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...

[Steve Manning]

Cheers I downloaded some to my IPad using ITunes so I am all go

[Tilt]

If you don't want to use iTunes then Juice is useful.  You can set it up to automatically receive and store Jamil show episodes as they're available and then burn CDs from the files it puts on your computer.

[James Millar]

Hey guys, I'm 3 brews into all grain and loving it! For my next batch I'm going to try to clone Epic Armageddon, or at least produce something similar. I've based the following on information on the grains and hops from the Epic website, and fed it into Brewtarget. In Brewtarget I’ve used a 25L target boil size to 21L target batch size, although I’ll probably use 28L to get a 21L batch size as my past batches I’m losing ~7L through the process:

OG 1069

FG 1017

ABV 6.7%

65 IBU

Mash: 20L @68 degrees for 60min, with 1tsp gypsum

Sparge: 8L @70 degrees

Boil: 60min

 

Malt:
6.5kg golden promise pale

500g caramalt

Hops:

Not really sure about the relative amounts of each of these, so I thought I'd just try equal amounts of each, at a number of additions:

5g US Simcoe

5g US Columbus

5g US Centennial

5g US Cascade

@60min

@40min

@20min

@15min

@5min

@3min

@flameout

dry hop with 50g cascade

Yeast: US-05
Finings: 1tsp irish moss

Immersion chilled down to ~20 degrees

Thoughts? This is the first recipe I've put together myself rather than just using ones I've found on teh interwebs, so any input from more experienced brewers would be most valuable...

Also, I’ve never done a flameout hop addition before – should I leave my hop bag in the pot while I’m chilling, or just leave it in a few minutes before pulling it out and chillling?

[Kelly Milligan]

Hey James,

Sounds pretty good, I know that the Armageddon focuses a lot on Whirlpool hop additions and a couple of dry hop doses. So if you're aiming to try get closer to that I'd recommend adding your flameout hops then give the pot a really good stir to do a manual whirlpool. Chuck the lid on the pot then let it sit hot for 15-30mins. Then turn on your IC and cool as usual. I'd then also up those dry hops to be a mix of mainly simcoe and centenniel, and maybe 50-100g of each :)

 

[James Millar]

Cheers, will definitely try that. When doing flameout hop additions, would you recommend removing the hop bag containing the boil hops, or just chucking fresh hops in the hop bag as well?

If I flameout, hop then whirlpool, adding the immersion chiller after 15-30min will stir up the trub cone from the bottom (especially if I'm moving the chiller around constantly to maximise heat exchange efficiency). Would it be worth whirlpooling again once the wort is down to ~20 degrees, to settle out the trub once more?

[Kelly Milligan]

I'd just leave the boil hops in there too, you'll keep extracting a bit of bitterness from them over that hot whirlpool time, but for a big IPA that's a good thing!

Yep that's what I do, I chuck the IC in the boil at 15mins to sterilize, whirlpool with it in there, then once I remove it after cooling I elevate my pot (so I can syphon), and give it another manual whirlpool, leaving it for about 10 mins to re settle before transferring from the top. This happens to work really well for my current set up anyway, once I get a nice pot with a valve and pickup tube + plate chiller that will be really simplified!

[Alun]

Hi everyone,

                I was thinking of brewing an English style Barleywine and given the length of time it needs to age ( 6 months or more) I though I should ask for advice on hopping it. 

Do you guys have any suggestions/experience with what NZ hops to use?

Cheers

[Alun]

So I've been thinking about something like this.

Recipe Specs
----------------
Original Gravity (OG): 1.104 (°P): 24.6
Final Gravity (FG): 1.026 (°P): 6.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 10.22 %
Colour (SRM): 19.1 (EBC): 37.6
Bitterness (IBU): 63.3 (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
9.086 kg NZ Pale (89%)
0.510 kg Crystal 60 (5%)
0.306 kg Crystal 120 (3%)
0.306 kg Biscuit (3%)

Hop Bill

----------------
50.0 g Pacific Gem Pellet (13.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (2.5 g/L)
25.0 g NZ Golding Pellet (5.5% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
25.0 g NZ Golding Pellet (5.5% Alpha) @ 7 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)

What do you think?

Is there anything I'm missing? 

Is there enough hops to balance out the Alcohol? 

Should I just do a single grain barley wine? 

[Scarrfie]

I have not done a beer that big but in absence of someone more skilled at this answering, hey it looks okay to me. Bitterness and hop flavour do fade over time, so you can get away with more hops. I tend to brew more to what I think I would like to drink rather than following styles too closely, so for me I would probably go 100 IBU for a big beer like that. PG & NZ Golding is a nice combo. Are you just going to use first runnings? Or do you expect the boil to give you the OG you are after?

[Alun]

I'm going to use both the first runnings and then take 1/3 of that and reduce it by 1/3 or a 1/2 depending on the SG of the first runnings. 

I got a really nice Ordinary when I made and ESB four weeks ago so I'll make a lager/pale ale with the sparge so I don't waste the grain ;o)

Thanks for the reply Scarrfie. 

[Mark Goodin]

Has anyone got a nice APA recipe something along the lines of Croucher Pale Ale? Is there an attempted clone for this Beer out there? Only new to AG brewing and would have to say, not that good at picking out what hops are used in many commercial brews...cheers!

[Dave W]

Does anyone have the recipe for Jamil's chocolate porter that they could post up?