Malt Extract Steps
FREE INTRO-TO-BREWING CLASS EVERY WEDNESDAY – 7:00PM LASTS ABOUT 45 MIN
First things first: Buy some ice, drink some beer and sanitize everything...
Make sure to pick up at least three of the 7 lb bags of ice before starting to brew. Have a beer
while cleaning your brewing equipment. It is impossible to overstress the importance of
sanitized equipment and unheard of to clean anything too well. It means all the difference
between having really great beer and having 5 gallons of bad tasting brown water. Clean
everything. Twice. And drink beer. Twice.
Step 1: Put water in a big pot...
In a 20-quart stainless steel brew pot bring 2-3 gallons of water to 155-160.
Step 2: Making the tea…
In malt extract brewing, grain malts are used to impart color as well as sweet, nutty, roasty and
bread-like flavors to the beer. Carefully pour your crushed grain into a grain bag. DO NOT pour
the grains directly into the water. Watch your temperature and once the grains and water are
at 155-160 let it seep for 25-30 minutes. DO NOT BOIL THE GRAINS!!! After 25-30 minutes,
remove the grains and throw them out. Turn the brew pot on high and bring it to a boil.
(NOTE: some recipes will call for adding the grain malts when the water is still cold and then
bring it to 155-160. Check your recipe)
Step 3: The extract...
If using liquid malt extract, warm the cans in the sink by letting them sit in a hot water bath.
This will make the extract easier to pour and stir. When the brew pot reaches the boiling
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point, take it off the heat. Begin stirring all of that steaming hot water and add the malt
extract. Do this slowly. Stirring well will prevent the malt extract settling to the bottom of the
pot and burning. Once the extract is dissolved put it back on the heat.
If using Dried Malt Extract, add it when the water comes to a boil. Stir to break up all the
clumps.
Step 4: The great big foaming boil...
Maintain heat and keep the mixture in the brew pot at the boiling point. When boiling, the
mixture forms a layer of foam, which can rise out of the pot and burn on your stove. Be careful
to avoid this. It is messy and difficult to clean. Try lifting the pot off the heat slowly, allowing
the foam to settle and replacing the pot back on the heat. You may need to repeat this 5-6
times.
Step 5: Drink some beer...
Drink it. Drink it again.
Steps 6-9: Time for Hops…
Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding ingredients at the following intervals:
At the start of the boil, add the bittering hops.
45 minutes into the boil, add the flavoring hops and Irish Moss (for clarity),
55-60 minutes into the boil, add the aroma or finishing hops
After 60 minutes, stop boiling the wort.
Always check your recipe. Hops amounts and boil times vary for just about any recipe.
IF YOU HAVE A DOG OR CAT: DO NOT LET THEM GET ANY HOP PELLETS, LEAFS OR DUST LEFT
IN THE BAG. IT CAN BE FATAL. CALL YOUR VET IMMEDIATELY IF THIS HAPPENS.
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Steps 10: Cool out...
Cool the wort to 70-80 Fahrenheit before pouring it in to the primary fermenter. The easiest
way to do this use about 14-20 pounds of ice to create an ice bath in your kitchen sink. Place
the stainless steel pot into the water. Leave a spoon in the pot during the boil and stir while
cooling. DO NOT LET THE ICE OR ICE WATER GET INTO THE WORT!!
When cool, pour the wort and ALL the contents of the brew pot into the primary fermenter,
add enough water to reach five gallons and put your airlock carefully through the grommet on
top.
Step 11: Check Your Original Gravity (OG)
Sanitize your hydrometer and drop it into the bucket. If you are using a carboy then use the
thief first to extract some wort. Your hydrometer will be most accurate at room temperature.
Wherever the liquid lines up with the SG Scale on the hydrometer is your reading. Record your
gravity to figure out your alcohol percentage once fermentation is completed.
Step 12: Pitching the yeast...
Without yeast, you can't have beer, so this is the big moment. Be certain that the temperature
of the wort is between 65-75 Fahrenheit and add --or "pitch"-- the yeast. You can use either
dry or liquid yeast. If using liquid yeast, take it out the day you plan to brew and let it sit out so
it hits room temperature. It will react faster if it is the same or similar temperature as the wort.
Step 13: Primary fermentation...
Typical fermentation takes about a week. Make certain that your one-way airlock is firmly
through the grommet on the lid and half-filled with water so that gasses can escape, but can't
enter. Put your airlock in before putting the lid on the bucket. BE CAREFUL NOT TO PUSH THE
GROMMET THROUGH AND INTO YOUR WORT!
Step 14 Check Your Final Gravity (FG)
Sanitize your hydrometer and drop it in the bucket once the foam has disappeared. Refer to
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your recipe to see what an acceptable final gravity should be. If the gravity is too high add
more yeast or yeast energizer. Give the beer a few more days and check the gravity again. DO
NOT SECONDARY OR BOTTLE UNTIL YOUR FG IS WHERE IT SHOULD BE.
Step 15: Secondary fermentation...(If you want)
When fermentation has completed (you have reached your desired final gravity), clean the hell
out of a glass carboy or solid plastic bucket using your sanitizing solution. Using a sanitized
siphon, rack the wort into the secondary and put a new airlock and stopper on top. Leave it in
there for at least one or two weeks. If adding a fruit puree or dry hops, this is when you add it.
Step 16: More cleaning...
Clean your bottles well. Dip them in sanitizer and scrub the inside with your bottle-brush.
Store upside down to dry, if you can. Let your bottles reach room temperature before putting
beer in.
Step 17: Bottling ...
Boil 4-5 oz of priming sugar in 2 ½ cups of water. Pour into your bottling bucket as you are
siphoning the beer. This provides for better mixture. Boil your bottle caps to sanitize them.
Typically you’ll use 12 or 16 ounce bottles made from heavy brown glass. They should
preferably be brown or sun-rays can kill the yeast and make your beer skunky.
Rack your beer from the fermentor to the sanitized bottling bucket. Attach your tube to the
end of your spigot and attach your sanitized bottling wand on the other end. Place your bucket
higher than where you are bottling. Gravity will bring beer through the tube and into the
bottling wand. The force of the beer will keep the catch on the bottom of the bottling wand
out. When you push it into the bottom of the bottle the catch will rise and begin filling. When
the beer comes to the very top of the bottle remove the wand. Gravity will push the catch out
again and repeat. It’s good to have a partner in this process: one to fill and one to cap. Place
the cap on the bottle and use your capper to tighten the cap on. To use the capper, place it
evenly over the cap (the small magnet should be in the center of the cap). Push down on both
levers simultaneously until you cannot anymore. Flick the cap with your thumb to make sure it
is secure and repeat.
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Let the bottles sit upright in a cool dry place for about 5-7 days. When opening you should hear
that pffff sound. If you don’t they may need longer to carbonate. If it’s good have a drink and
enjoy something you made. AND ALWAYS SHARE YOUR HOMEBREW!!!!!!
ANY QUESTIONS CALL ME 502-589-3434 OR
EMAIL myoldkentuckyhomebrew@yahoo.com
Brewing Terms
ALE: A beer usually fermented between 65°-75° (Pale Ales, IPA, Porter, Stout, Wheat, Amber,
Red, Brown, Kolsh, German Alt, Belgians, Barleywine etc.)
ALPHA ACID: The percentage on the hop packet. Contributes to the overall bitterness of the
beer. Higher number = more bitter, Lower number = Less.
ATTENUATION: The conversion of fermentable sugars to alcohol.
BITTERING HOPS: Hops added at the beginning of the boil.
DRY-HOPPING: Hops added directly to the fermenter. Hops that are not boiled.
FINAL GRAVITY (FG): The gravity reading taken when there is the least amount of sugar in the
beer. Take after the beer has fermented.
FLAME OUT: Adding hops at the very end of the boil. Usually written as (0 min)
FLAVOR/AROMA HOPS: Hops added from the middle of the boil to the end.
HOP SCHEDULE: List of hop additions throughout the boil. Quantity of hops (in ounces) Name
of hop and how long hops are boiled (minutes left in boil).
RECIPE EXAMPLE: 1 oz Cascade (60 min) - You would add 1 oz of Cascade Hops when there is 60
minutes left in the boil.
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LAGER: A beer usually fermented between 50°-60° and the LAGERED (to age a cold
temperature) between 32°- 45° (Pilsners, Bocks, Oktoberfests, Munich Helles, Light American
Lagers i.e. Budweiser/Miller/Coors)
MALT: Grain, usually barley that has gone through a germination and drying process.
ORIGINAL GRAVITY (OG): The gravity reading taken while there is the most possible sugar in
the wort. Take right before the yeast is added.
PITCH YEAST: Adding the yeast to the wort when is at appropriate temperature.
RACK: To siphon from one vessel to another.
SECONDARY FERMENATATION: A process of racking the fermented beer into a new, sanitized
vessel in order to let the beer settle one more time before bottling or kegging.
STEEPING: NOT BOILING. In a partial mash brew this is the first step. Sometimes called: partial
mash,
TRUB: The yeast cake formed at the bottom of the primary fermenter.
WORT: The unfermented beer
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