The holidays have passed, we’ve all had to loosen our belts a bit and now it’s time to get serious about brewing again. I thought I would start off the new year with a tip that all extract brewers can use. It may seem obvious for some of the more experienced brewers out there, but for those just starting out it may save you some time and frustration….
I don’t know about you guys but when I am brewing with extract syrups, honey or other high viscosity (read: thick) liquids it takes forever to pour them out and then you have to scrape the sides of the container! It is also well known in the home brewing community that if you heat up a high viscosity liquid it will temporarily lower the viscosity (make it flow better). Most people would recommend you put the cans of malt extract in the sink and run hot water over it… that may work for some but you’ll be using a lot of water and then you won’t be able to use your sink temporarily.
Protip: if you have a small cooler, fill that with the hottest tap water you can get right before you start heating up the water. Throw your cans of malt in there and close it up until you are ready to use them. Be careful though, the cans will be very hot when you pull them out of the cooler, you might want to wear cooking mitts.
Happy Brewing!