Review My Technique?

[terrykalaka]

Hey Gang, long time lurker, first time poster, many times brewer. Seems like I might have a most unorthodox style of extract beer making, that seems to taste ok to me and my mates, but wanted to get an idea from you pro's about how it's working and why or why not it's a terrible idea or not. So far, I've got my 74th brew in the fermenting bucket, with probably an additional 20 brews or so unaccounted for from my time back home in oz. I spend 1.5 hours(start to finish including clean-up) every two weeks or so brewing and am able to keep up my intake needs fairly well. Here is how I roll:
Cooking everything on the kitchen stove:
In a 3qt pot, I put in water and enough extract to get it to be about the same viscosity as a full 5gal boil and I boil all my hops in this pot, beginning with the 60min, and adding in as I go.
In a separate 8qt pot, I get some water to a full boil, and add in steeping grains, turn the heat low when I add the grains. I steep the grains for 30mins, then remove and add in the rest of the extract and any other additions at this time and let that all mix together.
Once all the cooking is started, I put yeast into a pint glass with some warm water and a little dry malt to get it cranked up.
At the end of the 60min hop boil, I put everything into the brewing bucket, including some frozen ice blocks that I freeze in a couple of tupperware containers, top up with cold water and pitch the yeast.
I only primary ferment for usually between 16 and 18 days, I don't take any measurements at all, and just pop it into the corny keg with 1/3 cup corn sugar to auto carbonate, and try to leave it for at least 6 weeks before drinking(longer or shorter depending on stock levels and rotation).
I've never had any major problems, everything seems to taste ok, but just wanted to get some feedback/thoughts on my style to see if there might be a few little things I could do better to get things dialed in a bit more. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

 

[stpug]

I guess if it works for you then keep rolling with it. It's your beer and if you like it then no sense in changing.

If you really want to know if there are "a few little things you could do better" then the answer would be undoubtedly. The single biggest thing you could do to improve your process is read as much as you possibly can about the brewing process, and then implement anything that you think you can to improve your process. There is always plenty of room for improvement so keep reading and let us know how it goes.

 

[shtoive87]

One thing I can see is hop utilization. A smaller volume means the alpha acids will not be extracted as readily, so you might not be getting the bitterness you expect. Also make sure your ice blocks are sanitary. Lastly, fermentation temp control is a key factor in going from good beer to great beer.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[flars]

Rehydrating the yeast with DME is detrimental to the yeast. Can use up their reserves before fermenting your beer begins. Your time before pitching seems to be short so probably not damaging. Starters for dry yeast are bad.
You don't mention wort temperature when you pitch. Cooler than the target fermentation temperature is less shock for the yeast.

Up to 6 weeks in the keg before tapping. You must have a nice supply on hand. Kudos.

 

[DrWill]

In a separate 8qt pot, I get some water to a full boil, and add in steeping grains, turn the heat low when I add the grains. I steep the grains for 30mins, then remove and add in the rest of the extract and any other additions at this time

I agree with other posters that if it's working, then there's no need to change really, but there's always room for improvement.

I would be concerned about putting speciality grains in boiling water since that may extract unpleasant flavours. I've found that steeping them at mash temps when I do extract batches works best. Another alternative is to toss those speciality grains in when the water is cold, and pull them out when you get to about 75°C. That way you've got a long enough steep without getting them up to boiling temps.




Sent from my Rotary Phone using Magic.

 

[Yooper]

If you and your friends love your beer, then you shouldn't change a thing.

If you want a beer that tastes more like a commercial beer from a store or a good craft beer, there are definitely some things you could do much differently.

Either way, I'd stop bringing the water for the specialty grains up to a boil, and not even to a simmer. I'd keep it at 150-160 ideally, but you could much lower in the temperature for that. Many people put their grains in the water in the pot, and then turn on the heat and pull the grains out when the water gets to just below simmering (about 20 minutes) and that seems to give better flavor than boiling the water and adding the grains.

You are the only judge of your technique, as if your beer is great and you love, then it's perfect for you. If not so much, you can consider doing some more traditional things.

 

[dobe12]

I see a lot of things here that could be vastly improved and would almost definitely improve your final product. But like others have posted, if you like what you're getting then stick with it.

So are you really only adding bittering hops (60min) and no other additions? You know.... adding later additions will actually give your beer hop flavor and not just bitterness.

 

[DrWill]

So are you really only adding bittering hops (60min) and no other additions? You know.... adding later additions will actually give your beer hop flavor and not just bitterness.

I don't think the OP said this. In fact, iirc he said that he was starting at 60 mins and adding in as he went.

Also, not every style needs flavour or aroma additions. There are many styles that benefit from a single early hopping.


Sent from my Rotary Phone using Magic.

 

[dobe12]

I don't think the OP said this. In fact, iirc he said that he was starting at 60 mins and adding in as he went.

Also, not every style needs flavour or aroma additions. There are many styles that benefit from a single early hopping.


Sent from my Rotary Phone using Magic.

My bad, I read it wrong.

And yes, I understand some beers only need a bittering addition, but since he noted he's on his 74th brew, I assumed they weren't all single addition beers.

 

[DrWill]

My bad, I read it wrong.



And yes, I understand some beers only need a bittering addition, but since he noted he's on his 74th brew, I assumed they weren't all single addition beers.

I'd say that's a fair assumption.



Sent from my Rotary Phone using Magic.

 

[terrykalaka]

Hey gang, thanks for the tips, definitely some great food for thought. Sadly enough, I'm not a big hop guy(even though my knickname is "Hoppy"!), so I don't use a great deal of hops, I usually just go for 60min and 5min additions there, and tend to stick to brewing the middle of the road or more maltier styles(no ipa's!). I wonder about the utilization though, I hadn't thought much about the volume of water, as much as the gravity of it. Would there be a big difference if I went from boiling hops in for instance, 1 gallon of water at OG(calculated at 1.051) vs 2 gallons of water at the same gravity?

 

[DrWill]

I think others may have some data, but just going from experience the difference won't be so great that you need to make major adjustments, more a gentle tweak at most.


Sent from my Rotary Phone using Magic.