American Light Help !

Ok everyone I went to the brew store last night and got a American Light. (partial grain kit) I have a few questions to ask before I get it started. This is my first partial grain attempt. There is more hop pellets that I would have thought first of all. One of my main questions is,Will it be ok to use filter tap water?

CrazyC said:

Will it be ok to use filter tap water?

Click to expand...

If it tastes OK to drink, then it's OK for your beer, but some would say to boil it and let it cool before adding it to your post-boil wort.

That's all I ever use.

If you've done any research on brewing (reading books) you would have read that any drinkable water in the US is good for brewing.

I was going to boil it first anyway. Next question is, It came with priming sugar and another 1 pound of sugar should I add this sugar ?

homebrewer_99 said:

That's all I ever use.

If you've done any research on brewing (reading books) you would have read that any drinkable water in the US is good for brewing.

Click to expand...

I have read and read and read and read. I just wanted to make sure. I used a muntons canned kit before and it turned out very bitter. I just dont want this batch to turn out that way. I want to know what went wrong.

CrazyC said:

I was going to boil it first anyway. Next question is, It came with priming sugar and another 1 pound of sugar should I add this sugar ?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't add the lb of sugar...your beer may end up tasting cidery. Instead, you might try some additional malt extract.

It came with 6.6 lbs of Briess malt extract. Do I need more to add or would that be enough?

CrazyC said:

It came with 6.6 lbs of Briess malt extract. Do I need more to add or would that be enough?

Click to expand...

That sounds like enough to me, unless you're looking for an atypically high ABV.

Not really just looking for a good tasting beer and normal ABV.

Is Oxi Clean a good cleaner for all brew supplies?

CrazyC said:

I have read and read and read and read. I just wanted to make sure. I used a muntons canned kit before and it turned out very bitter. I just dont want this batch to turn out that way. I want to know what went wrong.

Click to expand...

Bitterness comes from the hops not your water (unless it's funky to begin with). This is probably why you were given the extra pound of corn sugar.

Are the cans of malt hopped? It should say on the label if it is or not.

Like ElP said, 6.6 lbs of malt is a good amount of malt to make good beer. You may want to leave the CS out, but chances are it was added for a reason.

A good rule of thumb is about .8% per lb of malt. At 7.6 lbs your beer should be in the 5.5 - 6.1% range.

In this case, the cane sugar maintains ABV while reducing the malt level. Rice extract is probably a better way to go, but follow the kit the first time. I did two kits last weekend & they called for 2.5 gallon boils. I've never done a small boil before, but they turned out extremely well.

Tap water is ok, most places, boil & cool for making additions. If you can taste iron in the water, I'd recommend bottled water.

I was at a "Off flavor" seminar today and one instructor mentioned that mainstream American lagers are running 2.5 to 10 IBU these days! Ten years ago, they were in the 20 IBU range.

CrazyC said:

I was going to boil it first anyway. Next question is, It came with priming sugar and another 1 pound of sugar should I add this sugar ?

Click to expand...

If we are talking corn sugar, I would say add it. The percentage of malt to your suger adjunct seems correct for the style. After all it is an American light clone you are making.

homebrewer_99 said:

Bitterness comes from the hops not your water (unless it's funky to begin with). This is probably why you were given the extra pound of corn sugar.

Are the cans of malt hopped? It should say on the label if it is or not.

Like ElP said, 6.6 lbs of malt is a good amount of malt to make good beer. You may want to leave the CS out, but chances are it was added for a reason.

A good rule of thumb is about .8% per lb of malt. At 7.6 lbs your beer should be in the 5.5 - 6.1% range.

Click to expand...

I have a filter in the kitchen so the water taste like bottled water. The malt is unhopped

Which type and how much hops did you add to make it so bitter?

homebrewer_99 said:

Which type and how much hops did you add to make it so bitter?

Click to expand...

The batch that was bitter was a Muntons Cerveza Kit. I just followed the destructions on the can.

OK. So we're talking 2 different brews?

All I can help you with is if the beer was bitter then too many hops were used in the boil.

No I never got to start this batch yet. The first batch was the bitter one but thanks. How much hops should be used in this American Light? I mean at the brew shop they gave me a good bit of hops

Just follow whatever instructions you received.

I hope you are using a recipe other than what's on the can. If you have a recipe that someone gave you that would probably be better.

The brew store give me a instruction sheet to follow. This is my first partial grain batch so its new to me. I just thought is was a little much hops for this beer.

Please post the amount & type of hops you have for this batch. The bittering ability of hops can vary by a factor of 7 depending on the variety. Liberty can be as low as 2.5% AA, cascade over 17% AA.

david_42 said:

Please post the amount & type of hops you have for this batch. The bittering ability of hops can vary by a factor of 7 depending on the variety. Liberty can be as low as 2.5% AA, cascade over 17% AA.

Click to expand...

The hops is Nugget - 5 aau. The brew shop give me like a hand full in a boil bag.

A handful of whole hops is probably around an oz. Nuggett at 5 AA is a good choice for low bittering. I also like it for flavor. I'd put 3/4 of it in at the beginning of the boil (60 minutes) and the rest 15 minutes before the end.

david_42 said:

A handful of whole hops is probably around an oz. Nuggett at 5 AA is a good choice for low bittering. I also like it for flavor. I'd put 3/4 of it in at the beginning of the boil (60 minutes) and the rest 15 minutes before the end.

Click to expand...

I have .25 oz. of Hallertau and .25 oz. of Tettnang for flavor Thanks for the tips

Use a spreadsheet or qbrew (both free, search the internet) to calculate IBU's (bitterness) and SRM (color). You'll quickly get a feel for what your tolerance is to bitterness in terms of IBUs. One thing I believe you'll quickly discover is that craft/home brewers enjoy what most americans would consider extreme beers. Very dark beers and very bitter beers are the norm.. if you're used to bud, miller, and the like then you may find that a great many kits provide beer that you find too harsh. IF this is the case I'd suggest you start with receipes/kits for cream ales or lite beers.

In terms of bitterness.. you'll see some homebrewers with India Pale Ale recipes in the 60 or 70 IBU range or higher As someone else stated, bud and the like are probably around 5 IBUs. You just need to get a feel for what SRM and IBU translate into in terms of flavor so you can know in advance if the beer is gonna be too bitter or too sweet.