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...

[Jason Wareing]

Thanks!

Yeah most of the recipes i see go up to around the 23l mark.

So i realised that i should brew bigger volumes so i can get at least another 4l worth of beer into the fermenter!

After brewing the APA and tasting the progress i decided to go for a bigger hop style (hence the IPA), most of the recipes that i have come across were made using amarillo or simcoe, the hops i have decided to go for have similar IBU's so i figure i cant be too far off the mark with this brew.

Missus wasnt impressed? Bet that was an understatement!!

[Scarrfie]

The dry cleaner did alright out of it!

[TBone]

I've not alot of experience in dry hopping myself... but for the brew I'm doing that I posted above I'm doing 3 stages of dry hops. 

60 grams at 12 days. 

60 at 8 days. 

60 at 4 days. 

Equal mix of nelson sauvin, motueka, and NZ cascade. 

I'll report back on how it goes! 

[Al Witham]

Hi guys. Does anyone remember the old Tuatara Belgian Ale? Not the current Ardennes, but the one they used to brew in the early days before they started bottling and which was later discontinued. It was always my favourite tap tipple at Bodega when Bodega was still a decent pub.

I’m looking to brew something in a similar style. All I’ve been able to find about it is a commercial description on Ratebeer which says “This coppery Belgian Ale is the result of Saaz hops and Belgian yeast brewed with light crystal and caramel malts.”

 

I wasn’t a brewer in those days so I never used to analyse it. I just drank it and kept coming back to it.

 

I suspect the yeast is a big part of what I liked about it. I’ve yet to try liquid yeast, but I do have some T58 in the fridge. I’ve yet to try that either, but I thought I’d use it for something along the lines of the Tuatara Belgian, even if it’s not quite right.

 

I have plenty of TF crystal malts in stock – pale, medium and dark – and also some melanoidin, which I used on the weekend for the first time but have yet to taste. No experience of European caramel malts.

 

Any ideas for a recipe? Do you think a mix of melanoidin and pale crystal might get me in the ballpark? Or maybe pale and medium crystal? The hops would be around 35 IBU I’d guess, and not too heavy on the late hops. I’m an extract + steeped grains brewer.

[Kelly Milligan]

After a big weekend full of stunning beers and harsh mornings, I'm yearning for session beers! A couple of which that really stood out at Beervana were the Monkey Wizard Black Mass (3.6%), and wonderful Feral Watermelon Warhead (2.9%).

I also gave the Croucher Lowrider another hoon at Fork & Brewer and was reminded about how totally awesome that beer is. 2.7% and absolutely chocked full of IPA character, and surprisingly full body. Love it. Does anyone have any advice when it comes to putting together a low gravity IPA?

- High mash temps?

- Large crystal additions (>15%?)

- Huge dry hopping? 

Any advice greatly appreciated :)

Cheers!

K

[Colin Slater]

I'm a session beer man myself, hence Bookie being a fave of mine. That Deuchars IPA clone i ran up was 3.7%abv so eminently quaffable while very tasty.

[Kelly Milligan]

yea man, Bookbinder is an ace of a beer! I love my big beers, especially big IPAs. But man, sometimes you just wish you could have more than 2 pints without being on your ass ;P

Any tips from that clone recipe that I could take on board? 

[Colin Slater]

Nah I'm reasonably unscientific strike at 74, mash at 68 raise to 74 to sparge, took about 45 minutes to sparge 23Ltrs. Boil. Cool. Ferment. Colour and aroma take me back to my days living opp the brewery in Edinburgh - tastes spot on, lovely colour. Slight chill haze but lovely, planning to do it again soon.

And yeah i like to work through a few beers and while the big chewy hoppy beasts are lovely i fall asleep and get messy after a couple so prefer the bitters and more malty end of the scale.

[jt]

Anything that beefs up the body is good.

From memory Jo reckoned no problem with 20% crystal and I'm sure Sorin posted something on a low gravity ales something similar.

I go around 15% and in a darkie another 10 - 15% of black/chocolate.

A low attenuating yeast helps too. Windsor was the lowest I've tried, only around 60% but I didn't like the yeast character / conditioning time myself.

Lots of crystal and specialties holds up lots of hop additions too, if that's what you want. Checkout last years discussion where Stu posted help on a Weemix recipe

cheers, jt

[Kelly Milligan]

Great thanks jt :)

[Damon Colbert]

I have been toying with the idea of a sessionable lightly smoky beer, something a bit different to drink over summer, to go with the BBQ.

Reading about Rauchbier and the like, I came across a nigh-extinct style called Graetzer; a low-gravity, highly-hopped smoked wheat beer originating in Poland.  Colour me intrigued.  One source suggests 2/3 smoked, highly roast wheat, 1/3 pale barley.  It seems some versions exhibited sour notes; either through a sour mash or using lactobacillus.

After a discussion with a mate at Beervana, I am also entertaining the thought of smoking my own malt using Pohutukawa.  Not sure if this would be too much or not, but brewing is more fun with some adventure.

So with these parameters, I present;

1.5kg Home-smoked wheat malt

1.5kg NZ Pale malt

0.5kg Dark Wheat

2oz. Saaz 60min

1oz. Saaz 10min

1oz. Saaz 5min

Starting gravity: 1.034

IBU: 25.0

SRM: 6.9

Est. FG: 1.008

ABV: 3.3%

Some sources suggest 75-100% wheat malt.  While I've had no trouble sparging a 50% wheat malt mash, I'm not looking to start, hence the 50% barley content. (In fact some Graetzer home brewers have used only smoked barley, with reportedly good results.)

Not yet sure if I want to try making it sour.  Not even sure where I would find any Lactobacillus.  Would using a little acidulated malt achieve the same effect?

Traditional style uses Noble hops, hence my choice of Saaz.  Completely open to suggestions here though, I'm not sure what would work well with a smoked malt RE earthy/spicy versus fruity/citrus.

Any and all feedback appreciated.

Cheers.

[Scarrfie]

I have smoke Kahawai with Pohutukawa, it is the business mate. I have a beer drinking now that had the addition of some toasted Pohutukawa chips, Kelly has a bottle so I am dying to see what he thinks. Some other faults with the beer mind you :-(