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1. Know Thyself (and Thine Brewery)

If an extract brewer wishes to brew consistently quality beer, he (or she) should get to know the details
of his system and how they effect his brewing. Brew an extract version of a beer brewed by an all-grain
friend or an extract clone of a beer you enoy. !aste your beer side-by-side with the all-grain or
commercial beer and note every difference you can. "ow do the color, bitterness, malt character and
yeast qualities stack u#$ %nce you have this information in hand, use the following information to
correct or adust for any of the #roblems you may be ex#eriencing.
2. Pump Up the Volume
!he biggest im#rovement most extract brewers can make to their #rocess is to boil their wort in a
larger volume. &arly homebrewing books instructed brewers to boil the malt extract for a '-gallon (()-
*) batch in as little as (.' gallons ('.+ *) of water. ,lthough this is convenient, this convenience comes
at a #rice. Boiling a thick wort is guaranteed to darken it unacce#tably and severely limit the amount of
ho# bitterness. -o matter what volume a reci#e calls for, always boil your wort at the largest volume
you can manage.
!hese days, most homebrew sho#s carry relatively inex#ensive brew#ots. , (.-qt. (/-gallon0('-*) #ot
will allow you to begin boiling from around 1.+' gallons ((2./ *) down to 1.' gallons ().' *) in an hour,
and a little stirring as the wort comes to a boil will #revent boil-overs. ,t this volume, you will be able
to brew light-colored beers with reasonably high levels of ho# bitterness 3 es#ecially if you use the
extract late or !exas !wo-4te# technique. (5or more information on these techniques, see the %ctober
122/ issue of B6%).
If your situation #ermits, the best solution is to get a 7turkey fryer8 #ro#ane cooker and a +-gallon (1.-
*) or larger #ot. !his will allow you to boil . gallons
(19 *) of wort down to five gallons (() *) in a ty#ical .2 minute boil. :ith this setu#, the lower color
limit you can achieve is determined by the color of your extract and your beers can be as ho##y as any
all-grain beer.
4ometimes your brew#ot isn;t the limiting factor. 4ometimes your kitchen stove doesn;t kick out
enough heat to boil much wort vigorously. !wo things can hel# in this regard. 5irst, close the lid on the
#ot almost all of the way. 6ou should never boil wort in a com#letely closed #ot. "owever, you really
don;t need the lid cracked very much to #rovide an esca#e for the volatile chemicals you want to boil
off.
, second #otential hel#er in this regard is a coil immersion heater. <any travel #laces sell these devices
(for around =4 >('), which are ust a small heating coil that #lugs into the wall. !he coil is meant to be
#laced in water, tea or sou# to heat them u#. %n their own, these would be useless for wort boiling as
they don;t #roduce enough heat. "owever, used in conunction with a stove, they can increase either
your boil vigor or the amount of wort you can boil vigorously slightly. ?ust the movement induced in the
wort by having a hot s#ot inside the kettle can be a good thing. @ee# in mind, though, the #otential
shock haAard of these devices. I wouldn;t use one unless it was #lugged into an outlet with an
interru#t.
3. Other ar! "or#es
Boil volume is not the only factor in wort darkening. ,nother #roblem is the #otential to carameliAe
#artially dissolved malt extract. :hen you stir malt extract into hot water, it does not dissolve instantly
or evenly. *ittle 7blobs8 of extract can remain intact for quite awhile, even when everything looks
dissolved. !hese 7blobs8 will sink to the bottom of your brew#ot and can carameliAe there. 4o,
whenever you stir in extract, turn off the heat and stir until you don;t see any undissolved bits of
extract 3 then stir for another minute or so.
!wo other factors in wort darkening are heat and time. %n a commercial scale, most brewers used to
aim to eva#orate (2B of their wort in an hour (these days, the target is even lower). :hen boiling a
small amount of wort on a stove, it;s easy to eva#orate a much higher #ercentage. If this is ha##ening,
turn down the heat or increase the amount of wort you are boiling.
!he longer you boil your wort, the darker it gets. 4o, boil your wort only as long as the longest ho#
addition requires. ,nd, kee# in mind that some liquid extracts have already been boiled (although
others have only been eva#orated). *iquid malt extract only needs to boil (or stee# at tem#eratures
over (.2 C50+( CD) for (' minutes to sanitiAe it.
$. "resh %&tra#t
!his #oint does not need to be elaborated on, but I can;t leave it out, either 3 always use fresh malt
extract.
'. (ot (rains)
In order to get the colors and flavors you want from your s#ecialty grains, without extracting excess
tannins, you need to do one of two things 3 either stee# in a small amount of water or in weak wort. ,
small amount of water means (E9 qts. of water #er #ound of grains (1.(E..9 *0kg). If you stee# in a
larger volume than that, add malt extract until the s#ecific gravity is over (.2(2 before adding the
grains. ,nd finally, rinse with a very small amount of water 3 2.'E( qts. of water #er #ound of grain
stee#ed ((E1 *0kg) works well (see 74tee#ing,8 in the <ayE?une 122' issue of B6% for more on this
to#ic).
In extract brewing, the extract manufacturer collects the wort and concentrates it. :hen the wort is
concentrated into extract, some volatile com#ounds are lost. !o brew the best extract beer #ossible,
you need a way to re#lace at least a #ortion of them. !he sim#lest way to do this is to make some wort
yourself by doing a #artial mash in your brew#ot.
!o do this, add some 1-row #ale malt to your reci#e. 5or every #ound (2./' kg) of #ale malt, subtract
2.'9 lbs. (2.1/ kg) of dried malt extract or 2.+9 lbs. (2.99 kg) liquid malt extract. :hen making a '-
gallon (()-*) extract beer, I usually shoot for 7stee#ing8 a total of around 1E1.' lbs. (2.)(E(.( kg) of
grains, including base malt and s#ecialty grains. 4tee# this liquid in (.'E
1 qts. of water #er #ound of grain (9.1E/.1 *0kg) at (/FE('F C5 (./E+2 CD) for /'E.2 minutes. ,fter
increasing your boil volume, I feel that doing small #artial mashes 3 which are really ust glorified grain
stee#s 3 is the technique that will hel# extract brewers brew better beer. -ote that #artial mash wort is
also ty#ically more fermentable than that of malt extract, which can hel# if your beers consistently
finish at a high final gravity.
*. +u,ar is +weet
,nother key difference between all-grain and extract brewing is that an all-malt wort made from grains
is almost always more fermentable than an all-malt wort made from extract. &arly beer kits solved this
#roblem by combining the malt extract with sugar 3 which is com#letely fermentable 3 to yield
reasonably dry beers. (,nd, because sugar is colorless and many of these kits were no-boil kits, the
color could actually be fairly light.)
"owever, because early =4 homebrewing was largely a negative reaction to #ale ,merican lagers,
anything that reminded homebrewers of Bud, <iller or Doors was shunned 3 and this included adding
an adunct like sugar to their beer. Girtually every homebrewing ex#ert told brewers to re#lace the
sugar 3 all of it, no matter how much or in what style of beer 3 with darker and less fermentable malt
extract. !he result$ "omebrew that was darker and sweeter than it should have been.
If high final gravities are a #roblem for you, swa##ing some sugar (cane or corn) for a #ortion of the
light malt extract in your reci#e can hel#. 4wa# sugar and dried malt extract on a one-to-one basis. 5or
liquid malt extract, add (9 oA. (2.9+ kg) of sugar for every #ound (2./' kg) of extract deleted from the
reci#e. If you end u# with more than (2B sugar in your reci#e, consider adding (0/ ts# yeast nutrients
to the beer. 6ou #robably won;t want to have sugar occu#y more than 92B of your grain bill. ,lso, be
aware that the color of your beer may decrease slightly when you add sugar.
-. .ops
Boiling at a lower wort density does a lot to im#rove bitterness in extract brews . "owever, extract
brewers should also do everything else they can to get the most from their ho#s.
,lthough boiling your ho#s in a bag is convenient, this decreases the amount of bitter substances
(al#ha acids) that are extracted from them. ,dd the ho#s loose to your brew#ot. If you let the wort sit
in your brew#ot for a half hour after you cool it, the #ellet sludge will settle to the bottom and you can
si#hon clear wort off it. ,lso, knock down any ho# #ellet residue clinging to the side of your brew#ot as
you boil.
5inally, consider 7s#iking8 your wort with a small amount of neutral high-al#ha ho#s to your beer along
with your normal ho# charge. <agnum ho#s usually have around (.B al#ha acids and don;t have a real
strong varietal character. If your beers are normally a little less bitter than you;d like, add a quarter
ounce (+ g) or more of <agnum, or any other 7strong8 ho#s, along with the s#ecified bittering charge.
!his will boost your bitterness without changing the ho# character of the beer.
/. 0oolin,
"ot wort carries a lot more heat than you might realiAe, and the dilution water you add to bring the
volume u# to ' gallons (() *) isn;t cooling your wort down as much as you might think. 5or exam#le,
#ouring 1 gallons (+.. *) of ust-boiled wort into 9 gallons ((( *) of water at refrigerator tem#erature
(/2 C50/./ CD) still leaves you with wort over ((2 C5 (/9 CD). ("ow far over de#ends on the gravity of
the wort.) 4toveto# brewers should take advantage of their smaller wort volume and always cool their
wort in their brew#ot before transferring it to their fermenter. =se a reliable cooling method and
measure the tem#erature of your wort before #itching.
Hetting a wort chiller is the best solution, but many beginners don;t buy this #iece of equi#ment at first.
!he next best solution is to cool your wort in your sink or bathtub. By changing the cooling water every
' minutes, you continually draw heat away from the wort. ,nd, during this time, the ho# debris and
other sediment can settle to the bottom of your brew#ot. %nce the brew#ot is cool to the touch (i.e.
below human body tem#erature), si#hon the wort to your fermenter and add the dilution water. "ere,
the dilution water can cool your wort down effectively if it is below fermentation tem#erature. , little
7tem#erature stri#8 on the outside of your fermenter will let you read the tem#erature of your wort.
1. 2ater
<alt extract is condensed wort and it contains everything that wort contains, including dissolved
minerals. ,ny minerals in your dilution water are added to the (unknown) amount of minerals in the
extract. =nless you have a good reason not to, always use soft water (or even distilled water) for
extract brewing. , little bit of calcium in the boil 3 under (01 ts# of gy#sum or calcium chloride 3
might be a good thing in some circumstances. "owever, if you;re trying to add salts to your brewing
water to make 7Burton water,8 you are ending u# with 7Burton #lus8 water due to the minerals already
found in your malt extract. Darbon filtering city water is advised.
13. 4east
%nce you;ve made your wort, the yeast will convert it into beer. !o make the best beer #ossible, you
need to give your yeast three things 3 enough 7teammates8 to get the ob done, a stable and
reasonable fermentation tem#erature and adequate aeration. !he first of these is where most extract
brewers could im#rove. &ither make a yeast starter or get enough yeast from another source (#revious
fermentation, brew#ub) and #itch with it. 6ou;ll want about ( cu# of yeast solids #er '-gallon (()-*)
batch.
0on#lusion
4ome of the best as#ects of extract brewing are its sim#licity and the fact that you can do it in a
relatively short amount of time on your stoveto# without a lot of s#ecialiAed equi#ment. Im#roving your
beer does not necessarily mean s#ending much more time brewing it or buying lots of new gadgets. If
you follow the advice in this article, you can brew much better homebrew in about the same time as
the old, standard method took.