Discussion
bicycleshorts said:
Jonboy_t said:
Don't know if this is of any interest to anyone or not, but I did a beer yesterday and documented it as a step by step picture guide on how to brew for a friend who's just starting, so thought I'd share it here too!
Thanks for this, going to try it out for our next brew.It's the first time I tried doing a mash brew this way. It was supposed to be an easier way to do it as you make the equivalent of what you would get in a kit first, then water it down like you would with a kit. But it's just not strong enough to be watered down that much and tastes fekkin awful; imagine a pint of ale watered down with 2 litres of water!
It was based on an online guide that I found when looking for another recipe, but after a bit of digging, there are a lot of other people who have tried this and it seems like the guy who wrote it got his own calculations a bit wrong!
Jonboy_t said:
I wouldn't - I tried the beer last night and it's rough!
It's the first time I tried doing a mash brew this way. It was supposed to be an easier way to do it as you make the equivalent of what you would get in a kit first, then water it down like you would with a kit. But it's just not strong enough to be watered down that much and tastes fekkin awful; imagine a pint of ale watered down with 2 litres of water!
It was based on an online guide that I found when looking for another recipe, but after a bit of digging, there are a lot of other people who have tried this and it seems like the guy who wrote it got his own calculations a bit wrong!
It's the first time I tried doing a mash brew this way. It was supposed to be an easier way to do it as you make the equivalent of what you would get in a kit first, then water it down like you would with a kit. But it's just not strong enough to be watered down that much and tastes fekkin awful; imagine a pint of ale watered down with 2 litres of water!
It was based on an online guide that I found when looking for another recipe, but after a bit of digging, there are a lot of other people who have tried this and it seems like the guy who wrote it got his own calculations a bit wrong!
Thanks for the headsup! Am I right in thinking it should still work if less diluted? E.g. to 10 pints rather than 40?
Wondering if we could brew it in a DJ...
It should do. I think if I'd have left it as it was before diluting it, it would have been really good! When I tasted it before diluting, it was quite Old Speckled Hen-ish, but really sweet where fermentation hadn't started yet, so it should work in those quantities without dilution, or multiples of them for larger batches.
I was gutted though!! It took me a good couple of hours to do that brew, but I suppose I should have looked into it a bit more! Live and learn, 'eh!
I was gutted though!! It took me a good couple of hours to do that brew, but I suppose I should have looked into it a bit more! Live and learn, 'eh!
Johnboy-T hope you dont mind a bit of constructive advise- I do mainly all grain but from reading that recipe I think the process could work but i think the problem was really the quantities of spray malt and crystal malt and hops you are using.
The sugar will have no malt flavour so i would personally use all spray malt 2.5-3.5kg depending on strength of finished beer (more expensive but a lot better). for a medium dark beer i would use about 300g of crystal malt or to add slightly sweeter notes i would use cara malt as well which has a slightly lighter colouring and caramel flavour but less bitterness (100g crystal 200g cara). I would also put it in a much looser bag to aid sugar and flavour extraction and think about sparging it lightly with slightly hotter water at the end. theoretically the amount of water you mash it in shouldnt matter with this amount of grain as it only has so much sugar and flavour it can release (bear in mind my 5.5kg of grain mashes quite happily in 5 gallons of water)
Personally I wouldnt use less than 70g of hops per 5 gallons of beer if you want to taste them. Normally about 60% in the boil for bitterness (which is achieved by long boiling ~1hr ) and then the remaining 40% in for the last 5-10 mins for aroma oils (which evapourate if boiled longer)
The sugar will have no malt flavour so i would personally use all spray malt 2.5-3.5kg depending on strength of finished beer (more expensive but a lot better). for a medium dark beer i would use about 300g of crystal malt or to add slightly sweeter notes i would use cara malt as well which has a slightly lighter colouring and caramel flavour but less bitterness (100g crystal 200g cara). I would also put it in a much looser bag to aid sugar and flavour extraction and think about sparging it lightly with slightly hotter water at the end. theoretically the amount of water you mash it in shouldnt matter with this amount of grain as it only has so much sugar and flavour it can release (bear in mind my 5.5kg of grain mashes quite happily in 5 gallons of water)
Personally I wouldnt use less than 70g of hops per 5 gallons of beer if you want to taste them. Normally about 60% in the boil for bitterness (which is achieved by long boiling ~1hr ) and then the remaining 40% in for the last 5-10 mins for aroma oils (which evapourate if boiled longer)
Edited by Pete Franklin on Thursday 30th August 14:29
illmonkey said:
Looking at doing a home brew that's not from a kit.
Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
look into extract brewing, it's a nice half-way house between kit and full-grain, allowing some flexibility without requiring a lot of kit. Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
Blown2CV said:
illmonkey said:
Looking at doing a home brew that's not from a kit.
Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
look into extract brewing, it's a nice half-way house between kit and full-grain, allowing some flexibility without requiring a lot of kit. Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
Have a look at Brew in a Bag, it's an all-grain method using cheap household equipment.
I've been doing this for a few months using a big stockpot on my gas hob in the kitchen and have made some great beers - much better than the kit beers I started out on.
Best place for info:
http://www.biabrewer.info/
Nice how-to guide:
http://www.eastsidebrewers.org/index.php?option=co...
I've been doing this for a few months using a big stockpot on my gas hob in the kitchen and have made some great beers - much better than the kit beers I started out on.
Best place for info:
http://www.biabrewer.info/
Nice how-to guide:
http://www.eastsidebrewers.org/index.php?option=co...
Another more recent thread here as well http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
illmonkey said:
Blown2CV said:
illmonkey said:
Looking at doing a home brew that's not from a kit.
Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
look into extract brewing, it's a nice half-way house between kit and full-grain, allowing some flexibility without requiring a lot of kit. Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
t. Blown2CV said:
illmonkey said:
Blown2CV said:
illmonkey said:
Looking at doing a home brew that's not from a kit.
Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
look into extract brewing, it's a nice half-way house between kit and full-grain, allowing some flexibility without requiring a lot of kit. Any good recipes about? Hoping to get something quite like and mild, or an IPA/EPA.
t. Looking forward to making it, I just don't like the 3 week wait!
Extract brewing not only uses DME/spray malt but also syrup, such as these http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Liqui...
What do you think the kits are other than, essentially pre-hopped malt extract?
What do you think the kits are other than, essentially pre-hopped malt extract?
SwanJack said:
Extract brewing not only uses DME/spray malt but also syrup, such as these http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Liqui...
What do you think the kits are other than, essentially pre-hopped malt extract?
I know what they are, but its a lazy way to do it. I've used similar to them, but for me, it'd feel/taste more natural to do a boil myself, rather than a factory doing it. What do you think the kits are other than, essentially pre-hopped malt extract?
SwanJack said:
Extract brewing not only uses DME/spray malt but also syrup, such as these http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Liqui...
What do you think the kits are other than, essentially pre-hopped malt extract?
yea but it's moving a bit further along the path to full grain...What do you think the kits are other than, essentially pre-hopped malt extract?
IMO the difference between a good kit and a basic extract brew is negligible. Extract just gives you more choice to 'craft'. I am currently drinking a Woodfords Wherry kit and a 'Dogbolter' clone that was done from grain, both are equally good. I've also found that extract is probably the most expensive way to brew ingredients wise(unless it's a SMaSH using a common hop).
Edited by SwanJack on Wednesday 12th June 13:07
Pete Franklin said:
Personally I wouldnt use less than 70g of hops per 5 gallons of beer if you want to taste them. Normally about 60% in the boil for bitterness (which is achieved by long boiling ~1hr ) and then the remaining 40% in for the last 5-10 mins for aroma oils (which evapourate if boiled longer)
I'd be tempted to switch your hopping the other way round 40% at the start of the boil, 60% at the end. But, I prefer less bittering and more hop aroma.Thread resurrection time.
So i've spent most of my afternoon reading about homebrew beer and have bought all the necessary equipment including a St Peters Golden Ale kit thing.
If I have understood the process correctly I need to ensure I include the following steps within the wider process;
1) In the fermenting bin/vat I need to add brewing sugar at the beginning of the process.
2) Once fermenation is complete (about two weeks?) I then siphon filter the liquid out of the fermenting bin into another vessel before siphoning once more into bottles?
3) Do I need to add a small (half teaspoon) of sugar to each bottle for conditioning or can this be excluded becuase I added sugar at the beginning of the process?
Any advice will be gratefully appreciated and pics will follow once all the equipment arrives.
So i've spent most of my afternoon reading about homebrew beer and have bought all the necessary equipment including a St Peters Golden Ale kit thing.
If I have understood the process correctly I need to ensure I include the following steps within the wider process;
1) In the fermenting bin/vat I need to add brewing sugar at the beginning of the process.
2) Once fermenation is complete (about two weeks?) I then siphon filter the liquid out of the fermenting bin into another vessel before siphoning once more into bottles?
3) Do I need to add a small (half teaspoon) of sugar to each bottle for conditioning or can this be excluded becuase I added sugar at the beginning of the process?
Any advice will be gratefully appreciated and pics will follow once all the equipment arrives.
Yeast eats sugar, turns it into CO2 and alcohol. All being well, fermentation stops because all the fermentable sugar has been eaten (or because the alcohol level has got too high, or you've deliberately killed the yeast, but that won't be the case in beer).
You want some CO2 created in the bottle to carbonate the beer, so you feed the yeast a tiny bit more sugar just before you bottle it.
You want some CO2 created in the bottle to carbonate the beer, so you feed the yeast a tiny bit more sugar just before you bottle it.
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