Im brewing extract from a kit. Pretty basic, but I'd like to step up to more compleys, 2 phase systems
Im hoping you've read some on their forums. Some tips (and only tips, not to be confused with full procedure) from me are:
Cleanliness is next to beeriness. Super clean everything then sanitize with star san per their directions. Remember your hands! at least dip them or spray them with star san or 70% isopropyl before handling anything exposed to the beer after boiling. Infections are nasty things.
Yeasties are the infection you want, not the beasties. If you are brewing anything with a higher OG than 1.050, make a yeast starter. (really anything over 1.040). Or add addional smak paks of yeast equal to 1 pack for every .040 over the original OG of 1.040. So a 1.060 for instance would need two smak paks. 1.080 would need 3. Vials of white labs are the same as smak paks. Bring your yeast to room temp before pitching.
If you are using a dry yeast, stop. Get liquid yeasts fitting the style of beer.
Temp is critical, I will talk about that later.
Fresh Fresh Fresh LME from a place like midwest or NB is waaaay better than the canned crap you get at the local brew store. Add just 1/2 the DME (off of the heat) at the beginning of the boil. Start with a min of 2 1/2 gallons of water (never use chlorinated tap water. ever.) If you have all LME, add just 1/3 of it at the beginning. When all the extract is dissolved OFF OF THE HEAT and you are SURE its all dissolved thoroughly return to heat.
Hot break is important. You gotta approach and reach hot break as quickly as possible. A big hot break helps clarity and flavor. It pulls proteins and tannins out of solution. I skim the hot break, but its up to you, it should fall out at cold break anyway. Add hops per directions. Where you will be brewing weak, you may want to add a qty of hops at 1.5 the amount called for. This is only for this first addition of bittering hops. Later additions should not be so affected.
Which brings me to burners and vessels. You need a big pot to boil 21/2 gals of water plus the extract. think 4 gals or better. And yes, a 7 gallon pot to do a full volume boil is best.( Now you are outside with the turkey fryer tho.)
And you need a burner hot enough to readily get that volume up to and past the rolling boiling stage. This is very important.
Add the rest of the volume of extract 10 mins before the end of the boil. Stop the boil clock, remove from heat, stir in the extract and be sure its dissolved. Return to heat and bring back to a boil
quickly and start the clock when the temp of the wort hits 165 again. add the remaining hops as per directions.
Cold break is of importance too. You must get the wort down from boiling to under 110 degrees as quickly as possible. If you can, buy an immersion chiller. If not a handy tip is to sanitize a half dozen of those blue ice blocks and freeze them in double ziplock bags to keep them sanitized. Drop them (the block and inner bag) right in the wort as you use your ice bath on the outside of the pan. when you are below 80 degrees, create a whirlpool in the wort and siphon from the side of the kettle into the fermenter. This will leave behind 99% of the solids from the hotbreak, cold break, and hop debris.
Aerate the wort rediculously after splash adding the make up water. This means set a timer, cover the opening of the fermenter and shake the snots outta it for 5 full minutes. This step is exhausting. Shaking 50# for 5 mins sucks. But its so necessary for proper fermentation. Or buy a stone and O2 setup...$$. Really take your hydrometer reading now and record your OG. For a kit it should be really close if your
volumes are correctly calibrated.