# Homebrewing questions - basic stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871 "2010-05-18T12:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/21 "2010-05-19T16:27:25Z")
**pulykamell** , just bear in mind that one of the side-effects of the late add method is improved hop extraction, so if you are going to try it with a recipe that you’ve used before you’ll want to cut back a little bit on your bittering hops. (ProMash can do the math if you don’t want to guess. But guessing is one of my favorite parts of homebrewing…) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/22 "2010-05-19T16:47:06Z")
> [@Yossarian](#): > > **pulykamell** , just bear in mind that one of the side-effects of the late add method is improved hop extraction Wow. I’m really not seeing a downside to this method. 🙂 But, seriously, from your experience, if I’m doing something more malty or balanced, can you guesstimate about how much more extraction there is? Like is 1 oz of hops more like 1.5 oz of hops now, or are we talking on a smaller scale? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/23 "2010-05-19T16:55:35Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > I guess I was unclear. You don’t cool it right down but you take the boiling water off the burner and give the pot’s bottom a chance to cool a little. That way, when you add the extract you avoid caramelizing it. The extract is so much denser than the hot water that it rushes to the bottom and it can burn on an overly hot bottom. Gotcha. That makes sense. Actually, I have a few recipes where I caramelize on purpose. > [@Grey](#): > > I will admit I have read about die-hards that boil their water the night before to drive off chlorine flavours. I don’t, but that’s mainly because I’m lazy. 🙂 I’m lucky enough to have really good tap water, so chlorine isn’t an issue for me. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/24 "2010-05-19T17:08:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But, seriously, from your experience, if I’m doing something more malty or balanced, can you guesstimate about how much more extraction there is? Like is 1 oz of hops more like 1.5 oz of hops now, or are we talking on a smaller scale? I’m a hophead, so my guesstimate might be a bit high, but when I extract/late-add brew I either cut the hops back by about 25% (1 1/2 oz becomes 1 1/8 oz) or I choose a bittering hop with fewer alphas. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/25 "2010-05-21T18:56:26Z")
Quick bump for this one as I’ve got my stuff together so I’m going to get a brew on tomorrow. Just going over my recipe - is 4.5 kg of extract in 5 gallons not a shit load of malt to be brewing from? I’m reading a lot of recipes that use closer to 3kg. What will be the effect of using so much malt - will it be a booze monster of a brew? I had in mind creating something fairly light 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/26 "2010-05-21T19:10:27Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Quick bump for this one as I’ve got my stuff together so I’m going to get a brew on tomorrow. Just going over my recipe - is 4.5 kg of extract in 5 gallons not a shit load of malt to be brewing from? I’m reading a lot of recipes that use closer to 3kg. What will be the effect of using so much malt - will it be a booze monster of a brew? I had in mind creating something fairly light 🙂 So, 10 pounds of extract in 5 gallons. Liquid or dry? Even assuming liquid, that is a good bit of malt. You’re looking at about a 7-8% brew there. More if you’re talking dry extract. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/27 "2010-05-21T19:57:42Z")
For a standard brew you should be running maybe 3.25kg of extract. 4.5kg is going to definitely bump the finish to the 8-9% range. It’s also going to require a bunch more IBUs to stay balanced. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/28 "2010-05-21T20:34:58Z")
Thks - 8% ale is not something I’d normally drink but I may as well give it a go as I have the ingredients. Be good to just get a brew up and running regardless so we’ll see how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/29 "2010-05-22T16:25:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Dittos here. I have on the order of three empty 5-gallon carboys and about four empty 3-gallon carboys (and about another six assorted carboys with cider from a year and a half back) that need to be filled stat. It’s been about two years since I last brewed, and I only had one 5-gallon carboy back then. (I made a _lot_ of cider two winters ago.) Time to get multiple batches going. So who else is brewing? This thread has inspired me to finally brew my own batch. My husband and I brew, but he is always the brewmaster and I’m more of an apprentice. After so many batches, I think it’s time I brewed my own. He does extract/partial mash, so to kick it up a notch, I’ve decided to go whole hog. I’m inviting 3 of my girlfriends over in a couple of weeks for an all-girl, all-grain brew bash. I’ve decided to make a Grapefruit Honey Ale that should be just about ready to drink by my 40th birthday this summer. What else is everyone cooking up? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/30 "2010-05-26T21:24:06Z")
All right, so I did it. Got 15 gallons going. I’m lazy so I just went the extract route (w/ steeping grains on two of the 5-gallon batches.) I’m not reall brewing to style here, so this is what I have. The first is basically a light-to-medium hoppy ale with a little malt backbone: 1 lb Northern Brewer Munich LME 5 lb Northern Brewer Gold LME 1/2 lb brown sugar 1/2 lb Simpsons malt 1 oz Amarillo (8.2%) at 60 min 1 oz Cascade (6.1%) at 30 min Nottingham ale dry yeast O.G. ~ 1.054 I’ll probably dry hop this one with Amarillo and/or Cascade Then I have some kind of strong porter going: 5 lb Northern Brewer Munich LME 1 lb Northern Brewer Gold LME 3 lb Briess Golden Light DME 1 lb brown sugar 1/2 lb Simpsons chocolate malt 1/2 lb Simpsons crystal malt 1 oz East Kent Goldings @ 60 min 1 oz East Kent Goldings @ 30 min 1 oz Fuggle @ 15 min Nottingham dry yeast OG ~ 1.076 Then a very simple mild ale flavored with hibiscus: 6 lb Northern Brewer Gold LME 1 oz Perle @ 60 min 1 oz Perle @ 15 min 3 oz dried hibiscus @ 15 min S-04 English ale yeast OG ~ 1.040 ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/31 "2010-05-27T02:21:48Z")
I think 3 batches allows you to stride amongst us like a colossus for 1 week. More than that…well it gets showy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/32 "2010-05-27T04:47:35Z")
Well, it’s a good thing I checked on my primaries. That porter is kraeusening like a mofo. This is the first time I’ve done the primary in a carboy, and even though I left a good eight inches of headspace, it had krauesened all the way to the airlock. I guess this is why people use blowoff tubes. Anyhow, I fashioned one out of some brewing supplies lying around and we seem to be in good shape again. I’m just wondering if I’m going to have the same issue with the hibiscus ale. (The third beer is in a plastic bucket.) ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/33 "2010-05-27T08:20:36Z")
I need to buy a bag of grain and get brewing again. My gear is lonely and collecting dust. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/34 "2010-05-27T18:57:42Z")
Damn you all. Now I have to get going again. I’ll post my Ipswich Ale (Ipswich MA) recipe later. It’s my standard go to pale ale, and IMO, is a bit better than the actual breweries effort. More like it was 20 years ago when it came out. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/35 "2010-05-28T15:11:35Z")
Now I want to brew up a batch. We had used our gear to try some of the wines they sell now and we quite liked the sauvignon blanc, so we’re currently trying a batch of shiraz now. We just bottled it last weekend and we’re hoping it’ll start to be drinkable around Christmas, if we can keep our mitts off it for that long. But we could get some ale going and have it drinkable by August…hmmm ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871/36 "2010-06-21T11:11:11Z")
Bump this one to report that the IPA is now 3 weeks conditioned in the bottle and has been a big success. Easily the best ale I’ve brewed, although obv far from perfect - I’m pretty happy with it given I’d not brewed for ages. It seems a wee bit underhopped - I’m not sure if that’s due to something going awry in the recipe or if that’s just my taste for a more bitter ale. I didn’t dry hop in the secondary, so maybe that would have helped. Anyhow, it’s pretty good. Next up I fancy getting to grips with a Timothy Taylor Landlord pale ale - legendary bevvy from Yorkshire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homebrewing-questions-basic-stuff/539871.md?page=1)