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...

[James Lawson]

When I plug the hop schedule in beersmith it comes out at about 40-45 IBU (not 100% sure what the exact alpha ratings of the hops are yet, so I'm just going from the range given by NZ hops). So it sounds like it might lie slightly on the bitter side, but that suits me fine.

Do you think I need more flavouring hops?

Cool to hear about the % of CaraRed, thanks :) Did it come out as red as you hoped?

[JoKing]

It turned out a golden type colour... not red at all. If you want a reddish tinge, I'd throw in about 10 - 20g of Roast Barley in there. It shouldn't contributetoo much to the flavour at those levels.

[Simon David kelly]

I preparing for the Maximus clone next weekend and for the life of me I can't find any acid malt with the usual suspects. Does it have another name?

[Mike Neilson]

Acidulated Malt its a Weyermann® product

[Simon David kelly]

Do you know if it's available for homebrewers Mike?

PS
Had your porter last night with some dark chocolate fudge at about 1am after a marathon movie night ... very very nice indeed ... friends all gave it a high rating too (although I only let them have a sip :o)

[James P]

I know Dunedin Malthouse carried it, and Brewer Coop were getting it in, not sure about Liberty.

If you cannot get Acid malt try some citric or lactic acid to modify the pH.

[JoKing]

Steve uses Acid malt to pull the pH down from the Gladfield malt base. It doesn't add any flavour to the beer, so you could use an Acid to get your pH to the desired pH. I have it on good authority that if you wish to match the pH from Maximus, then you should be targeting pH5.5.

[Simon David kelly]

Good to know Jo ... thanks.

[denimglen]

Can one of you NZ Lager brewing folk have a look at this recipe and see what you think? JamesP?

20L batch, 1.050, 35IBU, 67C mash.

3.7kg ADM Pale malt
0.46kg Munich
0.23kg Carapils
0.23kg Wheat malt

11g Rakau @ 60
25g Rakau @15
5g Sauvin @ 15
25g Rakau @ 0
5g Sauvin @ 0

WLP029 Kolsch (yeah yeah...too lazy to do the job properly :-P)

Water is, Ca 50.4, Mg 1.8, Na 11.2, SO4 56.3ppm, Cl 55.4, HCO3 29.6

Cheers.

[James P]

The sky really is falling, I'm brewing ales, and DG is on lagers....

I have no idea why, but I tend mash a little lower (65~66) :). My water profile Ca 12, Mg 1.5, Na 6.1, SO4 5, Cl 5, HCO3 52, so have additions of CaSO4(1~2gm is between 10~20ppm Ca, 24~48ppm SO4) and due to the Gladfield's malt lactic acid to buffer the pH.

I'd agree with crabbey on the flavour to aroma shift, as I tend to bulk up the flame outs and it works with a Cascade / NS mix. As crabbey said, let us know how the hop combo goes.

[denimglen]

Cheers guys.

That's the water profile I used in my Munich Helles and quite enjoyed it, enough to bring the flavours out but not minerally tasting at all. If I have dramas with it I'll go for what you suggested next time James.

I'll meet in the middle and drop my mash temp one degree to 66, I was drinking some Hop Rocker in the weekend and it was dryer than I remembered, so I reckon I'll 65 - 66 will be about right.

So for the hops - say 15g at 15m and 45g at 0m?

And the grist looks OK? I'm starting to wonder about the Munich, but then the ADM is pretty gutless. I think I'll keep it there. Talking to myself now haha.

[James P]

We have a requirement at work to talk to a "teddy bear" about any issues before talking to a real person, which helps us clear our heads and think about the issue before asking. Talking to yourself is a progression from the teddy bear.... :)

I'm loving munich malt additions ATM (indeed off to Tom's tonight to steal more), so the more the merrier. Hop additions for my HR clone are 20g @ 60, 15g @15, 40g @ 0, so you have again answered your own question. For my German pils it's 30g @ 60, 40g @ 15 (usually Tettnanger or similar)

HR has been on a roller coaster lately (batches in the last three months) I believe. Some have flavour and aroma, others taste watery.