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...

[Reviled]

Wheres your recipe then? ;oP

[denimglen]

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 20.00 L
Boil Size: 30.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 13.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.40 kg ..Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (Bairds) (3.2 SRM) Grain 87.18 %
0.45 kg .Crystal, Pale (Bairds) (45.0 SRM) Grain 11.54 %
0.05 kg .Chocolate Malt (Bairds) (609.0 SRM) Grain 1.28 %
10.00 gm .Southern Cross [14.80 %] (60 min) Hops 20.1 IBU
20.00 gm .Styrian Goldings, NZ [2.90 %] (20 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
20.00 gm .East Kent Goldings [4.70 %] (20 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
10.00 gm .Styrian Goldings, NZ [2.90 %] (1 min) Hops 0.2 IBU
10.00 gm .East Kent Goldings [4.70 %] (1 min) Hops 0.3 IBU
0.25 tsp .Koppafloc (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 tbsp .PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.50 tsp .Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Burton Ale (White Labs #WLP023) [Starter 1Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 3.90 kg
----------------------------
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Saccharification Add 11.67 L of water at 73.8 C 68.0 C
10 min Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min 75.6 C


I'm thinking maybe a little too much pale crystal, maybe a little 120L in there as well?

[Reviled]

My 2 cents...

Never really been a fan of Pale Crystal, I used Cara-hell a few times and wasnt too happy with the results.. Id probably use 120L (is that medium?) personally..

Other than that, looks pretty tasty bro!

[denimglen]

Pale crystal as in the 40 - 50L stuff? Or are you thinking of the Caramalt that's like 10 - 20? That's closer to carahell isn't it? I don't like that ultra-light stuff either, too much sweetness and little favour I recks.

120L is the dark crystal, the medium crystal is about 75L I think.

Cheers mate.

[jt]

Carahell & Caramalt ?
Beautiful grains, love'm if you've got the right use for them.
There's no point just adding a grain just for the hell of it, you've got to add it for a reason and expect to get something out of it.

As for mixing crystals (and chocolates), good idea. The lighter and darker add different flavours and I regulary add a mix of them
Usually 2/3rds a darker and 1/3rd a lighter - though that's just to my taste

[Mike Neilson]

I have got in a habbit of using 2 types of crystals at the moment what I find I get out of it is a progressive sweetness that seems to tame some of my bigger bitterness. I usualy only stay @ around 5% as I mash in at 67 degrees, and higher for lower gravity Bitters. Chocolate malt in the recipe I reacon is about right but I usualy only use it as a colour adjuster and I think to much of it can most defintly over power the delicate bitters

[Reviled]

Yeah I normally stick to 5ish% for my crystals too...

Sorry im still getting my head around this whole numberL thing, but yeah, carahell equals the suck with bugger flavour...

So its a little lighter than medium, Id maybe drop it to 200g and maybe throw in some 120L (I love that stuff) as well, maybe 100g?

[denimglen]

Yeah, sounds good, seems using a couple of crystals can increase the complexity as well. Jamil also recommended the 120 in the BestBitter podcasst I listened to today, so seems like a good idea.

I like the sorta christmas-cake I get with 120L, kinda raisin-y. I think chucking in some lighter crystal for a little caramel, sweetness and body with it will work well. I used a little amber in my last one and liked the little hint of roast/biscuit type flavour it gave, and thinking a little choc may give a similar effect and some nice colour adjustment.

Degrees L is basically the same as the SRM value, and SRM as roughly equal to half the EBC. In all three systems higher the number - darker the grain. IIRC the specialties we get here go caramalt - 15L, pale crystal 45L, (medium) crystal 75L, and dark crystal 120L, amber 50L, choc, 600L, roast 650L, carahell 13L, caramunich II 65L, caramunich III 73L, off the top of my head.

[Reviled]

Thats awesome bud cheers for that :o)

[Alasdair]

I'd second the couple-of-crystals approach. I normally use medium and dark crystals in my bitters - to about 7% of the total malt bill - often with 2 to 3 percent amber malt too.

Five percent of crystal is a good guide, but it's going to depend on your expected attenuation, IBUs, and other specialty grains too.

[Mark]

Caramalt around 15L, normal crystal about 40L, dark crystal about 80L, caraaroma 120L, amber about 25L, pale chocolate 215-230L, chocolate 425-450L, roast 500L.

[jt]

Honestly, if you're serious about your colour, you're better to get the specs for the product from the supplier - every supplier is diff, batches change and I don't know who in NZ is supplying malt rated by lovibond ?
A bit secondary, but if you buy it with an EBC rating, why not discuss it with an ebc rating ?
Could save some confusion ?

cheers, jt