Recipe Advice Thread

[denimglen]

Thought it might be handy to have a thread for some of the more advanced brewers to give some advice on recipes.

Let's see how it goes eh...

[Andrew]

I think SMaSH is a good experiment to do but it would most likely be a waste of a day on a low gravity beer. I'd do it with something of about 4.5/5% at least..

[James Lawson]

Duly noted, that's the conclusion I've come to as well. Gotta love forums. Thanks guys.

[jt]

OK, next up after the JTomato soup is another Little Brownie
80% Malteurop
15%  Dark Crystal
5%  Chocolates
Smidgie of Black

Looking at 1033 with a repitch of '05
The hops are nearly a repeat, Super Alpha and then Sauvin & cascade
But one change - I have cascade cones left over from my brothers departure.
Now I've heard and read varying calculations for substituting cones for pellets, anywhere between 15 and 33%
And I know I'll need to allow for greater wort loss to the cones

Any other hints, trips or tricks to brewing with cones ?

[Andrew]

Wash your hands before you try and read a magazine or you'll end up with all the pages stuck you your hands. Isn't a good look if your wife walks in and you've been reading her Womans Day and got pieces of Pippa Wetzell stuck all over you.

[jt]

cheers chap, I take it you wear rubber gloves in the brewery now ?

[Andrew]

Nah,

  I don't mind a bit of Pippa on me

[jt]

Oh, the yates gardening book is ok with the wife as long it's not on the page featuring broad beans, any other veg is fine

 

Secondly, cones blocked the auto syphon - no danged fancy kettle taps here !

[jt]

Any other hints, trips or tricks to brewing with cones ?

 

Ok guys, where's the reply that says "watch the absorbsion jt"

Is Pippa Wetzel & sticky hands really the best you guys can do (winky winky smiley etc)

 

Looked like a big loss to absorbsion to start with, looking like 4 litres of soggy cones in the botton of the tin thing, but with a long slow drain, much muttering and swearing  I came out pretty close to planned. Allowed 1 litre per 100gm of cones, ended up maybe 1.25 to 1.5

 

Lesson learnt, I aint set up to use cones ... Cascade Cones swap in North Welly ?

[jt]

This was a shit of a brew day but the beer turned out great - it's probably how I thought Stu's suggestion of PKB Mild should be, richly bitter and pouring like water from the fridge tap
I probably underestimated the AA of the cascade cones not knowing what they were or their age.
I'm brewing again, but with pellets - passed the cones onto Chris - and one less hop addition but still up around 50IBU i think
Also dropping the OG down a point from 1.033 to 1.032, just dropping out some pale
So all weighed ready to mill
85% Malteurop
9% Dark Crystal
3% Pale Chocolate
2% Chocolate
1% Black
1.032 with 14 IBU Super Alpha to bitter then 1g cascade 0.5g Sauvin at 20 10 & 1
Standard repitch of '05 using Jo's magic slurry repitch instructions

[Matt Cox]

Hi guys. I'm planning a Holiday porter/stout and I'd be keen to hear your thoughts/suggestions on the recipe.

It'll be a 10 litre batch, as a bit of a test run. This'll also be my first official all grain, since I normally do 20 litre partial mashes (due to equipment size).

So here goes:

Holiday Porter
Batch Size: 10.00 L

Ingredients
2.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 90.9 %
0.10 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 4.5 %
0.10 kg Roasted Barley (1200.0 EBC) Grain 4.5 %
30.00 gm Liberty [4.30%] (60 min) Hops 28.1 IBU
1.00 tsp Allspice, ground (Boil 5.0 min)
1.00 tsp Cinnamon, ground (Boil 5.0 min)
1.00 tsp Nutmeg, ground (Boil 5.0 min)
1 Pkgs American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Color: 66.0 EBC
Bitterness: 28.1 IBU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.8 %

Mash Grain Weight: 2.20 kg
Grain Temperature: 22.2 C Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Sparge Water: 5.72 L

Mash In: Add 5.74 L of water at 77.0 C.
Mash at 70.0 C 60 min

[JoKing]

My opinion is that it'll end up more like a spiced guiness looking at that recipe... although you're mashing high... that US-05 will more than likely take it past the 1.015 you are predicting. I'd throw 10% Caramel Malt in there to sweeten things up a bit.

[Mark]

Subtlety is key with spice additions, too much and your beer will taste revolting. Personally I'd use way less than a teaspoon of each, especially in a 10L batch. Try something like Emmerson's Taieri George, and if you like it maybe err on the better half of a teaspoon, if you think it's drain pour, only use a pinch of each.