1st Batch

[1sttimebrewer]

Doin my first batch in a week or so and have a lot of ?s but the one I'm stuck on now is this: I'm doin 5 gallons and I have 4lbs liquid malt extract and a half pound grains I'm going to steap. Is this enough or do I need to add more malt extract liquid or dry? Is there a rule of thumb on how much malt extract I need per gallon of water? Thx for the input and glad to be a part of this! Thx

 

[MalFet]

Think about getting yourself a recipe, ja? That will tell you what kind of malt and hop schedules you need.

 

[jonmohno]

Its probably going to get you somewhere in the lighter area.You get more with dry malt extract.I would go with over a pound per gallon LME in the future. Im shure someone will explain more detail but read John Palmers How to brew online,its free and a good resource.

 

[1sttimebrewer]

Great info...thx

 

[cervezarara]

LME will contribute ~35 points per pound per gallon. Thus, your 4 lbs of LME will contribute 140 gravity points. If you intend to make 5 gallons, you divide 140 by 5 to get your expected specific gravity (28 points, or sg = 1.028.) If your yeast attenuates 75%, your finished gravity should be around 1.007 (and you may not achieve this attenuation with LME.) This will yield a beer with 2.75% alcohol ((1.028-1.007) * 131), which is pretty low. It all depends on what you are looking for.

 

[Revvy]

If this is going to be your first batch, consider buying a kit based on an established recipe rather than just throwing a bunch of stuff you have on hand into a fermenter and seeing what you get. If you go with a kit then the recipe is going to be all balanced, and pretty much foolproof.