Questions On Stuff I don't Understand???

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey guys just going over a recipe for my First IPA!! and if I am to do a 23L batch of Beer then my calculations are for a 6Gallon batch? and if so is it ok just to add the 5Gallon + 1Gallon ingredients together to work out a 6Gallon batch?

Second question...If dry hopping is optional and says "you can add a handful" what measurement is that? and always with about 4-5 days left in fermentation left you do it?

Third question.....How do you work out the IBU (bitterness?) level if not stated in recipe?

Last question......How many packets of dry yeast US.05 would you use? basing it on adding the 5G + 1G together, it would be 1 and a half??

Cheers Guys appreciate it. 

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I guess the amount used for dry hopping would also depend on your AA% ?

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

There are differences in the AA% so will make some adjustments to the amount of hops I use, I suppose beersmith 2 will help with that if i new how to user that program(which I have the trial version of) 

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

My second BIAB recipe: "A Very Good American Pale Ale" Target OG 1.052 FG1.012 ABV 5.2%

Ingredients:

Pale Ale Malt 4.1kg (using Gladfields Pale American Ale malt)

Crystal/caramel 20 Malt 1.4kg (using Gladfields Light Crystal malt)

Simcoe pellet hops (12.1%AA)

Ahtanum pellet hops(4.4%AA)

mash for 60 min @ 64 - 67deg C.

Bring to boil add 1st hop addition Simcoe 17g boil for 40min,

Then add Simcoe 25g boil for 20min

Then flameout add Ahtanum hops then cool. rest is history.

I have made the adjustments for the %AA being different to the recipe as theirs is higher on the Ahtanum and pretty much the same on Simcoe.

So all in all pretty easy one had more hop additions with my Cascade hops on my first APA. any comments or tips please?

Cheers.

[Cain Harland]

Generally boil is 60-90 mins, I mostly stick to 60 to shorten brew day. It seems some people manage to do some good beers on short boils but I would stick to the tried and true for your second brew.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I will just follow what ever the recipe calls for, at this stage of my experience (being done 1 batch) and in this case it's just a 60 min boil. will start my time from hot break for 1st addition of hops. My first one calle for a 75 min boil. So I am pretty confident it will be a nice one, only thing I forgot to sanitize was the beer transfer hose to fermenter....spray the barb and tip of tube but it never occurred to me to submerge the whole tube so the inside was sanitized, so fingers crossed on that one.

My order didn't go through properly to All Grain so will be re-ordering this week, what do you reckon is a better hop out of Ahtanum or Cascade?

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Replying to myself in amazement that I know what this all means but only a month ago it would have been able to understand it!!! (The recipe I wrote out)

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I see on this thread here... http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/fermentation-fridge-fr...

he is not using airlocks as I know it but rather a clear tube coming from the airlock hole to a glass of water......Is this perfectly ok to do? any issues doing it this way? I can squeeze 2 30Litre fermenter barrels in my fridge one above the other but no space for an ordinary airlock. I will upload photos shortly. and How do I make my sensor lead longer? Cheers.

[Ben Dean]

I now use a silicone tube going into a bottle of starsan/water after a few yeasts have blown my airlock clean out of the top of my fermenter.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

is it a mix of Starsan and water? wonder why it blew it's top? hey here's my fridge I got yesterday, not using it yet but here is how it could go...

[URL=http://s909.photobucket.com/user/daza152/media/my%20beer%20fridge%20001.jpg.html][IMG]http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac298/daza152/my%20beer%20fridge...[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s909.photobucket.com/user/daza152/media/my%20beer%20fridge%20002.jpg.html][IMG]http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac298/daza152/my%20beer%20fridge...[/IMG][/URL]

Would obviously like to have both fermenters in there at same time :-)

can you upload photos of your set up mate?

Cheers.

[Ben Dean]

Yeah just a weak mix of starsan and water.

White Labs Burton Ale yeast is the culprit, the most lively yeast I've used so far. A highish gravity porter did the same when I pitched 2 packs of Nottingham so I just use a blow off tube all the time now to be safe.

I'm just brewing an IPA myself as I type, will post a pic of my fridge setup when I'm done brewing. My fridge is a bit smaller than yours, only fits 1 fermenter in there.

[Ben Dean]

My fermenting fridge.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

sweet fridge! what size fermenter and batch size is that? Do you only do one brew at a time every 4 weeks? cool man.