Oops! Two Questions.

Brewing processes and methods. How to brew using extract, partial or all-grain. Tips and tricks.

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wouldy
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu May 22, 2003 12:08 am

Oops! Two Questions.

Post by wouldy »

I hope to learn from my mistakes.
I posted before about my yeast not working for a few days. Well after about three days, the yeast was merily bubbling along, and I soon racked the beer in the secondary fermenter. Now I used John Bull wheat can, the packet of yeast that came with, and 1 kilo of dry wheat extract. Here is the question: Should I have done a one hour boil with this combination? I used hops and boiled for one hour, and have just read in the Grape and Granary catalog that with "beer kits" you aren't supposed to boil. Just add boiling water. I have reread the instructions and I think it says that. Now my second question is, Should I bother to bottle the beer? It is a wheat beer, but looks very dark, I think i carmalized it bigtime.
Any advice would be greatly appriciated.
BillyBock
Imperial Stout
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Posts: 561
Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2000 11:37 am
Location: Ohio

It Depends.....

Post by BillyBock »

Congratulations on your yeast showing activity! I always feel like an expectant father during the lag time :-)

Bear in mind that the information on the website is broad guidance. As a general rule, boiling is a good thing for wort; it performs many useful functions that we can cover in another thread. Was this a kit that you bought, and did it come with instructions? (separate from the instructions on the can of extract).

It sounds like the "kit" you have used unhopped extracts. If this is the case, then your boiling for an hour extracted the bitterness from the hops and all should be well.

With the "beer kits" you mention in the article, they're marketed as no-boil because people like simplicity. These kits will have hops in them allready. If you boil these for an hour, the beer will turn out a little more bitter.

As far as bottling--I say do it. You'll never know if it turned out good or not. If it wasn't that great, then chalk it up to experience and you'll have the benefit of knowing the effect carmelization had on your beer. You never know, you may like it. I've known people that put their arm in wort after they pitched the yeast to get the airlock grommet out that fell in--and amazingly it turned out good. Their hand was sanitized but not their forearm.

As far as carmelization, a good boil will darken your wort. When using liquid extract, turn the flame off first, add the extract, mix it in, and then turn the flame back on. Otherwise, the extract will sink straight to the bottom and scorch which is an unpleasant flavor to say the least.

I've made a number of extract batches in my time, and I learned to never trust the "yeast under the cap". I always buy fresh dry yeast out of the fridge. You just don't know the temperature extremes the poor yeast was subjected to. However, I do use it--it becomes yeast nutrient. I toss this old yeast in at the start of the boil, which kills them, denatures the cells and allows the contents to go into the wort. Great nutrient for my "real" yeast and cheaper than pre-packaged yeast nutrient. Hope this helps.

Let us know how it turns out. Cheers!

v/r
Bill
wouldy
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu May 22, 2003 12:08 am

Thanks for the advice!

Post by wouldy »

Thanks for the advice! Yes, there were aditional instructions, and because I am a man (so my wife says) I prudently didn't read them and tried to use the instructions from the Joy of Homebrewing. I had not read anything yet saying that putting the extract in a fermenter and adding boiled water was the way to go. I think the "kit" was already hopped, so I am expecting one bitter wheat beer. I will be more CAREFUL in the future, that's for sure. If we learn from our mistakes, I am learning more with every batch. I will be takig a Homebrewing Bootcamp from the man himself in two weeks in chicago, so I hope to post less often after that. Thanks for the interest in helping me out.

Wouldy
BillyBock
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 561
Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2000 11:37 am
Location: Ohio

No Problemo

Post by BillyBock »

No problem on the advice--that's why we're here. I find this forum to be full of good folk ready to lend a hand. Have a great time at your bootcamp, that ought to be fun. Don't worry about posting less either--you'll probably find that your questions over time morph from "how do i do....?" to "has anyone ever...?"

v/r
Bill
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