80/-ish

[Skittlebrau]

I've taken GW's Caledonian 80/- recipe but substituted the malts and hops I currently have available. Will it still be nice and malty or will it just be bland?

Pale and Heavy
Scottish Light 80/-

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 26.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.742
Total Hops (g): 56.16
Original Gravity (OG): 1.042 (°P): 10.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010 (°P): 2.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.18 %
Colour (SRM): 5.4 (EBC): 10.7
Bitterness (IBU): 35.1 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 73
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.333 kg Low Colour Maris Otter Malt (91.37%)
0.233 kg Crystal 30 (4.91%)
0.142 kg Wheat Malt (2.99%)
0.034 kg Chocolate, Pale (0.72%)

Hop Bill
----------------
12.5 g Nugget Leaf (12% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
12.5 g Perle Leaf (10% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
15.6 g Nugget Leaf (12% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
15.6 g Perle Leaf (10% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with Kelham Island Yeast


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

[seymour]

Should work. I'd personally make a few minor tweaks: I'd bake some of the Maris and/or Wheat malts in the oven to build up the desired caramelized/browned/toasty/melanoidy aspects. As always, I recommend tossing a handful of quick oats from your kitchen in the mash tun for creamier mouthfeel and enhanced head retention and lace. 67°C is a good mash temp for this recipe, but a degree or two higher will leave even more residual sweetness. I'd also elevate the fermentation temp a bit to enhance the fruity esters.
Happy brewing!

[Skittlebrau]

Should work. I'd personally make a few minor tweaks: I'd bake some of the Maris and/or Wheat malts in the oven to build up the desired caramelized/browned/toasty/melanoidy aspects. As always, I recommend tossing a handful of quick oats from your kitchen in the mash tun for creamier mouthfeel and enhanced head retention and lace. 67°C is a good mash temp for this recipe, but a degree or two higher will leave even more residual sweetness. I'd also elevate the fermentation temp a bit to enhance the fruity esters.
Happy brewing!

Thanks for the advice. Any tips on the baking, e.g. oven temp and time? What sort of fermentation temp do you recommend?

[seymour]

Thanks for the advice. Any tips on the baking, e.g. oven temp and time? What sort of fermentation temp do you recommend?

Professional maltsters have it down to a science. I'm a home-brewer, a home-baker, home-gardener, etc, so I don't claim to have it down to a science. I just wet the malt, spread it on a cookie sheet and bake it at a low-medium heat until it looks and smells all golden, biscuity, and bready. If I'm going for brown malt, or roasted, I just let it keep going, stirring occasionally until it looks and smells the way I want. I've done this successfully before and after milling. That's really all there is to it. I can honestly say, each time I do this, the final beer has been livelier and more aromatic than using off-the-shelf malts. You won't regret it.

Of course, there are lots more specific how-to guides online. Here's one with pictures that came up when googling "how to make your own caramel or crystal malt" http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/01/h ... nique.html

[Rookie]

Take the first two liters of run off, put into a sperate pot and reduce it to a syrup and add it back into the main boil. That will give you a very carmelly/malty flavor.

[seymour]

Take the first two liters of run off, put into a sperate pot and reduce it to a syrup and add it back into the main boil. That will give you a very carmelly/malty flavor.

+1

[CestrIan]

Usually 80/ has about 100g of roast barley in the grain bill. I don't think you'll get the same roast flavours with chocolate or by toasting your own MO. The main flavour for an 80/ comes from kettle caramelisation. I would boil down the first gallon off the mash separately until the sugars start to caramelise and then add it back to the main boil. You won't notice 2L on a side boil IMO and you should boil the main batch for two hours and top up with water at the end.

For the hops I would get rid of the late additions. This is a malt focused beer. I've never used nugget, but I think you would be better off using a low alpha hop. There should be a minimal hop character in this style.

[Skittlebrau]

Excuse me if I'm being daft, but wouldn't it be better to use high alpha hops, this getting the IBUs required for the minimum weight of hop addition?

[CestrIan]

If you were an accountant working for a brewery then I'd say you were right. If you want to make a nice beer that's to a particular style then I'd use the hops that were traditionally used to make that style, like fuggles or goldings in an 80/.

[Rookie]

I would boil down the first gallon off the mash separately until the sugars start to caramelise and then add it back to the main boil. You won't notice 2L on a side boil IMO and you should boil the main batch for two hours and top up with water at the end.

My bad, I forgot to adjust for the fact that I brew three gallon batches and a gallon would be the right amount for a larger batch.