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...

[Reviled]

"Sweet Baby Jesus"

That made me lol and think of Will Farrel in that racing movie :oD

[Simon David kelly]

Talladega Nights ... or something similar ... good movie, some great lines ...

[studio1]

small beer, lots of yeast, highish ferment. I plan on about 4 days at 21, 3 days at 24, 3 days at -1.

It helps being a malt focused beer also

[studio1]

I had an awesome beer in Sydney at the Taphouse - Murrays Punch and Judy - English Bitter at 3.9%
It had tons of hop aroma and I picked out the Riwaka in there - I've since found it uses Riwaka and Motueka:
http://www.murraysbrewingco.com.au/web2010/index.php

Here's some more info: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12897/57877

I plan on making something with a Golden Promise base, dark crystal malt and those 2 hops. I'm doing a split batch - one with WLP002 and one with WLP023 (Burton Ale).

I luckily have 100gm of Riwaka Hop flowers. However, I have never used Motueka. Since that is easier to get, I plan to use Mot as my bittering addition only, then both through at 10m and 0m and dry hop.

Should I use equal additions of Mot and Riwaka for these additions? Also what's the consensus on using flowers? Do I need to account for x% more in weight than pellets?

Any advice on the grist also - particularly the % of the dark crystal? I want most of the emphasis on the hop flavours with a nice background to hold it up.

[Doublehoppy]

I think add 10% more if using flowers rather than pellets.

[jt]

There's nothing planned for this week - the HLT, otherwise known as the big pot, is making vege soup instead.
But next week it's 699, a lower gravity repeat of the late hopped brown.
Dropping it from 1.046 & 33 IBU to 1.040 & 28 IBU, so all relative
Next question is should I tinker with the grainbill
Previously
78% Malteurop
10% Munich I
3% Caramalt
7% Dark Crystal
2% Pale Chocolate
I'm tempted to bump up the Caramalt, Dark Crystal and Pale Chocolate, really brown it up a bit
What do you think ?

[Matthew]

No. I don't you think you should tinker at all, it was tasting superb as is!

Maybe just the caramalt... and more late hops... :D

[warra48]

You're already up to 10% cara and crystal malts. I wouldn't bump it up anymore.
I reckon the recipe looks fine as it is.
If you want to darken it, why not add some Carafa Special II. This will give you colour, but without the bitterness. I use up to 100 gr (2.8%) in my Milds to give it colour without the roasty or coffee character.
Which yeast are you planning to use? I love WY1968 in this sort of brew for the malty quality it gives me.

[jt]

If it was a beefy ale malt I probably wouldn't worry, but it's a Pils malt and I'm concerned it might need a bit more weight for the hops ?

Not quite so concerned about the colour and I don't have any problem adding another % or two of pale chocolate in

[MrC]

How about splitting the 7% Dark Crystal into 4% Dark Crystal & 4% Medium Crystal in the hope of getting a little more depth of caramels through light, medium & dark?

Looks good as it is though.

[jt]

That's an interesting thought Mr Cherry, will consider it, perhaps erring towards the darker end

[jt]

OK, I've upped the crystals by a percentage point and I've dropped the hops from 70% of OG to 60%
I was reading the Mr Malty Secret to big hop flavour ... http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm ... and thought that if they're impressed with an IBU:OG ratio of only 36% then I'm already way ahead of that.

Also the comment here from them about the gravity encouraged me to up the specialties a notch
' ...Critical factors appear to be ... and original gravities in excess of 1.055 S.G. Perhaps a lower gravity beer would show signs of ‘grassiness’ or ‘green leaf’ aromas/flavors and astringenc ... as the malt profile would not be able to offer any significant balancing or smoothing help ...'

And something that I noticed, but more due to a dicky snaplock adapter on the fridge that gives me a slow foamy pour at the moment, something like a nitrogen gassed beer, was this comment.

'...Another thing I noticed was an increased mouthfeel. The beer had a really nice texture ...'