Brew UK Forum | Brewing Tips
Moving from Kits to Extract
I recently ventured into extract brewing after using a couple of kits. I thought I'd just share some learnings from that experience.
1. Additional equipment
The only extra bits of equipment I needed were a large stockpan (11L in my case) and a nylon bag for holding the specialty grains. That's it! Everything else I already had from kit brewing or was readily available in the kitchen (pyrex bowl, large spoon, scales, etc.)
2. Get organised
Weigh out all the ingredients and use a PostIt note to remind you what it is and when to use each ingredient. Even with simple recipes it's easy to forget when you're in the thick of it.
3. Chilling the resulting wort
If you use a recipe with a small amount of water in the boil (6-10L) then the rest of the water you use to bring the volume up to 19-23L should be enough to bring the temperature down to yeast pitching. With my first brew it was a little high so in my next brew I put the topping up water in the fridge (I used bottled water).
If you invest in a bigger boiler and can, therefore, boil a larger quantity of wort, you're going to need some way of cooling it down to the right temperature to pitch the yeast. For that reason I'm sticking with the stockpot for the time being.
4. Water quality
I've used bottled water as I live in a hard water area. It's more expensive but you are sure of a pretty neutral water. I used the basic mineral water from the supermarkets. I've not used the bottles of Table Water but I guess they'd be OK.
5. Brewing software
If you're going to experiment with recipes or make up your own, you're going to need some software (or you could calculate things by hand!). There are many out there but Brewsmith seems to be the standard. Free software if also out there, Brewmate and QBrew being two examples. With this software you can select your grains and hops and the software will show you the resulting expected bitterness, colour and strength. It will also give you the ranges that a representative of many different styles of beer. So you know what to shoot for.
6. Patience
The most difficult skill! With extract you may be using various different yeasts with each brew to suit its style. Trust the yeast and let it get on with its job. Different yeasts behave in very different ways. My first brew kept a yeast head for about 10 days before dropping out. My second one dropped in less than 2 days.
Hope that provides a little bit of an insight. I've loved moving from kits as you can tailor the bitterness, hoppyness (if that's a word), colour and abv% to suit your preference. Give it a go. It's not much more effort than kits.
Fermenting:
Condtioning: Twibute Clone
Drinking: 100% wheat, Fixby Gold
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Great post mate, like you say extract is only a stockpot away!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 11 months ago by Member
This is where I'm heading towards now - I want a better beer and this seems to be he way to go!
Good post, thanks
Fermenting - Nothing!
Conditioning - Ale Mead, Quick Mead, Traditional Mead, Summer Ale, European Lager, Ancient mead, Christmas Stout, Harvest Bitter, Rocker APA
Drinking - Whatever I can get, Christmas Stout, Harvest Bitter, Ancient Mead
Posted 11 months ago by Member
Where did you get the nylon bags?
Conditioning; St Peter's Ruby Red, London Porter
Planning; White Shield, Diabolo
Drinking; Headcracker
Posted 11 months ago by Member
You can get them on this site:
Nylon Straining Bags
Fine or course will do the job.
Fermenting:
Condtioning: Twibute Clone
Drinking: 100% wheat, Fixby Gold
Posted 11 months ago by Member
Thanks
Conditioning; St Peter's Ruby Red, London Porter
Planning; White Shield, Diabolo
Drinking; Headcracker
Posted 11 months ago by Member
No probs.
In retrospect you're probably better of with a big one to hold the grains:
Large Nylon Bag
Fermenting:
Condtioning: Twibute Clone
Drinking: 100% wheat, Fixby Gold
Posted 11 months ago by Member
Thanks again Simonb.
Could this also be used for straining the wort into the FV, you wouldn't believe the palaver I get into, soggy hops all over the kitchen.
Conditioning; St Peter's Ruby Red, London Porter
Planning; White Shield, Diabolo
Drinking; Headcracker
Posted 11 months ago by Member
It's not that big but you could get another one and put the hops in it rather than putting them direct into the boiling wort.
Fermenting:
Condtioning: Twibute Clone
Drinking: 100% wheat, Fixby Gold
Posted 11 months ago by Member
I did see one on another site cant remember what one of using two Veg straners cliped together
5 gal St Peters Golden Ale as per tin
Youngs Harvest Mild
all a bit moded
Posted 11 months ago by Moderator
I used to use a telescopic large meash srainer from a local kitchen shop. It was about 2 times the size of a "normal" kitchen one in a rectangle shape with 2 handles that pull out from either side. This let me just rest it on top of the fv while I poured away!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 11 months ago by Member
Oh thats a thought Nath I have one of those Made to fit on a sink Right thats sorted hehe
5 gal St Peters Golden Ale as per tin
Youngs Harvest Mild
all a bit moded
Posted 6 months ago by Member
For the first, bigger batch of hops in the boil (30g or so), we put them in the end of one leg of my mates wife's tights ! Tied at the open end (and sterilised, obv), it sat in the boil like a cross between a condom and a bratwurst ..!
For the later addition aroma hops, we just poured them in. But when straining into the fermenter we used a couple more bits of tights to keep them out. I effectively covered the top of the fermenter with a piece and put as many hops in as possibly and then poured the wort over and through them to get as much flavour as possible. Whether this mad any difference at all, I don't know, but the thought was there.
"Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit."
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