What changes and what stays the same? Making my process more efficient

[SMOKEU]

I'm quite short on time due to life commitments getting in the way, but I'd like to be able to quickly and easily brew a new extract recipe with steeping grains every weekend or 2 without having to do a bunch of research first.

I see that many recipes don't have any instructions (even if they have steeping grains), while others have instructions to steep at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. I really don't want to have to spend half a day doing research for every recipe/style.

I just want to be able to order the ingredients from a brew shop, and get them shipped to my house. I'm not planning on entering competitions or getting everything 100% to style, I just want to be able to easily make a bunch of different styles (everything from pale ales to stouts).

So what rules of thumb can I follow? How can I easily find recipes and still keep the same process (just different ingredients?)?

 

[Pkrd]

Steeping grains already have their starch converted to sugar so you're just washing the sugar out of them. Temperature isn't as critical as mashing so just put them in a muslin bag, dump into 5-10l of water at 70°C for 20minutes.

 

[SMOKEU]

Does that apply to ALL extract recipes? So I can just grab an extract recipe online and anything that is not DME/LME/hops gets steeped for 20 minutes at 70°C?

Does the water volume matter that much for steeping? Do I need to add a little LME/DME to the water before adding the steeping grains?

 

[STMF]

Does that apply to ALL extract recipes? So I can just grab an extract recipe online and anything that is not DME/LME/hops gets steeped for 20 minutes at 70°C?

Does the water volume matter that much for steeping? Do I need to add a little LME/DME to the water before adding the steeping grains?

If it is steeping grains, yes. If it is regular grains, they need to be mashed.

No, the water volume does not matter much and you dont need to add any extract.

 

[S-Met]

Sounds like your interest in brewing and life schedule is similar to mine.

Steeping grains are well covered already. Coincidentally, 30 min steep time is just about right for measuring hops and most touch-up cold side clean & prep.

I've been aiming for 1/2 volume boils
and topping with the other 1/2 pre-chilled h2o to help speed cooling.

As far as boiling extract and overcomplicated hop schedules, I don't. I bring h2o to boil. Add hops and boil for 15 min to bitter. Cut heat and mix in dme or lme. Pale or ipa, I may add an additional flame-out hop addition. Otherwise I let the temp naturally fall to about 170-175 for the last hop addition then add 2-2.5 gal of pre-chilled h2o and start chilling.

I use the boil and temp fall time to transfer/keg and clean the fermenter if I have a batch ready.

 

[madscientist451]

I don't do a whole lot of extract brewing, but here are some tips I've found useful:
https://byo.com/article/10-steps-to-better-extract-brewing/

You may want to consider "short and shoddy" all grain brewing as an alternative to extract.
I've tried it a few times and I've been happy with the beer:

http://brulosophy.com/2015/11/12/short-shoddy-my-1-hour-all-grain-brew-day/

 

[RM-MN]

If you can keep the water between 65 and 70C there isn't a lot of difference between steeping and mashing. With that in mind, just grab any extract recipe and use it. If it contains base malt grains (partial mash) you may not get the best extraction of the sugars but since the bulk of the sugars are in the malt extract it won't be a major factor.

 

[Pkrd]

Fresh wort packs might be an option if you have more money than time too.

 

[mongoose33]

You'd have to spend half a day researching steeping temps? Either your google-fu isn't very strong, or you're doing it wrong. You've been a member here for 10 years; I'd think by now you'd have a notebook full of recipes and process notes. Do you keep track of things when you brew?

Further, this is why two things work in your favor: brewing the same or similar recipes each time, or buying kits.

In fact, that's why kits were invented--to remove the decisionmaking from the process and just provide the ingredients.

Brew kits. You'll be happier.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'm quite short on time due to life commitments getting in the way, but I'd like to be able to quickly and easily brew a new extract recipe with steeping grains every weekend or 2 without having to do a bunch of research first.

[...]

So what rules of thumb can I follow? How can I easily find recipes and still keep the same process (just different ingredients?)?

The recipes in the book Brewing Classic Styles are (almost?) all extract+steep recipes.

"15 minute pale ale": http://beerandwinejournal.com/15-minute-pale-ale/. The article offers a tip on how to convert hop additions (without needing to learn recipe software and do data entry). See also https://old.reddit.com/r/Homebrewin...for_scaling_back_dead_simple_brewing/do6owpi/

Add "steeping" (crystal / caramel / roasted malts) grains at flame-on and remove them when the water/wort temperature gets to 170* F (numerous homebrew store kits take this approach). With crystal / caramel / roasted malts, one is just extracting the sugars - so precise water temperature is not important.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Sometimes one reads the text (OPs previous post)...

I just picked up my first brew kit that is not a no-boil variety.

and forgets to look at the post counts ...

... sometimes one reads the post counts ...

[SMOKEU] been a member here for 10 years;

(+1 to @mongoose33, lesson learned)

... and occasionally we write answers for future new homebrewers who "stumble" into topics.

 

[kh54s10]

Some misinformation has already been posted. With steeping grains you need to use specialty grains not base grains. They are for color and flavor, they don't add much in the way of fermentable sugars. That comes from the extract. If there are base grains in the steeping, then you should do a traditional mash, or do not count them toward the amount of fermentable sugars (OG).

I approximate the water at about 1/2 of what you want for the total going into the fermenter. The volume is not critical.

I put the steeping grains into the water when it is starting to get hot. I then steep for 20 minutes as the temperature rises. At just short of 170F I take the pot off the heat if short of the 20 minutes. I have had the time and temperature meet very close to the 20 minute mark most of the time.

After that remove the grain, drain well, and start your boil. After the boil, cool and top up to your target volume.

No research needed, I do the same with any extract/steeping grain recipe.

 

[SMOKEU]

Sorry, it had been maybe 7 years since I last brewed beer and until the last 2 batches, they were all pre-hopped kits before that so I've never had to do any of this. I only made spirits after that and then gave up drinking completely for 5 years before getting back into beer.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Sorry, it had been maybe 7 years since I last brewed beer and until the last 2 batches, they were all pre-hopped kits before that so I've never had to do any of this. I only made spirits after that and then gave up drinking completely for 5 years before getting back into beer.

Thanks for adding some background.

Since you mentioned that you're short on time to research ingredients, as mentioned earlier, brewing using kits (mentioned earlier) and recipe books (like Brewing Classic Styles) would be one way to learn more while brewing. With either kits or recipe books, one can follow their process for steeping (or mashing) and anticipate good results.

If / when you have some time to learn more about malts, the concepts of "glassy/mealy" and "diastatic power" are key to knowing if a malt needs to be mashed (to convert starches into sugars) or steeped (to extract existing sugars / colors). Books (like Mastering Homebrew) are also a source of well organized information that comes from a single voice.

 

[davidabcd]

Rules of thumb? Fun question to answer but also difficult. This is for ales.

Three pots: Boil pot (5 liters), steeping pot (3-4 liters), rinsing pot (3-4 liters).
Steep all grain at 67 to 70C for 30-45min. Rinse grains with 77C water
Add majority LME near the end of the boil
Add hops at 60 min and 5-15 min.
Total boil amount with everything added to be about 11 liters.
Cool to 21C
Top up with water to 19 liters (or whatever your measurements are)
Ferment all styles for 3 weeks in yeast's temp range but room temperature (21C) is fine.

Doing this would always make drinkable beer.

I just do the 60 min deal though I've read it's not necessary. I don't feel like experimenting with hop amounts or timing.

 

[SKBugs]

Three pots: Boil pot (5 liters), steeping pot (3-4 liters), rinsing pot (3-4 liters).
Steep all grain at 67 to 70C for 30-45min. Rinse grains with 77C water
Add majority LME near the end of the boil
Add hops at 60 min and 5-15 min.
Total boil amount with everything added to be about 11 liters.

Sorry I’m new to this. When you say adding the LME near the end of the boil are you referring the 5 liters of hops boiling?
And do you add the grain steep to the boil at flameout?
Thanks heaps.

 

[davidabcd]

To make sure I'm answering you fully, I'll give you the whole process. I apologize if what is below is overexplained.

Bring 5 liters of water to a boil in one pot while steeping the grains in 3-4l of 70C water in a second pot and while your 77C water, in the third pot, heats up to temp. Once the grains are done, place them in a strainer over the near-boiling/boiling 5 liters of water. Add the "grain tea" you just made to the large pot and then rinse the grain bag slowly with the 77C water. Now add the DME and bring it to a boil since the DME and added grain tea will most likely have killed the boil.
Once the wort begins to boil, start the 60 minute clock. This is when you'd add your bittering hops for 60 minutes. Then at 5-15 minutes (with 5-15 minutes left in the boil) add your aroma hops. If using DME and LME, you can add all of the LME very near the end of the boil (0-10 minutes). If using only LME, you can add 1/3 at 60 and the rest as suggested.

My post above was tailored to the OPs question. This will get you beer that is relatively decent.

 

[SKBugs]

Thanks so much for that. Sorry for taking the post off track.

 

[davidabcd]

Sorry for taking the post off track.

You're welcome. I didn't see it as being off-track at all; I was just emphasizing the context of how the advice I gave should be taken.
Personally, I would advise someone new to follow the recipe instructions to the letter in a reliable magazine/book at first. Then gently tweak them to your liking once you get a feel for it. Following recipes also works as a springboard to fully designing your own. I use an old copy of Brew Your Own that has over 200 recipes. I believe the new book as 300, if I'm not mistaken.
For an even smoother entrance into brewing, you can read a "How-To." John Palmer is worth a read. You can do it for free on the Internet. Google "John Palmer How to Brew." Just don't worry about using a secondary fermenter (if that's still in the article) early on in your brewing.
Good luck.