Hi all,
I’m brewing my second extract kit tomorrow (Ferocious IPA from Midwest) and have a few questions…
-My crushed grains have been crushed and sitting in a closet (ziplock) for about 4 weeks, will this affect anything?
-There is a bit of grain dust I can see in the bag, should I rinse the grains in the muslin bag prior to seeping?
-Any need to rinse/wash/sanitize the muslin bag for seeping?
-Is there an issue when I don’t use 100% of the malt extracts provided? (even after heating in warm water, I can’t seem to get ALL of the extract syrup out of the plastic jugs into the kettle)
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Do things the same way each time
So, pre crushed is fine
Don’t rinse off yummy dust
Sanitizer is for anything post boil
If you want to get it all out, cut it open and scrape it out, but I wouldn’t worry
I’ve never had floaties come off a muslin bag, but if you do - no problem rinsing. It’s just not normally needed. Bits of grain, cotton, etc probably won’t make it to the bottle anyway. They’re likely to settle out and be left behind with the yeast and trub.
Only if it’s a pillow that your significant other is holding over your face (because you won’t stop snoring and they can’t sleep and they just can’t take it anymore because they’ve got to get up tomorrow for a big meeting and it’s already 2 am…) Sorry, got a little personal there.
I always used a ladle to add hot wort back to the LME jug/can to get the last bits of it. Add it let it, sit a bit, swirl it and pour it back into the kettle.
LME pouches were always the biggest PITA, but you can also do this same thing with pouches.
Or, you could buy a bit more than you need and not sweat it.
Geez guys…having some trouble with this one, think I burnt some of the LME, I see these big black sheets of stuff floating in the boiling wort. Any advice?
If you scorched the wort, and it looks like you did, you’re likely to be able to taste it in the finished beer. It might be smoky or burnt.
Taste the wort before you pitch the yeast. I’d go ahead and ferment it anyway even if it has a burnt flavor, unless it’s overpowering. But you’ve really got nothing to lose in fermenting it out.
Crap…yeah it’s not plastic as it breaks apart when you touch it. Its also more of an amber color. Almost like dried seaweed. Really disappointed, I almost had a boil over, wonder if it was related.
I only add extract to hot water- as in around 120F and with the heat off. With bladders of LME it is easy to get all of the extract out. I use the edge of the kettle to squeegee what remains in the bag into the hot water. This also works with late extract additions. It is pretty important to turn the flame off when adding any type of extract or syrup. Get it stirred and dissolved into the wort before the flame is turned back on and you’ll avoid scorching.
My first barleywine got scorched- it took years of cellaring before that flavor dissipated completely.
Based on the latest pic, it looks like you need some kind of heat diffusion between the burner and the pot. This could be a piece of metal, moving the pot further from the burner, or getting a thicker bottomed pot. Or maybe you can just turn the gas down, full blast is not always a great idea. It is obviously getting too hot right above the flames.
