Dave Line's recipe's

[michrich]

I bought myself an early christmas present, Dave Line's book how to brew the beers you like at home but some of the recipes are for only 3 gallons of wort. I was hoping to do my first all grain soon and maybe using one of these recipes so to get the right amount of wort do I have more grain and water, sparge more with the same amount of grain or add more water into the FV after the boil?

[softlad]

The advice I was given with DL recipes was to increase the grain by 20% and reduce hops by 20%.

If you are looking to make the recipe up to 5 gallons then I would think you need to increase the hop & grain bill pro-rata.

There are plenty of 5 gallon recipes in there. I've had excellent results with the Draft Bass and Stella recipes, making the suggested + / - 20% adjustments.

[michrich]

Brilliant, thanks softlad.

Mike

[coatesg]

I bought myself an early christmas present, Dave Line's book how to brew the beers you like at home but some of the recipes are for only 3 gallons of wort.

Those ones are generally the strong ones (the barley wines, imperial stout, etc - they come out about 8-11% if you do everything right) - you can make them up to 5 gallons by multiplying everything by 1.66 (5/3) and then do the 20% corrections for hops (-) and grains (+). I think the recipe only gave 3 gallons as probably, unless you have a large mashtun, or you don't do batch sparging, you will struggle to fit all the grain in...

However, if you're doing your first all grain, I'd recommend steering clear of those and opt for something more middle of the road where less is likely to go wrong
(I'd recommend the London Pride recipe in there - 'tis a good one - it was my first AG

Cheers

[michrich]

Thanks Graeme. I think you are probably right about the first AG, keep it nice and simple.

[michrich]

Thanks Chris.

Mike

[boingy]

I've brewed quite a few of those recipes and I would agree that the mashing grains could do with a boost but I would question whether you need to reduce the hops.

So, just out of interest, do ya reckon DL was a mashing god or that he was just bad at measuring OG?

[boingy]

I do seem to remember somewhere in one of his books he said that his malt quantities were based on the best possible extraction rate - that always seemed a bit daft when it is aimed at amateur brewers.

Can't speak for the London Pride but but I can vouch for the Pedigree, 6X, Theakstons Best, a couple of the Greene Kings, the Newky Brown and Amber and a few of the lagers. Dunno much about IBUs but I know those beers were good.
Maybe you need to use a 10 year alpha acid average from the 1980's....

[OldAl]

I do seem to remember somewhere in one of his books he said that his malt quantities were based on the best possible extraction rate - that always seemed a bit daft when it is aimed at amateur brewers.

That's right boingy, in TheBBoB 'Low Extract' p208 DL said that his recipes were designed assuming max possible extract.
But he did mention that for an 80% extraction to adjust the recipe accordingly.
It does seem a bit daft to base the recipe on the unattainable. He would have got better feedback using say 85% efficiency.
However in 'Degrees of Extract' p153, he claimed that in one of his brews he got 97% max extract in mashing.

I assume his recipes in BBLTYB are also based on max possible extract, but he didn't mention that specifically.

I can't really vouch for the DL London Pride, coz I brewed it using Brupaks Premium Grade Pale ME, but it was brill with a lovely hoppiness that I like, so the AG version must be something.

[softlad]

The DL London Pride is a good drink. I've just finished all but two bottles of the stuff which are promised to a mate

Its one I'll brew again.