Rank_Amateur
Member
Hey guys,
I'm going to try making an extract based porter this weekend along with some steeped grains. Its not based on a specific recipe (so far my 6 brews have all been kit and kilo brews with some adjuncts or dry hopping to "tart" them up - and all have been drinkable)
I'm still new and learning and so rather than trying specific recipe's or clones I'm working of some general ideas and seeing what happens. So anyhoo my plan is this.
Steep the grains, and the top up to 5l with some LME to get to a gravity of 1.040 to maximise hops utilisation. Then carry out a 30 minute boil with appropriate quantities Fuggles and EKG hops to get an IBU of around 40 or so.
I also have a can of a bock kit which I will add at flame out.
However I was thinking (based on some reading) to also boil the remaining LME and DME (basically the unused portion of the 1.5kg LME,and 500gm Dark DME) for maybe 5-10 minutes (enough to get a hot break and then for 5 more minutes after that) - i have 2 x 7litre stock pots available
My theory is thus:
Boiling the wort produced from the grains and adjusted to 1.040 get the maximum hops utilisation. But I figure that by boiling the remaining LME and DME this should hopefully produce a slightly better beer by creating a hot break and therefore dropping out the associated proteins. This will only be a short boil (i.e. just enough to get a break going), and the gravity wont matter because there are no hop additions.
From what i have read everyone recommends doing a full volume boil if you can so I figured this would kinda achieve the same result, but in 2 batches. Also because I am aiming for a porter style colour doesn't matter and in effect the darker the better.
Thoughts or tips anyone? I will eventually start trying recipes - but at the moment i am happy more or less experimenting and see what comes out - plus this is my first time with grains. I figure at the moment if I come up with a basic idea and see what happens then i wont have any expectations of a recipe and so if it doesn't come out the same it doesn't matter - so long as it is good to drink!
PPS I also keep a detailed diary of the process for each brew (manually) so can use that to identify where possible issues might be. I have some software but most don't have the commonly available kits used in New Zealand (home of Sauvin!) so once I start going to pure extract and away from kits then I will start using the software for more than just calculating IBU's and ABV.
EDIT: The extract only boil will also be 5L and the total volume going into the fermenter will be 23 litres (5 UK gal I think)
I'm going to try making an extract based porter this weekend along with some steeped grains. Its not based on a specific recipe (so far my 6 brews have all been kit and kilo brews with some adjuncts or dry hopping to "tart" them up - and all have been drinkable)
I'm still new and learning and so rather than trying specific recipe's or clones I'm working of some general ideas and seeing what happens. So anyhoo my plan is this.
Steep the grains, and the top up to 5l with some LME to get to a gravity of 1.040 to maximise hops utilisation. Then carry out a 30 minute boil with appropriate quantities Fuggles and EKG hops to get an IBU of around 40 or so.
I also have a can of a bock kit which I will add at flame out.
However I was thinking (based on some reading) to also boil the remaining LME and DME (basically the unused portion of the 1.5kg LME,and 500gm Dark DME) for maybe 5-10 minutes (enough to get a hot break and then for 5 more minutes after that) - i have 2 x 7litre stock pots available
My theory is thus:
Boiling the wort produced from the grains and adjusted to 1.040 get the maximum hops utilisation. But I figure that by boiling the remaining LME and DME this should hopefully produce a slightly better beer by creating a hot break and therefore dropping out the associated proteins. This will only be a short boil (i.e. just enough to get a break going), and the gravity wont matter because there are no hop additions.
From what i have read everyone recommends doing a full volume boil if you can so I figured this would kinda achieve the same result, but in 2 batches. Also because I am aiming for a porter style colour doesn't matter and in effect the darker the better.
Thoughts or tips anyone? I will eventually start trying recipes - but at the moment i am happy more or less experimenting and see what comes out - plus this is my first time with grains. I figure at the moment if I come up with a basic idea and see what happens then i wont have any expectations of a recipe and so if it doesn't come out the same it doesn't matter - so long as it is good to drink!
PPS I also keep a detailed diary of the process for each brew (manually) so can use that to identify where possible issues might be. I have some software but most don't have the commonly available kits used in New Zealand (home of Sauvin!) so once I start going to pure extract and away from kits then I will start using the software for more than just calculating IBU's and ABV.
EDIT: The extract only boil will also be 5L and the total volume going into the fermenter will be 23 litres (5 UK gal I think)