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...

[KJ Henderson]

Yeah something along those lines would be a good start. Nice and hearty

[Nick T]

For my third brew I did a dry Irish stout, based on Jamil's recipe out of BCS -
--------------------------
Batch Size: 26.00 L
Boil Size: 31.96 L
Estimated OG: 1.041 SG
Estimated Color: 29.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.12 kg Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 49.26 %
1.05 kg Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 24.40 %
0.58 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 13.50 %
0.55 kg Roasted Barley (400.0 SRM) Grain 12.83 %
70.96 gm Fuggles [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 38.4 IBU
2.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle American US 05 (DCL Fermentis #US 0Yeast-Ale

Ferment at 18 deg, during final third of fermentation slowly raise temp by 3 degrees to get rid of diacetyl. Carb to 1 - 1.5 volumes.

Original recipe uses Kent Golding but I used fuggles as didn't have the KG, its only for bittering so it worked out fine.

You need to crush the roast barley very fine (use a rolling pin to 'crush it almost to dust') to get right flavour and colour, according to the book.

The finished product is fine, but somehow seems to lack a little bit of taste at the 'front' of the sip. Some recipes out there use a bit of acid malt or even souring part of the beer to add that 'genuine' Guinness taste, I think I will do that next time. I only added the gypsum to get my (Chch) water a bit closer to the Dublin variety.

If you hunt around, most recipes for dry irish stout are fairly similar and fairly simple. To be sure to be sure......

There is also a recipe in John Palmer's "How to Brew", an essential book to have IMO....

Oh, and I've only ever done 6 brews, so others out there will have better advice than me, so feel free to ignore!

[KJ Henderson]

Might be a silly question but are the three types of grains the steeping type? where I would place in a cloth style device and steep in liquid at a low temp for a while before removing and adding the extract? Im at step -1 so have to ask. Cheers

[denimglen]

Technically you can't steep the pale malt and flaked barely but you could do a basic mini mash by steeping the grains in a bag in a pot and holding it at about 67C for about 30 minutes.

I can vouch for that recipe - it's really good - and the basic dry stout recipe.

[Nick T]

Oops, yes I forgot, i did a mini-mash - which is not much different from steeping grains, its just that you need to 'steep' at a set temperature. You will need a digital thermometer and a mesh bag (LHBS usually have these in stock for thier wine making clients). If you go intothe Dunedin Malt House and talk to Jann he should be able to sort you out. If you need it, I can scan the instruction pages for a mini mash and email them to you, just PM me,

[KJ Henderson]

Cheers mate, I shall be aquiring some equipment shortly and getting a brew down for xmas, Fingers crossed.

[Michael]

What do you guys think? I realise this is not really inline with any particular style, but it is what I have, and am thinking of giving it a go until I can order more grain.

4.5 kg. Weyermann Pilsner Malt
1.00 kg. Global Munich Malt
0.5 kg. Bairds Pale Crystal Pale 90EBC

Hops 
Amount Name Boil Time 
15gm Perle 60
15gm NZ Cascade 30
30gm NZ Cascade 15
30gm NZ Cascade 0

Dry hop NZ Cascade 30gm

yeast: US-05

[Soren]

looks much like a scrummy APA to me!, go for it! not sure if the pilsner malt need a step mash, don't think so, it'll probably be very converted.

[jt]

but it is what I have, and am thinking of giving it a go until I can order more grain.

Oh Michael, what did you do with the 25kg you just got ?

[Michael]

haha...good point mate!

Whilst I plan to have that on hand for a base, I am not planning on doing a SMaSH brew...I guess I can add the Malturop, but it seems kind of weird with everything else I have left. I think I need to re-order a small bit of other grains.

Beside, I did find mouse droppings...the bastards are in my grain.
What do you think?

[jt]

Beside, I did find mouse droppings...the bastards are in my grain.
What do you think?

You'll need a few, but skin 'em &and bake 'em.
Either that or bone them & then deep fried in beer batter ... serves them right huh ?

What grains are you thinking of ?

What do you have the grain stoted in ?

[jt]

I am not planning on doing a SMaSH brew

I've got some pale crystal, dark crystal, choc and pale chocolate, black and some brown if you need something pronto ?