New to HBT

JudgeBrew7415 · Jan 12, 2025

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been following friends that have brewed for almost 10 years and finally made the leap into brewing as my father-in-law bought me the Vevor electric brewing system for Christmas. He also bought me a Northern Brewer American Amber Ale recipe as a starter recipe and I intend to bottle (I have had a kegerator for years so kegging is a plan for the future). I have not seen a lot of information on doing a mix grain/liquid malt extract brew in the Vevor and I do not want to scorch the LME when I add it, so any tips are much appreciated. Happy to be part of the group!

Clint Yeastwood · Jan 12, 2025

Welcome. I don't know anything about extract, though.

Immocles · Jan 12, 2025

Welcome!

JudgeBrew7415 said:
I have not seen a lot of information on doing a mix grain/liquid malt extract brew in the Vevor and I do not want to scorch the LME when I add it, so any tips are much appreciated.

I don't have a Vevor, but I have a brewers edge mash & boil. Same type of electric AIO concept. I've only done a few extract brews on it, but mainly you want to add the liquid extract very slowly. If you dump the entire jug in at once, its just going to immmediately sink to the bottom before it gets a change to dissolve into the water. When I did extract, I would mix a bit at a time, probably a fifth of the jug every 5 minutes or so. If you do get a little scorching, it should scrub off with a green scrubby reasonably well. I had a pretty terrible burnt on mess at once point and it scrubbed off pretty easily with Barkeepers friend and a scrubby.
That recipe kit was my first one too. I really, really enjoyed it. Happy brewing.

ncbrewer · Jan 12, 2025

I've found that the kettle it is boiled in makes a difference. I always took the kettle of boiling water off the heat when adding the LME. Then stir well while adding it, and continue stirring until completely dissolved. Then put it back on the heat. When I used a somewhat thin-walled stainless kettle, I stirred constantly until the wort was boiling, then let the boiling action take care of the stirring after that. When using this stainless kettle in this manner, I still got a little brown, gummy residue on the bottom in the shape of the stove coil element. Not a problem - I could clean it off easily when finished, and it didn't give any scorch flavor.

I'm now using a thick-walled aluminum kettle. I never get any of the gummy build-up. I even stopped stirring for the most part - just give it a stir every few minutes. I'm now using DME most of the time - mix it in while the water is cold, and then bring it to a boil. It takes maybe 20 minutes to get to a boil, with minimal stirring. It still doesn't get the gummy residue.