First Brew this weekend

[Angry_Irishman_Brewing]

Hello all. I am doing my first brew this weekend and have a few questions. I have done tons of research and now it is time to put it to use. Making an Oatmeal Espresso Stout.

I just did a dry run with my equipment to see how long it takes to brew using plain water. The first question I have is the receipt i have calls for brewing the grains for an hour. Well my dry run took almost an hour to get the pot of water up to 212 degrees and it never got to a rolling boil. (The first thing I will be upgrading is my burner) Do I start the hour at the point it gets to 212 or do I start it at a point earlier in the cooking point? Is it important to get the boil up to a rolling boil?

Second I am starting with a Beer kit I got a a local brew store. It has grains and a malt extract. Since I am adding both Oatmeal and espresso to this receipt I was thinking of adding 3 cups of cold brewed espresso to the boil at the last 10 minutes just before chilling. Also the guy at the store recommended that I brew the buttering his in the last 20 minutes of the boil.

I would appreciate any thoughts or advise on this?

Thanks.
Angry Irishman Brewing

 

[sputnam]

most definately upgrade burner. i used to use my stove and got very gentle boils, the beer never was very good but they were kits so who knows. I got a cheapo turkey burner and it does the job well.
i don't know about your second ? and don't understand at all what you mean by brew the buttering?????

 

[RM-MN]

Put a lid on the pot to help get the wort to boil, then move it to leave an opening to let the steam escape. That escaping steam will carry off the precursors to DMS which could give you a "creamed corn" flavor to your beer.

 

[surffisher2a]

You start your 60 min timer when you reach a boil.

Since you are doing an extract kit you might get away with boiling less water and then topping up to 5 gallon in the fermentor.

 

[JonM]

Is this an outdoor propane burner? I had the same trouble with mine the first time I tried it - turned out I just didn't have the air inlet adjusted right and didn't have the gas on high enough.

And I don't think you want to boil the grains. You steep the grains in sub-170 water and then boil the extract+water wort without the grains.

 

[beyernk]

Something I would do with my kettle to help it boil is, I'd wrap the sides with a kitchen towel to help insulate it a bit. Cut my time to boil down by a good 20%

 

[Angry_Irishman_Brewing]

Sputnam,

Thanks for your comments. Definitely after my experience last night I am planning to pick up a turkey fryer burner today. I think that should help.
I guess typos are common when one is tired. Buttering is meant to say Bittering Hops.

I am still trying to decide when to add the cold brew Espresso. Should I add it at the end of the boil to disinfect it as the LHBS is recommending? I was thinking that I could boil some cold brew to sanitize it and add it to the second. Wouldn't that give a much more intense coffee flavor? Or is that to much work for little gain?

Thanks. AIB

 

[myndflyte]

I would almost say don't add the espresso at all. This is your first beer so it's more important to get all the steps down right than trying to add stuff to it. I'd hate for you to add something and then it turns out bad but you wouldn't be able to pin down if it was something you did or the coffee.

But if you are set on using coffee, you can really add it to either. If you are worried about sanitation, add it to the boil. If you feel like you want to rack it to a secondary and everything, add it then. Adding in the secondary will give a stronger flavor.

 

[JosephLongbow]

Perfect timing. This post on the AHA site came out today.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/cold-brew-coffee-adding-coffee-beer/

I recently made the most delicious coffee stout (IMHO), and I added 5 cups of cold brew to the bottom of the primary fermenter then poured the wort on top. I never did a secondary but let it hang out in primary for 3 weeks.

IMO, please don't boil the cold brew. Like the article says, the reason for making cold brew is to avoid some of the harshness you get from using hot water.

 

[rmyurick]

I think even if using hot-brewed coffee, I would let it cool & then add it to the fermenter. Probably brew it a bit stronger than normal.