Right direction

[Cider123]

Hi folks,

Just another new guy making beer for the first time. Actually, I made 2 batches of hard cider last year that came out great.

This is my first go at beer. I starting drinking beer more often and found that I liked bitters and pale ales the most. In fact, I found I liked Bass quite a bit because as an ale it had more substance than boring lagers yet it didn't have a strong malty flavor that made it "heavy" to me. A big issue is that I am not a fan of a "hoppy" after taste so IPA's are definately off my list.

I got the following recipe from my local brew store and was wondering what folks thought of this and if I am doing the right things.

6.6lbs light malt extract
1/2 lb cara-pils
1/2 lb wheat malt
2 oz willamette hops (60 min boil)
1 oz willamette hops (15 min boil)
1/4 tsp irish moss (15 min)
safbrew s-33 yeast

I steeped the grains for 18 min at 150F in 2 gallons of water then dissolved the extract and brought to a boil. Then another 60 min boiling with the hops.

Poured into enough cold water to bring it just above 5 gallons. When it got to 75F I covered the airlock hole and shook the hell of it for 4-5 min.

I pitched the yeast at 75F and the spec gravity was 1.050 at 75F. Put the airlock in and filled it half way with vodka. Now its down in my basement where its around 65-67F.

What do you guys think? Thanks

 

[Yooper]

Looks good! The only things I would have done differently would have been to steep (mash) the grains longer than 18 minutes- you could easily go 45 minutes with wheat malt to ensure conversion- and to cool the under to 70 degrees or under before pitching the yeast. Otherwise, it looks like a good beer and I think it'll turn out great!

 

[Cider123]

Thanks,
I'm happy to say that after less than 24 hrs, she is bubbling away.

Another question I had is what are ways of bringing down the price of brewing. This kit of ingredients cost me $40 which is less than buying two cases of Bass, but not by a lot. How could I make this type of beer in the future for a lower price?

 

[brewd00d]

For extracts i would think bulk items would bring the cost down. Mainly the liqud malt extract.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks,
I'm happy to say that after less than 24 hrs, she is bubbling away.

Another question I had is what are ways of bringing down the price of brewing. This kit of ingredients cost me $40 which is less than buying two cases of Bass, but not by a lot. How could I make this type of beer in the future for a lower price?

Well, you're opening up a lot of debate here! Mostly because all-grain brewing is cheaper for most of us, but that sounds a bit snide to extract brewers if that's not a reasonable choice for someone just starting out.

Extract is expensive! So, to bring down the cost of brewing I see two options- 1. all-grain, which is cheaper but sometimes the equipment costs outweigh the savings (but one of my AG batches can cost $16 for 5 gallons), or 2. Buy extract in bulk. My understanding is that extract is much cheaper in bulk. I remember buying 8 pounds of extract for a batch and thinking "ouch! That's $30 right there and I haven't bought anything else!"

Otherwise, there are some generic hints. One is to wash/rinse/reuse yeast. I can get about a dozen batches out of one package of yeast.

I buy hops by the pound, since I have a big freezer and can do that. Many people can't.

The only other thing I can think of is to buy ingredients for 3-4 batches at a time, to save on shipping if you're buying from an online homebrew store. I know that austinhomebrew.com packages their stuff in vacuum sealed plastic bags, so it'll last a pretty long time in cool storage conditions.

 

[IffyG]

You could also do partial mashes with minimal investment. I use 4 lbs of grain to nearly replace 3 lbs of extract. This saves me almost ten bucks per batch.

 

[Cider123]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll search old posts for extract vs all grain brewing to learn more