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Post by Seven on Nov 11, 2021 8:39:04 GMT -6
My brother in law is considering getting into the hobby so that he can keep a supply of homebrew at his real estate office. My guess is that he'll go with an all-in-one if he decides to take the plunge. In preparation for showing him how to brew, I ordered 6# of DME for a quick extract beer...3# each of a pale DME and wheat DME. Unfortunately, I honestly have very little recollection on how to brew with extract. Any tips? This will be done in my Anvil Foundry.
I'm shooting for 5 to 5.25 gallons ultimately so what should my starting water amount be? This will be a hoppy wheat ale so I will account for losses appropriately. I may or may not do a mini-mash or steep...haven't decided yet. If I do, however, should I bring the full volume of water up to 150-160F or stick to a lower quarts per pound quantity for the steep? I may do a short boil mainly for hop utilization but I can also just use extra hot side hops for increased bitterness. Should I make a slurry with the DME to make mixing it in easier? I know this stuff clumps like no tomorrow. Do I need to worry about mineral content in my water? I'm on a well so no chlorine/chloramine to deal with but I'm on a softener. I usually bypass the softener for my AG brews so reduce the sodium levels mainly.
Thanks!
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Post by Ken on Nov 11, 2021 8:45:41 GMT -6
I have no idea how a Foundry works with extract... I suppose you just skip the mash step? Back when I was an extract brewer I think I used half source water and half spring water, I used around 5 gallons of water to start and topped up with spring water if my volume was low but I did boil the whole volume. I used the most pale DME I could get and my best beers were made with DME as opposed to LME. Steep specialties for 30 minutes at 150°. Even though you're not "mashing", steeping grains like that prior to the boil can be an issue if the water pH was higher than around 6.0. Because of that I believe I read somewhere to add a smidge of the DME to the water prior to steeping because it would lower the pH. I'm sure I was not playing with lactic acid yet at that point. You'll have to let us know how it goes. I have considered it but have not done it.
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Post by Leftympfrmde on Nov 11, 2021 11:35:22 GMT -6
My brother in law is considering getting into the hobby so that he can keep a supply of homebrew at his real estate office. My guess is that he'll go with an all-in-one if he decides to take the plunge. In preparation for showing him how to brew, I ordered 6# of DME for a quick extract beer...3# each of a pale DME and wheat DME. Unfortunately, I honestly have very little recollection on how to brew with extract. Any tips? This will be done in my Anvil Foundry. I'm shooting for 5 to 5.25 gallons ultimately so what should my starting water amount be? This will be a hoppy wheat ale so I will account for losses appropriately. I may or may not do a mini-mash or steep...haven't decided yet. If I do, however, should I bring the full volume of water up to 150-160F or stick to a lower quarts per pound quantity for the steep? I may do a short boil mainly for hop utilization but I can also just use extra hot side hops for increased bitterness. Should I make a slurry with the DME to make mixing it in easier? I know this stuff clumps like no tomorrow. Do I need to worry about mineral content in my water? I'm on a well so no chlorine/chloramine to deal with but I'm on a softener. I usually bypass the softener for my AG brews so reduce the sodium levels mainly. Thanks! Used the brewers friend calculator. A 6.25 per boil/5.25 post boil for an hour will get an 0G of 1.054. If you use steeping grains, I recall using the 1.5 qt/lb ratio for that, steeped separately, then added to the kettle. I'd recommend making a slurry with the DME to get it well incorporated before putting any heat on it to avoid scorching. As far as water- I'd bypass the softener as you normally do. Water profiles are much more forgiving in the extract world. As far as the rest- go with your gut! |
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Post by Seven on Nov 11, 2021 12:58:25 GMT -6
Thanks, Ken & Lefty. I played around with Bru'N Water a bit but I think I'll skip the steeping grains or mini-mash this time around. The Briess Pale Ale DME likely has some backbone to it already so I don't want to add anything to make it too sweet or unfermentable. The wheat DME will lighten it but I think it's only 65% wheat, so even less overall when added to the pale ale DME. I may actually had about 1/2% of sugar to bump the OG and lighten the body a bit.
I figured that I would need to add less than 6 gallons since the DME will add volume to the pre-boil amount. I guess I can always add more at the end if I'm short or boil longer if I have too much?
With the delay timer start on the Foundry, I'm hoping I can get this knocked out pretty quickly! Brother-in-law is a fan of heavily hopped (although not necessarily bitter) beer so a small bittering charge and then heavy FO and cold side additions.
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Post by Ken on Nov 11, 2021 13:36:22 GMT -6
This sounds good... and fun. Please report back and let us know how it comes out.
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Post by Seven on Nov 11, 2021 14:04:39 GMT -6
This sounds good... and fun. Please report back and let us know how it comes out. I can already picture myself covered in sticky DME from head to toe!!!  |
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Post by Ken on Nov 11, 2021 14:13:11 GMT -6
This sounds good... and fun. Please report back and let us know how it comes out. I can already picture myself covered in sticky DME from head to toe!!! I still hate working with it now when I make a starter. The DME would float all over the place and land on everything and the LME was hard to get out of whatever container it was in. Hot water would help that was no better than DME, really. At some point late in my extract days I was able to use extra-light DME and steep some Vienna or Munich and make some pretty decent beer, IMO. I'm sure my beers now are better but I definitely improved the quality of my extract beers over the 5+ years I brewed with extract. |
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Post by Seven on Nov 11, 2021 14:37:28 GMT -6
I was mainly an LME guy before going AG. I used to buy those huge 33# jugs of LME and hoped to use it up before it started getting stale or moldy. I used to pour vodka on top of the LME to prevent mold growth. I don't miss those days!
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Post by gusso on Nov 11, 2021 21:52:15 GMT -6
Damn, it's so long since I used extract that I barely remember the process. My first year or so of brewing was extract.
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Post by Ken on Nov 12, 2021 8:53:10 GMT -6
Damn, it's so long since I used extract that I barely remember the process. My first year or so of brewing was extract. I do remember that I did some things that I should NOT have done. I know that after the boil a number of times I simply took the boiling wort and sent it right through a funnel and into a glass carboy. How in TF did I not shatter the carboy?  Then I would have gallons of spring water in the fridge or freezer and top up the rest of the way. Maybe I added the water first (at some point) and THEN sent the wort in there. But I know I didn't cool the wort for awhile. Otherwise the process was simple... bring the volume of water to 150° on the stove, add the [bagged and already milled] specialty grains to the water, turn off the heat, put the lid on and let it steep for 30 minutes. Then retrieve the muslin bag, turn on the heat and get it close to a boil and add the extract carefully. Once boiling, turn down the heat and add bittering hops and the rest of the hops according to the schedule. When the boil is done, chill it by whatever means you have, get it into the fermenter and pitch. It was crude but I refined it a bit and eventually made beer I was pretty happy with. |
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Post by Seven on Nov 15, 2021 10:22:31 GMT -6
So I wanted to post an update on this. I set the delayed start time on the Anvil Foundry so I had 170F water ready for me on Saturday morning. I drew off about a gallon and mixed in the DME...I forgot how important a slow mixing while stirring was! The 1st bag ended up being a clump mess but the 2nd bag of DME went in without any mixing issues. Once I added the concentrated slurry to the rest of the water, the clumps disappeared pretty quickly. Added the "FWH" at this time and brought the wort up to a boil and held it there for only 5 minutes before FO and WP additions. The whole process took 2 hours including clean up but I also had some kegs to clean and sanitize. The biggest time user was waiting for the boil...I ran the Foundry on 120V so the ramp-up time is like 1-1.5 minutes per degree. I can switch to 240V but opted not to for this trial. Going to 240V will probably knock 15-20 minutes off the ramp-up times. I only chilled to around 85F since I was using kveik.
Unfortunately, the kveik pitch didn't seem to take quickly (only about 1/2 tsp of slurry) so I ended up pitching a sachet of a different kveik I had in the freezer. I'm fermenting under pressure but psi is only up to 5 right now...I will do a bio DH tonight and will allow pressure to build up. I'll update this with fermentation and tasting notes as things move along.
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Then I would have gallons of spring water in the fridge or freezer and top up the rest of the way. Maybe I added the water first (at some point) and THEN sent the wort in there. But I know I didn't cool the wort for awhile. Otherwise the process was simple... bring the volume of water to 150° on the stove, add the [bagged and already milled] specialty grains to the water, turn off the heat, put the lid on and let it steep for 30 minutes. Then retrieve the muslin bag, turn on the heat and get it close to a boil and add the extract carefully. Once boiling, turn down the heat and add bittering hops and the rest of the hops according to the schedule. When the boil is done, chill it by whatever means you have, get it into the fermenter and pitch. It was crude but I refined it a bit and eventually made beer I was pretty happy with.