Some Extract Kit Questions

[arringtonbp]

So, I did my first extract kit from northern brewer several weeks back. It was an irish red ale kit.

Some info:
4 weeks in primary
3 gallon boil (prob ended up being about 2.5 after boiling)

Used whirlfloc.
Didn't whirlpool.


3 weeks in the bottle carbonating with 5 oz priming sugar.


Questions:

• The beer seems to be kind of bitter. There was a lot of hop content in primary throughout the fermentation. Would this be the cause? If it is, how do I prevent the hop pellet sludge from making it into the primary fermenter?
• The beer has a lot of chill haze. I cooled the beer from boiling to ~75-80 F in less than 20 minutes using a very cold bath of ice water. How can I eliminate chill haze?

In addition to this, I just brewed a scottish export 80 shilling from northern brewer (extract kit). I accidently started with 2.5 gal and was waiting for hot break, which i never saw happen. I think this added about 15 minutes onto the boil time. By the end of the boil, the amount that went into the fermenter was only about 1.5 - 1.75 gal. When I diluted it with cold water, the gravity was low. What happened?

 

[drawdy10]

I would say what you are experiencing is not chill haze it's probably just yeast in suspension, the longer you wait the more it will drop out in the fridge and you will be amazed how clear it gets, i had a witbier get as clear as a pale ale after a month in the fridge.

What i did for the hop issue in the fermentor is to buy a stainless steel double mesh strainer, I think you can get them for about $17 and run the fresh wort thru that on your way to the carboy, that or you could whirlpool and siphon thru the strainer too.

As for your gravity question: How low was it?

As far as volumes go, this is what i do: Just fill the pot up with as much water as you can fit, accounting for the volume of the DME you will be adding of course. That way you have no measuring mistakes, there is really no reason to measure your boil water in my opinion, just boil as much as you can since you will be adding water to the fermentor anyways.

Cheers, and welcome to the hobby!

 

[Yooper]

You may never get a hot break with extract, so you don't have to wait for it before proceeding. You may just have a more "cooked" tasting wort, doing such a long concentrated boil like that. But otherwise no worries.

I'm not sure about the bitter taste in the first beer- hops debris that makes it into the fermenter wouldn't be the cause although some people do strain it out, or let their wort sit still for a few minutes after chilling and then pour the wort into the fermenter, stopping when they hit the pellet sludge. I never bothered, as it will all settle out with the trub anyway. I really don't know where that bitter taste is coming from, though.

 

[arringtonbp]

I would say what you are experiencing is not chill haze it's probably just yeast in suspension, the longer you wait the more it will drop out in the fridge and you will be amazed how clear it gets, i had a witbier get as clear as a pale ale after a month in the fridge.

What i did for the hop issue in the fermentor is to buy a stainless steel double mesh strainer, I think you can get them for about $17 and run the fresh wort thru that on your way to the carboy, that or you could whirlpool and siphon thru the strainer too.

As for your gravity question: How low was it?

As far as volumes go, this is what i do: Just fill the pot up with as much water as you can fit, accounting for the volume of the DME you will be adding of course. That way you have no measuring mistakes, there is really no reason to measure your boil water in my opinion, just boil as much as you can since you will be adding water to the fermentor anyways.

Cheers, and welcome to the hobby!

When I tried to leave the sludge in the boil kettle, I measured it and it was at around 1.035 or so (supposed to be 1.047). I just went ahead and dumped the sludge and all into the fermenter, and it boosted it up to 1.042. I'm not sure where the extra gravity went.

By sludge, I mean the hop pellet leftovers, proteins that have dropped out, etc...

 

[YNWApistolero]

As for bitterness, I know that you can get tannins from the specialty grains bag. When you removed it before the boil, did you wring or squeeze it out? If you did, this might be a source of tannins resulting in extra bitterness, although tannin bitterness is different from hop bitterness. Sounds like you did your research so it's probably an outside chance...

 

[kh54s10]

I'm not quite clear on the process. After the boil on your Irish Red Ale did you top up to 5 gallons? If not that is your problem. The kit is for a 5 gallon beer.

With these kits, if you follow the directions and add all the ingredients you should hit the OG listed within a point or two.

For the steeping grains I put them in as soon as the water is warm. The directions say to take them out when the water reaches 170 or at 20 minutes. I reach 170 and 20 minutes at almost the same time. Do not exceed 170 degrees. Then just let the bag drain. Although some say it really makes no difference if you squeeze the water out.

 

[unionrdr]

With the low OG,I'd say you didn't get the wort & top off water mixed well enough. It doesn't mix all that readilly. I pour both wort & top off water through a fine mesh strainer into the FV to also aerate it more.
Then Stir roughly for 5 minutes straight. That should get it mixed up closer to listed OG.
With steeping grains we held the water at 160F for 20 minutes. Thought it best to stay away from 170F,which is the threshhold for extracting tannins. You could be experiencing this as bitterness.

 

[arringtonbp]

I'm not quite clear on the process. After the boil on your Irish Red Ale did you top up to 5 gallons? If not that is your problem. The kit is for a 5 gallon beer.

With these kits, if you follow the directions and add all the ingredients you should hit the OG listed within a point or two.

For the steeping grains I put them in as soon as the water is warm. The directions say to take them out when the water reaches 170 or at 20 minutes. I reach 170 and 20 minutes at almost the same time. Do not exceed 170 degrees. Then just let the bag drain. Although some say it really makes no difference if you squeeze the water out.

Yes, sorry. I topped it off to 5 gal and mixed well. For the specialty grains, I put the grain bag in the water as it heated up and removed it @ around 160 F. I didn't squeeze it out. I just held it over the kettle for a few seconds to let as much drip out as possible.

 

[arringtonbp]

The first day or so of fermentation was at around 71-72 F, and it took til the next day for me to get it down to around 66 F. I have been told that that can cause some bitterness.