... to my Brewing Beer page.

Brewing With Extracts

Beer kits make some pretty good beer. Some kits consist 2 cans of malt extract or 1 can of malt extract and 3 pounds of dry malt extract. Beer kits make very good starter beers and they are usually ready to drink in about 28 days! The following is my set of easy directions, so quickly discard them directions on the label or under the cap of your beer kit!

Please read the below instructions before you get started:

SANITATION: The single most important aspect of brewing good beer is sanitation. Every piece of equipment that is going to come in contact with your beer before and after the boil process MUST be sanitized.

BREWING WATER: Tap water has a high chlorine content and undesirable minerals. If you must use tap water, boil the water (all 5 gallons) for 30 minutes the day before brewing. Bottled Spring Water or Bottled Drinking water should be used.

The brewing process is as follows:

• Make a yeast starter at least 24 hours before brewing.

• Place the can(s) of malt extract in a sink full of hot water for 10 minutes in order to soften the syrup-like contents to make pouring easier.

• Place approximately 1 gallon of water in your brew pot and heat to about 150 degrees F.

• Remove the cans of malt extract from the hot water, open the cans and add them to the water that the grains had steeped in. Get a gallon of hot tap water and pour some of the water into the malt cans and get out any of the remaining extract and add it to the brew pot. Stir the malt extract to ensure that it has completely dissolved, the wort will begin to boil.

• Once the wort has been boiling for a few minutes, you can add the hops (either leaf or pellet hops can be used). This process can be skipped if the Malt Extract is already Hopped.

• Allow the wort to boil for 60 to 90 minutes depending on what the recipe call for. A rolling boil is required for the hops to completely release oils. Hops can be added at different times to give a beer aromatic complex taste.
  When you have reached the end of the boiling period, remove the brew pot from the stove. If you are using leaf hops, they are removed at this time.

• Transfer the wort into a primary fermenter and cold water to bring the liquid volume up to 5 gallons.

• The cold water should lower the temperature of the wort. If the temperature reached 70 to 75 degrees F, you add your yeast starter and seal the fermenter. Be sure to attach the air lock and place the fermenter in a warm area (no hotter than 75 degrees F for most beers) and allow it to ferment.

Brewing With Grains and Malt Extract

Brewing with malt extract gives you more flexibility in the beers you make without a lot of complications and time one normally spends on full mash brewing. The addition of specialty grains can be added to aid in the improvement of flavor and color of a beer. These grains are: crystal malt, black patent malt and roast barley. Sugars like honey, molasses, brown sugar and maple syrup can also be added to give a beer a complex flavor as well. The brewing process involves boiling about 3 gallons of wort for about 90 minutes, if you are using specialty grains and leaf hops you will need to purchase a grain bag or a hop bag but that should be the only extra pieces of equipment that you will need. The brewing process is as follows:

• Make a yeast starter at least 24 hours before brewing.

• Place the can(s) of malt extract in a sink full of hot water for 10 minutes in order to soften the syrup-like contents to make pouring easier.

• Place approximately 1 gallon of water in your brew pot and heat to about 150 degrees F. Turn off the heat, add your specialty grains and allow them to steep for 30 minutes.

• After steeping the grains, remove the bag, turn the heat on to being the boil process.

• Remove the cans of malt extract from the hot water, open the cans and add them to the water that the grains had steeped in. Get a gallon of hot tap water and pour some of the water into the malt cans and get out any of the remaining extract and add it to the brew pot. Stir the malt extract to ensure that it has completely dissolved (the addition of honey and such can also be added at this point), the wort will begin to boil.

• Once the wort has been boiling for a few minutes, you can add the hops (either leaf or pellet hops can be used).

• Allow the wort to boil for 60 to 90 minutes depending on what the recipe call for. A rolling boil is required for the hops to completely release oils. Hops can be added at different times to give a beer aromatic complex taste.

• When you have reached the end of the boiling period, remove the brew pot from the stove. If you are using leaf hops, they are removed at this time.

• Transfer the wort into a primary fermenter and cold water to bring the liquid volume up to 5 gallons.

• The cold water should lower the temperature of the wort. If the temperature reached 70 to 75 degrees F, you add your yeast starter and seal the fermenter. Be sure to attach the air lock and place the fermenter in a warm area (no hotter than 75 degrees F for most beers) and allow it to ferment.

Brewing With Grains (Mash Brewing)

This type of brewing is best done with a Gas stove.  Electric stoves will work, it will just take a while to get the tempreature up.

One day before mashing

• Prepare your water: Eight gallons is about the right amount for a typical gravity 5-gallon infusion mash. 

• Make a yeast starter at least 24 hours before brewing.

• Plan your brewing day: beer recipe, equipment collection and cleaning.

Brew Day

• Heat 1½ quarts of water for every pound of grain to be mashed to 165 to 170° F. Add the crushed grain to the mash tun and pour the heated water onto the grains. Stir the mash and ensure there are no dry grains. Adjust your brewing temperature mash to 150° F using small amounts of cold or boiling water if needed. Stir mash after additions of cold or boiling water

• Hold the mash at this temperature (between 149° and 159° F) for 60 to 90 minutes Don't worry if the temperature varies; the full starch to sugar conversion occurs at the temperature. Do not exceed 165° F during this step!
  Heat sparge water to 170° F and pour into you bottling bucket, you temperature will slowly decrease so insulate it as needed with blankets or some other insulator. Usually use four to five gallons for a five-gallon batch (½ gallon of sparge water per pound of grain).

• Set up your system so the sparge water is above the mash tun and the boiling kettle is below your mash tun. Open the clamp until the sparge water starts to flow (Adjust flow as needed).

• Open the clamp on the mash tun slowly and draw off the first runnings of wort into a small container. Gently return the runnings to the top of the mash; continue recirculating the wort until it begins to clear  

• NOTE: Splashing hot wort may contribute to off flavors in the finished beer, so pay close attention. 

• Collect the wort slowly into the boiling kettle - lautering time should last 30 minutes for good sugar extraction. Keep the water level in the tun just above the bed of grains and Do Not allow water to fall below the top of the bed of grains. Continue lautering until six gallons are collected or all the sparge water is used.

• Bring the collected wort up to a boil.

• Once the wort has been boiling for a few minutes, you can add the hops (either leaf or pellet hops can be used).

• Allow the wort to boil for 60 to 90 minutes depending on what the recipe call for. A rolling boil is required for the hops to completely release oils. Hops can be added at different times to give a beer aromatic complex taste.

• When you have reached the end of the boiling period, remove the brew pot from the stove. If you are using leaf hops, they are removed at this time.

• Transfer the wort into a primary fermenter and cold water to bring the liquid volume up to 5 gallons.

• The cold water should lower the temperature of the wort. If the temperature reached 70 to 75 degrees F, you add your yeast starter and seal the fermenter. Be sure to attach the air lock and place the fermenter in a warm area (no hotter than 75 degrees F for most beers) and allow it to ferment.

If you notice any problems, or have any suggestion on how I can further improve this site, please feel free to send me an e-mail [12 November 2006].