Hey everyone so I am finally going to make some beer! But I'm not completely sure how to go about it. I've made wine and have been soon much reading about beer, but I'm still unsure of some things. I bought a beer mix in a can and spray malt and dextrose and I'm wondering how to properly bring them together in the boil. Do I just dump them in all at once ? How long do I boil the mixture? I also bought Irish moss to help with clarifying but I don't know when to add it or how long to leave it in the boil for. Any tips would be great ! the beer kit in a can came with instructctions but there not so good. The instructions say to "dissolve the contents of the can with fermentable sugars with 2 liters of boiling water" that's all it says ! Doesn't say for how long or nothing!
newbie, first time brewing !
- Thread starter shanek17
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SC_Ryan
Well-Known Member
Read this:
http://howtobrew.com/intro.html
All you need to read is section. It will give you a whole overview of the process and break it down step by step.
http://howtobrew.com/intro.html
All you need to read is section. It will give you a whole overview of the process and break it down step by step.
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
I have read some of this before, do they mention how to use Irish moss?
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shanek17
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its a coopers real ale in a can. that's why I'm confused as to how to brew and boil this stuff. all the videos I see they don't open a pre made beer in a can. they have fresher ingredients and they put them into the boiling water seperatly. so I didn't know If I can still follow their directions.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
It's simpler than you might think. Do you know how much water to boil? Once you have a good boil, take it off the burner, add your ingredients and stir until completely dissolved. This is so that you don't ruin your pot by having the sugar burn at the bottom. Once completely dissolved, you can boil it for a few more minutes, or as long as you want, then cool it completely... In your shoes I would force myself to re-read the directions several times until I felt more confident.
tre9er
Well-Known Member
Generally with the kits you'll have the can, as you mentioned, which is malt extract. If there are any grains (barley) those would be "steeping grains" and usually the kit also comes with a muslin bag (a mesh bag for those steeping grains).
If there are steeping grains you would heat the water up to the 150's and then let the grain bag sit in the water (tied so grains don't escape bag) for about 20 minutes to get the flavor from those grains.
Then you'd remove the bag full of grains and bring the liquid to a boil. If there are hops included in the kit, the instructions should tell you when to add each bag of them. If not, you would add the mix in the can after the boil has been going for about 40 minutes and stir VERY well. After the boil has gone for 1hr. you would turn the heat off and place the pot in an ice bath to cool it (or if you have an immersion chiller, pre-sanitized and boiled for 15 minutes). Once the temperature of the internal liquid is around 70 degrees F you would move the liquid to the fermenting vessel and pitch the yeast.
If the yeast is a dry package, I would first put it in some 90* water, about a cup, for 15 minutes covered with sanitized foil. Then pitch it into the cooled liquid in your fermenter.
If there are steeping grains you would heat the water up to the 150's and then let the grain bag sit in the water (tied so grains don't escape bag) for about 20 minutes to get the flavor from those grains.
Then you'd remove the bag full of grains and bring the liquid to a boil. If there are hops included in the kit, the instructions should tell you when to add each bag of them. If not, you would add the mix in the can after the boil has been going for about 40 minutes and stir VERY well. After the boil has gone for 1hr. you would turn the heat off and place the pot in an ice bath to cool it (or if you have an immersion chiller, pre-sanitized and boiled for 15 minutes). Once the temperature of the internal liquid is around 70 degrees F you would move the liquid to the fermenting vessel and pitch the yeast.
If the yeast is a dry package, I would first put it in some 90* water, about a cup, for 15 minutes covered with sanitized foil. Then pitch it into the cooled liquid in your fermenter.
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
Do exactly like imbeer describes. Typically, we boil wort for 60 minutes - not sure if that's necessary for this kit or not, but it'd probably be good practice for you for future batches. Then add the Irish Moss when you have 15 minutes left to go in your boil.
Chill the wort as well as you can, transfer it into your fermenter and top it off to whatever the intended final volume is for the kit (5 gallons, or the metric equivalent, is typical, hopefully your kit instructions will tell you this much!). Then pitch your yeast.
And here is where most kit instructions really tend to fall apart: fermentation times: Your instructions likely tell you to leave in primary for some number of days, then transfer to secondary for some other number of days. Likely this is an arbitrary number of days, and they're much too short.
Most folks around here agree that transferring to secondary is unnecessary - it's a step you can safely skip. Leave you fermenting wort in your primary for at least 2 weeks. 3 or 4 if you can bear to wait that long (most newbies can't, we understand!). At that point, check the gravity (you do have a hydrometer, right?), make sure the gravity is at what your kit says the final gravity should be. Check it again 2 days later. If it's still the same, you're ready to bottle.
Bottle it up, put those bottles away for 2-3 weeks before refrigerating them, then you'll be good to go.
Chill the wort as well as you can, transfer it into your fermenter and top it off to whatever the intended final volume is for the kit (5 gallons, or the metric equivalent, is typical, hopefully your kit instructions will tell you this much!). Then pitch your yeast.
And here is where most kit instructions really tend to fall apart: fermentation times: Your instructions likely tell you to leave in primary for some number of days, then transfer to secondary for some other number of days. Likely this is an arbitrary number of days, and they're much too short.
Most folks around here agree that transferring to secondary is unnecessary - it's a step you can safely skip. Leave you fermenting wort in your primary for at least 2 weeks. 3 or 4 if you can bear to wait that long (most newbies can't, we understand!). At that point, check the gravity (you do have a hydrometer, right?), make sure the gravity is at what your kit says the final gravity should be. Check it again 2 days later. If it's still the same, you're ready to bottle.
Bottle it up, put those bottles away for 2-3 weeks before refrigerating them, then you'll be good to go.
Personally, I would skip Irish moss with a pre-hopped extract kit, and, unless you are adding hops, they (pre-hopped extract kits) don't have to be boiled. I've brewed 2 of them (pre-hopped extract kits) recently to see how well I can get them to turn out. This is what I would do:
1. Bring 2 to 2.5 gallons of water to a boil, turn off heat.
2. Add pre-hopped extract, and spray malt (DME), stir gently to get it all dissolved and mixed. If you use dextose, don't use a lot. I've added 4 oz (along with 1 lb, 12 oz DME). Let it sit 10 mins or so now.
3. Cool the wort by your method of choice; I'd try to get it to about 70 degrees ballpark.
4. Add top up water to get to your final volume, typically 5 gallons.
5. Stir, check gravity, aerate and add yeast.
The key to getting good results out of these pre-hopped kits is much the same as with any of the other brewing methods: use fresh ingredients (particularly the liquid pre-hopped stuff), good sanitation practices and control of ferment temperature. Also, skip the included yeast and go get a good quality dry yeast or even go with a liquid yeast. For simplicity's sake, my suggestion is a good quality dry yeast, and re-hydrate it, though if you want to keep it as simple as possible even that's not really necessary.
So far, I've found that I can get a pre-hopped kit brewed like this in a little less than 2 hours, including set up (my brewing equipment is in my basement, and I have to bring it upstairs when I brew) and clean up, and I'm not a rush rush person, if you know what I mean. The results thus far have been pretty good, though honestly I still prefer my partial mash brews over the pre-hopped kits. It's a good way to start for sure, and I don't think you will be disappointed with the results. I'm going to continue to brew them occasionally, and try some of the various styles available.
EDIT: stratslinger mentions it, but I don't use a secondary either. Three (sometimes 4) weeks in the primary and then bottle. Check with the hydrometer, of course, to gauge fermentation progress and completeness before bottling. Bottle condition minimally 3 weeks @ 70 degrees.
1. Bring 2 to 2.5 gallons of water to a boil, turn off heat.
2. Add pre-hopped extract, and spray malt (DME), stir gently to get it all dissolved and mixed. If you use dextose, don't use a lot. I've added 4 oz (along with 1 lb, 12 oz DME). Let it sit 10 mins or so now.
3. Cool the wort by your method of choice; I'd try to get it to about 70 degrees ballpark.
4. Add top up water to get to your final volume, typically 5 gallons.
5. Stir, check gravity, aerate and add yeast.
The key to getting good results out of these pre-hopped kits is much the same as with any of the other brewing methods: use fresh ingredients (particularly the liquid pre-hopped stuff), good sanitation practices and control of ferment temperature. Also, skip the included yeast and go get a good quality dry yeast or even go with a liquid yeast. For simplicity's sake, my suggestion is a good quality dry yeast, and re-hydrate it, though if you want to keep it as simple as possible even that's not really necessary.
So far, I've found that I can get a pre-hopped kit brewed like this in a little less than 2 hours, including set up (my brewing equipment is in my basement, and I have to bring it upstairs when I brew) and clean up, and I'm not a rush rush person, if you know what I mean. The results thus far have been pretty good, though honestly I still prefer my partial mash brews over the pre-hopped kits. It's a good way to start for sure, and I don't think you will be disappointed with the results. I'm going to continue to brew them occasionally, and try some of the various styles available.
EDIT: stratslinger mentions it, but I don't use a secondary either. Three (sometimes 4) weeks in the primary and then bottle. Check with the hydrometer, of course, to gauge fermentation progress and completeness before bottling. Bottle condition minimally 3 weeks @ 70 degrees.
tre9er
Well-Known Member
Come back here after you've pitched the yeast into a sanitized fermenter and put it away somewhere that has ambient temperature in the 60's.
this sounds like a pre-hopped extract kit. so the boil doesn't matter. make sure that dextrose is for the beer and not for bottling.
all you have to do:
boil two liters water
take water off stove
add all the stuff
cool it as fast as possible
put in fermenter
add yeast
wait
honestly, even if you didn't boil and just mixed everything thoroughly in cold water, this would come out fine
all you have to do:
boil two liters water
take water off stove
add all the stuff
cool it as fast as possible
put in fermenter
add yeast
wait
honestly, even if you didn't boil and just mixed everything thoroughly in cold water, this would come out fine
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
yea well the directions are very vague at best, and I guess there just general guidelines. I think the companies expect you to go out and learn the finer details on your own, which is fine. really , you have to take the pot off the stove when adding the sugar? can it actually burn your pot?
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
What do you mean make sure the dextrose is for the beer and not bottling ? I bought one 2kg bag of dextrose, and I was planning on using it for the fermentation and afterwords for the carbonation... isnt that what people do? or are you saying there are 2 different types of dextrose for fermentation and then carbonation?
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
sorry guys I should have clarified to exactly what I have, I appreciate all the feedback as well, at first it was looking like no one was going to reply haha. Okay so this coopers Can is a real ale Hopped malt concentrate. and I need to add 1kg of sugar to it, so i bought 2kg of dextrose and 1.1 pound of spray malt , which i believe is the stuff you guys refer to as DME. I also have a big bag of irish moss and I was hopeing to incorporate it into my brew here, as I here it helps with clarifying. But it sounds like I dont need to boil this stuff on the stove, or maybe i just should not boil it on the stove PERIOD.
tre9er
Well-Known Member
You'll need to give us specifics as to how much is in the cooper can, what batch size (how many gallons/litres are you planning on ending up with) and what ABV you're looking to accomplish. Also is there yeast in the kit of have you acquired some and if so, what is the brand/variety?
You will need to, at minimum, boil water and add the ingredients, stir vigorously and continuously, then later cool the liquid, transfer to fermenter (what are you using as fermentation vessel?) then add yeast. The beer will then need to stay somewhere dark and relatively cool for at least 2-3 weeks.
okay, i think i am finally getting this
boil two liters of water, take off stove, mix together can + kilo of sugar + spray malt (DME) with hot water. put in your fermenter. add 4.5 gallons (17 liters) water to that. then toss in the yeast. double check the volumes, they could vary depending on the kit.
i don't see a sensible way of incorporating the irish moss. because you really don't want to boil the prehopped extract or you'll lose flavor and any aroma that it might have from the hops.
boil two liters of water, take off stove, mix together can + kilo of sugar + spray malt (DME) with hot water. put in your fermenter. add 4.5 gallons (17 liters) water to that. then toss in the yeast. double check the volumes, they could vary depending on the kit.
i don't see a sensible way of incorporating the irish moss. because you really don't want to boil the prehopped extract or you'll lose flavor and any aroma that it might have from the hops.
tre9er
Well-Known Member
I would add much less or even no dextrose--a kilo is quite a bit. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've used 4 oz. dextrose with the pre-hopped kits, in addition to 1 lb, 12 oz DME (spray malt). Using as much dextrose as you mention could create a thin, watery, cidery beer. You will use some dextrose when you bottle the beer. You don't need the irish moss but of course save it for when you start brewing extract (unhopped) with grains, partial mash, or all grain. And yes chill before you add to the fermenter, then add your top off water to reach the desired volume, aerate, and pitch yeast. You've got it, as Nike says just do it.
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shanek17
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okay I have written out my recipe and it goes as follows
ill be using 2 liters boiling water, that is following the instructions that came with the can.
3.75 pound coopers real ale (malted barley and hops in the can)
1.1 pound spray malt medium (.4989kg)
12 oz dextrose sugar (.8390kg)
the total weight of sugar is. 8390 kg. which should be fine , the instructions say just to not go over 1kg of sugar.
the yeast is a DIY Beer Coopers brewing yeast 7g. it doesnt have any special directions , just add to wort , which im fine with for my first batch. if this yeast is no good i guess ill have to go buy some more..
this batch is to make 23 liters and ill be putting it in a plastic brewing bucket that my uncle used for brewing. everything is sanitized and ready to go.. just wondering if you guys have any tips. and yea ill be cooling it down to 75F before i pitch the yeast. Iv watched a ton of home brewing videos and been reading lots of stuff about this so im catching on. what was throwing me off was the fact that most videos are for the all grain brewing and extract brewing which involves more details. I guess my beer in a can method is a good way for me to start!
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
if my beer has .8390kg of sugar in it, is there a way to know how much potential alcohol this beer will be, like even roughly would be good. I just want to make sure I have enough sugar in my recipe, which was posted a couple posts before this one. Also My hydrometer is not working properly, i found out it is not calibrated very well so it wont give me a good reading. like the hydrometer is supposed to be calibrated at the 1.000 mark at 68F and i tested it with 68F water and it actually reads at 1.005 or 1.006.
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
OKAY so i went ahead and made it ! HURRAY! okay so it didnt go as smoothly as I had in mind; i started off by putting the coopers real ale metal can in my boiling pot of water to warm it up into a liquid, and then realized the label with its glue is in there melting in the water... DAMN, so i dumped that water into a bucket and let the can soak in the bucket, and reboiled clean water for my brew.
I ended up changing the recipe , but only the dextrose amount. I seen craig from craig tube do a similar batch with a coopers blonde ale and he actually used the exact amount of DME at 500 grams but he used alot more dextrose than i originally planned. So i bumped my dextrose amount up from 12 oz to 16 oz. My SG was at 1.041 and i pitched the yeast at 72F!
I wasnt sure if i should throw that airlock on there rite away since I know that the yeasties like their oxygen at first so I went ahead and put the bung in the top of the bucket with some cheese cloth to act as a filter. what do you guys think , when should the air lock go on ? Also I did shake the bucket up a good amount before pitching yeast , as to add oxygen.
if this brew stays around 72F it should be done fermenting within a couple weeks rite ??
I ended up changing the recipe , but only the dextrose amount. I seen craig from craig tube do a similar batch with a coopers blonde ale and he actually used the exact amount of DME at 500 grams but he used alot more dextrose than i originally planned. So i bumped my dextrose amount up from 12 oz to 16 oz. My SG was at 1.041 and i pitched the yeast at 72F!
I wasnt sure if i should throw that airlock on there rite away since I know that the yeasties like their oxygen at first so I went ahead and put the bung in the top of the bucket with some cheese cloth to act as a filter. what do you guys think , when should the air lock go on ? Also I did shake the bucket up a good amount before pitching yeast , as to add oxygen.
if this brew stays around 72F it should be done fermenting within a couple weeks rite ??
tre9er
Well-Known Member
Airlock immediately.
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
okay and then what is the best way to bottle it now. I have dextrose for priming it and going to put them in cleaned glass beer bottles. iv seen people mix the sugar into the bottling bucket and fill from there, or put the sugar into each bottle and then fill them up. I don't have a bottle bucket with a spigot. but I have a siphon hose with a hose clamp. after they are bottled iv heard you store them at room temperature? so what is s good temperature to keep them at. I'm just trying to figure out where to store them in my house
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
It may already be a bit late, after 4 days at 72 ambient, but you really want most ales about 10 degrees cooler than that. Fermentation creates its own heat, so the fermenter is going to get 5-10 degrees warmer than the air around it - that's likely to throw some fruity off-flavors. It'll still be good beer - just a little fruity.
As for bottling - give it some more time, for one! Not sure when you're looking to bottle, but give it at least 2 weeks to finish up and to let the yeast clean up their byproducts - longer if you can wait for it!
Then, well... Do you have another bucket at all? Your best bet would be to measure out an appropriate amount of priming sugar for your beer volume and desired carbonation and add it to a cup or two of boiling water. Let that boil for just a couple minutes - just long enough to dissolve and sanitize the sugar. Then add it to your sanitized bucket and rack the beer from your fermenter onto the sugar mixture. Give it a couple gentle stirs along the way, and allow it 10 or 15 minutes to sit and mix. Then you can use your siphon to transfer the primed beer into each cleaned _and sanitized_ bottle, filling them from the bottom up. Cap 'em, put them away in a closet around 70ish for 3 weeks, then refrigerate them and you'll be good to go.
If you don't have another bucket, maybe pick one up over the next week or so? Or look at priming the bottles individually?
As for bottling - give it some more time, for one! Not sure when you're looking to bottle, but give it at least 2 weeks to finish up and to let the yeast clean up their byproducts - longer if you can wait for it!
Then, well... Do you have another bucket at all? Your best bet would be to measure out an appropriate amount of priming sugar for your beer volume and desired carbonation and add it to a cup or two of boiling water. Let that boil for just a couple minutes - just long enough to dissolve and sanitize the sugar. Then add it to your sanitized bucket and rack the beer from your fermenter onto the sugar mixture. Give it a couple gentle stirs along the way, and allow it 10 or 15 minutes to sit and mix. Then you can use your siphon to transfer the primed beer into each cleaned _and sanitized_ bottle, filling them from the bottom up. Cap 'em, put them away in a closet around 70ish for 3 weeks, then refrigerate them and you'll be good to go.
If you don't have another bucket, maybe pick one up over the next week or so? Or look at priming the bottles individually?
punkerdru
Well-Known Member
shanek17 said:
You're siphon hose will work fine to bottle. You definitely want to mix the sugar in with the whole batch to get consistent carbonation. What's preferred (by me anyhow) is to mix the sugar with some boiled water, then rack (move from one vessel to another) the beer from the fermenter (primary) on top of the mix. Putting sugar in each bottle will lead to inconsistent carbonation and potential bottle bombs. After that, room temp for two weeks, then crack one to see how you did! You can store them at room temp for as long as you want.
tre9er
Well-Known Member
COOL SUGAR SOLUTION FIRST!
And gently stir, careful not to add any oxygen into the beer, with a sanitized spoon/paddle.
You'll also want a bottling wand (LHBS has them) or a manner to stop the flow into bottles as they fill. Some people just raise the bottle up above the beer level in bucket before it overflows, then lower the next bottle below, repeat, etc.
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
5 gallons of beer racked onto 1 cup of sugar solution will cool it very quickly. Sure, cool it enough so that it won't damage your bucket, but no need to go much beyond that...
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
yea a little late for this batch now haha. Thats okay its my first batch the next one I can try and keep it cooler. So your saying for most ales keep them 10 degrees cooler than 72F ? Iv noticed alot of different answers on fermenting ale temperatures. But the instructions that came with the coopers real ale said to keep it between 70-80F. So i thought that this was perfectly fine.
OH i definitely have other buckets that i can use , i also have a 5 gal and 6 gal glass carboy that i could use , although im not sure I need them. Maybe If i did decide to let the beer sit for a bit longer. But honestly its been so hot in my house lately I think the beer is done fermenting and I would just like to get it into the bottles now. Getting back to my beer fermenting temperature , it actually started going up into the 77F area, so I mean I think this was a quick fermentation and yes it may have some off flavours , this is why im not too worried about letting it sit for any longer, i might as well get it into the bottles and be more careful for future batches. But please clarify what temeperatures I should be fermenting a real ale beer , its the light colored kind, if that makes a difference. Hopefully its still turns out okay. Ill be taking another hydrometer reading tomorrow too see where its and see if I can get some consistent hydrometer readings , indicating that its done.
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update:
Okay so I decided I would just take the SG tonight, and my reading is at 1.006 . Isnt that kind of low for a beer? im pretty sure the kit Instructions said that it will be around 1.012, and I just bought a new hydrometer and tested it earlier tonight so I know its pretty accurate. I dont mind it being dry, I took a couple sips and it tastes pretty damn good! i was surprised at the good taste, and it will only taste better from here on up.
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shanek17
Well-Known Member
also you dont want to damage the yeast with hot water rite? since they are still needed for carbonating. or maybe as you said the 23 liters of beer should cool it down quick enough that it wont hurt anything. I just wont throw the water in there when its still boiling hot!
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