First all grain recipe

[barry44]

Hi guys, I have recently made the move to all grain and as such have been pulling together a recipe for my first brew.

Cca 2

Recipe specifics:

Style: American Pale Ale
Batch size: 23.0 l
Boil volume: 29.5 l
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.014
Bitterness (IBU): 43.8
Color (SRM): 8.2
ABV: 5.5%

Grain/Sugars:

5.00 kg Maris Otter Malt, 84.7%
0.50 kg Vienna, 8.5%
0.25 kg Crystal 40L, 4.2%
0.15 kg Wheat, 2.5%

Hops:

13.00 g Magnum (AA 14.4%, Pellet) 60 min, 19.8 IBU
50.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Whole) 5 min, 4.5 IBU
50.00 g Cascade (AA 7.2%, Pellet) 5 min, 7.6 IBU
50.00 g Chinook (AA 12.5%, Whole) 5 min, 11.9 IBU
25.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Pellet) dry hop
25.00 g Cascade (AA 7.2%, Whole) dry hop
25.00 g Chinook (AA 12.5%, Whole) dry hop

Yeast/Misc:

Safale S-05, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast

I havent used chinook or ahtanum before but I have heard good things about them.

I havent used vienna either and am unsure what it will bring to the brew. I also have some munich in the house which could replace the vienna.

I welcome any comments and observations.

[killer]

That's an epic looking beer for your first AG !

Very much down my street....
I would make a couple of observations...

I hope you have a good hop filter.
What mash temp are you planning on ? For me, the malt in your recipe is quite well balanced with the bitterness - as with that amount of late hops you will probably find that the IBUs will be a little bit higher than you have accounted for - so I think you are spot on - though if I were to make a malt swap, I would swap the crystal out for an equal quantity of munich - but that's just personal preference. I would also look to mash at 64 ish. For me Crystal give a slightly "sickly" sweeter maltiness than munich - though not so much in the quantities you propose.
Be sure to account for the large volume of beer that will be sucked up by the hops. You have about 250g that could easily suck up 1.5 - 2.5L between the boil and dry hop.

Ahtanum and Chinook are both found in Punk IPA so you might not be a million miles away from that - especially as you add so much late.

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on !

[jimp2003]

Great looking recipe barry44 - that is right up my street!

For me I would go for a 66 degree mash temp for this type of brew as I don't like very hoppy beers to be too thin. I also had this as the target for my first few AG brews as I was not sure exactly how well my mash tun was going to hold its temperature.

I would not bother replacing the crystal with munich in this case as 250g of munich would not contribute much but that level of 40l crystal is worth having.

Good luck with the brew and let us know how it goes.

Cheers

Jim

[InsideEdge]

Looks good send me some bottles for taste verification though!

I wouldnt mash as low as 64, US05 is a beast of a yeast. If anything you should go for a high mash temp to get some body. I go up as high as 67/8 with US05.

As you have got a nice big dry hop for aroma you could give your late boil hops a little more time for flavour, perhaps as much as 15 minutes. If you do some googling you will find some homebrewers have done hop flavour tests and find that boiling for a little longer gives a greater hop flavour but don't take my word for it.

Cheers.

[Barley Water]

That recipe is going to make you a very fine tasting beer. I guess I would have to say that the malt bill is more like an English ESB but hopped and fermented in the American style. Over here, we generally use 2 row which is not nearly as flavorful and the nice stuff you lads are working with. Accordingly, the American stuff is not so malt forward as your beer likely will be. After you make the beer and taste it, you can screw around with the recipe by say deleting the crystal malt for instance. That is going to tend to dry out the beer a bit and make the hops come out even more. You can also add some specialty malts like a bit of Amber malt for example, that's what Dogfish Head does with their IPA. Finally, mess with the hops and see what neat combinations you can come up with, the possibilities are endless. I'm a big fan of low cohumolone hops so I like Simcoe, Amarillo and Warrior and I have also screwed around a bit with Mosaic and Citra.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

My only comment is the same as had been said before. I hope you have a good large area hop filter as if not the pellet hops will block it up.

[Matt12398]

I think the recipe looks great for a first AG but quite brave to be chucking that quantity of hops at it. First AGs are expected to have hiccups.

If it was me I'd swap the Vienna for an equal quantity of Munich. I like some caramel sweetness in a pale ale but I'd maybe swap the 40L for some caramalt.

[barry44]

Thanks very much for your comments.

I plan to mash at 66 degrees and the hop filter on the boiler is a wire mesh tube.

The boiler is this one: http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... qxOAstFDqA.

It also has a good amount of dead space around the element which, I assume, would catch the hops below the filter itself. I also have leaf ahtanum and the magnum has been incorrectly described as pellet where it is also leaf.

In fact the correct recipe is as follows:

Cca 2

Recipe specifics:

Style: American Pale Ale
Batch size: 23.0 l
Boil volume: 29.5 l
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.014
Bitterness (IBU): 44.3
Color (SRM): 8.2
ABV: 5.5%

Grain/Sugars:

5.00 kg Maris Otter Malt, 84.7%
0.50 kg Vienna, 8.5%
0.25 kg Crystal 40L, 4.2%
0.15 kg Wheat, 2.5%

Hops:

15.00 g Magnum (AA 14.4%, Whole) 60 min, 20.6 IBU
50.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Pellet) 5 min, 5.0 IBU
50.00 g Cascade (AA 7.2%, Whole) 5 min, 6.8 IBU
50.00 g Chinook (AA 12.5%, Whole) 5 min, 11.9 IBU
25.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Pellet) dry hop
25.00 g Cascade (AA 7.2%, Whole) dry hop
25.00 g Chinook (AA 12.5%, Whole) dry hop

Yeast/Misc:

Safale S-05, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast

With regard to the hops, I read the thread re hop aroma etc and I have been using five minute additions for my last few extract brews with very good results so I have been sticking with that method.

Also, re pellets vs leaf, would you suggest that leaf is better in the boiler due to the potential to clog the filter with pellets better for dry hopping?

I prefer to buy pellets whenever available for space reasons and that they dry hop better, I chill the beer to drop the pellet mush.

However I have taken to blitzing my leaf hops in the blender with water prior to dry hopping with them which seems to work as well.

Whats your thoughts?

[alix101]

It's a serious beer alright. .. looks lovely . The only things I would say would be add a bit of gypsum to the boil to emphasise the hops and a protoloc for clarity and the cascade will be swamped by the chinook I'd be tempted to drop it add some antanum around 20 mins to boost the bitterness to about 30 ibu and double up on chinook at 5.

[barry44]

It's a serious beer alright. .. looks lovely . The only things I would say would be add a bit of gypsum to the boil to emphasise the hops and a protoloc for clarity and the cascade will be swamped by the chinook I'd be tempted to drop it add some antanum around 20 mins to boost the bitterness to about 30 ibu and double up on chinook at 5.

I will be adjusting my water to suit the amber balanced profile on bru n water so will be adding gypsum to the brew.

Im interested in what you are saying. Im reading that you suggest ditching the cascade altogether and battering 100g of chinook at five minutes. Is that right?

[alix101]

Im interested in what you are saying. Im reading that you suggest ditching the cascade altogether and battering 100g of chinook at five minutes. Is that right?

Yes pretty much... your not going for a Subtle beer so I would load up on chinook and save the Cascade for another brew.

[barry44]

Im interested in what you are saying. Im reading that you suggest ditching the cascade altogether and battering 100g of chinook at five minutes. Is that right?

Yes pretty much... your not going for a Subtle beer so I would load up on chinook and save the Cascade for another brew.

Would the chinook not just overpower the ahtanum?

Do you think I should dry hop with ahtanum only?

[barry44]

Cca 2-2

Recipe specifics:

Style: American IPA
Batch size: 23.0 l
Boil volume: 29.5 l
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.014
Bitterness (IBU): 52.3
Color (SRM): 8.2
ABV: 5.5%

Grain/Sugars:

5.00 kg Maris Otter Malt, 84.7%
0.50 kg Vienna, 8.5%
0.25 kg Crystal 40L, 4.2%
0.15 kg Wheat, 2.5%

Hops:

15.00 g Magnum (AA 14.4%, Whole) 60 min, 20.6 IBU
10.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Pellet) 20 min, 3.0 IBU
50.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Pellet) 5 min, 5.0 IBU
100.00 g Chinook (AA 12.5%, Whole) 5 min, 23.8 IBU
25.00 g Ahtanum (AA 4.7%, Pellet) dry hop

Yeast/Misc:

Safale S-05, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast

[Underground Joe]

I'd very happily drink that!

[Matt12398]

I will be adjusting my water to suit the amber balanced profile on bru n water so will be adding gypsum to the brew.

I'd be using the pale ale profile for this one personslly.