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 need some LIMBO low alcohol brewing advice.

I am trying to make an under 4% hoppy us pale ale - like an english ordinary, something you can session and still tastes full of flavour and body,  I notice there isnt really a class of beer like this hence not much info on the web.   I am going to hop burst using Simcoe and Armarillo at 15, 7 and flameout with a 10min stir / steep.

Any comments appreciated,  OG 1.038  IBU 26.9    ?

Pete's Ordinary US Pale Ale

Batch Size: 23.00 l

Boil Time: 90 min

Efficiency: 65.00 %

Ingredients

Amt	Name	Type	#	%/IBU
4.00 kg	Gladfield Ale Malt (3.0 SRM)	Grain	1	89.4 %
0.30 kg	Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (27.4 SRM)	Grain	2	6.7 %
0.10 kg	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	3	2.2 %
0.07 kg	Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)	Grain	4	1.7 %
10.00 g	Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min	Hop	5	4.9 IBUs
10.00 g	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min	Hop	6	6.9 IBUs
0.30 tsp	Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)	Fining	7	-
10.00 g	Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 7.0 min	Hop	8	2.7 IBUs
10.00 g	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 7.0 min	Hop	9	3.8 IBUs
20.00 g	Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min	Hop	10	3.6 IBUs
20.00 g	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min	Hop	11	5.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg	US-05 repitch 2nd gen [50.28 ml]	Yeast	12	-

Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.038 SG

Est Final Gravity: 1.008 SG

Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.9 %

Bitterness: 26.9 IBUs

 

 

[Barry]

That looks pretty good to me Peter. Bit of character malt in there for depth, body and sweetness, hop bursting so no early kettle hops.
Give it a nudge I'd say, then tweak from there.

[Damon Colbert]

Having done one of these myself not that long ago, it's a bloody great idea.  I can have several pints in a row without feeling any ill effects.

Recipe looks good, mine was similar with a touch more CaraPils.  My only suggestion is mash high.  Aim for 69-70C.  That way it won't turn out tasting too thin.

[Peter Smith]

Yeah I was considering a high temp mash,  but I was also a little worried about finishing too high.  I have just done a stout that went 1.052 -> 1.025 with WL004 mashed at 69C (or thats what probe says.....)   and also a Porter finished higher then I expected even with us05.   Got to say though that the stout had so much body I could easily have just hand pumped it with no carb, lots of oats, yummy, it was the first beer I could actually quite happily drink from fermenter.  

Did you give the beer a decent dry hop nudge?

[Damon Colbert]

Yeah, quite a bit.  As much as the boil, if not more.  Over a decreasing temperature range, as I headed toward crash cooling, as per Kelly Milligan's method (dig around for the SOBA NHC 2013 forum).

I also second the suggestion of a low attenuating yeast and grains to add body.  CaraPils will do that in some measure.  But it won't completely make up for a lack of dextrins from a lower mash temp. 

As to finishing too high, its probably worth checking your thermometer.  Or aim for 68C and maybe cut it down the middle?

[Peter Smith]

how much carapills would you recommend in above recipe?  I read Kellys post, quite like the idea of layering in some US cascade as have some left over I want to use....

[Karl Hayes]

I'd be careful with that US Cascade - it'll be rarer than hens' teeth shortly as the local wholesaler has run out of this season's allocation already.

[Peter Smith]

ok thanks off to stock up now......

[Damon Colbert]

I used about 300g, only slightly more than in yours.  To be honest I don't know if that's a better amount or not... it might even be too much.  But I liked how it turned out.

[Tilt]

To my mind a 1008 FG in such a low alc beer will leave it tasting thin. I do a low alc 3% amber mashed at 70 (with carapils and 2% rye for complexity and mouthfeel) and aim for an FG of 1014. The high gravity isn't sweet - just lots of body from the dextrins. Your hop burst will give you some hop oil to increase the body. A low attenuating yeast is also the go in a light beer with plenty to chew on. Windsor isn't bad for this.

[Peter Smith]

Totally agree, Beersmith is giving me that FG, but I rarely ever seem to hit the BS FG's.   I think there is some issue with high temp mash and BS's FG,maybe my temp probe is off by 2-3C...  I almost always hit BS FG if I mash 66C.

I expect with high mash temp that the us05 repitch I will get to about 1.014-16 in about 7 days,  I hear you re the yeast, its just I have so much us05 on hand and this is looking a low $ beer given all the US hops I already have. 

[Mudcrab]

Gidday,

Still relatively new to home brewing. I'm looking at putting on a Tuatara Pilsner clone (or a similar Pilsner) sometime soon using extract. I don't think I'm up to grains yet.

 

The back of their bottle mentions they use saaz hops but a few other places have mentioned other varieties such as Pacific Jade to bitter, Riwaka, Nelson Sauvin and Motueka to flavour. What do people on this forum think? What would get me the closest to a hoppy pilsner with the current varieties of hop available in NZ?