My first real recipe. Feedback?

[mitten]

Hey guys. I've planned my recipe for my first reasonably sized AG brew. It's a 3 gallon brew and I'll be mashing/boiling in a 19lt stock pot.

Here is the recipe;

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2300.00 gm Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 84.6 %
140.00 gm Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
140.00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
140.00 gm Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
15.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (60 min) Hops 40.6 IBU
8.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (25 min) Hops 15.1 IBU
10.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (10 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
8.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
10.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (0 min) Hops -
17.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.2 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.6 %
Bitterness: 65.1 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint

I'm a big fan of hoppy american beers, so I wanted this to be quite well hopped. I'm just looking for some feedback on the recipe. Are there any suggestions/changes I should make?

[Barley Water]

Well, your IBU to OG ratio looks a little high to me. What you have there is an APA from a gravity standpoint but the bitterness is more in the IPA range. What you will end up with is a very out of balanced beer and the bitterness will cover everything else you might otherwise have going there. Mind you, I am not really that much of a hophead so take my comments for what they are worth. I think the best American beers have the really big hop flavor and aroma but the bitterness does not completely take over the beer, there is some malt taste as well (although not as much as would be found in a typical UK brew). So I guess my advice would be to increase the gravity by just adding more base malt (maybe up to say 1.060 or so) and make an IPA or reduce the bitterness to around 40IBU while keeping the gravity the same and call it an APA (if I were doing it, I would just reduce the bittering hops and leave the rest of the hop additions alone). By the way, Chinook hops can be very harsh depending on your water chemistry. Hard water can easily make for a very rough finish on the beer using that particular hop variety. Finally, carapils is a waste in a beer like this and I don't know that I would bother with the wheat either although I know you guys over there just love to chuck wheat in almost everything you make. Anyhow, have fun and good luck, let us know how it works out.

[mitten]

Okay I upped the grains a little and now I have OG of 1.058.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2500.00 gm Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 85.0 %
150.00 gm Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
150.00 gm Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
140.00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.8 %
15.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (60 min) Hops 39.3 IBU
8.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (25 min) Hops 14.6 IBU
10.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (10 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
8.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
8.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (0 min) Hops -
17.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -

[JammyBStard]

That looks very good if you reduce the bitterness and remove the wheat it would be very similar to a Mirror Pond clone, which seems to be the APA of the moment in west cost America!
But the recipe you have will make a nice AIPA no doubt!

[mitten]

Recipe has been updated again. Reduced some hops and added some crystal/amber malt.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2300.00 gm Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 78.0 %
200.00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.8 %
150.00 gm Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
150.00 gm Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
150.00 gm Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
15.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (60 min) Hops 39.2 IBU
8.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (25 min) Hops 14.6 IBU
8.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (10 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
8.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
8.00 gm Centennial [10.00%] (0 min) Hops -
17.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -

[JammyBStard]

Your going to tweek you way into a beer you don't want if your not carefully!
What do you want to make? Is there a beer you like which has a hop/malt prophile you would like to be close to?

[mitten]

I want to make a hoppy american style pale ale/IPA.

My favourite beers are Titan IPA, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 5 AM Saint, etc. I'm also a big fan of Odell Brewery's Pale ales and IPAs.

[Barley Water]

Well, just adding up the IBU figures on your latest iteration it looks like you expect to be at 61 IBU's, solid American IPA range. If you end up getting an OG of 1.058 the is roughly 1:1 IBS/OG ratio which is good. I also like adding amber malt to IPA's, in fact my favorite right now is Dogfish Head 60 which has amber malt but no crystal at all (I have a keg full right now waiting for a tap to free up, I can't wait). The thing about adding crystal malt to a beer like this is that the more you add, the more hops you need because the terminal gravity will increase leaving a sweeter beer which will tend to cover up some of the bitterness. Of course, your water profile will also play into how your hops come across in the flavor. All this can get somewhat confusing to me anyway so after a while I say just brew it and see what you think. Once the beer is ready to drink, get a few friends over, ply them with your beer and get comments both pro and con. What you should be looking for is smooth bitterness and really big hop flavor and aroma which should remind you of a grapefruit pine tree. I run into American IPA's all the time which are extremely bitter but the beer seems almost one dimentional, there is nothing subtle or complex going on. I also see American IPA's which have an OG around 1.070 which I think is a little high and cuts down on the drinkability of the beer (plus you get trashed after just one pint which I would like to try and avoid). Naturally, all that is very subjective so never loose sight of the fact that you are brewing to please yourself so don't worry too much about what some half crazed Texan thinks.

Actually, while writing this, I just remembered that I built a "Randall" which I have not used in some time. If I can find some leaf Cascade, Amarillo or Centenial, maybe I will charge the thing up and splice it into my tap line when I hook up my IPA for serving, that should really add some fresh hop flavor and aroma.

[Manx Guy]

Hi, If you want an american style Pale Ale/IPA then your recipe looks good, with the caveat that a) Chinook can be harsh if you have hard water b) are you sure you have your water treatment sorted for pale ales to avoid harshness etc. as suggested in BW's post?

For what its worth I wanted a nice Hoppy American style Pale Ale and came up with the following (using the SMaSH principle, but adding a little crystal to get a colour similar to SNPA+ wheat to be sure of a good head, but carapils in your recipe will do the same)

OG:1052 FG:1012 ABV 5.1%
Efficency :75%
IBU 52

Pale/Lager Malt 5000g
Crystal (120l) 200g (4%)
Wheat malt 100g
Hops:
Centeninal (AA11.7%) 20g @90mins
Centeninal (AA11.7%) 44g @10mins
Centeninal (AA11.7%) 34g @5mins

Yeast Safeale US-05

Single step infusion @ 66C
Ferment at 18-20C

I know my water is suited to Pale ales and hoppy ones as I have done two brews with IBU's in the 35-45 range without any harshness (but only found this out by giving it a go)...

I also got my water report and used the calculator on here to do basic water treatment and my efficiancy went up from ~75% to 84.5% with no other changes!

Hope that helps...



Guy

[JammyBStard]

I liked your first attempt the best but would move the 25min addition in with your 0 min this would bring the bitterness down to balance the malt and give you a big hophead flavour/aroma. They all look good though.