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...

[Richard Deeble]

When I have used it, and when I taste it beers like the MPA I tend to get strong Apricot from it, maybe with some Mango. I reckon it is one of those hops which needs to be combined with the right malt bill to get the right sort of flavour. I reckon the MPA does it brilliantly.

[Matt Smith]

I'm planning to brew the Dusseldorf Altbier from Brewing Classic styles in the next week or so. Just wondering if anybody has experience making Alts using US05 cool rather than the Dusseldorf strain from Wyeast. I'm pretty keen for it to come out pretty authentic but id save about $25 using US05...besides, i've never actually tasted an Alt before so I wouldn't have a comparison.

[Mike Neilson]

US05 is rumoured to be the same strain as Sierra Nevada Chicco, which they use in there larger and ferment and 12 degrees. Yeah bud give it a go, I have fermented US05 @ 12degrees with good results, the only thing is that it could allmost be to clean as I dont get any sulphur when fermented this way. If I was you and depending how stingy you are if you are only using 1 pack of US05 I would pitch @ 20 than crash as soon as it has Krausen or if you use 2 packs pitch @ 12.

[denimglen]

Or just to confuse you a little more K-97 is a kolsch strain (not a Euro wheat strain as it implies).  I would toss up between that and US05.

 

I've only used K97 once and it was a long time ago but it does ferment clean and throw a little sulphur.

 

In saying that the first time brewing it I would go for the safe (and cheap) option US05 and ferment between 16 - 18C if possible.  Then if you love the beer you can decided to go authentic or experiment with K97.

[MrC]

I reckon US-05 with a cool ferment (15-17C) would make a pretty good Dusseldorf Altbier.  Looking at the BJCP style guides it looks spot on.  I brewed a Kolsch recently with US-O5  fermented at 16C and it came out great.  I personally wouldn't bother with the Wyeast for this style unless I thought I had nailed every other aspect of the beer and that it was still lacking something.

[denimglen]

I personally wouldn't bother with the Wyeast for this style unless I thought I had nailed every other aspect of the beer and that it was still lacking something.

 

Exactly.  I don't think the yeast character is significant enough to make or break the beer, more of a fine tuning thing.

[Reviled]

I've heard and read that K97 in an Alt is fantastic!!

[Matt Smith]

Sweet thanks everyone! Seems like US05 is the consensus, I'll go with that and ferment at around 16. I have a Blonde fermenting at the moment with US05 so I'll have a healthy harvest to pitch.

[jt]

+1 for a cool '05 ferment and use Mr Malty to check how much to use

[Druid]

Want to put down a Blonde Ale - I bought 4.5kg of  NZ pils, 0.5 kg of Pale Crystal, US 05 and 200gm of NZ Cascade plus I've got 100gm of NZ Goldings in the fridge.

 

I've just brewed Jo's Epic clone as my first AG attempt - so for my second attempt I was after a bit more of a detuned brew, but still with a bit of a hop kick. A lawnmower quaffer with a bit more body and hoppiness, say.

 

Here's my attempt. 

 

Any constructive criticisms?

 

Recipe: Second Crack Summer Blonde
Brewer: Andrew
Asst Brewer:
Style: Blonde Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (0.0) Summer Ale, partially inspired by Barry's Summer Ale, RealBeer.co.nz but modified to use Pils

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 21.00 L     
Boil Size: 27.34 L
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 34.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
4.50 kg       Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC)              Grain        90.00 %      
0.50 kg       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC)     Grain        10.00 %      
15.00 gm      Goldings Styrian, NZ [6.40 %]  (60 min)   Hops         11.7 IBU     
20.00 gm      Cascade NZ [9.10 %]  (Dry Hop 3 days)     Hops          -           
10.00 gm      Cascade NZ [9.10 %]  (60 min)             Hops         11.1 IBU     
10.00 gm      Cascade NZ [9.10 %]  (15 min)             Hops         5.5 IBU      
15.00 gm      Goldings Styrian, NZ [6.40 %]  (15 min)   Hops         5.8 IBU      
10.00 gm      Goldings Styrian, NZ [6.40 %]  (0 min)    Hops          -           
15.00 gm      Cascade NZ [9.10 %]  (0 min)              Hops          -           
0.48 tbsp     Koppafloc (Boil 10.0 min)                 Misc                      
3.49 tsp      Isinglass (Liquid) (Secondary 7.0 days)   Misc                      
18.75 L       Auckland, NZ                              Water                     
1 Pkgs        SafAle American (DCL Yeast #S-05)         Yeast-Ale                 


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion with Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 5.00 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion with Mash Out
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
60 min        Mash In            Add 13.04 L of water at 75.6 C      67.0 C       
2 min         Mash Out           Add 5.21 L of water at 86.9 C       72.0 C       

Newbie Assumptions:

-------------------------------

I couldn't find the NZ pilsener in the available grains in BeerSmith and I have no idea about the grain stats for NZ pilsener malt but I'm assuming it corresponds to the UK 2-row. 

 

Also, I'm assumed that the Pale Crystal I bought from Brewers Coop corresponds to the 20L/40EBC Crystal Malt.

 

 

 

 

[jt]

Pale Crystal I bought from Brewers Coop corresponds to the 20L/40EBC

 

pale crystal would be in the 90 EBC mark

Caramalt or dark caramalt would be in the 30-40EBC area

 

Could be a bit darker than you thought, but that's nice malt, enjoy it and drink with your eyes closed !

 

cheers, jt

[Druid]

OK - traps for young players with all those specialty malt names - that certainly changes the colour of the beer!

 

Still coming to grips with the term 'crystal' and its 'light' colour connotations, although I guess it's called that due to the crystalline nature of the malt.

 

So, if I drop the pale crystal to .35kg, reduced the 60min bittering addition of Styrian Goldings from 15g to 10g and drop the target volume to 20 litres, I end up with a colour of 12.7 EBC, an OG of 1.051 and a ratio of IBU/SG of 0.62.

 

The colour certainly looks OK in BeerSmith considering the loose criterion I've spec'd.

I'm not sure how much credence people give those values on a a computer screen but it sure is fun messing with it.