First All Extract brew - Amber Ale

[matr]

Just after a bit of advise prior to emabarking on my first Extract Brew.

This is what I'm planning but need to sort out the Hops additions with only doing a partial boil.

1000.00 gm Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 21.51 %
3400.00 gm Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 73.12 %
250.00 gm Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5.38 %
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
30.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (60 min) Hops 11.5 IBU
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (20 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04)

IBU's came out @ 14.7 based on a 26.33L boil but I can only do a 5L boil max. (taking the boil volume down to 5L in beersmith shows 1.9 IBU???) Does this cahnge the amount of Hops used???

OG, FG & Colour are good to style.(IBU's are low @ 14.7 should be 25 - 40)

When steeping the Crystal malt does it need to be cracked first? how long and @ what temp do you steep?

Any advise would be appreciated

Cheers, Mat.

[homebrewer79]

Yep, the grain needs to be cracked. Steep it for 20 - 30 mins at around 70 deg.

As for the beersmith thing, I'm only just getting my head around it myself but I think if you click on the malt items and add some of it after the boil the IBU's should go up. As I said I'm only just getting my head around it so I'm sure someone else has better info on this for you

[earle]

Hi Mat

I'm guessing the IBU becomes so low because of the way you have the ingredients set up in beersmith. It's assuming that you'll have all your malt in a small boil and gives you a very low utilization for such a high gravity. There's a few ways to get it to work out, here's what I do.

For all of the malts and extracts make sure the 'add after boil' box is unchecked.
Set the final volume to 23L and let it think you're doing a full boil.
Beersmith will then work out the correct IBU.
Do a partial boil based on this (I use a calculator)

Malt in boil = total malt / boil volume x final volume
This tells you how much malt to put in your smaller boil to have the same gravity and therefore hop utilization as if you were doing the full boil that you put into beersmith.

There's most likely other ways and if anyone can spot a flaw in my method please let me know.

[rwh]

Warning Will Robinson! That'll be very sweet. You'll need to jack up the IBUs a bit on that one, but I've never done an all-extract amber, so I'm not sure what you'd need. I'd be surprised if it should be less than 25 though. I'd prolly change the 60 minute addition from Goldings to Northern Brewer. NB and Goldings are my two favorite hops! Yum!

[earle]

OG, FG & Colour are good to style.(IBU's are low @ 14.7 should be 25 - 40)

I'm assuming that you havn't finalised the hop schedule due to still figuring out how to use beersmith.

Warning Will Robinson! That'll be very sweet.

Yep, I would suggest trying it 1.7 pale extract and 1.7amber instead of 3.4amber, better to be a bit on the pale ale side then way too sweet. Up the amber on the next batch if you still think it needs it. Either way I think I would be aiming for something like 35IBU to balance all the malt and amber.

BTW, which style in beersmith have you selected? I can only find American amber ale but it looks like you're leaning more towards an English style.

[matr]

Thanks for the replies Fellas.

I've adjusted the Hop additions to up the IBU's to 32. I'm only using 1 type of hops so I can learn the profiles of different hops.

1000.00 gm Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 21.51 %
3400.00 gm Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 73.12 %
250.00 gm Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5.38 %
60.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (60 min) Hops 24.5 IBU
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
30.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (20 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Yep, I would suggest trying it 1.7 pale extract and 1.7amber instead of 3.4amber, better to be a bit on the pale ale side then way too sweet. Up the amber on the next batch if you still think it needs it. Either way I think I would be aiming for something like 35IBU to balance all the malt and amber.

BTW, which style in beersmith have you selected? I can only find American amber ale but it looks like you're leaning more towards an English style.

I'll still go for the 3.4 of Amber coz that's what I bought yesterday and can't be assed driving back to the HBS.

Yep it's the 10B American Amber. I couldn't find an English one so I went with this one and used English Hops & Yeast. Hopefully it should be ok???

Still need to work out the boil volumes etc.. Hope I can get it right.

[rwh]

BJCP doesn't include an English Amber. Not sure what's going on there. I did much the same with my amber recently (used the BJCP for everything except hops, which I subbed for Fuggles).

[matr]

OK I think I've got it!! (please correct me if I'm wrong)

Going by Kev's post on "Partial Boil - Extract Brewing" http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewto ... sd=a&hilit (Thanks Kev)

I have come up with a 4L boil using 630grms of LDME (Can I just use the LDME in the partial or do I have to add the Amber liquid aswell??)

Using the Hop additions below it gives me 30 IBU's...

630.00 gm Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 13.55 % (Boil)
370.00 gm Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 7.96 % (Add after Boil)
3400.00 gm Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 73.12 % (Add after Boil)
250.00 gm Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5.38 % (Add after Boil)
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
60.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (60 min) Hops 23.6 IBU
30.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (20 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

So Hopefully I'm on the right track???

& one more question.. After the Hops have been in the boil do you strain them out or add them into the fermenter?

Cheers, Mat.

[earle]

I just leave the hops in there, they settle to the bottom pretty well.

As for style, reading various sources suggests that Irish Red Ale is a variant of English Brown, and that American amber ale was a further development of the Irish Red. JSAA now refers to itself as an english style brown ale. My thoughts are that while the BCJP doesn't recognise english amber ale as a style it probably falls between english brown, irish red and pale ale. I think American amber ales generally have a higher bitterness than the english versions.

[Kevnlis]

30 IBUs sounds like a good start to me. Easier to add more IBUs next time you brew this than to take some away this time!

I too leave the hops in.

Good luck with it, let us know how it comes out.

[matr]

Well this went down tonight pretty much without a hitch..

The only prob I had is the wort temp (up around 29C), but a quick search in here told me it should be ok to pitch the yeast in the morning.
Should be down to approx 18/20 by then. (I'll take an OG then dry hop then pitch the yeast)

Took 2.5 hours to do (including cleaning after) but heaps more enjoyable than using kits (Splash & dash) and fills the house with a great aroma.

Thanks for everyone's input I'll let you know the results..

[Kevnlis]

Wait until the 4th or 5th day of primary fermentation before you dry hop.

[homebrewer79]

and fills the house with a great aroma.

I love the smell of grains and hops when I'm brewing too, the other half hates it, so I get the kitchen with no interuptions mind you she has no problem with drinking the beer

[matr]

Wait until the 4th or 5th day of primary fermentation before you dry hop.

Ahhhh ok Will do.. Thanks for that.

I'm not sure if I'll rack it. I haven't got a 2nd fermenter yet (ordered one through work & it hasn't turned up)

Will it be ok just in primary for 14 days then bottle?

[rwh]

Will it be ok just in primary for 14 days then bottle?

Yep. That's what I do most of the time these days.

[matr]

Pitched the yeast this morning.

It seems to have made some the hops sitting on the bottom float to the top causing a layer??

Is this normal??

[warra48]

Pitched the yeast this morning.

It seems to have made some the hops sitting on the bottom float to the top causing a layer??

Is this normal??

Yeah, that's perfectly normal.
If you ever look at a fermentation in a glass container, you can see the whole lot churning with the yeast / hops etc rapidly rising to the top with the CO² produced by the yeast, and gradually dropping down again as the CO² is released as it reaches the top.
It is fun to watch on a small scale if you ever make a starter from liquid yeasts.
It is also normal to get a bit of a crusty looking layer on the top. A lot of this will drop down again, but if it doesn't, it is nothing to worry about.

[matr]

Sweet Thanks Warra..

[pixelboy]

and fills the house with a great aroma.

I love the smell of grains and hops when I'm brewing too, the other half hates it, so I get the kitchen with no interuptions mind you she has no problem with drinking the beer

I love it too but my other half kicks me out onto the back deck to do the boil

Luckily one of those small camp gas stoves gets a nice boil going

[killspice]

Quick question, that may sound obvious, but when adding the extract 'after the boil' what do you do about the remainder re: the hot break.

I was under the impression that you boil the extract until the hot break, then start the timer for the boil and add hops at the correct times, and then, if using a kit, add the kit after the boil.

If you are only boiling a fraction (to ensure the hop utilisation is not hampered by a high wort concentration) of the extract do you:
a) only boil the fraction, and add the rest at the end and ignore the fact that you won't get a hot break for the remainder
b) boil the fraction, then ~15m from the end add the rest to get the hot break
c) boil the fraction, then boil the remainder separately in the last ~15m to get the hot break, then join it together in the fermenter

or am I completely off track and you do boil everything, but in beersmith you use this calculation to make everything calculate correctly?