Beginner questions (from a sticky thread)

[Husher]

I read in Palmers first edition of how to brew, that boiling malt releases sulfur, and that's why we keep the lid off during the boil, to let it escape. However given that most people seem to do late additions, I imagine that isn't that much of a factor or maybe only an issue with certain kinds of malt. Plus palmer has changed his mind on other topics, so....I'm no expert as I've just done pre-hopped beer kits.

I will add that on another thread I was told by Yooper that you don't need malt present at all during the boil for hop isomerization, and that many add some malt to make the process closer to the grain method. I'm planning on doing that as an experiment and seeing if I notice a difference, since once you add the malt, boil overs are a huge risk.

 

[VolBrewR]

Hello all. New to the forum and back into home brewing after a too long hiatus. I have a batch of Brewers Best Pale Ale fermenting, and plan to just let it ride in the primary for about three weeks. I would like to add some extra hops for a little extra aroma, and was wondering what time would be good for this, and if it would be a good idea with a single stage. Thanks to all who have posted good info on this board, it saved me a little worry when the fermentation "appeared" to take a little long to kick in.

 

[pompeiisneaks]

If you're planning on Dry Hopping, then after about the first 3 weeks, once you're sure fermentation is done and the yeast have really cleaned up, you can transfer the beer to a secondary and have the hops in the secondary vessel. The amount of time you keep it there is up to you, some do it for only a few days, others will keep it there for a week or more. Experimentation will tell you what you like best.

 

[unionrdr]

I dry hop in primary after the beer has settle out clear or slightly misty for 7 days. You don't want the hop oils coating the yeast cells & going to the bottom.

 

[beach_brewer]

Noob question. If I wanted to transfer it straight to a 5 gallon keg would I still need to put in the sugar to carbonate it or is it legit to just hook up the CO2 lines. I don't want to bottle and I my wife surprised me with a nice bar (minus a kegerator but that will be remedied shortly).

 

[CarnieBrew]

You can 'keg condition' your beer in the same way as you would with bottles...i.e. add priming sugar and let it carb up in the keg naturally. Or you can 'force carb' it using co2. Plenty of info on the web for either method, for example post 3 here: http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1988

 

[MSU_BREW]

Just bottled my first brew, a two hearted ale clone from Northern Brewer.

 

[unionrdr]

Nice labels. Always looks cool & more "finished". I'm going to brew up an IPA with all NZ hops in a partial mash when my stuff comes in soon. I red about one called Kiwi IPA that sounded good,& I've still got the better part of a pound of them in the freezer.
Boy,did beersmith2 come in handy for tweaking my recipe idea for color & flavors,etc. You can add to the lists of grains,sugars,& extracts. Dito on hops listed. Even your own notes on flavors,colors,whatever. Not to mention brewing style,equipment,boil off,etc. Not easy to learn all the functions of beersmith. But it's not too bad given time & experience.
It's about time I made another IPA,now that I'm into PM. Hope yours comes out addictive!

 

[philipCT]

beginner Northern Brewer extract kit brewing question: full boil?

The instructions with these kits say to do the boil with just 2.5 gallons of water, and when done, pour that into two gallons of fresh water already in the carboy, and then add water to top it up to 5 gallons total. I'm guessing they do this because humping around a 5 gallon pot full of boiling wort is just plain dangerous. Agreed!

I've followed those instructions twice now with good results, but I'm just wondering, I've added a ball-valve spigot to my brew port, and that goes right to a plate chiller into the fermenter. That's working great.

Since I am not carrying around large containers of boiling liquid anymore, couldn't I just do a full boil of 5 gallons to begin with?

Thanks for considering this newbie question!!

--
bottle conditioning: Caribou Slobber Brown Ale (NB Extract)
primary fermenter: Black IPA (NB Extract)

 

[boydster]

beginner Northern Brewer extract kit brewing question: full boil?

The instructions with these kits say to do the boil with just 2.5 gallons of water, and when done, pour that into two gallons of fresh water already in the carboy, and then add water to top it up to 5 gallons total. I'm guessing they do this because humping around a 5 gallon pot full of boiling wort is just plain dangerous. Agreed!

I've followed those instructions twice now with good results, but I'm just wondering, I've added a ball-valve spigot to my brew port, and that goes right to a plate chiller into the fermenter. That's working great.

Since I am not carrying around large containers of boiling liquid anymore, couldn't I just do a full boil of 5 gallons to begin with?

Thanks for considering this newbie question!!

--
bottle conditioning: Caribou Slobber Brown Ale (NB Extract)
primary fermenter: Black IPA (NB Extract)

I've recently seen conflicting info about this, but I've always been told that when you boil more water, you will increase your hop utilization because the wort will be less saturated. My thoughts initially would be that you would get higher IBU's by doing the full boil. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something to know before you get started.

It is worth noting that I haven't had the time/energy/resources to do a side-by-side analysis of a full boil beer vs a partial boil beer to prove whether there is any difference in hop utilization, but my gut tells me that the time-honored theory that you get more IBU's by boiling the same amount of hops in a larger amount of water makes a lot of sense.

 

[bigmike99]

Count me as a plus one that always thought more of a boil would end up being better off. I'm still new and upgrading as I go but I'd love to hear some opinions from more seasoned folks.

 

[kennyg]

beginner Northern Brewer extract kit brewing question: full boil?

The instructions with these kits say to do the boil with just 2.5 gallons of water, and when done, pour that into two gallons of fresh water already in the carboy, and then add water to top it up to 5 gallons total. I'm guessing they do this because humping around a 5 gallon pot full of boiling wort is just plain dangerous. Agreed!

I've followed those instructions twice now with good results, but I'm just wondering, I've added a ball-valve spigot to my brew port, and that goes right to a plate chiller into the fermenter. That's working great.

Since I am not carrying around large containers of boiling liquid anymore, couldn't I just do a full boil of 5 gallons to begin with?

Thanks for considering this newbie question!!

--
bottle conditioning: Caribou Slobber Brown Ale (NB Extract)
primary fermenter: Black IPA (NB Extract)

I've heard the same. Full boil >>> better hop utilization.

btw, it sounds like you've got an impressive equipment collection there. Its not that much more to switch to all grain. just sayin', not trying to start a flame war or anything...I got my ag setup going by making a simple zapap lauter tun (drilling a bunch of holes in the bottom of a bucket and using that inside my bottling bucket as a sort of "false bottom")

 

[CarnieBrew]

I've recently seen conflicting info about this, but I've always been told that when you boil more water, you will increase your hop utilization because the wort will be less saturated. My thoughts initially would be that you would get higher IBU's by doing the full boil. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something to know before you get started.

It is worth noting that I haven't had the time/energy/resources to do a side-by-side analysis of a full boil beer vs a partial boil beer to prove whether there is any difference in hop utilization, but my gut tells me that the time-honored theory that you get more IBU's by boiling the same amount of hops in a larger amount of water makes a lot of sense.

It's true, but only up to a point. My own practical experience, shared by many other partial volume boil extract brewers I've discussed this with, shows that once you're getting up to around 8 litres (~2 gal) and over in your boil, you'll get a similar hop utilisation to a full volume boil. So there's no need to increase your hop amounts or boil times once you're boiling in that much water.

 

[unionrdr]

Interesting theory. I'm up to 3.5 gallon boils in my 5G (20qt) SS stock pot. I use the same amount of hops or close to it. I bought Beersmith2 & it def helps with such things when you set up My Equipment,extract,partial mash,etc. Then you can input what style beer from the list. The recipe additions you plug in will be applied to a horizontal bar graph with pointers showing where you are according to style with IBU's,SRM,OG/FG,etc. Very handy.

 

[bigmike99]

Also up to 3.5 gal boils so I appreciate the info about beer smith 2. Possibly going to get into buying ingredients to make my own or tweak recipes to my liking so I'm sure that would help also.

 

[unionrdr]

Oh definitely. BS2 also has a cloud function that you use to download recipes from there site inot it so you can then copy & paste to your My Recipes folder in BS2. I just tried it & it's quick. Once it's plugged into MY Recipes,you can use it,tweak it,whatever.
Having used it,I def think a noob can make great use of the program to learn how things work together to make a beer. There's even a graphic of a glass of beer to the right of the recipe window showing the current color!