Let's see how long these cases last...
Are you brewing up any extract recipes? Do you have anything that turned out pretty good? Go ahead and give this recipe a try and see how you can improve it...there sure is plenty of room for that! Good luck!
In my previous post I gave a recipe and short write-up about an extract ale I had come up with as part of research I am doing for a post on all-grain vs. extract brewing. Wow, this is hard work, but someone has to do it... Somehow the beer turned out a little better than I was hoping for – perhaps in part because I am bit of a pessimist. It is a very easy-drinking beer with a mild flavour and mild bitterness. This beer has no stand-out quality and no real defining character, just a simple session ale. I guess at the end of the day this is what I was hoping for so I should be happy, but I feel for the next one I would like to try and get a bit more malty-sweetness in there and off-set it with a bit more hoppy-aroma (not necessarily bitterness). Just off the top of my head I think I am going to go with caramel-type malt and maybe drop one or two of the other specialty grains. Along with that I would like to try it as a single hop ale, maybe just sticking to the all-rounder Cascade as hop of choice. To top off the aroma I might just sneak in another addition near the end. I think this is definitely something I will do again especially seeing as I can get 20ltrs of perfectly drinkable beer for such little effort. To pick up your own DME you can get to the guys over at Beerlab (and more recently Beerguevara are also stocking up) and they will probably also be able to hook you up with anything else you will need to get kicking. Let's see how long these cases last... Are you brewing up any extract recipes? Do you have anything that turned out pretty good? Go ahead and give this recipe a try and see how you can improve it...there sure is plenty of room for that! Good luck!
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One day whilst packing away my brewing equipment after an afternoon of boil-and-trouble, I noticed I had 2kgs of Dried Malt Extract left over from a good couple of months ago. It was initially destined for a kit ale that I never got around to brewing and suddenly I felt the urge to experiment. The idea being to blindly try and come up with my own extract ale recipe that is hopefully good enough to see me get through the whole batch... You must understand that when I say blind attempt, I really do mean that. My research for this included reading up on the different types of malts and then trying to guess a recipe based on the strongest aspects of each that I decided to use. With an idea in mind I ran out during the week leading up to brewday and bought the malt from my local supplier. I had done a couple of extract batches before so I had a basic idea of what I would need to do and how the process works. The additional benefit of this method is that it manages to yield at least four times the amount of beer for the same amount of effort when compared to the usual 4.5ltr mini-all-grains I keep doing. Seeing as this was to be an extract brew, the prep for my afternoon brew needed a very slight adjustment and a quick check if I had enough hops and water for a bigger batch. For this batch I used the standard equipment setup for the 4.5 ltr batches (which you can get a listing of here), but instead of using a mini-batch glass carboy I used one of my 25ltr buckets as the fermentation vessel. If you have never brewed extract before the process is still as simple as one, two, three (like the mini all-grain brews). The main difference is that the DME will get added just as the wort starts boiling (and before the first hop addition) and secondly that once you transfer the boiled wort to your big fermenter, you will need to top it up to around the 20-21 liter mark with good, clean water. Brewers tip: working with DME can be a sticky and tricky affair so have patience, it will eventually all get in there - as long as you add it in small amounts ( I would suggest about a cup at a time). I heated up about a liter of extra sparge water and left about 1.5 liters that I did not use for sparging. I then added my DME to this left-over hot water instead of directly to the boiling wort - so in theory creating a liquid malt extract which made it much easier to mix into the boil. As for the ingredients you have to ensure that you have at least four times the amount of hops you would have used for a mini-batch and obviously that you have enough water to top up your fermenter - I would suggest at least about 15 liters of water for this... The basic recipe is: Malt:
Hop Additions:
With this being a big batch in a fermenter with a tap, I was able to do a hydrometer reading before pitching the yeast. Strangely I did not document the OG and FG, but I do remember from my calculations that it is sitting around 4% ABV. So provided it tastes passable, this should be a solid winter session ale to save me some trips to the local watering holes when the weather starts turning a bit poo. For bottling I just did a sugar solution of 130g white sugar boiled up in 250ml of water for about five minutes. Remember to leave it to cool to room temperature before going through with Operation Batch Sparge (as discussed in Phase 3). I have three beers in the fridge as I write this post for consumption tomorrow and three semi-reluctant mouths waiting for a taste. Expect an update very soon on how this beer turned out. Wish me luck!
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some writings on some of my beer projects a.k.a. taking my little Defy to the next level... Archives
October 2016
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