Otto Von Blotto Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Hi everyone, While trawling through the Recipe Resource I came across this one that I think Hairy posted which I'm gonna have a crack at this weekend hopefully. English Special Bitter 1 x Coopers English Bitter kit 1kg Light Dry Malt 200g Dextrose (optional) 200g Crystal Malt 30g EKG @ 10 minutes 30g EKG Dry Hop Kit yeast or S-04 or Windsor 23 litres Now, with this crystal malt, seems the general idea is to steep it in water about 65-70C for around half an hour and then strain this liquid into another pot to do hop boils etc. How much water should I use for 200g? And also with the hop boils are they done uncovered? How does this affect how much liquid is lost due to boiling off? Cheers, Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 1/ You can steep 200g Crystal in 1L 65C-70C water. 2/ Rince grain with another liter of 70C-75C water. 3/ Once you strain it add 1/2 the LDM and bring the volume up to 5L with water. 4/ Boil this, with the lid off, for 5 minutes then throw 30g EKG and continue to boil for another 10 miinutes. 5/ Turn off the heat and add all other ingredients (except yeast of course) and put the lid on. 6/ Let it sit for a minute or 2 then place into an ice/water bath to cool asap. 7/ Place all this into the FV and add water to 23L 8/ When down to <25C pitch yeast and try maintain the temp at around 18-20C. 9/ Throw 30g EKG in on day 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I read somewhere to use double volume to weight ie 200g = 400ml but Im not sure I would use less than 1L of water. My last brew was my first steep so Im new to the sport myself. I do a 5L boil without a lid so I can keep an eye out for the first and second heat breaks. Im not 100% sure on the final vol (I maybe only loose 1/2L) and still need to chill it down a little before topping it up with tap water to pitching temp. While were on the subject, I watched a video lastnight and the guy put his grain bag in cold water and brought his temp up to steeping temperature on the stove which is not that way I did it last time. The benefit I saw with his method was he didnt have to re-adjust his temps from the loss of heat of dropping cold grains into his water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I read somewhere to use double volume to weight ie 200g = 400ml but Im not sure I would use less than 1L of water. My last brew was my first steep so Im new to the sport myself. well really it is a ratio of approx 3:1 water to grain. Nevertheless, 1L water will be fine for this. I do a 5L boil without a lid so I can keep an eye out for the first and second heat breaks. The main reason why we don't have the lid on for the hop boil is to let any Dimethyl sulfides (DMS) escape. Im not 100% sure on the final vol (I maybe only loose 1/2L) and still need to chill it down a little before topping it up with tap water to pitching temp. While were on the subject, I watched a video lastnight and the guy put his grain bag in cold water and brought his temp up to steeping temperature on the stove which is not that way I did it last time. The benefit I saw with his method was he didnt have to re-adjust his temps from the loss of heat of dropping cold grains into his water. You can put your grain in cold water the night before if you wish and do a cold mash. Nevertheless, there are plenty of calculators online to help work out your temps. I find with approximately a 5kg grain bill if I add it to 70C water I will hit 66C almost everytime. (under normal room temps) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Excellent, thanks Bill[biggrin] I'll copy these instructions and put them in my Beer Recipes file. Cheers, Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Legitimate question and one i dont know the answer, but before i ask it must be said that what bill points out is very good practice. Does crystal malt have DMS? I didnt think it did, dunno why, I thought it related to base malt.. I guess the precursors may be present but given such small amounts has minimal impact overall. But it is a good habbit to get into coz when you start with grains you never seem to use less [lol] Must be said too that AFAIK pilsner malt has the highest precursor for DMS amd is why pils boils are 90 mins.. Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 What is DMS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Read the topic again, in particular, Bills post where he kindly has provided a link to the wikki on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Yob - I could be wrong (I usually am [pinched]) but I was pretty certain DMS can develop in any kilned grain. I believe that S-Methyl methionine (SMM) is in the grain and when applied to heat (at certain temps) then DMS is formed from it. i.e. from boiling wort. You have me wondering now..... [unsure] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 DMS = Deep and Meaningful Stout. Enjoy when having a serious conversation, possibly with SWMBO [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 *Facepalm* I did see that one Yob, my bad[lol] I like Adam's suggestion, although I don't have a SWMBO at the moment haha. I will have to report back to this post and let you all know how the brew turned out too. Cheers, Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 I put this brew down yesterday, I noted the aroma of the crystal.. when I went to the pub last night and had a few pints of my favourite amber ale I could smell it in that quite strongly. Anyway, it all went smoothly, I took a gravity reading before pitching the yeast which read around 1.038. Seems a bit low? Was expecting more around 1.045. The kit yeast was around 2 years old, I pitched it anyway but also had a spare kit yeast from an APA kit which I didn't use at the time, which is a lot newer, so I pitched that too just in case, looks to be fermenting away nicely now, nice lot of foam on top of it[biggrin] Cheers, Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 So I bottled this brew on Friday, and I noticed it had this sort of opaque "skin" on top of it, it didn't cover the whole brew, and it had this weird vinegary smell to it. I tasted it before I bottled it, it didn't taste bad or anything, just like warm flat beer. Hopefully it's ok [crying] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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