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...

[Matthew]

Oops...

Aiming for 1.054

[Reviled]

Matthew - thats only a 70% OG:BU ratio, so theres definately room for more IBU's if thats what youre wanting, for a pale ale I usually go 75% plus anywhere up to 100% :o) It wont be too bitter, unless youre a pussy ;oP hahaha

[Matthew]

Reviled, What's that calculation you just did? I'm not sure I recall seeing an OG:IBU rating before...

[Reviled]

To work out the OG:BU ratio divide the IBU by the last two numbers on the gravity

So 38 divided by 54, times 100 is roughly around 70%

I generally aim for a specific OG, then times it by whatever OG:BU percentage im going for! Its a really handy calculation I reckon, I dont ever brew a recipe without it...

[Matthew]

Sweet, thanks for that! Now I see the bitterness ratio in BeerSmith. Awesome, I learnt something new :D

[Reviled]

Piece of piss this brewing game eh :D lolz

[MrC]

Personally I think it looks a bit too hoppy. Too much Sauvin can be a bad thing, I think there's a few brewers on here that will testify to that.

Because you don't have any specialty malts to provide additional sweetness I'd keep the IBUs around 30.

Also, I think the 45g @ 10 min might be a bit much. I'd reduce it to around 25g.

With Kolsch being the only malt and a clean US-05 ferment there will be nowhere for the hops to hide.

Just my 2c

[Stu McKinlay]

Mr Cherry's a known fruit beer brewer. He even puts coconut in his porters. Don't listen to him.

Sauvin is a sweet hop and I know that the kolsch malt (from tasting Jokings 1005 kolsch pale ale) is gutsy enough to carry big hop character. So, assuming you are not playing around your soft water, I'd leave the recipe basically as it is but just bump the ibu up a shade (maybe 45). Beers using strong sauvin character must be bitter - this year's Three Boys Golden is a good example. Would love to know the anticipated IBU's of that beer but Ralph's not known for giving away secrets.

I'm sure you'll be more disappointed if the beer is not bitter enough than you will be if it is too bitter (that ain't going to happen, especially with this hop).

[Matthew]

Excellent advice. Thanks Lads. I don't mind a good slap of bitter so I'll up it a touch.

Sorry, Mr Cherry. I can't have the hops hiding, that would take all the fun away ;-)

[Stu McKinlay]

it is the only way you'll really get to know the hop

[Michael]

I just did a very similar recipe to this that I learnt from JT. However, my goal now is to make the flavour of the beer a bit more citrus like. (A flavour similar to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.) I would like your opinions...

94% Pilsner
6% Caramalt

12 gm Casacade 60 Min
12 gm Cascade 30 Min
12 gm Cascade 15 Min
30 gm Cascade 0

Dry Hop Cascade 12 gm in Secondary.

Do you think this will head me in the right direction similar to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale?

[Reviled]

If youre looking for something similair to Sierra Nevada Michael id suggest Pearle hops at 30 and possibly 15 mins as thats what they use for flavour, then they throw a bucket load of cascade in at 0 and probably dry - which brings my next question, US or NZ cascade??

If its US cascade, up the 0 min addition to 50gms and youll be more in the ballpark, and up the dry hops to at least 30gms IMO...

If its NZ cascade, which can be a bit more offensive in higher amounts (again IMO) so your hopping looks about right...

Hope that helps :o)