First attempt at extract with steeping grains

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ProjectBeer

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Today marks my second ever brew and an attempt at extract brewing with steeping speciality grains.

Recipe:
Target OG 1.058 ABV 6.18% IBU 64.14

Batch size: 20L

3kg Light DME
500g Caramalt
250g Carapils
200g Carafa special III
100g Chocolate malt
75g Black malt

Hops:
Magnum 12.7% / Amarillo 10% / Bravo 13.4% / Columbus 15%

Schedule
20g Magnum 60min
10g each of Amarillo, Bravo, Columbus 10min
15g each of Amarillo, Bravo, Columbus 5min
35g each of Amarillo, Bravo, Columbu 0 min

Dry hop with 25g of each

Started today weighing everything out and properly cleaning and sanitising all equipment.

I calibrated my FV as I was certain the markings were out, and I was right!

Measured out 23L into the kettle, added half a campden tablet, then transferred 3L to a smaller pot. The aim was to steep the grains at 68C for 30 minutes in the kettle, then transfer to "sparge" at 71C in the smaller pot for 10 mins. The sparge water was then added to the kettle.

I read somewhere that in order to steep grains in a large volume of water, to make sure the SG of the liquid is above 1.010 so I added some of the DME to the kettle water (I later realised that I think I could have just added all of the DME to the cold water then begin the steep?).

Anyway, got up to steeping temp, threw the grain bag in, moved it to the sparge water after 30 mins. Whilst the grain bag was in the other pot I added the rest of the DME and mixed it in. Then I added the sparge water to the kettle to bring it up to 23L.

Brought the wort to a boil, added a half teaspoon of gypsum, then threw in my 60min boil additions. It very nearly boiled over within seconds, but luckily I managed to turn the heat down in time.

Continued with the boil, adding hop additions at 10min, 5 and flameout. I left the flameout hops to stand for about 30 mins whilst I readied a large builder's bucket outside with ice and water. Sanititised the lid of the kettle and stuck it on before moving.

When I moved the kettle to the bucket I soon realised the bucket was far too small and only allowed about 2 inches of water around the kettle! My kitchen sink was too small, so I rushed the kettle to my bathtub, turned on the cold water and added all of the ice.

Managed to cool the wort down to 20C in about 20 minutes, so it wasn't too bad.

Brought the kettle back to the kitchen and tried creating a whirlpool to get all the trub in the middle.

Then took my sanitised auto siphon, sieve and wine aerator (thought I'd finally get to use it!) and prepared to rack to the FV. My brother helped hold the siphon tube into the aerator and above the sieve, whilst I controlled the siphon.

The auto siphon clogged up at the bottom so I poured the rest of the wort out into another pot through a sanitised paint strainer bag, then poured it into the FV.

Good thing I calibrated the FV as it showed as having about 17 litres in, so I lost about 6 litres in the boil. I took a gravity reading of the wort and it came out at 1.074!

I went to the store and bought some distilled water and topped it back up to 20 litres, which had a gravity reading of 1.064, so I thought why not keep it there.

I then aerated the wort with a sanitised whisk, got a good 2-3 inches of foam on the top, then pitched 2 packets of Safale US-05 onto it, sealed the lid and put the airlock on.


The sample I took for the OG tasted pretty roasty. Not sure how it's going to turn out as I took a Gamma Ray (APA) clone recipe and added chocolate and black malts as I fancied more of a Black IPA / Porter style.

I'll just have to wait and see!

The original thread can be found here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53163&highlight=attempt+extract+steeping+grains

Photo 03-05-2015 14 14 36.jpg


Photo 03-05-2015 15 16 27.jpg


Photo 03-05-2015 16 05 36.jpg
 
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