Tomorrow will be my first brewing day. Scared as hell. I purchased a Klarstein so I could brew my favorite beer Amber Bock. I found an Amber Bock recipe online years ago and it uses a Liquid Malt Extract (6.6 lbs). I'm worried that this Klarstein is built for "Grain Only" recipes. If I put a LME in this Klarstein will it burn? Should I use the grain hopper?
Using LME in a Klarstein
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Could you, in a separate container, add the LME to warm water, then add the wort to the kettle? (Any LME that didn't dissolve when stirring would be at the bottom of the separate container).
Had to google what a klarstein was, but it looks very similar to most any all-in-one system. I use a brewers edge mash & boil and have done one LME brew and a few honey (similar viscosity) additions to the boil. I was very, very careful to be slow about adding the extract. I believe for the initial addition, I brought the kettle to a boil, cut the power, slowly added about half to a third of the extract, stirred like crazy to dissolve it and then restarted the heat. After that I added a scoop or so every so often while boiling, again stirring well to dissolve.
Mixing in a separate container is also a good option.
Mixing in a separate container is also a good option.
Thanks for the great advice. I think the brew went very well. My only worry at this point is that I bought my yeast in early January and it said "best used by April". The first day it didn't do anything, second day it started to bubble slowly, by day three it was producing a large bubble about every two seconds, day three it was bubbling about twice a second, day four was a little better than day three, day 5 it started slowing down and now on day 6 it bubbles once every 8 seconds. This recipe calls for 68 -72 f for 7 to 10 days. It's been at a steady 71 degrees. I know that temp is on the high end but I currently don't have any way to control the temp. I'm worried that the fermentation was weak. Tomorrow I will check the gravity.
You're most likely in good shape. What yeast did you use? I would assume it's an ale yeast, since that recipe would be quite warm for a lager yeast. At that temperature, your fermentation will probably be pretty quick. Your observations on day 3 and 4 could easily have chewed your gravity down to nearly terminal, and the last few days are just cleaning things up. Kits and recipes often boast 2 week fermentation, but the reality is extremely shorter than that.
It's an Amber Bock recipe by Willy Goat.
1/2 lb American Pilsen Malt
1/2 lb Belgian Special B Malt
1/2 lb American Carapils Malt
1/2 lb Wyermann Melanoidin
6.6 lbs Pale Malt Extract Syrup
1 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
2 oz Willamette Hops
Wyeast 1007 German Ale
1 tsp Brew Salts
1 tsp Irish Moss
1/2 lb American Pilsen Malt
1/2 lb Belgian Special B Malt
1/2 lb American Carapils Malt
1/2 lb Wyermann Melanoidin
6.6 lbs Pale Malt Extract Syrup
1 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
2 oz Willamette Hops
Wyeast 1007 German Ale
1 tsp Brew Salts
1 tsp Irish Moss
Oh, I think you'd be good. You might have been a shade high on the temperature for it, but I've found that 1007 can take an absolute beating and still pump out a really good beer. I tend to almost exclusively use dry yeast these days, but that is one that I will still buy as a liquid. It's one of my favorites. Only downfall is that it doesn't drop clear super quick or easily, but thats never bothered me
I always forget that most recipes are figured as 5G recipes. One package is probably a bit of an under pitch, but I really wouldn't worry too much about it. For a couple years, I always just direct pitched liquid yeasts into 5G of wort and never had an issue. Best practice is to use multiple packs, or a yeast starter, but I really think you'll be fine.
Side note, I love special B in dark beers.
Thanks. I will learn more from this message board than a year of surfing. This recipe also listed Mangrove Jack's M10 Workhorse but my understanding is that you can't find it anymore. Is that correct? Two lessons I think I learned from this, correct me if I'm wrong. This recipe says to just throw the hops into the mix. I think I need a hop basket but I used a strainer when I transferred to the fermenter. The recipe also suggested that I use 16lbs of ice when I transferred to the fermenter (I guess that is a kind of cold flash) but I did not like my wort going from 80 to 40 degrees. With the Irish Moss I don't think I need a cold flash to begin with and I didn't like it going below 70 degrees. In the future should I just use room temp water? Also, I used a muslin bag and stirred the malt because I was afraid of it burning but I ended up with some but not a lot of malt in the wort. (I did not use the bottom strainer). Is it a bad mistake to use cheese cloth to filter the beer a final time before bottling? Will cheese cloth remove flavor and alcohol content?
1. No idea on the mangrove yeast.
2. I used to use a hop spider/basket for overly hoppy beers, but I just toss them into the boil these days. The baskets/spiders tend to drain so slowly that its just annoying. Also, it doesn't really matter when transferring to fermenter. I tend to try to leave as much Schmutz behind but plenty of folks just dump the entire kettle into the fermenter and have zero issues.
3. That seems like an excessive amount of ice. But I havent used an ice bath in awhile so I dont remember exactly. I tend to chill down to close to my pitching temperature and then pitch the yeast and let it do its thing. For ales, thats around 65-70F, lagers 50F. I've also never used Irish moss, but I think its somewhat close to whirl floc, which I do use. Chilling temperature has never been an issue there. But again, Irish moss might be different. I wouldn't worry about the wort getting too cold during chilling. It's not going to suddenly turn to slush or anything like that. Try to chill to pitching temps and let it rip.
4. Some grain in the kettle won't matter much. I'd keep it to a minimum but it will drop to the bottom of your fermenter anyways. I wouldn't bother with the cheesecloth because like I said, the hop material, break material, grain material will all drop and cake on the bottom of the fermenter with the yeast. But no, It will not remove any alcohol or flavor. It will just probably clog up and cause other issues.
2. I used to use a hop spider/basket for overly hoppy beers, but I just toss them into the boil these days. The baskets/spiders tend to drain so slowly that its just annoying. Also, it doesn't really matter when transferring to fermenter. I tend to try to leave as much Schmutz behind but plenty of folks just dump the entire kettle into the fermenter and have zero issues.
3. That seems like an excessive amount of ice. But I havent used an ice bath in awhile so I dont remember exactly. I tend to chill down to close to my pitching temperature and then pitch the yeast and let it do its thing. For ales, thats around 65-70F, lagers 50F. I've also never used Irish moss, but I think its somewhat close to whirl floc, which I do use. Chilling temperature has never been an issue there. But again, Irish moss might be different. I wouldn't worry about the wort getting too cold during chilling. It's not going to suddenly turn to slush or anything like that. Try to chill to pitching temps and let it rip.
4. Some grain in the kettle won't matter much. I'd keep it to a minimum but it will drop to the bottom of your fermenter anyways. I wouldn't bother with the cheesecloth because like I said, the hop material, break material, grain material will all drop and cake on the bottom of the fermenter with the yeast. But no, It will not remove any alcohol or flavor. It will just probably clog up and cause other issues.
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