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...

[Chris Banks]

I know its the extremes of what JT's talking about but has any one tried high %'s of munich or vienna or maybe a munich or vienna SMaSH ?

Just thinking what I could make without any basemalt.

[Bambule]

I made a Dunkel once with about 85% munich a bit of pilsner and carafa made up the balance.  It was fantastic.

[jt]

Yea, I think Rev did a munich smash one time.

Picked up some Munich from tye brewshop in Newtown, really good to actually go into a shop and oggle at the goodies for a change. Cory thought there were a few people using Munich as a base malt in a recipe or two.

Got enough to do a repeat of the Digital/analogue ale next weekend with the prescribed amount of munich (was it 10 or 20%) or maybe a bit more and then a brownie with dark crystal and choccies the week after with a slurry repitch of the 1099 I'm pitching in a brownie today . . . brewing season!

[RickyP]

Does anyone know a recipe site where you can type in the ingredients you have and it spits out various styles you could do?

Wondering what to make with some of: Pilsen malt, bohemian pilsner, black, choc wheat, roasted barley, Pacifica, N Sauvin, Sthn Cross & US-05?

Or am I being lazy and need to spend more time learning my styles (or buying other ingredients)?

[Mike Neilson]

Thats easy 100% Pilsner Malt mash @ 68, 2g/l of 20ibu S X @ 60, 1g/l S X @ 0 and 2g/l of N Sauvin @ 0, aim for 1.048 and ferment with US05 @ 16, I reacon it would make a pretty good Hybrid NZ Pilsner     

[Ralph]

Ha, just have a guess at a recipe and then chuck it up here for people to critique for you. If you are just looking to use up ingredients then you can probably get a decent pale ale out of your ingredients as long as you have a lot of the hops?

[RickyP]

Ah sweet, easy as that. Cheers guys.

Still I think it'd be cool if beersmith or a website could auto-suggest styles based on your inventory.

I will give the Hybrid NZ Pilsner a go cause have never tried a single malt mash. I've always stuck away from Pilsners in summer (I ferment in my hallway) but I guess using the 05 sorts that out.

Does mashing out become more important with a single malt to keep some body? Or is it enough to make sure I'm not dropping below 68?

[Ralph]

With Beersmith, if you build a recipe you can then flick through the styles and see where your recipe might fit in terms of colour, SG, bitterness etc so you can sort of use it as a suggestion of what style once you enter some details. To be honest I kind of brew what I think I want to drink and then just kind of find a style that fits so I can call it something that other people will have some idea of what sort of beer it is.

Fermenting with 05 in the hallway in summer time means you will get an ale, but it should still be pretty clean and taste like a psuedo lager...

Have fun and good luck!

[Liam Callaghan]

I usually brew to what I have or go for a taste through the grains in the shop, find a few that taste good and make them into a beer.  Not had too many disappointments, funny thing with them is there is always someone that likes it. 

I've used 05 for 'lagers' in the summer with single malt, they always turn out really well, most people wouldn't pick it, especially if you go for a huge aroma hop at the end.

Just had a taste of my first oatmeal stout and I am stoked with it.  Been in the keg a week so another month and its going to be outstanding :)  To me anyway...

Hot Buttered Stoat:-

4.5kg Maris Otter

0.5kg Flaked Oats

0.5kg Crystal

0.35kg Roasted Barley

0.2kg Chocolate Malt

Fuggles hops 60g, 40g and 20g

25 litres 1.065 to 1.018 with Nottingham yeast

Any comments for future changes would be appreciated

[jt]

outstanding :)  To me anyway...

Yep, that's the bit that matters. I'd go with less crystal because that's the way I like my stout.
Go with your instincts on what flavours that you want to stand out and go for it

[Chris Banks]

Yeah I love my oatstout too.

Just for comparison mines

Base 68%

Oatmalt 10%

Roast 10%

Carared 6%

Choc 4%

Light Crystal 2%

OG 1.052

[Liam Callaghan]

It amazes me the number of recipe types for stouts, seems the grain bill can vary greatly.  Tried a cracker at a friends house last night.  I think I tried it a little too much as I am feeling a bit rough this morning haha.  I'll have a go with your grain bill next Chris.  I'd still be a bit nervous putting in 10% roasted barley though. 

You use any particular yeast?

Mine was actually Saf 05 after checking my notes this morning - the pc is not in my workshop so my Beersmith recipes are not always the same as I brew, quite often I'll make a change on the fly when I am brewing, especially if I happen to taste a few of the grains...