Malt
Extract Recipes: When building your own recipe from
malt extracts, try to avoid the "pre-packaged" kits with
hopped malt extract and yeast included. Though you may
achieve excellent results with these kits, you will never
have control of your own recipes. In fact, you'll never
even know the ingredients. Most of these kits use specialty
grains and hops in quantities and varieties that are not
printed on the can.
Every
style of beer is composed mostly (80 - 100%) of a light-colored
base malt. Even the darkest of malt extracts is made using
mostly pale malt. The difference between malt colors and
flavors is mostly due to specialty grains, and these differences
are definitely passed on to the finished beer. The great
((fact)) for homebrewers is: those specialty grains do
not need to be mashed in order to extract their flavor.
Extract brewers can use specialty grains in the same proportions
as all-grain brewers. You can greatly improve your beer
by using a pale/light extract and adding fresh hops and
specialty grains. What little work this requires can result
in a superior beer made to your own taste.
Carboy
Rinsing: Here's a nifty trick. If you rinse your carboy
without the aid of a "jet spray washer" and
you can speed things up, you can speed up the emptying
of the rinse water by using a racking tube. Insert the
racking tube so that the end on the inside stays in the
air space, and the other end reaches out to the open air.
Since no vacuum is created by the water pouring out, the
water will drain away in a fraction of the time.
Bottle/Carboy
Rinsing: One gadget that is worth its weight in gold
is a jet-spray bottle washer. This device will save you
eons of time by letting you rinse and drain a bottle in
just a few seconds.
Malt
Extract Boiling: When your brewing water comes to
a boil, remove the kettle from the heat before adding
the malt extract. This will help to avoid scorching the
malt which might settle directly above the heat source
as you pour the extract into the kettle.
Boiling
Volume: Although it may increase the possiblility
of a boil-over, you should boil as close to your full
batch volume of beer as possible. This boosts your hop
extraction and helps to prevent scorching the malt.
Aeration:
When your yeast is first pitched, it goes through a phase
of reproduction before active fermentation begins. One
thing the yeast needs during this reproductory phase is
oxygen. After cooling but before pitching, the more oxygen
you put into your wort the better. You can accomplish
this by shaking, vigorously stirring, or fanning out the
wort during syphoning. This is the only time during the
entire beermaking process that oxygen is desired, but
it is necessary for a healthy fermentation.
Starting
a Syphon: Drawing the first beer out of a fermentor
to start a syphon is not only tricky, it is also risky,
since your mouth can harbor bacteria that you really don't
want in your wort. One easy way of getting around both
these problems is simply to fill your syphon hose with
water. Carry the filled up hose to your fermenter. Close
off one end with your clamp or fingers. Place the open
end into the wort. Lower the closed end into a bucket,
making sure that end is lower that the top level of your
wort. When you open up the closed end, the syphon will
start. Draw off the water, and close your syphon when
the beer starts flowing. Discard the water and place the
low end into your receiving container.
Bottle
Drying: You might be tempted to set your just-rinsed
bottles upside down in their box to drain. But this can
weaken the cardboard and lead to musty mold growing in
your cases. It's much better to use a bottle tree dryer
or dishwasher rack for draining.
