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...

[Stu McKinlay]

So he's heard...

[cat wandering around forums, well out of the bag]

[jt]

Don't use SO4 - for anything, ever.
SO5 is the way to go mate.

Ah, don't listen to him. S04 is fine. Got me joint champion overall beer in the NHC.

It's horses for courses, SO4 is great in some beers and some people know how to get the best out of it.

Personally I love it in a dark beer, but can't get it to make a decent pale ... but I haven't perservered .. some people use it and make great pale beers
It's just a case of knowing how to treat it.

[JoKing]

Just a little scuttlebut echoing through the cyberspace...

[denimglen]

Ah yeah SO4 makes beer at the end of day.

I think it's just a bit of a 'fussy' yeast - I've never had good resuslts with it in my brewery, but I kno some people love it.

I'd stick to SO5 for the porter though.

[RopenutS]

Yeah true, i might not need finings for the porter, but if i do a pale with it again i think i'll use them.

Haha after you guys told me to not use S04, my mate went out and bought some

[vdog]

Tell your mate to use it in something dark Ropenuts - it's what I use for my porter, which is consistently a favourite among friends. As jt says (kind of), just figure out what you like and go with it.

[John]

I'm going to give the following a go as soon as I can get the ingredients. Any thoughts on the recipe would be helpful. This would be my first attempt at an all-grain lager.

Good Intentions Lager

Helles-style lager using NZ hops

5kg Weyermanns Light Munich malt
80gm Baird's Crystal Medium - 150 EBC
Irish moss
Saflager S-23
Pacifica 30 grams (90 mins)
Rakau hops 65 grams (90 mins)

Uses a step infusion mash

40 degrees to 50 degrees and hold for 30mins, to 67 degrees and hold for 90 minutes.

OG 1.060
SG 1.008

[JoKing]

Looks like this will be pretty dark... and bitter - is this for 20 Liters? I'm not sure that it would fit into the Helles style, but it would still be beer.

I'd prefer the w34/70 yeast in this style of beer - and you'd need a couple packs of it too.

My suggestion would be to drop the crystal malt, and try to keep the bitterness to about 60 % of your OG for a Helles style beer. If you want a caramelised malt in the grist, I think you'd be better off using Caramunich II, or Global Dark Cara.

Hope this helps.

[John]

Thanks for the advice. It's a recipe I adapted. The original had crystal malt, but didn't specify the EBC. It is for 20 litres. I'll revise the hops and see where I can source the yeast from. If you have a recommendation for what to do with the Saflager-23 that would be cool as I already have bought it.

[Reviled]

"If you have a recommendation for what to do with the Saflager-23"

Throw it in the bin, thats nasty stuff IMO

[JackoNZ]

Personally found nothing wrong with s-23 if you ferment at low temps. I've used it in all my lagers to date and fermented around 10-12C with no fruity esters. I've got 4 packets of the W34/70 yeast in the fridge so will be using that next time and see if there is much difference.

[Reviled]

Jacko, use something like Wyeast 2124 and tell me if you notice much difference there ;o)

Just my opinion of course but if im doing a lager no way would I even consider a dried yeast...