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10 steps to help you better complete the extract brewing

10 steps to help you better complete the extract brewing

Compared with whole-grain brewing, extract brewing is regarded by some as a simplified process. Extract brewing omits a major step in the production of whole-grain brewing (malt), and the time required for brewing is shorter. But, whether there is a broader difference between extract brewing and whole-grain brewing remains to be discussed. In fact, extract brewing has its own set of challenges compared with whole-grain brewing, and the whole-grain brewing process will not encounter these challenges. In this article, Micet Craft will introduce 10 brewing techniques specific to extract brewing.
10 steps to help you better complete the extract brewing

Know yourself (and your brewery)

If a craft beer brewer wants to produce consistently good craft beer, then the brewer should understand the details of his brewing system and how they affect the brewing process. When choosing brewery equipment, you can get this information by consulting your friends. If you have brewed an extract version of the beer brewed by your friend’s brewery or your favorite beer, taste your beer and whole-wheat beer or commercial beer with your friends, observe and record the different tastes every time. Find out which factors affect the color, bitterness, malt, and yeast quality of craft beer. Once you have mastered this knowledge, you can use this knowledge to adjust the problems of your craft beer.
Increase wort volume

Increase wort volume

The biggest improvement to the brewing process by most extract brewers is to boil a larger volume of wort. Homebrewing books long ago suggested that extract brewers boil 5 gallons (19 liters) of malt extract in as little as 1.5 gallons (5.7 liters) of water. Although this operation is very convenient, it comes at a price. Boiling thick wort makes the color of wort darker and severely limits the bitterness of hops. No matter how much volume is required in the brewing recipe, you have to boil the wort at the maximum volume you can control.

Caramelization of malt extract

Boiling is not the only factor that makes the wort darker. Another factor may be the darker wort color: the partially dissolved malt extract is caramelized. When the brewer stirs the malt extract into hot water, the malt extract will not dissolve immediately or evenly. Even though it seems that the wort extract is dissolved, there will be some small “spots” in the extract and remain very intact. These “spots” will sink to the bottom of the brewhouse equipment and caramelize there. So, you need to stir the extract for a while even if you can’t see any undissolved extract.

Fresh extract

Although most extracts are used in dry form, a large number of functional substances may be lost during the drying process, so some related components may be lost in the final extract. The use of fresh extracts can maximize the extract’s ability to bring more beer flavor and characteristics to the beer. So, as much as possible, choose fresh extracts for extract brewing.
Use special grains

Use special grains

Compared with partial malt or whole-grain brewing, extract brewing limits the unique malt flavor in beer. One way to overcome this limitation is to add special grains to the wort.
Your extract is made from basic grains (also called basic malt). The extract provides sugar that turns into alcohol during the fermentation process. You can adjust the color by adding flavors such as chocolate or coffee, add or reduce bitterness, and even adjust the acidity of the final beer with special grains.
During the extract brewing process, you can soak these grains in hot water to make a kind of “grain tea”. But it needs to be removed before adding the malt extract to the wort. Using special grains allows you to try new malts and add unique flavors to the original craft beer.

Add sugar

Another major difference between whole grain brewing and extract brewing is that whole grain wort made from grains is always easier to ferment than wort made from extracts. The early beer set solves this problem by combining malt extract and fully fermentable sugar to produce dry beer. But, due to the negative reaction of early American home brewing to pale American beer to a large extent, anything that reminds any home brewer of Bud, Miller, or Coors is avoided, including letting them add sugar to craft beer. And other additives.
If the final high gravity is a big problem for you, then using some sugar (sugar cane or corn) in your brewing recipe instead of part of the malt extract can help. Almost every home brewing expert tells brewers to use deeper, less fermentable malt extract instead of sugar, and all beer styles can be used. If your brewing recipe ends up containing more than 10% sugar, please consider adding yeast nutrients to craft beer. Please note that when you add sugar to the extracted wort, the color of craft beer may lighten slightly.
Hops

Hops

Boiling at a lower wort density will greatly help improve the bitterness of the extract. So, extractive brewers should do their best to get the greatest to enjoy hops.
Although it is convenient to put hops in the bag, this will reduce the number of bitter substances (α acids) extracted from the hops. It is recommended to use loose hops to add to your brewing tank. If you let the wort sit in your brewing tank for half an hour after cooling, the sludge will settle to the bottom and you can suck out the clean wort from it. Also, when boiling, it is necessary to remove any hop particles and residue remaining inside the tank.
Consider adding a small amount of neutral and high α acid hops and normal hops to your beer to increase the bitterness of craft beer. Magnum hops usually contain about 16% α acid and does not have strong variety characteristics. If you want your beer to be more bitter, you can add Magnum hops to the beer, which will increase the bitterness of the beer without changing the hop characteristics of the beer.

Cooling

The boiled wort carries more heat than you think and requires a relatively short period of time to lower the wort to the temperature required for fermentation. Also, during the fermentation process, yeast will metabolize and generate a lot of heat. If the temperature cannot be controlled within a certain suitable range during fermentation, the beer may produce an irreversible peculiar smell. Using a wort cooler can cool the wort to the temperature required for fermentation as quickly as possible, and keep the temperature of the fermentation process within an appropriate range. If you are interested in this aspect, you can read our “The importance of cooling and glycol systems in craft breweries” article.
The importance of cooling and glycol systems in craft breweries
The importance of cooling and glycol systems in craft breweries

Temperature control is very important in the beer brewing process. High-quality beer depends on many factors, the most important of which is beer flavor. The flavor of the beer is greatly affected by the fermentation temperature, so it is necessary to maintain the ideal temperature inside the brewing equipment during the brewing process. The consistency

Read More »
The importance of cooling and glycol systems in craft breweries
The importance of cooling and glycol systems in craft breweries

Temperature control is very important in the beer brewing process. High-quality beer depends on many factors, the most important of which is beer flavor. The flavor of the beer is greatly affected by the fermentation temperature, so it is necessary to maintain the ideal temperature inside the brewing equipment during the brewing process. The consistency

Read More »
Water

Water

Malt extract is a concentrated wort that contains all the substances contained in the wort, including dissolved minerals. Any minerals (unknown amount of minerals) in the dilution water will be added to the extract. Unless you have a good reason not to do so, always use soft water (or even distilled water) for extract brewing. Adding a little calcium during boiling can be a good thing in some cases. But, if you try to add salt to the brewing water to make “Burton water”, you will end up with “Burton plus” water due to the minerals already present in the malt extract. Micet Craft engineers recommend that you use carbon to filter city water.

Yeast

After the wort is made, the yeast converts the wort into the beer during the fermentation process. To brew a better beer, you need to provide three conditions for the fermentation process: enough yeast strains, suitable fermentation temperature, and enough ventilation. The first condition is where most extract brewers can improve. A yeast starter can be made, or enough yeast can be obtained from the previous fermentation, and then added to the fermentation tank. The second condition can be accomplished by the cooling and glycol system mentioned in the above article. The third condition can generally be met.
The advantages of extract brewing are its simplicity and the brewing can be completed in a relatively short time and does not must a lot of specialized equipment. Improving the flavor of your craft beer does not necessarily mean spending more time brewing or buying a lot of new equipment. If you can follow the suggestions in the article, you will be able to brew more delicious craft beer.
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