Thanks for all the answers to my other question...Now I have another.
When I was going through my equipment I found gypsium. I have no idea what
it is for. Any help. Also most of the recipes say to add the hops, do I just
put them in the water or in the mesh bag and "brew" them? The malt I got is
a powder form and will disolve.
Where does the brewing take place? It seems that it is all disolving rather
than putting things in a mesh bag and steeping it.
Thanks...

[color=blue]
> Thanks for all the answers to my other question...Now I have another.[/color]

Go over and read: [url]http://www.howtobrew.com/[/url]

It will answer all your questions! :)

[color=blue]
> When I was going through my equipment I found gypsium. I have no idea what
> it is for. Any help.[/color]

Gypsum is used to condition your water for certain types of beers with
certain water types. I would think that usually it isn't needed,
certainly for a beginner and certainly for a first kit. It probably
won't matter much if you use it or not for an extract batch.

[color=blue]
> Also most of the recipes say to add the hops, do I just
> put them in the water or in the mesh bag and "brew" them? The malt I got is
> a powder form and will disolve.
> Where does the brewing take place? It seems that it is all disolving rather
> than putting things in a mesh bag and steeping it.[/color]

Hmmm.... you should have better instructions than that... again go and
read thru the website above, especially the extract brewing part.
Simple outline is:
1. Steep CRUSHED grain in hot water (if any are in the kit)
2. Remove grain, raise water to boiling.
3. Cut heat, add malt extract, stir, stir, stir.
4. Return to boil (watching for boilovers!)
5. Add boiling (bittering) hops.
6. Boil for about 45 minutes, add flavor hops (if any)
7. Boil 15 more minutes, cut heat, add aroma hops (if any)
8. Cool as fast and as well as you can.
9. Pour thru a strainer into a fermenter.
10. Top up with water to correct volume (5 gal?)
11. Add yeast when below 80F.

Again, these are just rough notes with no water volumes, etc.
howtobrew.com will give you all the details.

NOTE - there are some new-fangled "no boil" kits that might have different
instructions... never seen one myself...

Derric

thanks...that is a good site.. I googled it but didn't have time to look
through the 10 million matches.


"Derric" <derric1961@removethis.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:slrndrr5n2.3je.derric1961@bhm29.hiwaay.net...[color=blue]
>[color=green]
>> Thanks for all the answers to my other question...Now I have another.[/color]
>
> Go over and read: [url]http://www.howtobrew.com/[/url]
>
> It will answer all your questions! :)
>
>[color=green]
>> When I was going through my equipment I found gypsium. I have no idea
>> what
>> it is for. Any help.[/color]
>
> Gypsum is used to condition your water for certain types of beers with
> certain water types. I would think that usually it isn't needed,
> certainly for a beginner and certainly for a first kit. It probably
> won't matter much if you use it or not for an extract batch.
>
>[color=green]
>> Also most of the recipes say to add the hops, do I just
>> put them in the water or in the mesh bag and "brew" them? The malt I got
>> is
>> a powder form and will disolve.
>> Where does the brewing take place? It seems that it is all disolving
>> rather
>> than putting things in a mesh bag and steeping it.[/color]
>
> Hmmm.... you should have better instructions than that... again go and
> read thru the website above, especially the extract brewing part.
> Simple outline is:
> 1. Steep CRUSHED grain in hot water (if any are in the kit)
> 2. Remove grain, raise water to boiling.
> 3. Cut heat, add malt extract, stir, stir, stir.
> 4. Return to boil (watching for boilovers!)
> 5. Add boiling (bittering) hops.
> 6. Boil for about 45 minutes, add flavor hops (if any)
> 7. Boil 15 more minutes, cut heat, add aroma hops (if any)
> 8. Cool as fast and as well as you can.
> 9. Pour thru a strainer into a fermenter.
> 10. Top up with water to correct volume (5 gal?)
> 11. Add yeast when below 80F.
>
> Again, these are just rough notes with no water volumes, etc.
> howtobrew.com will give you all the details.
>
> NOTE - there are some new-fangled "no boil" kits that might have different
> instructions... never seen one myself...
>
> Derric
>
>[/color]

"Derric" <derric1961@removethis.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:slrndrr5n2.3je.derric1961@bhm29.hiwaay.net...[color=blue]
>[color=green]
>> Thanks for all the answers to my other question...Now I have another.[/color]
>
> Go over and read: [url]http://www.howtobrew.com/[/url]
>
> It will answer all your questions! :)
>
>[color=green]
>> When I was going through my equipment I found gypsium. I have no idea
>> what
>> it is for. Any help.[/color]
>
> Gypsum is used to condition your water for certain types of beers with
> certain water types. I would think that usually it isn't needed,
> certainly for a beginner and certainly for a first kit. It probably
> won't matter much if you use it or not for an extract batch.
>
>[color=green]
>> Also most of the recipes say to add the hops, do I just
>> put them in the water or in the mesh bag and "brew" them? The malt I got
>> is
>> a powder form and will disolve.
>> Where does the brewing take place? It seems that it is all disolving
>> rather
>> than putting things in a mesh bag and steeping it.[/color]
>
> Hmmm.... you should have better instructions than that... again go and
> read thru the website above, especially the extract brewing part.
> Simple outline is:
> 1. Steep CRUSHED grain in hot water (if any are in the kit)
> 2. Remove grain, raise water to boiling.
> 3. Cut heat, add malt extract, stir, stir, stir.
> 4. Return to boil (watching for boilovers!)
> 5. Add boiling (bittering) hops.
> 6. Boil for about 45 minutes, add flavor hops (if any)
> 7. Boil 15 more minutes, cut heat, add aroma hops (if any)
> 8. Cool as fast and as well as you can.
> 9. Pour thru a strainer into a fermenter.
> 10. Top up with water to correct volume (5 gal?)
> 11. Add yeast when below 80F.
>
> Again, these are just rough notes with no water volumes, etc.
> howtobrew.com will give you all the details.
>
> NOTE - there are some new-fangled "no boil" kits that might have different
> instructions... never seen one myself...
>
> Derric[/color]

Why pour thru a strainer? I have left the hops and moss in the fermenter.
Will it change the taste to strain it before fermenting?

[color=blue][color=green]
>> 9. Pour thru a strainer into a fermenter.[/color][/color]
....
[color=blue]
> Why pour thru a strainer? I have left the hops and moss in the fermenter.
> Will it change the taste to strain it before fermenting?[/color]

Good question... I probably don't have a good answer... :) There is
probably not a great taste change either way... The best thing to do is
to plan two identical brews and do one each way and see! Let us know if
you do, and the results. ((I don't brew extract anymore much, so don't
use a strainer at all anymore ... )).

Derric

Derric wrote:
[color=blue]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> 9. Pour thru a strainer into a fermenter.[/color][/color]
> ...
>[color=green]
>> Why pour thru a strainer? I have left the hops and moss in the fermenter.
>> Will it change the taste to strain it before fermenting?[/color]
>
> Good question... I probably don't have a good answer... :) There is
> probably not a great taste change either way... The best thing to do is
> to plan two identical brews and do one each way and see! Let us know if
> you do, and the results. ((I don't brew extract anymore much, so don't
> use a strainer at all anymore ... )).
>
> Derric[/color]

well, typically at this point the hops are done adding to the brew. If one
was to leave it in, it could possibly affect the taste detrimentaly so one
removes that and anything else one can to prevent a grassy flavor imparted
as at this stage you're primarily concerned with fermentation. This can
take a week or so and some brews you want to leave in the fermentor for
longer than this, so anything you can remove, you do, as longterm effects
of leaving stuff in for a long time can be quite unknown. Unless working
from a known recipe and are experimenting to see what it would do, it's
best just to remove whatever one can.
-gcitagh
--
subjugate the rhyme and rock with the rhythm
only got one line to balk all the schizm

Brian,

Leaving the hops will not affect flavor. Primarily, hops impart flavor
to the beer through resins that are drawn out through high temp. If
anything, using the strainer only leads to a higher chance of
contamination as you add cooled wort to the fermentation bucket. If
you are going to use the strainer, make sure to dip it in your boiling
wort for 5 minutes to kill any bacteria before straining. I always
take the simple route and leave the hops in. They will be left behind
when your siphon to the secondary anyways.

John

John M wrote:
[color=blue]
> Brian,
>
> Leaving the hops will not affect flavor. Primarily, hops impart flavor
> to the beer through resins that are drawn out through high temp. If
> anything, using the strainer only leads to a higher chance of
> contamination as you add cooled wort to the fermentation bucket. If
> you are going to use the strainer, make sure to dip it in your boiling
> wort for 5 minutes to kill any bacteria before straining. I always
> take the simple route and leave the hops in. They will be left behind
> when your siphon to the secondary anyways.
>
> John[/color]

Hell, why don't you just leave them in and bottle?
--
subjugate the rhyme and rock with the rhythm
only got one line to balk all the schizm

WOW...lots of help from all of you! Thanks...I will try to leave the hops in
and see how it tastes then brew another batch and strain them and
compare...good advice! Again Thanks...

Brew won't take place for a while but I will try to post updates if anyone
is interested.

So my last post is probably a little misleading. The hops from you
boil won't impart flavor, b/c all the oils have already been extracted
and or boiled off. Adding dry hops to the fermenter after the boil
would change flavor. Here's a good description of how hops provide
flavor/aroma/bitterness:
[url]http://realbeer.com/hops/aroma.html[/url]