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Update on extract brew "Old Malty" – plus recipe!

We posted yesterday on our stuck fermentation problems, and how we’re trying an experimental batch with a kit to try and identify where in the process it’s all going wrong.

Obviously, having tried all-grain mashes, there was no way we were just going to follow the recipe – we had to tinker. Because we love the open-source ideal, here’s our recipe;

  • 2 cans of Muntons Gold – Old English Bitter (hopped extract)
  • 1lb carapils & 1 lb Munich malt, steeped in sub-boiling water for 20 minutes
  • 2lbs of light malt extract
  • Hops: 0.5 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6%) for 60 minutes (at boil), 0.5 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6%) for 20 minutes, 0.5 oz Cascades – 5 minutes
  • Gervins English ale yeast (sachet, re-hydrated)

Instructions follow after the jump.

We boiled up around 12 litres of water in the brew kettle, added the extract from the tins, added the “wort” from the steeped grains and the light malt extract, then added enough water to take it to 22 litres. We boiled for an hour and got just under 19 litres.

We chilled the wort by putting a large (sanitised) saucepan full of ice directly into it. We pitched the yeast at 27deg C (sorry about the mix of metric and imperial measures, it’s from trying to follow American instructions with British / European equipment)

Original gravity 1067; it was dark brown in colour, tasted very sweet but very bitter (we think we may have overdone the hops – we assumed that boiling the kits would mean that some of the original bitterness from the kit was lost).

It may look an odd mix of stuff – this is because we had a number of things in the store-cupboard to use up. Having to use extract that’s already hopped threw off our calculations – but hey, this is only supposed to be an experiment. If we get anything drinkable we’ll be delighted.

We’ve affectionately nicknamed it “old Malty” for now. Giving it a proper name early on seems to jinx the process – it either comes out completely different (the oatmeal stout that became a mild) or doesn’t work at all…

Anyway, as I write, it’s been in the “high-fermentation” phase for the last 12 hours and is still blooping away merrily. Fingers crossed it can go all the way this time!

One reply on “Update on extract brew "Old Malty" – plus recipe!”

Just want to say – after a long primary (3 weeks) we bottled this and left it for about 4 months.

It turned out pretty tasty, and a hefty 6.1% ABV. Only problem is a slightly unbalanced bitterness, which I put down to using hopped extract.

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