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...

[Vesku]

Yep, there seems to be at least 10 right ways to do it (as usually) :P You just have to find the one that works for you :)

I've also noticed that, if you are after crisp clean pilsner type of brew, even small amount of tannin is very easy to taste. A good circulation of the mash (HERMS) helped me to get rid of that.

It's been a long time when I last made a lager with uncontrolled fermentation temp (~15C), but if I remember right they tasted sweeter. Even the fruit flies liked it too, when it was in my pint. The aroma of the brew was really fruity almost like a bad home wine, nothing like a good beer.

Sometimes I wonder whats the point of making a beer style with really mild taste if you get everything right, but even slightest cock up and all you taste is the off taste.

Good luck :)

[Kelly Milligan]

Gidday,

Has anyone tried using Malteurop Mild Ale malt? It sits at about 7.5-9 EBC from what I've seen. Be interested to hear from anyone who has tried it out, what it's flavour profile is like, and what other malts it compares to :)

Cheers!

K

[Grant R Baker]

Got one recipe in 3 test brews the only one difference.. the Pilsner base malt.  Malteurope, Bohemian Pilsner and standard Pilsner are being compared.

 

but it won't better ready for taste till end of May / middle on June.

[Kelly Milligan]

Planning to brew this Cali-common in a couple weeks. Big thanks to Brewery Britomart for sparking an obsession into this beer style with their Anchors Aweigh! which is outstanding. Pretty closely based off of JZ's recipe, with a reduced amount of munich to account for the difference between Maris Otter and American 2-row. Any tips? 

malt & fermentables
% KG MALT OR FERMENTABLE YIELD EBC 81% 4.500 Maris Otter Malt (Thomas Fawcett) 78% 6 ~ 7% 0.400 Crystal 90L 71% 149 ~ 7% 0.400 Munich Malt - 10L 76% 16 ~ 4% 0.200 Biscuit Malt 78% 38 ~ 1% 0.050 Pale Chocolate Malt 73% 273 ~ 5.55 Batch size: 23.0 liters	Original Gravity 1.054 / 13.3° Plato (1.048 to 1.056) Final Gravity 1.017 / 4.3° Plato (1.015 to 1.019) Color 27° EBC / 14° SRM (Copper to Red/Lt. Brown) Mash Efficiency 75%
hops
USE TIME GRAMS VARIETY FORM AA boil 60 mins 14 Northern Brewer pellet 9.8 boil 15 mins 43 Northern Brewer pellet 9.8 post-boil 1 min 43 Northern Brewer pellet 9.8 Boil: 30.0 avg liters for 60 minutes	Bitterness 41.3 IBU / 5 HBU ƒ: Tinseth BU:GU 0.76
yeast
White Labs San Francisco Lager (WLP810) lager yeast in liquid form with high flocculation and 68% attenuation	Alcohol 4.9% ABV / 4% ABW Calories 169 per 1/3 Liter

[Grant R Baker]

Nope.. sounds interesting. 

btw you could look at the Pislner malts as substitutes for American 2-row... but nothing wrong with trying Maris Otter.

[Chris P]

Since there are a fair few pages in here now which is a bit of a pain to easily search out a recipe, has anyone done something close to the Renaissance Elemental Porter? AG or Partial is fine =) A clone would be great but my googling skills have come up short so far...

[Scarrfie]

I came very close with my first partial grain and I took inspiration from this. http://www.nzhops.co.nz/recipes/strongporter.html

I used:

1x can of cooper draught

1.5 kg pale malt

1.0 home toasted malt (As per How to Brew. half dry roast@1 hour and half wet@ 2)

1.0 med crystal - don't laugh I was new!

.25 chocolate malt

30 gms Pacific Gem @ 60

30 gms NZ Hallertau. @ 5

S04 

No roast in there, but the dry toasted probably helped. I still have a couple of bottles left and could share one with you:-)

[jt]

Yea. I've started a recipe or two with the NZ Hop recipes.
Hard to work out their hop additions the way they give %'s forthe late additions, but you get the general idea and figure out somethong that suits your taste

[Chris P]

Yeah definitely. I think this gives plenty to work with. I think my winter is looking brighter already if I get it cranking.

[Chris P]

Sounds great. I wont laugh at you mate, I am super new at this stage myself. I have never used those hops but one way to find out what they are like. Would you change much if you did it again?

[Scarrfie]

Now that is a tough one Chris as I have left the last two bottles for about six months to age more. I also haven't tried to two side by side, and I am of course six months more experienced at tasting:-) I didn't keep good notes on it either, but from memory I mashed at 64°C. So based on that I think a much higher mash temp would allow you to cut back the crystal somewhat. Part of my reasoning for the crystal was to counter the significant bitterness from the hops. It does depend on your time frame for consumption, I brewed about this time last year and it really did take six months for the hop edge to subside to make for a more enjoyable drink. I now know the darker malts really do take at least 3 months to bring the full flavours out. As a parting thought, others have enjoyed it just as is and if you like the style then you won't go to far wrong with something close to my recipe.

We have a renaissance Porter here, so perhaps the good lady and I can try them side by side this weekend. For me I had never tried a Porter before I brewed this, but it isn't my favourite style. I have tried the famous Fullers version and that didn't do it for me. I much prefer a good stout, but my favourite brew so far is an ESB, perhaps leaning towards an American Brown Ale. More malt driven and I am really liking the chocolate malt at the moment.

[Chris P]

I didn't like anything that wasn't American and hoppy as hell in terms of craft beer. Before that I used to enjoy Becks or Peroni and think I was super fancy! It is only in the last bit that I have been caught up in some beauty dark beers such as the Croucher Patriot, Youngs Double Choc, 8 Wired iStout, Tuatara Porter and this Elemental Porter. They are top of the crop for me. I just really enjoy each mouthful of this drop so that's why I would like to be able to make similar at least to stop me buying two or three a week! I like a bit of body so that means a higher mash anyway doesn't it? I will cut back on the crystal and try my hardest to not nail it all before 6months =)