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...

[Peter Smith]

I used this last night because its what I hard, its darker then epic pale ale but I prefer that

Amt	Name	Type	#
5.00 kg	Golden Promise (3.0 SRM)	Grain	1	82.5 %
0.30 kg	Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt (55.8 SRM)	Grain	2	5.0 %
0.28 kg	Gladfield Dark Crystal Malt (91.4 SRM)	Grain	3	4.6 %
0.20 kg	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	4	3.3 %
0.18 kg	Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (27.4 SRM)	Grain	5	3.0 %
0.10 kg	Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)	Grain	6	1.7 %

Ended up being 1.053 and 40 IBUs

[Scott H]

Lovibond (L) x 2 = EBC

Most places at least say what the EBC is ie.

http://www.brewshop.co.nz/malts-grains/malt-crystal-medium.html

[Ben Dean]

Can anyone chime in with some advice for this big fruity IPA recipe? I've used a 2:1 ratio of Cascade to Nelson Sauvin but am still worried the Nelson may take over rather than complement, shall I cut back a bit on the Nelson additions? Any other feedback on the recipe would be much appreciated. Thanks, Ben.

Brew length: 21L
Mash length: 90 min
Mash temp: 150 deg F
Boil length: 90 min
Estimated original gravity: 1.065
Estimated IBU: 61.1

Grain:
Maris Otter 6.1kg (88%)
Medium Crystal 550g (8%)
Munich 280g (4%)

Hops:
60 min: 30g Pacific Jade (14%)
10 min: 50g NZ Cascade (7.2%)
10 min: 25g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)
5 min: 50g NZ Cascade (7.2%)
5 min: 25g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)
Flame out: 70g NZ Cascade (7.2%)
Flame out: 35g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)
Dry hop: 30g NZ Cascade (7.2%)
Dry hop: 15g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)

[Ben Dean]

Thanks for the feedback David. I am quite a fan of Hopwired so I'll just go for it and see what beer I end up with. Cheers.

[Des Ross]

Hi Ben. I love those 2 hops added late like that and I don't think the N/S will overpower the cascade at the levels in the recipe. Riwaka also complements these 2 varieties nicely. Hop bursting in those quantities can produce stunning beers and you may not even need to dry hop. I say go for it. I would be keen to know how the final product turns out!

[Ben Dean]

Thanks for the input Des. I'll be brewing this the 1st weekend in April so will report back how it turns out mid May. Cheers.

[Ben Dean]

I ended up brewing a few weeks earlier than planned so this is now bottled/kegged and tastes amazing!

A few days before brew day I had a bottle of Mike's Full Nelson IPA. It hit me square in the face with nothing but burnt rubber, so much so that I poured half of it down the sink. This made me paranoid again about the volume of Nelson Sauvin in my recipe so I altered the hop bill quite drastically (and I'm glad I did). I halved the amount of Nelson, then from your suggestion made up the numbers with Riwaka. I also altered the grain bill slightly.

There was a bit of a chill in the air as I started my brew day quite early, not accounting for this I stuffed up my mash temp and ended up 2 deg F below my target. It has turned out great though and tastes pretty much bang on how I was hoping it would. Thanks for your help, updated recipe is below.

Brew length: 21L
Mash length: 90 min
Mash temp: 148 deg F
Boil length: 90 min
Original gravity: 1.066
Final gravity: 1.011
Estimated IBU: 61.1

Grain:
Golden Promise 6kg (87%)
Pale Crystal 350g (5%)
Munich 350g (5%)
Dextrose 200g (3%)

Hops:
60 min: 35g Pacific Jade (14%)
10 min: 50g US Cascade (6.2%)
10 min: 15g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)
10 min: 15g Riwaka (5.8%)
5 min: 50g US Cascade (6.2%)
5 min: 15g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)
5 min: 15g Riwaka (5.8%)
Flame out: 60g US Cascade (6.2%)
Flame out: 20g Nelson Sauvin (12.8%)
Flame out: 20g Riwaka (5.8%)
Dry hop: 20g US Cascade (6.2%)
Dry hop: 20g Riwaka (5.8%)

Yeast:
US05

[Des Ross]

Great to hear that feedback...experimenting with recipes and getting a good results, is very satisfying.

[Peter Smith]

I am very wary of too much Nelson S,  I have been sitting around a table with 3 others drinking only nelson S IPAs and all I get is vegetable taste, while the others seem to love it.   I am guessing its a very personal thing how much you can take of that hop.   I seem to like smaller amounts of it in a more bitter beer.

The other thing is to change some/all  of the pac jade to FWH and keep all the late hop burst....

[Mark]

Am going to be brewing an American style amber ale, with NZ hops. I've got some redback malt from Gladfields, seems tailor-made for a beer like this. Has anyone got any advice on this malt, what it tastes like in beer, how much to use etc? Plan on using a fair bit of dark crystal as well, and loads of late hops.

[Ben Dean]

Probably too late for you now but, I am planning on brewing an amber/red ale with Redback so I emailed Gladfield. Their response is below:

"The Red Back malt will add a lot of malty flavors to a beer, dried fruit flavors similar to a melanoidin or aromatic malt and then some light toast character from the roasting process. It is less modified than most of our crystal malts so will add some body to the beer as well as a orange/redish hue. I would say the maximum percentage could be as high as 15%.

Any other questions please don't hesitate."

[Josh C]

Looking for advice on brewing a beer for a man turning 80 who "likes speights old dark". I want something that non craft drinkers can enjoy but is also interesting enough that I can also enjoy it. I was thinking something along the lines of:

82% Gladfield Ale malt (Or pils?)

8% medium Crystal

5% Cara-pils

3% Carafa-special II

2% Choc

Bittered to ~20-25 IBUs, don't know what hops.

Probably US-05 yeast but could do something English like WLP002.

Any advice appreciated.