Looking to brew my first IPA using malt extract. Tips on good extracts and priming tips?

[Matheos]

Hello guys!

I recently brewed my first ever batch of home made beer. It was using the Coopers Lager kit which was bundled with my fermenting equipment: see here if you wanna know what it included.
I live in an appartment and I am still a student, so I am for the moment not looking to "cook from scratch", why I am targeting extracts in this post.

My favourite beer is the IPA, so I would like to give my shot at that one next. Preferably looking to brew a beer with more than 4 ABV. As I live in Finland and I use our local web shops, I will give a few suggestions on extracts + extras that I have found while looking around. If you have any thoughts or tips/experiences regarding these, please tell me! The links will be to english websites so everyone will understand, though I won't be purchasing from these sites.

1. St. Peters IPA Kit
   • Sceptical because it seems so simple: Mix extract and water -->add hops (oil?) --> add yeast. wait (No sugar or DME need to be added!?)
   • Cheapest option for me I have found. Makes 19L
2. Bullet Brew Session IPA
   • Needs 1KG brewing sugar (dextrose) bought separately
   • Includes hop extract
   • Makes 23L
3. Bullet Brew Tanked Reloaded IPA
   • Strongest ABV, a bit more expensive
   • 23L
   • Same requirements as above Bullet Brew
4. Coopers Brew A IPA
   • 23L
   • Prehopped
   • Recommended sugar is 1.5KG Dry malt extract but I have also seen combinations of DME with dextrose used. If you recommend this extract, what combination would you recommend?
5. Any other suggestions? I will do my best to find them available in Finland.

Whatever I choose, I also have some questions about priming. Since I only have the equipment I mentioned in the beginning (one fermenting vessel), I don't really want to be priming right into the vessel with cooked sugar liquid (help, what is the english word?)... Because of that, I have been looking into using carbonation drops instead, which I also did when I brewed my cooper's lager. This is probably fine and all (I know about the added cost), but since the amount of priming sugar I want in an IPA may not be the same as what the drops are meant for, what are your thoughts? My bottles are 75cl each so I have been mostly looking at these drops: Brewferm Carbonation Drops for 75 cl - 30 pcs. Would this work fine or should I take some other approach?


Thank you very much! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Please keep in mind I have only ever done when brew before (extract), so don't assume I know anything!

 

[Miraculix]

Hello guys!
Use
I recently brewed my first ever batch of home made beer. It was using the Coopers Lager kit which was bundled with my fermenting equipment: see here if you wanna know what it included.
I live in an appartment and I am still a student, so I am for the moment not looking to "cook from scratch", why I am targeting extracts in this post.

My favourite beer is the IPA, so I would like to give my shot at that one next. Preferably looking to brew a beer with more than 4 ABV. As I live in Finland and I use our local web shops, I will give a few suggestions on extracts + extras that I have found while looking around. If you have any thoughts or tips/experiences regarding these, please tell me! The links will be to english websites so everyone will understand, though I won't be purchasing from these sites.

1. St. Peters IPA Kit
   • Sceptical because it seems so simple: Mix extract and water -->add hops (oil?) --> add yeast. wait (No sugar or DME need to be added!?)
   • Cheapest option for me I have found. Makes 19L
2. Bullet Brew Session IPA
   • Needs 1KG brewing sugar (dextrose) bought separately
   • Includes hop extract
   • Makes 23L
3. Bullet Brew Tanked Reloaded IPA
   • Strongest ABV, a bit more expensive
   • 23L
   • Same requirements as above Bullet Brew
4. Coopers Brew A IPA
   • 23L
   • Prehopped
   • Recommended sugar is 1.5KG Dry malt extract but I have also seen combinations of DME with dextrose used. If you recommend this extract, what combination would you recommend?
5. Any other suggestions? I will do my best to find them available in Finland.

Whatever I choose, I also have some questions about priming. Since I only have the equipment I mentioned in the beginning (one fermenting vessel), I don't really want to be priming right into the vessel with cooked sugar liquid (help, what is the english word?)... Because of that, I have been looking into using carbonation drops instead, which I also did when I brewed my cooper's lager. This is probably fine and all (I know about the added cost), but since the amount of priming sugar I want in an IPA may not be the same as what the drops are meant for, what are your thoughts? My bottles are 75cl each so I have been mostly looking at these drops: Brewferm Carbonation Drops for 75 cl - 30 pcs. Would this work fine or should I take some other approach?


Thank you very much! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Please keep in mind I have only ever done when brew before (extract), so don't assume I know anything!

Simply buy yourself a cheap gold scale on eBay, calculate the amount of sugar needed for your beer and bottle volume (between 4g and 6g table sugar per 750 ml is reasonable, I would use 4,5g) and weigh the sugar per bottle.

I wouldn't go with extract kits, try to find a seller that's selling extract as fresh as possible and then create your own recipe based on that. Use brewers friend recipe calculator online, post your recipe before brewing and let people have a look on it.

In general, one extract and one hop should yield a really good result. No need to get complicated, especially not at the beginning. Light DME or lme plus cascade for example. Ibus with bittering addition up to 45, ferment it, dry hop with 3g per liter for two days, package, carbonate, yummy!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Please keep in mind I have only ever done when brew before (extract), so don't assume I know anything!

15 minute pale ale.

Basic Brewing Radio's "Hop Sampler".

Tips and Tricks for Brewing Excellent Extract Beers at home.

 

[Matheos]

Simply buy yourself a cheap gold scale on eBay, calculate the amount of sugar needed for your beer and bottle volume (between 4g and 6g table sugar per 750 ml is reasonable, I would use 4,5g) and weigh the sugar per bottle.

Thanks for the comment Miraculix!

The priming tip is great. I have considered that but never found any real example of it done straight in the bottle? Is it fine to just put right in there with the brew, without dissolving it in hot water first? Because if it is, then I am definately doing your tip!

I wouldn't go with extract kits, try to find a seller that's selling extract as fresh as possible and then create your own recipe based on that. Use brewers friend recipe calculator online, post your recipe before brewing and let people have a look on it.

I am not necessarily looking for a kit. Extract + sugars + hops if needed. Just to respond to your question about kits. Though most IPA extracts seem to be prehopped, which is why I am asking for tips as to what would be a good combination?
EDIT: After checking out BrewnWKopperKat's linked recipe I am starting to realise I may have the wrong interpretation of what an extract is. I used to think of extract as the "kit" things you get from Coopers etc. which include the very specificly made extract + yeast. But I assume you experienced guys talk about extract being LME for example? And then mixing that with your own hops and fermentables?

In general, one extract and one hop should yield a really good result. No need to get complicated, especially not at the beginning. Light DME or lme plus cascade for example. Ibus with bittering addition up to 45, ferment it, dry hop with 3g per liter for two days, package, carbonate, yummy!

You suggest for and IPA DME is better than a "real" sugar?

Ibus with bittering addition up to 45, ferment it, dry hop with 3g per liter for two days, package, carbonate, yummy!

This I don't follow, sorry. lbus with bittering up to 45 what? Dry hopping I know what is, just throwing the pellets in the brew right? And you in this case suggest doing it about 2 days before bottling? And in that case, how do you suggest keeping the pellets out of the brew when bottling? Will they stay in the vessel as I am using a tap (bottling tap)?

 

[Matheos]

15 minute pale ale.
Basic Brewing Radio's "Hop Sampler".

Tips and Tricks for Brewing Excellent Extract Beers at home.

Thanks for the links! I will have a look. But are there any of my suggestions that you would recommend?

 

[D.B.Moody]

If you liked the Coopers kit you did, maybe stick with it. I don't have any experience with no boil brewing kits, and have only done one kit of any kind back in 1994. I do brew with dry malt extract and do partial boils, so it doesn't have to get real complicated. A bottling bucket is not expensive, and it would allow priming to your desired level of carbonation without worrying about the sizes of the bottles.
You may be becoming aware that you've begun an interesting journey. Welcome to home brewing.

 

[Matheos]

If you liked the Coopers kit you did, maybe stick with it. I don't have any experience with no boil brewing kits, and have only done one kit of ny kind back in 1994. I do brew with dry malt extract and do partial boils, so it doesn't have to get real complicated. A bottling bucket is not expensive, and it would allow priming to your desired level of carbonation without worrying about the sizes of the bottles.
You may be becoming aware that you've begun an interesting journey. Welcome to home brewing.

Thanks Moody!
I can't say I was the biggest of fans of the kit, it just came with the equipment and seemed like a nice and easy starting brew. Honestly, since the comments on this thread started coming in, I have read up on the recipe that BrewnWKopperKat linked and I am way more interested in that now than any of these premade extract kits Though I am a bit concerned, how big of a kettle would I need to do the boil? In that thread they talk about "a full boil" when someone asks how much water for the boil. That says me nothing How much water is a full boil? Currently piecing together how much it would cost me to get the ingredients for that recipe, and it seems to be more expensive than a premade extract, but at the same time it would be more MY beer than just mixing two things and waiting

You're right about the bottling bucket. I don't have a lot of space in the apartment though

 

[palmtrees]

The size of the boil depends on how big your batch is and how long you are boiling. I'll assume you are making 5 gallons at a time. Most people boil off about a gallon per hour. So for extract, a full-volume boil for 60 minutes requires about 6 gallons of water. (If you're brewing with grain rather than extract, it requires more water because some gets absorbed into the grain.) You'll probably need an 8 gallon pot to be comfortable boiling that much liquid. If you'd rather, you can boil less liquid and then add enough water to the fermenter at the end to reach the final volume. Most people prefer the results they get with a full-volume boil, though.

If you are brewing in an apartment and concerned about space, consider making smaller batches. I make 2.5 gallon batches. It's much easier to boil that amount of liquid on an apartment stove. You'd only need 3.5 gallons for a full-volume boil, so a 5 gallon pot is more than fine. It's not easy to do smaller batches with extract kits, but if you're working from recipes instead, you can just divide a 5 gallon recipe in half to make a 2.5 gallon batch. There's no special math required. Just make sure you're pitching enough yeast. A full liquid pouch is best even in small batches. You can get away with a half packet of dry yeast.

 

[ATLBeer]

With extract, you only need to boil 2-3 gallons of water for a typical 5 gallon batch. You can top off with tap water and/or ice to get to your target 5 gallons.

Regardless of your target batch size you only need to boil enough water to rehydrate your extract and achieve your hop flavor goal.

A full 5 gallon boil will take much longer to heat up and cool down, so I find it interesting the 15 minute boil recipe is full boil since the point of the approach was to save time.

Not sure how efficient the beer supply chain is in Finland, so you will want to stick with Dry extract, as it stays good longer than liquid.

Steeping grains add color and flavor but are not required. If you use them they must be milled.

There are many extract IP recipes here if you search. I recommend buying the ingredients and assembling your own instead of buying a kit.

 

[Matheos]

The size of the boil depends on how big your batch is and how long you are boiling. I'll assume you are making 5 gallons at a time. Most people boil off about a gallon per hour. So for extract, a full-volume boil for 60 minutes requires about 6 gallons of water. (If you're brewing with grain rather than extract, it requires more water because some gets absorbed into the grain.) You'll probably need an 8 gallon pot to be comfortable boiling that much liquid. If you'd rather, you can boil less liquid and then add enough water to the fermenter at the end to reach the final volume. Most people prefer the results they get with a full-volume boil, though.

If you are brewing in an apartment and concerned about space, consider making smaller batches. I make 2.5 gallon batches. It's much easier to boil that amount of liquid on an apartment stove. You'd only need 3.5 gallons for a full-volume boil, so a 5 gallon pot is more than fine. It's not easy to do smaller batches with extract kits, but if you're working from recipes instead, you can just divide a 5 gallon recipe in half to make a 2.5 gallon batch. There's no special math required. Just make sure you're pitching enough yeast. A full liquid pouch is best even in small batches. You can get away with a half packet of dry yeast.

Thanks palmtrees!
All great tips. These US measurements are a bit confusing to me still though. 5 gallons is almost 19 litres? Whoa. I always thought I would get a way with a pretty small pot and then top it off in the end, as you suggested some people do. I believe my largest pot is only 5L or something so I am pretty far off haha.

This turns out to be trickier than I thought.. Is it non-advisable to cook in a small pot and top it off you say? And would I get a way with as small as 5L for a 2.5 gallon batch?

 

[Miraculix]

Honestly, for extract beer, you need a 5 litre pot max. Make a hop tea in it with plain water and hops, dump the extract and remaining water (refrigerated, if you want to throw in the yeast instantly) into the fermenter, throw the hop tea in, yeast, job done.

Extract does not need to be boiled, hops don't need sugar for utilisation, in fact utilisation is best in the absence of sugar and proteins in solution so use a ibu calculator that takes this into account, like the ibu calculator from brewers friend. Remember to fill in the final volume in the calculator, not the volume in the pot and an og of 1.0 as you are using plain water for the hop tea.

You can absolutely solve all the ibus you need in plain water for a 20 litre batch, using 3-4 litres hop tea.

I did this, plain water doesn't behave like wort, there is no 100ibu limit.

 

[Matheos]

With extract, you only need to boil 2-3 gallons of water for a typical 5 gallon batch. You can top off with tap water and/or ice to get to your target 5 gallons.

Regardless of your target batch size you only need to boil enough water to rehydrate your extract and achieve your hop flavor goal.

A full 5 gallon boil will take much longer to heat up and cool down, so I find it interesting the 15 minute boil recipe is full boil since the point of the approach was to save time.

Not sure how efficient the beer supply chain is in Finland, so you will want to stick with Dry extract, as it stays good longer than liquid.

Steeping grains add color and flavor but are not required. If you use them they must be milled.

There are many extract IP recipes here if you search. I recommend buying the ingredients and assembling your own instead of buying a kit.

Thanks for the tips ATL!

Yes I think the best for me would be to boil a smaller size and then top it off in the fermenter. I am also confused by the 15min recipe.

So far you guys have made me change my mind and my aim is now to create my own recipe or follow something like the 15min one. I am though having difficulties finding the Crystal 60 grains in any finnish shop... I assume 60 is the EBC? Anything that could be replaced with?

Also, this may be a stupid question, but if anyone wants to answer it would be nice... Is there some general yeast that is good for most kinds of beer, or do different beers require different yeasts? I am a bit overwhelmed by all the options...

 

[Matheos]

Honestly, for extract beer, you need a 5 litre pot max. Make a hop tea in it with plain water and hops, dump the extract and remaining water (refrigerated, if you want to throw in the yeast instantly) into the fermenter, throw the hop tea in, yeast, job done.

Extract does not need to be boiled, hops don't need sugar for utilisation, in fact utilisation is best in the absence of sugar and proteins in solution so use a ibu calculator that takes this into account, like the ibu calculator from brewers friend. Remember to fill in the final volume in the calculator, not the volume in the pot and an og of 1.0 as you are using plain water for the hop tea.

You can absolutely solve all the ibus you need in plain water for a 20 litre batch, using 3-4 litres hop tea.

I did this, plain water doesn't behave like wort, there is no 100ibu limit.

This sounds more promising with my current setup Is there any upper limit if I do a 5L boil and top it off? Like can I boil 5L, end up with a bit less and then still top it off to like 19L?
Also speaking of boiling, I have seen videos but no one has ever confirmed this, the boil is without a lid? at all times? Also, by plain water you do not mean tap water? In Finland we have really clean tap water, not 1.0 probably but I could check. I am just asking because we don't generally buy water from the store here Will deffo bookmark brewersfriend (Y)

When you say "ibus", what does that exactly mean? And the non existant 100ibu limit sentence, I don't really follow. I have never had to think about IBU before so I am a bit slow rn, sorry. I wanna say you mean that a bigger boil is better for the IBU somehow, but I don't follow how.

 

[ATLBeer]

A 5 L pot is really small in my world, but it will work, it just won't yield as much as I like.

Yes, topping off with tap water is fine. You just need to figure how much extract you can rehydrate in 5 L.

You may get it all in there for a 5 gal batch. But how long does it take to get 5L to boil? you could probably do 2 boils in the time it takes most of us to get our bigger batches warm.

Look for Ale yeast, any English ale will work, but see if you can find a California strain for your IPA style. Dry yeast is fine.

Crystal malt should be pretty available anywhere, but as I mentioned you can skip it if you can't find anything.

 

[Matheos]

A 5 L pot is really small in my world, but it will work, it just won't yield as much as I like.

Yes, topping off with tap water is fine. You just need to figure how much extract you can rehydrate in 5 L.

Look for Ale yeast, any English ale will work, but see if you can find a California strain for your IPA style. Dry yeast is fine.

Crystal malt should be pretty available anywhere, but as I mentioned you can skip it if you can't find anything.

Thanks for tips. I do find crystal malt but not 60 EBC. I find 100 EBC for example... Any suggestions on how to figure out how much I can rehydrate in 5L? XD Sorry for the stupid questions. I am of course open to getting a bigger pot too, but I don't think a 20L pot would be ideal for our apartment.

You may get it all in there for a 5 gal batch. But how long does it take to get 5L to boil? you could probably do 2 boils in the time it takes most of us to get our bigger batches warm.

Do you mean that that is a bad thing?

 

[ATLBeer]

Do you mean that that is a bad thing?

No, I meant its a good thing. Even if you needed to boil 10L based on your extract amount, it would still be pretty quick to do 2 5L boils.
I boil about 7 gallons at a time, it takes a while to heat it up.

sorry the point was lost in translation.

You can probably rehydrate the whole amount in one pot, but it may be thick, I don't know. You can figure it out when you boil it and stop adding if you don't like the looks of it.

The problem is you only going to have about 4 liters of water in a 5 L pot as you need to leave some space on top. So you may need to split the extract in two. Regardless you can figure it out on the fly.

Yes a bigger pot, even a 10L, would make it all easier if you want to do 5 gallon (19L) batches.

Silly question, but how do you cook spaghetti when you only have a 5L pot?

That crystal will be fine if it is all they have. It will just be slightly darker than the 60.

 

[Miraculix]

A 5 L pot is really small in my world, but it will work, it just won't yield as much as I like.

Yes, topping off with tap water is fine. You just need to figure how much extract you can rehydrate in 5 L.

You may get it all in there for a 5 gal batch. But how long does it take to get 5L to boil? you could probably do 2 boils in the time it takes most of us to get our bigger batches warm.

Look for Ale yeast, any English ale will work, but see if you can find a California strain for your IPA style. Dry yeast is fine.

Crystal malt should be pretty available anywhere, but as I mentioned you can skip it if you can't find anything.

You don't rehydrate anything in 5 litre. You just throw it into the fermenter with all the rest, the extract doesn't need to be boiled. Only water and hops, to make a hop tea in the 5 litre pot, that's it.

Ibu is a unit to measure bitterness. It comes in form of isomerized alpha acid from the hops and the isomerisation is done via the boil. If you have proteins and sugars in solved in the water, there's a limit for the maximum ibus that you can solve in the water, but this doesn't apply to plain water, tap water, water without extract. That's why you do the hoptea without the extract, to be able to get more ibus into the small volume, as you will dilute it afterwards. Otherwise, you will end up with too little ibus in the pot.

 

[ATLBeer]

ou don't rehydrate anything in 5 litre. You just throw it into the fermenter with all the rest, the extract doesn't need to be boiled. Only water and hops, to make a hop tea in the 5 litre pot, that's it.

You are correct you don't have to, but getting rid of extract clumps is easier in a pot of hot water than in a fermenter. Although in a bucket it may not matter as much.

 

[D.B.Moody]

You are getting lots of good advice. You should probably read an old school brewing book like Charlie Papazian's "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" that has information on brewing with extract and doing partial boils. These are not now considered the best ways to brew but I've done it since 1994. My favorite IPA recipe:
(Yes. 5 gal. = 19 liters. And 1oz. = 28.3grams; 1 lb. = .45 k)

5 1/2 gal. water
5 lbs. Munton's light dry malt extract
1 oz. Nugget hops
2 oz. East kent Goldings hops
1 SafAle S-33 ale yeast

60 minute boil, 1 1/2 gal. water and all dry malt extract
60 1 oz. Nuggett
15 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
2 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings

add remaining 4 gal. of cooled water to wort in fermenter
pitch yeast at 70 F (21 C) or below

prime with 3/4 cups corn sugar boiled in 8 oz. water and stirred in (you need that bottling bucket)

 

[Miraculix]

You are correct you don't have to, but getting rid of extract clumps is easier in a pot of hot water than in a fermenter. Although in a bucket it may not matter as much.

You don't have to get rid of clumps, time and yeast will do this for you. You literally just throw everything together at the end. You won't get a proper og reading of course, but with extract, the calculation should be close enough anyway.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Honestly, since the comments on this thread started coming in, I have read up on the recipe that BrewnWKopperKat linked and I am way more interested in that now than any of these premade extract kits

Been I while since I've mentioned: Kits get us started, discussion moves us forward.

This topic is moving fast, so I'm going to remain quite until this evening (it's currently late morning for me) step out of the discussion. Like @D.B.Moody said, lots of good advice. Hopefully, by then end of the topic, you'll have a couple of good process alternatives for your next brew day.

edits: change in place as "OP" said their "thank you" in #29.

 

[Matheos]

Honestly I am overwhelmed with great advice. Thank you! I appreciate you guys not treating my like a stupid newbie and not just telling me to read up. I have done some reasearch but as you see, I have a lot of questions anyway. I will eventually try to compile a summary of what my new thoughts/ plans are, just so anyone interested + myself get a better idea of where I am at But I have learnt so much today!

@D.B.Moody by this

60 minute boil, 1 1/2 gal. water and all dry malt extract
60 1 oz. Nuggett
15 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings
2 minutes 1 oz. East Kent Goldings

Are those 15 and 2 minutes, past 60min, meaning in order: 60, 75 and 77? If they are meant the other way around the other confused me

@Miraculix

You literally just throw everything together at the end. You won't get a proper og reading of course, but with extract, the calculation should be close enough anyway.

I'm sorry for bombing questions, but could you explain why the og reading won't be "proper" unless you also boil the extract? What's the difference from just hoptea boil + mix in fermenter and top of, compared to boiling everything and topping up in fermenter, except for the clumps ofc?

@ATLBeer

Silly question, but how do you cook spaghetti when you only have a 5L pot?

That crystal will be fine if it is all they have. It will just be slightly darker than the 60.

Thanks for the response about the crystal

About the spaghetti , My small pot of 2L is more than enough to make like 3-4 portions of spaghetti (300g) xD (2 people + left overs). How much do you boil at a time? I don't feel like you need much extra water for that

 

[D.B.Moody]

Total boil is 60 minutes. It's like having a timer on so it is a count down.
60 add
at 15 minutes remaining add
at 2 minutes remaining add

 

[Matheos]

Total boil is 60 minutes. It's like having a timer on so it is a count down.
60 add
at 15 minutes remaining add
at 2 minutes remaining add

Oooh. Thanks for clearing that up. I'm sure it was obvious to the experienced brewer but, me being a newb I did not get it.

 

[ATLBeer]

I never cook less than 500 grams (1 lb) of pasta. I use about 1 1/2 gallons water in a 2 gallon pot so I can get a rolling boil and don't have to watch it for boil overs or stir it as much.

We do things big in America.

 

[Miraculix]

Honestly I am overwhelmed with great advice. Thank you! I appreciate you guys not treating my like a stupid newbie and not just telling me to read up. I have done some reasearch but as you see, I have a lot of questions anyway. I will eventually try to compile a summary of what my new thoughts/ plans are, just so anyone interested + myself get a better idea of where I am at But I have learnt so much today!

@D.B.Moody by this


Are those 15 and 2 minutes, past 60min, meaning in order: 60, 75 and 77? If they are meant the other way around the other confused me

@Miraculix

I'm sorry for bombing questions, but could you explain why the og reading won't be "proper" unless you also boil the extract? What's the difference from just hoptea boil + mix in fermenter and top of, compared to boiling everything and topping up in fermenter, except for the clumps ofc?

@ATLBeer

Thanks for the response about the crystal

About the spaghetti , My small pot of 2L is more than enough to make like 3-4 portions of spaghetti (300g) xD (2 people + left overs). How much do you boil at a time? I don't feel like you need much extra water for that

The difference is, that if you do not boil it, it will not dissolve instantly and therefore the gravity (og) will not display the actual amount of sugars in the wort, as there is still a lot of it not readily dissolved yet.

It is a really simple process.

1. Go to the brewers friend ibu calculator. Use the alpha number of your hops, an og of 1.0 and the final volume in the fermenter and get yourself the amount of hops you need. You can boil the hoptea longer or shorter, up to you, as long as you put the correct length in the calculator.

2. Throw everything into the fermenter, hop tea, malt extract (obviously without the boiled hops, use a hop sock to get them out easily, you can squeeze it a bit to get the water out).

3. Top up with cold water till your desired volume.

4. If temperature is right, throw in the yeast, airlock, wait 10-14 days.

5. After the beer has finished fermenting, throw in the dry hops. Put them in a hop sock as well, with some marbles or these whisky stones, to make it sink to the ground. You have to boil the hop sock first (without the hops!), to make sure that there are no nasties inside. Wait two days.

6. Fill the correct amount of sugar into each bottle (I always weigh the sugar per bottle).

7. After 2 days dry hopping time, bottle with a bottling stick attached to your fermenters spiggot. Fill each bottle almost up to the rim, leave 3-2mm space (if you push the end of the bottling stick at the edge of the rim, you can manually fill the rest of the bottle neck, after filling it the normal way from the bottom to the top). This way you keep the air and oxygen inside the bottle to a minimum, so that your beer tastes nice and hoppy much longer and stronger. This is crucial for a nice IPA.
If you use palstic bottles, you can squeeze the bottle a little bit before fscreqing the cap on it, instead of filling it up almost to the rim, just squeeze it that much that there is no air inside when you tighten the cap.

Follow this and the beer will be good!

Easy recipe:

Pale DME or Pale LME
Cascade or Chinook or Simcoe hops
US 05 yeast

You simply cannot go wrong with this combination if you follow the steps above.

 

[Matheos]

The difference is, that if you do not boil it, it will not dissolve instantly and therefore the gravity (og) will not display the actual amount of sugars in the wort, as there is still a lot of it not readily dissolved yet.

It is a really simple process.

1. Go to the brewers friend ibu calculator. Use the alpha number of your hops, an og of 1.0 and the final volume in the fermenter and get yourself the amount of hops you need. You can boil the hoptea longer or shorter, up to you, as long as you put the correct length in the calculator.

2. Throw everything into the fermenter, hop tea, malt extract (obviously without the boiled hops, use a hop sock to get them out easily, you can squeeze it a bit to get the water out).

3. Top up with cold water till your desired volume.

4. If temperature is right, throw in the yeast, airlock, wait 10-14 days.

5. After the beer has finished fermenting, throw in the dry hops. Put them in a hop sock as well, with some marbles or these whisky stones, to make it sink to the ground. You have to boil the hop sock first (without the hops!), to make sure that there are no nasties inside. Wait two days.

6. Fill the correct amount of sugar into each bottle (I always weigh the sugar per bottle).

7. After 2 days dry hopping time, bottle with a bottling stick attached to your fermenters spiggot. Fill each bottle almost up to the rim, leave 3-2mm space (if you push the end of the bottling stick at the edge of the rim, you can manually fill the rest of the bottle neck, after filling it the normal way from the bottom to the top). This way you keep the air and oxygen inside the bottle to a minimum, so that your beer tastes nice and hoppy much longer and stronger. This is crucial for a nice IPA.
If you use palstic bottles, you can squeeze the bottle a little bit before fscreqing the cap on it, instead of filling it up almost to the rim, just squeeze it that much that there is no air inside when you tighten the cap.

Follow this and the beer will be good!

Easy recipe:

Pale DME or Pale LME
Cascade or Chinook or Simcoe hops
US 05 yeast

You simply cannot go wrong with this combination if you follow the steps above.

WOW! Holy...! Thanks a ton for this awesome instructions mate! This clears up a lot for me, but of course I have some follow up questions.

Regarding 1: I am a bit unsure how to use the calculator and exactly what I want to get out of it... So many fields lol. I did a test in it but I probably got a lot wrong:

I just put in 5L as to boil in to test, and then 19 for the topping off in fermenter. The pellet hops of 7 AA is cascade 30g. Just threw in 60min because... no clue xd I assume you meant for me to put target OG to 1, as that is the only gravity field I can affect. Altitude I have no idea what is, and same for hop utilization multiplier. This is really interesting stuff! I am just a bit lost now but it's fun to learn about this. Seems like a really great tool

Regarding 7: I did not really follow " if you push the end of the bottling stick at the edge of the rim, you can manually fill the rest of the bottle neck, after filling it the normal way from the bottom to the top ", though what I did last time was push the bottling stick all the way to the bottom of the bottle and when the bottle was about full I would pull it out. The volume of the stick would leave a nice amount of room left in the bottle. Is this what you meant?
Also regarding the squeezing, do you mean I would leave it a bit dented for fermentation with the beer all the way to the rim, ultimately leaving no space for oxygen?

Regarding everything: I would like to measure OG and SG at least the first runs, but I assume that would work fine if I boil everything then, and measure OG just before pitching yeast, and then first SG about 14 days in? Is the dry hopping supposed to happen once SG is stable for 2 days, or before?

Lastly as general info. I measured my biggest pot and it was only 3L! I deffo need to get a bigger one either way, so might as well get like 10L or something more than 5L. Though, I want something that fits a regular stove.

Thanks again for the thorough explanation!

 

[ATLBeer]

Matheos, The calculator is overkill for what you are doing. It is generally used to create recipes and plan ingredient lists, especially when doing all grain brewing.

At this point you should keep it simple. Find an IPA clone extract recipe and assemble the ingredients. There have been several linked above, or do a broad search across the forum. Most recipes will provide the expected ABV, gravities and IBUs for you.

You can adapt the boil volumes and processes as have been recommended above to fit your equipment and comfort.

 

[Matheos]

Matheos, The calculator is overkill for what you are doing. It is generally used to create recipes and plan ingredient lists, especially when doing all grain brewing.

At this point you should keep it simple. Find an IPA clone extract recipe and assemble the ingredients. There have been several linked above, or do a broad search across the forum. Most recipes will provide the expected ABV, gravities and IBUs for you.

You can adapt the boil volumes and processes as have been recommended above to fit your equipment and comfort.

Yes you are right. I am getting hung up on details. Though, I am very interested in how to brew as well as possible.

I have gotten a lot of great tips on here, and I have definately learnt more today than so far in my brewing "career". I am sure with all the tips and instructions, recipes and help you have given so far, I would be able to make a batch already. I of course welcome further explanations and clearifications if you guys have time and will The help here has been great, much greater than I could have ever wished for <3 Can't wait to get brewing

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@Matheos: with regard to "no boil" recipes, there are two approaches. One makes sure the wort is pasteurized, the other doesn't. As you read about "no boil" approaches make sure you are clear on the type of extract (liquid vs dry) that is being used as well as the consequences of not pasteurizing those ingredients.

 

[smata67]

I have not read through this entire thread, maybe this has been covered, but you should be made aware that dumping dried extract directly into hot water is a bad idea. You will end up with hard clumps that take forever to break apart. Instead, mix the extract into room temperature water (accounting for the extra volume) and then add that to your boil. Makes all the difference.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

http://blog.brewingwithbriess.com/kiss-those-dme-clumps-goodbye-2/
eta: The Briess blog periodically has articles on brewing with DME/LME. It's a good source of information (and occasionally, classic Muppet Show music clips )

 

[Matheos]

I have not read through this entire thread, maybe this has been covered, but you should be made aware that dumping dried extract directly into hot water is a bad idea. You will end up with hard clumps that take forever to break apart. Instead, mix the extract into room temperature water (accounting for the extra volume) and then add that to your boil. Makes all the difference.

Thanks for mentioning that buddy. I don't think that has been mentioned. Would it also be OK to simply mix the DME before turning the stove on? Maybe I would have to stir until I get it to a boil in that case, but would that technically be OK or are there any drawbacks to that approach?

@BrewnWKopperKat Thanks for the link Gotta check it out if its got Muppet show music No but really, thanks. Will be helpful

 

[Matheos]

Recipe update
This is what I have come up with so far: Matheos IPA | American IPA Extract Beer Recipe at Brewer's Friend
The most uncertain part of it is the yeast. I know I can get that yeast from my store but how much I need for a batch, I have no idea. The rest is very inspired from the 15min Pale ale that @BrewnWKopperKat linked earlier.

My thoughts (links will be to the shop website I am looking at but to their English version. It is a bit lacking but hopefully most things are translated):

• I think I should try to achieve higher IBU? What do you guys think? EDIT: Played around and by adding the 71g cascades at 60min would give me 50IBU which according to my research seems to be a good value for any style IPA?
• The Crystal malt I was looking at is this
• The yeast is this
• The DME I have in the recipe is currently out of stock, but they've also got Breferm's here
• Priming sugar 100% dextrose from bullet brew
• The hops are US Cascade pellet hops 7AA
• I would be open to having two different kinds of hops and maybe limiting myself to a total of 100g of cascade. I am not sure what hops would go nice with cascade and at what times though. Suggestions? Citra? Chinook? I need to buy in factors of 100g, so two kinds with 100g of each would be cool and doable. But this which I stole from the 15min recipe is also fine.

I have probably messed up a few things in the recipe, but that's why I post it here so I can tune it to be as good as possible.
I might initially look into somehow making my worth in the 3L pot I've got, and making a smaller batch first run (topping off in fermenter). This to try to not spend too much at once, as I probably need to invest in a bigger pot in the future
I am also thinking of priming in the bottle initially to reduce costs of another vessel.

Thoughts, adjustments, comments?

 

[ATLBeer]

That will definitely make beer!

I think you may be a little light on your hops & IBU for and american IPA, but that is personal preference. You could add another 30 or 60 g at the dry hop. Either Citra or Chinook would work as the additions there. But using a single hop will teach you how the different hops taste. Next time brew with a different one. Then start mixing them when you figure our which ones you like. Look up SMASH recipes and the thoughts behind them (not now, after you brew this).

You can use table sugar to prime if you don't want to buy the dextrose, that bag will last you forever. Priming the bottles is fine, just takes longer. Do you have enough of them?

Make sure that crystal is milled and make sure you have a bag to steep it in.

Don't make a smaller batch. You are going through the same amount of work so you may as well enjoy it at the end. But given your space and interest, you should check out the One Gallon Brewers threads.

GL!

 

[Matheos]

That will definitely make beer!

I think you may be a little light on your hops & IBU for and american IPA, but that is personal preference. You could add another 30 or 60 g at the dry hop. Either Citra or Chinook would work as the additions there. But using a single hop will teach you how the different hops taste. Next time brew with a different one. Then start mixing them when you figure our which ones you like. Look up SMASH recipes and the thoughts behind them (not now, after you brew this).

You can use table sugar to prime if you don't want to buy the dextrose, that bag will last you forever. Priming the bottles is fine, just takes longer. Do you have enough of them?

Make sure that crystal is milled and make sure you have a bag to steep it in.

Don't make a smaller batch. You are going through the same amount of work so you may as well enjoy it at the end. But given your space and interest, you should check out the One Gallon Brewers threads.

GL!

Thanks for the feedback! I will look into those threads!

I should have 30x750ml bottles at my disposal. Eventually. Still drinking the last batch haha. But thought I could at least do the primary fermentation while the bottles are still in use.

Regarding the use of table sugar, are there any drawbacks? Compared to dextrose that is.

And yes, I will get it milled for +0,20€

What do you think of my thought about adding the 15min hops already at 60? Would that maybe solve the IBU problem, cause any new ones? I will aim for one kind of hops for this batch, to learn, as you said

 

[ATLBeer]

No drawbacks on sugar, just make sure you use the correct amount for a 750ml bottle, there are many threads here that include those calculations.

Moving that hop addition isn't really going to change it very much. For reference, I used about 350g of hops in my last IPA recipe. That is a lot, but it's what I like. The last clone recipe I used had about 200g.

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks for the feedback! I will look into those threads!

I should have 30x750ml bottles at my disposal. Eventually. Still drinking the last batch haha. But thought I could at least do the primary fermentation while the bottles are still in use.

Regarding the use of table sugar, are there any drawbacks? Compared to dextrose that is.

And yes, I will get it milled for +0,20€

What do you think of my thought about adding the 15min hops already at 60? Would that maybe solve the IBU problem, cause any new ones? I will aim for one kind of hops for this batch, to learn, as you said

50 ibus for a low og beer like your are planning is really high. I would either lower the ibus to 35 or up the amount of extract. An og of 1.06 would be ok for 50 ibus imo.

You need to have a balance between malt sweetness and bitterness. If there is not enough malt character, the ibus will taste like there's too much of them.

 

[Matheos]

No drawbacks on sugar, just make sure you use the correct amount for a 750ml bottle, there are many threads here that include those calculations.

Moving that hop addition isn't really going to change it very much. For reference, I used about 350g of hops in my last IPA recipe. That is a lot, but it's what I like. The last clone recipe I used had about 200g.

Yes I am aware of the sugar calculations

So how do you suggest I bump the bitterness? I add another hopping instead of moving an existing one? Or? My understanding so far has been that hopping during the boil increases the bitterness, especially in the beginning?

 

[Matheos]

50 ibus for a low og beer like your are planning is really high. I would either lower the ibus to 35 or up the amount of extract. Am og of 1.06 would be ok for 50 ibus imo.

You need to have a balance between malt sweetness and bitterness. If there is not enough malt character, the ibus will taste like there's too much of them.

oh okay. Got it. What does onus mean? sorry.. stepping grains?