When I did the extract version, one thing I didn't do was hit the original gravity. I was quite a bit over (1.082). I made 2 liter yeast starter starting with a 1.040 wort and using the WYeast 1056 American Ale smackpack.
Now, I will admit that when we steeped the grains, we squeezed the hell out of the grain bag at the end to get out as much of the sugars as possible (at the time I didn't know the possible tannin problem of doing that

).
So, otherwise we followed the instructions in the extract version (substituted Columbus because that was all I could get). I then topped it off to 17 liters before adding the yeast starter (whole thing, didn't decant the yeast). Before I added the yeast starter it was around 1.090, then the yeast starter diluted it to 1.082. Do you think I went over because we squeezed the grain bag too much, or could it just be my brand of powdered malt extract, or am I missing some other calculation?
This was what we did:
Measure out:
- 28.3 g of Columbus hops
- 21.3 g of Amarillo hops
- 21.3 g of Simcoe hops
(then mix Amarillo and Simcoe together)
Steep crystal malt in 2.5 gallons (9.5 liters) of water
at 150F-155F (65C-68C - no higher than 75C) for 20 minutes.
"Sparge" with about 1 liter of hot water.
[also squeezed the hell out of the bag while "sparging"]
Bring to a boil (while bringing to a boil, measure out - 3.85 kg of DME
Remove from heat and stir in DME.
Add one more liter of hot water (use it to get all the DME out of the measuring bowl)
Return to burner and bring to a boil.
When at a boil set the timer to 60 minutes.
60min left (0 min started) Begin timer and add half the Columbus hops.
| Then add a few pellets every minute or so.
| (aim to add remaining few Columbus hop pellets at 35min left (25 min later)
35min left (25 min later) Add remaining Columbus hops
| Start adding mix of Amarillo and Simcoe a few pellets at a time
| (aim to add remaining few hops when timer hits 0 min left (60 min later)
15 min left (45 min later) add wort chiller to boil
|
0 min left (60 min later) Stop boil (add any remaining hop pellets right before flameout)
Chill wort rapidly to about 70F (20.0C).
Pour wort into fermenter through strainer.
Add bottled water to fill to 17 liters
Aerate wort with wisk for about a minute or two
Take gravity reading
Pitch yeast (starter)
Ferment for about 2 weeks at around 70F (21.1C) (ideally 15-22C) ie keep it cool!
After two weeks
Dryhop with the 1oz (28.3g) of Amarillo and 0.5oz (14.2g) of Simcoe (just throw in the hops into the primary)
Wait for about a 7-10 days
Bottle with 4 oz (113g) priming sugar.
Bottle condition for at least 3 weeks.