| Malt Extract Brewing -With a few recipes |
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Step 3 - The Finishing Touches Step 4 - Secondary Fermentation
Grains and the Mashing Process
If you have tried brewing with kits and you're looking for that little something extra, maybe its time to consider Malt Extract brewing.
The only real difference between brewing this way, and the way you have been doing it with kits is that there is some boiling involved. This I think you will find is a small price to pay for top quality beer made exactly the way you like it.
Before rushing out and buying ingredients, take a seat in your favourite armchair with a glass of your favourite brew and read through these instructions thoroughly. If you have any queries, this is the best time to call us.
Below is a list of the extra equipment you will need to get started, you will notice most of it is standard household equipment:
Boiler or large saucepan of at least 15 litres capacity; Saucepan of 3 - 4 litres capacity; Kitchen strainer; Filter Bag.
The basic procedure is probably best understood if related to a specific recipe, so I have listed below a simple recipe and the procedure to follow:
Southern Home Brewing Bitter 2500g Light Malt Extract 125g Crystal Malt 200g Malto Dextrin Powder 40g Willamette Hops 20g Goldings Hops 1 Tsp Irish Moss 13 - 15 l Water 1 Packet of SHB Ale Yeast
Fill your small saucepan with 2 to 3 litres of water and heat to 75 degrees celsius on your kitchen stove and into this drop your Crystal Malt. The temperature will drop back to 68 - 70 degrees. Try to maintain this temperature within a degree or two for 1 hour.
This can be done easily on a gas stove, but you may find it difficult to achieve on an electric hotplate. `If this is the case, you could perform the task using a thermos or something equally well insulated such as a polystyrene drink flask, pouring the liquid into the container after heating to the required temperature.
At the 45 minute mark of step 1 you should place the 13 - 15 litres of water in your boiler and bring to the boil. When the water starts to boil, slowly add the malt extract and stir vigorously to avoid any sticking to the bottom of the boiler.
Once the malt has dissolved you should immediately add the 40g of Willamette hops. The hops will lower the surface tension of the liquid and thus reduce the chances of a boilover. However, as the liquid returns to the boil you should pay close attention to it to ensure that no boilovers occur.
Next into the boiler goes the liquid from Step 1. To do this you will have to separate the grains from the liquid using your kitchen strainer. Pour the liquid into the boiler and then rinse the grains with about 1 litre of hot tap water, again adding this liquid to the boiler.
Next add the Malto Dextrin powder , and boil the whole lot for 45 minutes. At the 30 minute mark add the Irish Moss.
Step 3 - The Finishing Touches Turn off the heat to the boiler and add the Goldings hops. Allow them to soak in the hot wort for 10 minutes, making sure the lid is placed on the boiler thus trapping the volatile hop oils in the brew.
The hot wort in the boiler must be cooled as quickly as possible for the following reasons :
(a) To bring the temperature down so that the yeast can be pitched before rogue bacteria can take hold.
(b) To acheive the Cold break
The " Cold Break " is a phenomenon simliar to the hot break. Although the hot wort appears relatively clear, once the temperature drops below 50 degrees celsius a fine mist like material will be appear and fall to the bottom of the boiler. This is more protein matter and it is our job to try to stop this being transferred into the fermenter.
To do this the wort needs to be cooled while it is still in the boiler. This is best done with a piece of copper formed into a coil. The coil is placed into the hot wort and cold water is circulated through the coil and then out to waste.
It normally takes 15 to 30 minutes to cool 13 - 15 litres to pitching temperature.
To avoid transferring any trub (protein matter) into the fermenter it is wise to locate the tap at least 50 millimetres above the bottom of the boiler. Tapping off from this point reduces the amount of trub and if transferred in conjunction with a filter bag will all but eliminate it.
WARNING: Never add the yeast above 24 Degrees Celsius.
Ferment as per instructions for particular yeast type.
Step 4 - Secondary Fermentation Once your primary fermentation appears to slow you should rack your brew into a secondary fermentation vessel, leaving the sediment in the primary fermentation vessel. This will separate the beer from the yeast in the primary fermenter and will allow it to clear of most of the remaining yeast. This will reduce bottle sediment, and the flavour of your beer will be greatly improved. Finings should be added at this time. Avoid splashing the beer to reduce oxidation.
The subtle variations that can be made to a recipe are limited only by the imagination. However, a little extra knowledge is required if you are to take full advantage of the range of products available. The techniques required to use the ingredients specified in the recipes below are as follows:
Grains and the Mashing Process It is not the intention of this brochure to cover the complete mashing process. Briefly however, it involves the extraction of malt sugars from malted grains. All forms of malted barley, malted wheat and flaked grains should be mashed together.
If the thought of performing a small mash the first time you do a malt extract brew is a little daunting, it is possible to obtain the colour and much of the flavour of coloured grains by simply adding them to the boil after dissolving the malt extract.
The downside of this is that harsh tasting tannins are extracted from the grains which take a long time to mellow out in the bottle, especially with dark grains, so if you can you are better to persevere with the mashing method.
All sugars required in a recipe including Molasses, Dried Corn Syrup, Dextrose and Lactose should be added to the boil at the same time, as described in the procedure above.
This is a special enzyme which allows the yeast to ferment sugars which are not normally fermentable. It is used mostly for Dry beers and those suitable for diabetics. Add to the brew 24 hours after fermentation starts.
All Lagers using SHB Lager yeast should be fermented at low temperatures if possible, 8 to 14 degrees Celsius being the optimum range. You may be surprised to read this, but all commercially brewed lagers are fermented at these temperatures (and lower) and it is the only way to get the true lager palate that makes this style of beer so refreshing and thirst quenching.
If this proves to be difficult to achieve, I have found that a fermentation carried out in an outbuilding during winter will give you the next best thing. The only other thing that you will need is a little bit of patience, as the fermentation process is dramatically slowed at these lower temperatures. So allow a few weeks for your primary fermentation and you will be astounded at the end result.
To reduce the amount of time it takes for your beer to clear you should add a beer finer at the secondary fermentation stage. The beer will clear by itself but it could take a very long time. The way these fining agents work is that they physically attach themselves to the yeast cells and their combined weight causes them to drop out. This will take 5 to 7 days. Don't be concerned that there won't be enough yeast left to condition your beer in the bottles. Although the beer appears to be very clear there is still plenty of yeast in suspension to do the job.
We hope you find this introduction easy to follow, but if you're still not sure about certain points, we are always available to answer any questions you may have.
We have listed below a number of recipes for you to try hopefully there will be one you find suitable. If there isn't, we would be only too happy to formulate one for you.
Note: All of the following recipes are for Liquid Malt Extract. We recommend the use of Irish Moss with all recipes.
2500g Light Malt Extract 75g Crystal Malted Grain 500g Dextrose 35g Cluster Hops, 25g in Boil, 10g in Soak 1 Sachet SHB Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 - 15 Degrees) Finings
2500g Light Malt Extract 75g Crystal Malted Grain 500g Dextrose 30g Pride of Ringwood Hops, all in the Boil 1 Sachet SHB Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 - 15 Degrees) Finings
2000g Light Malt Extract 75g Crystal Malted Grain 500g Dextrose or White sugar 25g Cluster Hops , all in the Boil 1 Sachet SHB Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 - 15 Degrees) 1 Vial Fastferm Finings
2000g Light Malt Extract 300g Crystal Malted Grain 30g Cluster Hops 1 Sachet SHB Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 - 15 Degrees) Finings
3000g Light Malt Extract 175g Crystal Malted Grain 120g Saaz Hops, 90g in Boil,30g Soak, 1 Packet Bohemian Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 Degrees) Finings
3500g Light Malt Extract 125g Crystal Malted Grain 150g Dried Corn Syrup 50g Hersbrucker Hops, all in the boil 30g Tettnang Hops, in Soak 1 Wyeast Bavarian Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 Degrees) Finings
3500g Light Malt Extract 500g Munich Malt 350g Crystal Malted Grain 50g Tasmanian Hersbrucker Hops, all in the Boil 1 Wyeast Bavarian Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 Degrees Finings
2000g Light Malt Extract 75g Crystal Malted Grain 500g Dextrose 55g Tettnang Hops, 30g in the Boil, 25g soak 1 SHB Lager Yeast (Ferment at 10 - 15 Degrees) 1 Vial Fastferm Finings
3000g Light Malt Extract 350g Crystal Malted Grain 50g Chocolate Malt 500g Demerara sugar 100g Goldings Hops, 70g in the Boil, 30g in Soak 1 London Ale Yeast(Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
3000g Light Malt Extract 385g Crystal Malted Grain 200g Lager Malt 60g Malted Wheat 500g Brown Sugar 100g Molasses 50g Willamette Hops, all in the boil 40g Goldings Hops in Soak 1 Whitbread Ale Yeast(Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
3000g Light Malt Extract 100g Crystal Malted Grain 200g Malto Dextrin Powder 500g Demerara Sugar 30g Molasses 110g Goldings Hops, 80g in the boil, 30g in Soak 1 Wyeast Whitbread Yeast (Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
3000g Amber Malt Extract 150g Crystal Malted Grain 200g Lactose 30g Willamette Hops, all in the Boil 1 Wyeast European Ale Yeast (Ferment at 18 - 20 degrees) Finings
4000g Light Malt Extract 200g Crystal Malted Grain 500g Demerara sugar 40g E4 Hops, all in the Boil 1 Belgian Ale Yeast(Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
4000g Light Malt Extract 500g Black Malt Extract 200g Crystal Malted Grain 200g Malto Dextrin Powder 500g Brown sugar 70g Hersbruck Hops, all in the Boil 1 Belgian Ale Yeast(Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
2000g Light Malt Extract 2500g Black Malt Extract 200g Roast Barley 500g Malto Dextrin Powder 50g E4 Hops, all in the boil 1 Tsp Calcium Carbonate 1 Wyeast Irish Stout Yeast(Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
1500g Light Malt Extract 2000g Black Malt Extract 500g Demerara Sugar 500g Lactose 20g E4 Hops, all in the boil 1 Irish Stout Yeast (Ferment at 18 - 20 Degrees) Finings
This is a very commonly asked questions around these parts and something up until now I have always used a little rule of thumb to work out. Based on the malt extract in a beer kit (1.7kg) one can will give you about 2.2 to 2.3 % alcohol in a 23 litre batch of beer or about 23 to25 points of specific gravity.
This sort of thing is alright if you are doing 23 litre batches, but what if you want to make a 15 or 45 litre batch for example. Well the method to work out how much malt is at hand. Don't be daunted by the formulas that are about to follow, as you will see when you work through the example that they really are pretty straight forward.
We can work out exactly how much malt to use based on the total solids content of liquid malt extract (LME).
LME is 80% or to use the proper term 80 Degrees Brix. 1 Degree Brix is equal to exactly 4 points of specific gravity (1.004) therefore LME has a specific gravity(SG) of 1.320(4 * 80).
Using these numbers we can quickly work out how much malt is required to achieve a certain gravity in a given volume of beer.
Lets use an example to show this.
We want to produce a 20 litre batch of German bock beer with a starting SG of 1.072 it is to be an all malt beer using only Light Liquid Malt Extract.
Weight of Malt required = 320 (SG of LME in brewers degrees) 20 (Volume of the brew)
= 16 (Weight Factor)
= 72 (Required SG in brewers degrees) 16 (Weight factor)
= 4.5kg of Light Malt extract
As you can see it is simply a matter of working out the weight factor and dividing that figure into the required SG.
Lets try it again on a 45 litre batch of India Pale Ale at an SG of 1.058
Weight of Malt required = 320 (SG of LME in brewers degrees) 45 (Volume of the brew)
= 7.11 (Weight Factor)
= 58 (Required SG in brewers degrees) 7.11 (Weight factor)
= 8.15kg of Malt extract It is important to note that the total weight of malt has to be added to the brewing water to make up the required volume, for example to make 45 litres at SG 1. 058 you have to add the malt to the water to make up a total volume of 45 litres. If you add the malt to 45 litres of water the gravity will not be high enough.
Brewers Degrees are a simplified version of an "Specific Gravity" (SG) reading and are expressed as follows:
SG 1.050 = 50 Brewers Degrees SG 1.012 12 Brewers Degrees
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