Question about my first batch - bad instructions?

[Carolina_Matt]

I plan on brewing my first batch over the next few weeks, and it's a Brewmaster's Select Boston Lager. I've attached a picture of the instructions, and some of it doesn't align with what I've seen in various videos and other instructions, including the first step to start off with only 1-2 quarters of water. Does it make sense to start off with 1-2 quarters in a 6-8 quart sauce pan, steep the malts, then pour that into the bigger kettle?

I have a 36 quart kettle and my plan was:

-Add 2.5 gallons of warm water, and bring to ~155 degrees.
-Turn off the burner and steep malts for about 30 minutes
-Strain and rinse with a little bit of water
-Add Dried Malt Extract and stir for several minutes
-Turn on burner and bring to a boil
-Add bittering hops and start timer
-@35 minutes, add Whirlfloc tablet and flavoring hops
-@43 minutes, add aromatic hops
-@45 minutes, turn off burner and put stock pot in an ice bath
-Once cooled, transfer into fermenter and top off to 5 gallons, then stir a little & make sure water is below 80 degrees
-Take OG reading (this wasn't mentioned at all in the instructions)
-Add yeast
-Add lid to fermenter, make sure it's ~65 degrees to ferment
-Once FG is consistent for 2 consecutive days, bottle or put in keg

Does that seem about right?

Thanks!
Matt

 

[GrimBrewer]

The steeping intructions are fine. The steeping grains is only small % of your total "grain" bill thats why you do not need so much water upfront. But you can aslo steep in all the water.

Following the recrpe instruction should mean you will get closer to what they aimed for, mainly IBU levels. Thats what i did starting out.
Ignore from here
However, Ive learened since then, while making my own extract or partial extract recipes; only add same portion of DME to initial boil as starting water. Add the rest of the DME in last few minutes. So if you topup water is 50% then add 50% dme at the end. This is so that you dont have such a highly concentrated boil from the start. More sugar you have upfront less bitternes you get and potentally darker beer.

Ps. Yes, always good idea to record your gravity.

 

[enkamania]

They probably didn't mention OG reading, because when you top off with water, it's hard to get an accurate reading

 

[JimRausch]

Hmmm, to me the 1st part of the instructions look like they are for just a 1 gallon batch. But then I see that they have to add enough top-off water to make it a 5G batch.
Matt- I like your revised instructions much better. Well done- it's obvious you've done your research. The only things I would change is your plan to add the top-off water after chilling is complete. In a water/ice bath, it will take quite a while to chill to pitching temp.- like an hour or more. If you take your top-off water and chill that in the fridge or even freezer, then you can add that chilled water during the cooling process and speed the whole thing up.
Then depending on what yeast you are using, that will depend on what your final pitching temp should be. Dry Ale yeast? 65 is good. But if it's a dry Lager yeast (because this is a Boston lager clone) then you'll need to get the temp down to 50. Good luck on your 1st batch. Don't freak out when the inevitable happens and things don't go completely to plan. You'll make beer and it will be great!

 

[parrothead64]

Make sure your are in the mid 60’s before you add the yeast. They will survive high 70’s but the beer will be better if you start the fermentation lower.

 

[ncbrewer]

Hop addition times are normally expressed in minutes left in the boil rather than how long it has boiled so far. You'll find it less confusing if you go with that convention from the start.

Hop utilization is affected by boil gravity, so if you go with late addition for part of the extract, you'll get more IBU's. You can use this http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/hop-bittering-calculations to reduce the hops and keep the intended bitterness.

Don't be surprised if your OG measurement is not what the recipe calls for. It's really hard to mix the wort with top-off water well enough to get a good sample. I haven't checked OG when using top-off water in several years.

Ideally you should get the wort down to target fermentation temperature before pitching.

I'd suggest waiting 2 - 3 weeks before checking gravity. Opinions vary on this, but since I don't have a CO2 tank to purge oxygen out of the head space, I open the lid only when necessary. 2 - 3 days before planned bottling day, and again on bottling day.

If you're using chlorinated tap water you should get rid of the chlorine/chloramine. I think the easiest way is with campden tablets. 1 tablet should treat 20 gallons - I use half a tablet (dissolved in water) to treat 6 gallons as a safety factor.

I hope this helps, and welcome to HBT.

 

[C-Rider]

One thing I feel the need to say is the kit name is misleading. there is no way ;you are gong to produce Brewmaster's Select Boston Lager fermenting at 65*. You are making an ale at those temps. Still you have the potential for a great beer, just not a lager. It's a shame so many kit sellers try to pass off ales as lagers. Lagers require a yeast that work at lower temps and then of course there is the LAGERING. Enjoy your brew my friend.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

Thanks for the advice everybody! You're right that it's more of an Ale than a Lager. On the cover of the instructions, it says "Dry Yeast: Safale #US-05 Yeast, Fermentation Temps: DRY 64-70 degrees". When I looked it up, that's an Ale yeast.

I'll definitely bring it down to about 65 degrees, with cool water to speed up the process, before pitching the yeast.