Treatise on Extract Brewing

I've caught up to where I had decided to switch to all grain brewing, and before I leave that chapter behind, I wanted to dedicate a post to advice, tricks and tips, etc. on extract brewing.  Once again, I don't consider myself an expert, and I won't be so arrogant  to say that my way is the right way.  But it has worked well for me, so I'm passing it on.

Extract brewing makes good beer
I've made 18 beers using extract and specialty grains, 16 of which were partial boil on my stovetop. I, my family, my friends, and my co-workers have enjoyed every single one of them.  I'll discuss in the next post why I decided to switch to all grain, but I want to go on record saying that it is not necessary to make the switch.  You can make good beer using malt extracts.  There are tremendous options for specialty grains, hops, yeast, and full kits.  As homebrewers, we have better access to varieties of hops than a 10 barrel brewpub. I know this is a bit of a controversial opinion, but I think if a homebrewer wanted to go a lifetime brewing only extract beers, he or she could, and make good beer too.

Brew day basic outline
I've spelled my process out in great detail on a brew-by-brew basis, so this is more of an overview list.

1. Sanitize all cold side equipment in Star San solution
2. Heat 3 gallons of water in 5 gallon kettle to 155F
3. Steep specialty grains in muslin bag for 20-30 minutes
4. Remove specialty grains and drain the bag.  Do not squeeze, do not rinse.
5. Bring wort to boil
6. Remove from heat (take kettle off of burner)
7. Add malt extracts
8. Return to boil
9. Add hops, late malts, and special ingredients per boil schedule
10. Add flame out, chill the wort in an ice bath or with immersion wort chiller to 100F
11. Dilute with 2 gallons of 40F water in the kettle
12. Transfer by siphoning or through a kettle valve into the primary fermenter
13. Top off to fermenter volume (usually 5 gallons) with room temperature water
14. Pitch yeast
15. Close it up and leave it alone for at least a week, maybe 2
16. Transfer to secondary if necessary
17. Dry hop directly in secondary if the recipe calls for it
18. Transfer to bottling bucket and add priming sugar.  Use a calculator.  5 oz is too much. My number is around 4.1 to 4.2 oz these days.  Stir with a sanitized spoon
19. Bottle and cap
20. Put the bottles somewhere over 70F ambient
21. Wait at least 2 weeks
22. Taste. If it's flat, wait 1-2 more weeks, then try again.
23. Enjoy

When I help a first timer
Recently, I've had the opportunity to help a couple of friends with their first brews.  Generally they've bought a starter kit and some recipe kit.  I've loaned bits and pieces of equipment to fill in gaps- usually my 5 gallon kettle or a bottle capper or whatever else they need. I really enjoy this hobby and I don't want a first timer to get discouraged because they don't have the right gear.  Then, I come over to their house with a couple of full bottles and help them empty them on brew day.  I try to let them take the lead - most kits have very complete instructions - and I jump in to answer questions or lend a hand as necessary. Ok, I'm sure I give way too much unsolicited advice too.  But to me, this is really about sharing my passion. If I can help someone out with their first brew (and answer questions on subsequent brews), and in doing so, help them find enjoyment in something I enjoy, then I've done what I set out to do.

Random list of tips and tricks

1. This is #1 on almost anyone's list. Sanitize.  Don't cheat at this.  Everything that is going to touch the wort or beer after the boil needs to be sanitized.  I use Star San because it has worked for me.  I haven't had any infections.  I can't complain about those results
2. Clean up quickly.  After the boil, clean the kettle and everything else you used ASAP. The remnants of the wort turn into some kind of impenetrable glue, so the longer you wait, the harder it will be to clean. The same goes for a primary after transferring, secondary and bottling equipment after bottling and bottles after drinking.  I clean all of those using oxy clean free.  Again, it has worked for me so far, so I see no reason to change. If fermenting vessel is really gummed up, soaking helps.
3. Make sure you have plenty of ice if you chill in an ice bath.  I started to buy a 20 lb bag of ice for each brew when I bought my bottled water, and when I chilled I melted all of this ice, plus most of my ice maker's ice.
4. Using a nylon hop bag: probably not.  I think this one is really up to the brewer, but I'm not doing it any more.  I generally used one for beers that were not dry hopped and didn't bother on dry hopped beers since I was going to put dry hops directly in the secondary.   I use a sanitized bag on the discharge end of the the transfer hose when I transfer a dry hopped beer to the bottling bucket or keg to keep most of the hops out of the glass.
5. If you are going to use a nylon hop bag in the boil, I got a nice tip at Bailee's on how to clean it:  After draining the liquid from the bag, fold it up in some aluminum foil and put that in the freezer.  The next morning (or in my case, the next brew day, pull that out and you can pull the whole mess out as a big hopsicle without burning your hands.  Then rinse and boil the bag to get the staining out.
6. Chilling strategy: Lapsing into engineering for a moment- the conductive heat transfer rate is proportional to the square of the temperature difference.  This means you're going to get much faster chilling if you keep this difference as large as possible.  Ice water is 32F and you can't really change that.  But, if you use the ice bath to chill 3 ish gallons to 100F, then dilute with chilled water, this will be much faster than if you add the chilled water first and try to chill 5 gallons all the way down to 70.  Convective heat transfer is faster if the fluids are moving, so it pays to keep stirring the wort and the ice bath.  Nerdy enough?

What I should have done differently

1. Bought a water filter.  I never wanted to brew with my tap water because it is chlorinated. Chlorine is added to municipal water systems to kill micro-organisms.  This doesn't sound like something that yeast would like. Instead, I bought 6-8 gallons of bottled spring water from the grocery store for each brew.  Let's call that 7 average times 16 brews = 112 gallons of bottled water.  At about $1 apiece, I'm out $112 for water, not to mention I recycled 112 1-gallon bottles. When I switched to all grain, I bought a $35 under sink carbon filter.  I definitely should have done that sooner.
2. Electric stoves don't regulate heat very well.  You have to pick up the kettle to avoid a boil over, move the kettle off the burner to add malt extracts, etc.  If your budget allows it, a propane or natural gas burner is way easier.