This week’s knowledge segment from Austin Homebrew Supply covers the different versions of our house and clone recipes, special requests, and some plans for the future of these recipes. As many of you already know AHS offers more than 1200 standard house and clone recipes in three different versions: Extract, Mini-Mash and All Grain. They are designed to be consistent from version to version, but we still get some questions that are important to address.
Extract Recipe Kits:
Brewing an extract kit is the perfect way for a new brewer to get started and learn about the various stages of the brewing process, while producing top quality beer that the brewer and their friends will enjoy time and again. On average it takes about three or four hours to complete the brew process for an extract recipe kit. AHS house and clone extract recipes contain a liquid malt extract, specialty grains and/or special ingredients (if needed), hops, yeast fuel nutrient, whirlfloc tablet for clarification (select brews) and instructions. Extract recipes use a liquid malt extract solely to provide the fermentable sugars. If there are any specialty grains, the grains are milled and packaged fresh into a single use muslin bag so that they may be steeped to extract the flavors, aromas and colors that define the malt character of the brew. The instruction sheet will include: detailed directions on when to add the extract, grains, and hops, the temperatures needed for each stage of the process, preparation of the equipment, when to pitch yeast, racking into a secondary fermenter, bottling, and how to calculate abv %. Click here for AHS house extract kits.
An oldie but a goody. How to brew Beer Video.
All Grain Recipe Kits:
AHS house and clone All Grain recipe kits will have all of the same specialty grains, hops and special ingredients that the extract or mini-mash recipes contain, but generally do not contain any malt extracts. All of the fermentable sugars are converted and extracted from the included grains in the recipe. To brew an AHS five gallon all grain recipe kit, the brewer will need a boil kettle of at least eight gallons, plus all of the equipment they had for extract and mini-mash brewing. An all grain brewer needs an eight gallon or larger kettle because all grain batches from AHS start with a boil volume of 6.5 gallons which will be boiled down to five gallons. Eight gallon/32 quart kettles have the room to accommodate those volumes. A mash tun is a vessel in which all of the grains are soaked in 150-155°F water for an hour or more to extract and convert carbohydrates into fermentable sugars. Mashing temperatures and times may vary by style. Conversion is confirmed by conducting an iodine test using an iodine tincture. After conversion is confirmed the mash is sparged with 170°F with water from the hot liquor tank. Our mash tuns have a false bottom, 2 piece ball valve and assembly to connect to the false bottom. A hot liquor tank is like a mash tun but has no false bottom. The instructions for the AHS house and clone all grain recipe kit will include detailed directions for mash temperatures and times, how much to adjust bittering hops based on a full boil, hop schedules, yeast prep and pitching, bottling, and how to calculate abv. When brewing all grain plan to set aside 5-7 hours for your brew day and a 12 pack for you and a friend. When I brew, it’s most of my day. Click here for AHS house all grain recipe kits.
It’s also important to point out that ALL standard Austin Homebrew Supply house and clone recipes are designed and built first as an all grain beer, and then converted into extract and mini-mash recipes. Designing beers this way promotes consistency across all versions of a recipe and is in line with professional practices in the brewing industry. This is also a major advantage for brewers looking to step into all grain. By brewing all grain, the world of brewing is opened up to limitless possibilities in style, design and experimentation.
Another oldie but goodie. Brewing All Grain Video
