amount Chocolate malt, too. It seems like more than you should need.

For hops, you want to remember that the longer they boil, the more bitterness is extracted, and the more aroma and flavor they lose (in that order). So put some hops in for bittering and let them boil for 60 minutes or so. If you want hop flavor, add some about half way through the 60 minutes (so they boil for the remaining 30). For aroma you could throw some in right before the boil finishing, in the last few minutes of the 60 min boil. I don't know what kind of hops you like, or whether you like flavor or aroma or high bitterness, etc. But I would suggest using the Challenger for bittering and maybe a small amount (.5 oz. ) of Tett or Willamette for flavor. But that is totally up to you. If you don't know what you like yet, you'll have to experiment and you'll soon find out.

As for leaving hops in for the whole ferment...search for "dry hopping" on this site and you'll see lots of different methods for doing this, maybe one like what you normally do.

I hope that helps you some. Good luck and have fun!
Cheers,
monk