Wow, that Brewer's Friend calculator is really helpful, especially as it says how much ater I need to start and how much I need to top up with. I feel confident I can go and buy the ingredients and brew something half decent without a kit now. Any more tips for a smoked porter?
Thank you. It seems strange that you can use the same recipe with differing amounts of water in the FV. I'm guessing that topping it up would make for a lower-strngth brew? Is it possible to estimate what difference it would make?
If we could now assume that I've got a 15L pan, I was thinking of trying this one from Brew Your Own. The only thing I'm a little vague on is that doesn't specify how much water you steep with, and whether you top up the resultant wort to get five gallons. Any ideas? I would be substituting...
Thanks for all these responses, everyone. Having loked at what I was going to do, I now see no point in having a kit component to this brew at all. Instead I'm buying a massive pan and going for the extract + steeped grains method.
Ah yes, I think I knew that. If boiling, would I chuck those other grains in at the same time? I'm guessing this may intensify the flavour compared to steeping.
Hello. I've now done three kts plus an all-grain brew on a course. I'm currently poised to buy some spraymalt, speciality grains and hops to add to a kit in order to attempt a really great smoked porter.
What I don't know is how much of the kit's water (and possibly extract) to replace with...