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Hi
Im about to do my first brew.Ive noticed that stove top boiling seems to be a more efficient/profesional method of combining ingredients than the "throw malt/sugar/can contents with 2 litres of water into the fermentor and top up" method. I would like to use the boil method,tho need a little clarification of steps. My first brews ingredients will be a can of coopers pale ale,500g of light dry malt and 250g of dextrose. So, should i add 2 litres of warm water to a pot,then add the malt and dextrose,bring to boil then once its boiled add the can contents,boil a bit longer then pour it all into the fermentor and top up? What is the general consensus on the correct procedure of combining the above 3 ingredients on a stove top.?

Add the dry malt to a cold pot, add 2L of cold water and warm slowly stirring constantly to boil, add the dextrose once the malt is dissolved, remove from heat and add the kit.

Pour this into the fermentor and top up with cold water to desired volume. Pitch yeast and leave to ferment, try to keep it as cool as possible, damp towels draped over the fermentor work well.

cooler than 20 degrees celsius?

This depends on the yeast type you are using. In general, Lager yeasts need to be kept at the lower temps, where as the Ale yeasts can go a bit higher.

For a pale ale i would go with around 18-20*C for a coopers but you can go as low as 16, just make sure you keep the temp steady

I will be using safale us-56 yeast...should i try to reduce the temp down to 20* celsius rapidly with towels etc. and then pitch the yeast?

p.s thanx for all your help

You can pitch at around 24 but you will want to reduce to about 18 soon after and keep it there for the duration

Kevnlis wrote:Add the dry malt to a cold pot, add 2L of cold water and warm slowly stirring constantly to boil, add the dextrose once the malt is dissolved, remove from heat and add the kit.

Pour this into the fermentor and top up with cold water to desired volume. Pitch yeast and leave to ferment, try to keep it as cool as possible, damp towels draped over the fermentor work well.

I second this methodology. This procedure works well.

Normally I add 1.5L of water for a boil and then use 500ml of boiling water from the kettle to clean out the kit tin. For a 23L brew, after I add the cold water to the fermenter - along with the boiled goodies and the mixed through kit contents - I usually end up with an instant pitching temp of 23-25C. I like ales to be fermented out at 16-18C. Don't bother boiling the kit, you'll just lose hop aroma.

The towels are more to help keep the temp steady than lower. Steady is more important than the actual temp the brew is kept at. 16-18C is most common for lager yeast and US-56 will give you a great beer if fermented as suggested by everyone here.

Kevnlis wrote:16-18C is most common for lager yeast and US-56 will give you a great beer if fermented as suggested by everyone here.

hope that's a typo

KEG wrote:

Kevnlis wrote:16-18C is most common for lager yeast and US-56 will give you a great beer if fermented as suggested by everyone here.

hope that's a typo

Yeah it surely is! I meant to say ale, not lager, and I may have had a bit too much ale in me at the time

nice

great,thanx for the tips guys

Hi
Ive tried the stove top boil etc and have since gone back to mixing in the fermenter because i thought it was a pain in the backside to do the stove top boil, after cleaning everything etc, i like to keep it as simple as possible and i think u have less chance of getting germs etc if u do it quickly in the fermenter. Depends too on what you use i suppose for your brews, im just a basic kit brewer but use hops. I have not noticed any difference in taste between both methods, but im sure someone will say otherwise. Basically i reckon try the different methods and see what you like best.

I would always recommend boiling dried malt extract and table sugar additions. These products often have mircobes in them and it's probably better to be safe than sorry. But for anything tinned, like liquid malt extract and the kit, boiling is not essential as long as you get the yeast going as fast as possible.