The following recipe applies to all of the Extract Recipes

Most Home Brewers are not able to boil the full five gallon batch. Our Extract recipe's allow  for the addition of water with the cooked wort.   2-1/2 to 3 gallons pre chilled water, to make a five gallon batch.

Read these Steps First, to make your brewing session  smoother.

Always use Clean, chemical free water. Many brewers because of the chlorides added to there local water. Use Drinking or Spring bottled water. ( The 50 cent a gallon water is just fine.)  This does not need to be and should NOT be Demineralized water, Softened water or anything other than plain chlorine free drinking water.

1) If you are using Wyeast. Make sure the bag is a least 1 inch thick before starting. Follow the instruction on the back of the bag, to make your yeast starter.

2) Pre Chill (refrigerate) 3 gallons of clean, chorine free water.

2)  After washing fermenter with very mild soapy water, rinse well.  In the fermenter add 1 gallon warm water and One level tablespoon of the One Step Cleaner- Sanitizer. Or Like Sanitizer. Mix well with a glove on (long Playtex style) and wipe down the insides of the bucket, lid of the bucket, and air-lock. If using a Glass Carboy stir very well. Make sure the Sanitizer is completely dissolved. Pour some of the Sanitizer over the air lock and stopper. Dump out all the Sanitizer. On a clean paper towel, with the bucket upside down, let all the equipment, drip and dry air. Place some plastic wrap over the top of the glass fermenter, after it is sanitized, so it will be ready later.  Do not rinse. Let Sanitizer air dry only.                                                                                                Lets Get Started

3) For your grains (specialty malts). Heat enough water to equal. 1.4 quarts water to each pound of grain.

Example; If you have..1/2 Lb. Chocolate malt, 1/2 Lb. Crystal 60l, 1/2 Lb. English Brown Malt    1/2 x 3=1.5 pounds of malt, times 1.4 quarts water = 2.1 quarts water. Always round UP to the nearest 1/2.  Ok, Start With 2-1/2 Quarts of water. (Mash Water)  In a pot that will hold the grain and water heat the 2-1/2 quarts of water to 155 degrees. If using a grain bag, make sure the filled grain bag is totally immersed in the water and completely soaked. The grain will continue to steep in the water for 30 minutes at 150 degrees. This may be hard on a electric stove top to keep the right temperature. So place your Covered Pot in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees for the 30 minutes. Your Mashing. Now lets Sparge out all the tasty fermentable sugars, remove all that great color and flavor. While the grain is mashing. Heat 2-1/2 quarts of water to 180 degrees. If you don't have a mash tun & Sparge arm assembly. Look around in your kitchen. Do you have a colander, or a fryer basket? Some thing you can place over your brew pot, so when you pour the mashed grains into it. It will hold the grains in place and let the liquid drain into your brew pot. After the 30 minutes mashing time, pour the grains and mash water into the your strainer, letting the mash water drip into the brew pot. Using a perforated spoon. Dip out a 1/2 cup of the 180 degree water. Pour the water into the perforated spoon, and let the water shower the grain. This will start to rinse the grain an remove all the tasty fermentable sugars, remove all that great color and flavor. Your Sparging. After sparging out the grain remove the grain bag and discard. Add water to your brew pot, to bring it up to 2 gallons. Reheat the wort on stove top. But remove before it comes to a boil. 

                If using Dry Malt, blend the malt into the wort well.

               If using canned  Malt.  Open can, place open can upright into a small pan with 2-3 inches of water.                Let the water come to a boil for 4-5 min. This will soften the malt and allow it to pour easier.

Add all malts and blend well. Add a cup of the warm mix into containers to remove all malt. Return pot to heat and bring to a boil for two minutes. Remove from heat.

For Dry Yeast: In sanitized small container, that can hold 2 -3cups liquid. Drip out 2 cups of the wort. Place wort into a freezer covered to cool. Wort should cool to approximately 85 deg. (Baby bottle temp.) Sprinkle in the Yeast, lightly stir and let stand until later covered. (NOTE: wort temperature over 85 degrees can kill some yeast.)

Now for the Boil

Get ready to smell a little bit of heaven. Bring the wort back to a boil. Add the first hops. This is your bittering hops. Most bittering hops will remain in the pot for the complete 60 minute boil. The Flavor and Aroma Hops will be at the end of the boil. The Total Boil Time for each hops, is listed in the recipe.

Example: Heavy Brown Ale.. 1/2 oz. Fuggles ( 60 min.) This first addition of hops will be in the boil for 60 minutes. The second hop addition.. 1/2 oz. Fuggle (15 min.) will be in the boil for only 15 minutes. OR since this is a 60 minute boil. The second hops is added after 45 minutes of boil time. The last hops.. 1/2 oz. Fuggles,is many times added into a hop bag. This is the finish hops. It is added the last 2 minutes of the boil. and then removed from the pot.

If the recipe calls for the addition of Irish Moss. Add this the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Always keep a eye on the boil. Stir it every 4 or 5 minutes. Be on the look out for the            BOIL OVER Gremlin. A sticky mess can happen very quickly if not watching the brew pot.

At the end of the boil. Remove the pot from the heat.

Place your brew pot covered, into a sink . Fill the sink with 3-4 inches of cold water. (Adding ice to the water will speed the cooling faster). LET THE POT COOL TO TOUCH.

Pour one gallon of the pre chilled water into your sanitized fermenter. Add into the fermenter the cooled Wort. Top up to the five-gallon mark on your fermenter with the pre-chilled water.  Sanitizes the test jar and the  hydrometer. Careful it is glass.  (CAREFUL IT IS GLASS). Log this reading.                                       Aerate the Wort WELL by stirring vigorously. This really needs to be done for about 2 minutes.

Add the rehydrated yeast mix or the Wyeast starter, when the Wort is at 70-72 degrees.

Seal fermenter and add air lock. Air lock should be filled half way with clean water.

The Wort should start to ferment in 8 to 12 hours. And will ferment for approximately 5 to 7 days at 70 to 72 degrees for Ales. If the temperature falls below 69 degrees the Wort will slow or stop. If the Wort temperature raises above 75 degrees, it will finish to rapidly.

After the Wort has stopped fermenting and the air lock is no longer moving. Place it high enough, where you will be able to siphon down to the bottling bucket. (Example the kitchen counter to a chair). Wait another 24 hours before testing.

Sanitizes the test jar and the hydrometer. Careful it is glass.  (CAREFUL IT IS GLASS). Log this reading. Normally it is about 1.010.

Sanitize the bottling bucket, bottles, caps, siphon assembly. Opening the fermenter   means YOU ARE READY.

If you use a siphon assembly to the fermenter. Pinch off the one end of the siphon hose and fill the hose with clean water. Attach the other end of the hose to the siphon-curved end. Into a small container let the water flow after releasing the clip. After the water flows out. Let the beer flow into the bottling bucket DOWN THE SIDES or into the bottom. It is important not to splash the beer as it enters the bottling bucket.

As the beer flows into the bottling bucket remove two cups into a sanitized container. Blend well the priming sugar into the 2 cups of beer.

Pour slowly the priming sugar mix back into the beer. Being careful not to splash or aerate the beer. With the paddle blend or fold the priming sugar in. Cover the bottling bucket.

Attach the sanitized bottle filler to the bottling bucket spigot. (Using approximately 1-1/2 inches of the tubing.) Open spigot and let beer flow into the filler tube. With a Sanitized bottle. Insert the filler into the bottle and release the air. Continue to fill bottles 5 at a time and place cap on top. After five bottles start capping and continue until done.

Place all bottles out of light for 7 days to ferment. Place as many bottles as you can into your refrigerator for two weeks to age. ENJOY… Darker beer will take longer to age.