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...

[JackoNZ]

Been having a look at the hopping schedule for my Pale Ale that's planned next. Any thoughts on this? I'm looking for the Motueka to be balanced or slightly more prominent than the Nelson Sauvin. Not overly bitter but hop flavour and aroma should be evident. I don't want to dry hop this batch as I want to brew it at least twice if it works and dry hop the second batch to see the difference:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.80 kg ..Pale Pearl Malt (2 Row) UK (Bairds) (3.1Grain 90.91 %
0.37 kg .Crystal, Pale (Bairds) (50.8 SRM) Grain 7.01 %
0.11 kg .Cara Malt (Bairds) (17.8 SRM) Grain 2.08 %

15.00 gm .Pacific Jade [13.90 %] (60 min) Hops 24.9 IBU
15.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] (10 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
20.00 gm .Motueka [7.80 %] (10 min) Hops 6.8 IBU
20.00 gm .Motueka [7.80 %] (0 min) Hops -
15.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] (0 min) Hops -

0.01 gm Koppafloc (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale

[Reviled]

From what youre saying there Lee id me more inclined to go 50% sauvin to motueka, remember how dominant sauvin is (except when Ally brews with it lol, or maybe just when combined with Williamette) and I imagine with the above hopping schedule sauvin will be the dominant hop there...

My 2 cents...

Edit : What OG:BU ratio are you shooting for? I find 75% a good mark for a nice balanced pale ale ;o)

[JackoNZ]

Yea just had a mate tell me the same thing about the Sauvin. This is at 71% ratio so maybe it can still go a little higher. This might be a better option then:

15.00 gm .Pacific Jade [13.90 %] (60 min) Hops 24.9 IBU
15.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] (10 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
30.00 gm .Motueka [7.80 %] (10 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
15.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] (0 min) Hops -
30.00 gm .Motueka [7.80 %] (0 min) Hops -

That brings me up to 42 IBU's and a bitterness ratio of 78%

[Reviled]

That looks pretty good, but now youve upped your flavour and aroma hops by a fair bit, so its going to be alot hoppier than what you had originally wanted... Not that thats a bad thing ;o)

From what you were saying I was thinking more

Bittering to whatever IBU needed at 60 min
10 - 20g Motueka, 10g Sauvin
0 - 20g Motueka, 10g Sauvin

[JackoNZ]

Only prob with that Rev is that the bitterness ratio then drops to like 67%! I could up the 60 min addition but I think that would make it too bitter. I have had a play with upping the grain bill slightly and think this looks a little better. 42 IBU's and bitterness ratio of 75% on the money!

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.90 kg ..Pale Pearl Malt (2 Row) UK (Bairds) (3.1Grain 90.91 %
0.38 kg .Crystal, Pale (Bairds) (50.8 SRM) Grain 7.05 %
0.11 kg .Cara Malt (Bairds) (17.8 SRM) Grain 2.04 %
15.00 gm .Pacific Jade [13.90 %] (60 min) Hops 24.7 IBU
15.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] (10 min) Hops 7.2 IBU
30.00 gm .Motueka [7.80 %] (10 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
30.00 gm .Motueka [7.80 %] (0 min) Hops -
15.00 gm .Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] (0 min) Hops -

[MrC]

Increased Boil Gravity
I'm planning on brewing a split batch of wheat beer, 1/2 as an American Wheat beer and the other 1/2 as the base for a boysenberry fruit beer.

I have a base wheat beer recipe that I was planning on using that consists of:
40% Pils
2% Carapils
58% Wheat Malt

I boil in two 19L pots and I'm wondering whether it is a good idea to increase the initial gravity with the intention of watering it down to the desired OG post boil. I know that if works on paper/screen but are there any issues associated with this technique?
Anyone tried it?
Does it increase the chance of getting a watery beer or will it be fine as long as I hit my target gravities?
Any thoughts?

[denimglen]

Decreased hop utilisation and increased colour formation are the main issues.

On a beer like a wheat the IBU will be low enough that it's not really going to matter - you won't need to increase the hops that much to hit your IBU, maybe a different story with an IIPA or something.

It might come out a bit darker with a slightly higher melanoidin character but it shouldn't matter to much.

It shouldn't increase chances of getting a watery beer. I believe brewer's like Heineken brew a high OG wort and then water down post fermentation.

[MrC]

Thanks denim. I will recalculate the hops once I determine the boil gravity. Aiming for 12 and 15 IBU so it should be pretty straight forward.

My plan is get two full kegs from two 16L boils from one mash. It'll be good if works!!!

[denimglen]

It'll be good if works!!!

Hell yeah, keep us updated.

[MrC]

OK, I've decided to take this theory half way and boil two pots leaving 11L each post boil and then dilute to 15L in the fermenter. From what I've read, I will need to allow for a lower efficiency due to the reduced sparge so I've set it to 65%.

Post boil concentrated wort: 11L, OG 1.060
Diluted wort in fermenter: 15L OG 1.044

That's the plan but the reality is that I will dilute until I hit 1.044 and accept whatever the final volume turns out to be.

[KJ Henderson]

OK Guys first brew set down for tomorrow, all grain, all or nothing I figure...

I am using the BeerSmith Stout recipe and I attempted to scale the recipe down from a 20L batch but am not sure if I have done so correctly, any thoughtson volumes and volume of sparge?
The Mash water amounts for a 10 L batch- Mash In 5L @74.4, Mash Out 3.2L @89.5 , Sparge?

[denimglen]

If you can attach the beersmith file I'll check it out for you.