My first extract beer - Step by step guide

[homebrewjapan]

I've just finished making my first beer which didn't involve a "kit" tin. I've written up the whole process step by step with lots of pics and I'd appreciate your comments on (1) anything I did wrong, (2) how I could improve what I did in future, and (3) any comments which would make this easier to follow for beginners.

http://homebrewjapan.wordpress.com/2009 ... ract-beer/

The smell coming from the airlock today is phenomenal.

[drsmurto]

Did you use a program to help you with the recipe?

You added all the malt extract to the water? Your SG of this which is what you need for hop utilisation is a lot mroe than the 1.055 you diluted it down to in the end. Did you take this into account?

Dont have beersmith with me at work so cant crunch the numbers.

I have a packet of centennial in the freezer (only pellets tho) that i was planning on making an american IPA with.

[homebrewjapan]

I took an "All Amarillo IPA" recipe and did a calculation to replace the hops with Centennial based on AAU (link and more details are in the first paragraphs on the webpage, so I wont repeat here).

> Did you use a program to help you with the recipe?
> You added all the malt extract to the water? Your SG of this which is what you need for hop utilisation is a lot mroe
> than the 1.055 you diluted it down to in the end. Did you take this into account?
> Dont have beersmith with me at work so cant crunch the numbers.

I didn't use any program and have to confess that side if it is new to me. Did I do something wrong by adding all the malt extract to the water? That's what I've seen recommended before.

I've also seen recommendations to add half malt at the beginning and half ten minutes before the end, which supposedly gives a different flavour. Is that what you are referring to?

If you could elaborate, I'd appreciate it. I'm picking this all up as I go along and I've yet to educate myself in the calculations needed for building recipes.

[Kevnlis]

Ohio HBJ, I have made a post about how to calculate how much malt should be used in the boil.

http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewto ... f=2&t=7834

If you have any questions about anything feel free to ask here or in PM.

You can use Beersmith ( http://www.beersmith.com/ ) free as a trial. Well worth paying for IMHO.

You have done nothing wrong, perhaps just not done it in the best way... bittering efficiancy comes from the gravity of the boil (the ratio of malt to water), the higher the gravity the less bitterness you extract from the hops. Early hop additions will give you more bitterness, later hop additions will give you more flavour/aroma.

Spend a bit of time reading the various posts on this forum and you will be making top quality beer in no time

[homebrewjapan]

Ok, I get this now. Thank you!

Actually I want a beer which isn't overly bitter - it is one of the reasons I chose the original recipe and modified it by using different hops. I guess the recipe is "designed" to be less bitter, though it would probably more efficient to reduce the bitterness by reducing the hops and malt at the beginning rather than the current form. It also explains why some people who followed the original recipe added half malt with 10 minutes to go.

Assuming I make this again, next time I'll try adding some of the malt later so that I can get a feel for how big the difference is.

Does it also affect the non-bittering hops - ie, for aroma, flavour at the end? I would guess not.

[Kevnlis]

The flavour/aroma of later additions will not be affected by the gravity of the boil.