So I got a kit with pre mixed grain and malt liquid extract, hops and yeast. Mt question here is that the instructions say to steep the grains for 10 to 30 minutes. But I thought you want to give it a good hour?? Should I do the full hour or just follow directions? And it says to throw the grains away. Why wouldn't I want to ferment on the grain? Very first time here..
Irish stout kit
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OswaldvW
Well-Known Member
When brewing, whether all grain or an extract kit like you have, grains don't go in the fermenter. The traditional extract method is to steep your grains in a sack (probably included in your kit) for 20-30 minutes at approximately 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, remove the grain sack, allowing the liquid to drip from the grains into the pot. You can even rinse the sack with some extra hot water to get all the flavor and sugars out.. Then, begin boiling your water (now called "wort") in your pot. Follow instructions for when to add extract and hops. Make sure you take your pot off the burner before adding your extract, as it has a tendency to sink to the bottom of the pot and scorch.
Good luck and keep us informed on how your brew day goes.
Good luck and keep us informed on how your brew day goes.
OswaldvW
Well-Known Member
the only reason to do a 60 minute steep is to keep your grains at a specific temperature to convert all the starches to sugar (we call this conversion). You only have to really worry about this if you are doing an all-grain recipe, which you are not.
For an extract batch, all (or most of) your fermentable sugars will come from your extract, so there is no need to steep for 60 minutes. 20-30 minutes will be fine to get color, flavor, and complex carbohydrates/sugars out of the grains.
For an extract batch, all (or most of) your fermentable sugars will come from your extract, so there is no need to steep for 60 minutes. 20-30 minutes will be fine to get color, flavor, and complex carbohydrates/sugars out of the grains.
Would you steep your teabag for 60 minutes? It does take more time to extract the color and flavor from the grain than from tea leaves but there won't be much left to extract after 30 minutes. Once all the flavor has been extracted there is nothing left to get from the grains so they can be discarded or used for animal feed. There will still be proteins in there for animals.
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Guess I was just confused with using all grain vs the extract. But it makes sense. First time with beer so I want to get a few kits under my belt before venturing out further. Plan on starting saturday. Will keep this thread updated on progress
When the instructions sat 'for 5 gallon' is that water only? Meaning make sure I put 5 gallon of water in there. Bc I've been seeing how the sugar with wine or the extract here is adding a lot of volume. So I'm curious if I should just be topping off to the 5 gal mark OR adding a total of 5 gallon of water in this recipe?
The recipes state for 5 gallons because that is the expected amount of beer to go into the bottles or kegs, not to be confused with a kit for 1 gallon or 3 gallons.
To get that 5 gallons you would want to have about 5.5 gallons into the fermenter since you will leave some trub behind.
Did the stout kit. Followed the directions. Now I found it a bit difficult to maintain that 155f while steeping. Temps was about 159 when I put the grain bag in and I kept taking the pot off the eye and putting it on when temp would fall a bit down past 155. There for a while it held 155 off heat. It did alright for more of the 30 min than not. after all was said and done, I had about 4.5 gal water to kit ingredients. 80f and tested OG. I was only 1.020?! Not sure what the issue was there. Any one got an idea? The OG range said 1.042 to 1.046. Not wanting to miss the % mark and out of ingredients I used .5lbs brown sugar and 2 cups water. Tested again and OG was about 1.050. Maybe 1.048 bc there was still some foam head there. Waited a while for it to go down in test beaker. So I ended up adding brown sugar to this Irish stout kit. Definitely not something I wanted to do. But why was the kit not "in range" ?
flars
Well-Known Member
You didn't add that much brown sugar so your stout will most likely be pretty close to the recipe without a molasses taste from the brown sugar.
Not happy I didn't end up with a over 5 gal water added but less. Couldn't validate adding more water due to struggling to hit the gravity and I wasn't going to keep adding sugar either. Think that added half lb will alter the flavor so much it won't be anything like stout. Not to happy on overall color either. It's dark but not Guinness dark. And it smells too hoppy. Idk it it'll die down over the ferment. Also, was planning on a racking to a 2nd after gravity hits 1.010 or so. And leave it there for two weeks. ???
Most kits have you top up to a total of 5 gallons in the fermenter. If you add more water to end up with 5 gallons at bottling, you will be low on the OG and change the balance of the beer.
It should specify in your instructions when to top off and to the amount, but it generally is 5 gallons for most kits.
I was shy of using a full 5 gal of water not counting kit ingredients. Basically I have a 6 gal carboy. So I put 1 gal of wate in there. Put 2 gallon in the pot, cooked ingredients as directed. That's 3. Added 1 more. That's 4. Added abt half of the 5th gallon. Shook it, took sample. Waited for head to die down. Tested. It read the 1.020 approx. Added 2 cups water and half lb brown sugar, dissolved sugar and added. Shook. Took reading. That's when I read 1.048 approx. I expected the kit to be more spot on. Idk where I messed up with it.
Inadequate mixing would be the issue. If you add the correct amount of water (topping up to the 5 gallon line on your fermenter- if you don't have one, make one for next time, even with duct tape!), and the correct amount of extract, you cannot miss the OG given by the kit. You just can't.
Mixing with water means that the heavier "syrup" parts just don't dissolve well right away. That's not an issue, as the yeast will find the sugars anyway.
Unless you mix with something like a paint mixer for a quite a while, the wort and water just don't readily mix.
Is that right?? I never would have thought that. You're telling me that when I added the wort to the water in the carboy then topped off; even though I shook the carboy up, the heavy extract doesn't mix well? And you can get a false reading? If that's what happened what's the true reading now that I added half lb of brown sugar to it?
Can anyone tell me the proper protocol on beer? My plan was week in primary, 2 weeks secondary and two weeks in bottle before trying. (2wks carb). Preferably 2 weeks posy carbing. So 4 weeks in bottle before consuming. Although I know I'll be trying it out at 2 weeks
flars
Well-Known Member
Ferment in the primary until FG is reached. Leave it in the primary until the excess yeast and sediments are compacted in the trub. The excess will usually drop out when almost all of the CO2 has off gassed. Since the beer has cleared in the primary the secondary vessel won't be needed.
Planning a primary time of about three weeks should have your beer ready to bottle.
flars
Well-Known Member
No problem having your beer in plastic for this very short time. Getting towards five or six weeks may be problematic with a plastic bucket. That amount of time is getting into aging where a smaller secondary carboy would be better to minimize the surface area of the beer exposed to air.
So tonight was basically the 3rd night on this ferment. I'm seeing a drastic reduction in airlock activity. Going to wait to Saturday before testing gravity which will be one week. What do I do if gravity has lowered already to the 1.010? Do you leave it in primary for at least 2 weeks regardless ?
You could. I generally go 10-14 days before packaging.
flars
Well-Known Member
My Dry Irish Stout had usually finished at 1.010 or 1.011. Except for the last two. January brew was stable at 1.009 after three weeks in the primary. March brew finished at 1.008 after three weeks.
The lid on your bucket will leak some of the CO2 pressure. The airlock will activity will slow rapidly while the fermentation is still going.
The lid on your bucket will leak some of the CO2 pressure. The airlock will activity will slow rapidly while the fermentation is still going.
Just because the activity of the airlock has slowed and you have approached the final gravity does not mean that the yeast is done with your beer. Take a look at this article. My beers take longer than this timeline and yours might too but it will give you a better idea of what is going on with your beer.
http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html
Today's day 10. I took a reading and it's at 1.016. Gon a wait until Saturday and take another reading. I put some in a glass and have it in the fridge for a bit. Right off it smells similar to Guinness. It appears hazy though. How do you get rid of that. Had the same thing happen with my cider and recent blackberry wine. That hazy appearance. I didn't add a clarifier to the wine but what do you abt beer. Again this sample hasn't been filtered which I'll do once it's ready to bottle
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