Thoughts on this summer ale recipe

[Will333]

I want to make a goldeny ale. This will be the first time that I haven't followed a recipe for a brew so any feedback would be really appreciated!

For about 40 pints:

4250g pale malt
175g Caramalt
100g Crystal malt
120g Wheat malt

90 min boil with 35g of Goldings added at the start and 17g added with some irish moss for the last 110 minutes.


Should I add any white sugar?

[Rookie]

I want to make a goldeny ale. This will be the first time that I haven't followed a recipe for a brew so any feedback would be really appreciated!

For about 40 pints:

4250g pale malt
175g Caramalt
100g Crystal malt
120g Wheat malt

90 min boil with 35g of Goldings added at the start and 17g added with some irish moss for the last 110 minutes.


Should I add any white sugar?

What color rating is the crystal malt? What yeast?

[Will333]

I am going to use safale s-04 yeast. The crystal malt is 140ebc

[Deebee]

I am going to use safale s-04 yeast. The crystal malt is 140ebc

looks good to me although i would just go for a 60 minute boil.

The caramalt and crystal together might me a little cloying so personally i would choose one or the other only.

I might be tempted to add a nice handfull of goldings at flame out for a steep too.

[Will333]

Thanks for the ideas! Why would you only go for a 60 minute boil? And would the handful of hops at the end stay for the whole of the primary fermentation?

[Deebee]

Thanks for the ideas! Why would you only go for a 60 minute boil? And would the handful of hops at the end stay for the whole of the primary fermentation?

6o minute boil is enough for most people. It only means that you will need to add slightly more hops, but it does save on both water ( as you boil off less) and also most importantly time.

As for the steep.

A handfull og hops as you finish the boil and before you transfer means that you get aroma and taste. these stay in your boiler during cooling and also when you transfer to the fermenter.

nothing fancy, you could say use 15 g goldings at flame out if you wanted to.

[Rookie]

I am going to use safale s-04 yeast. The crystal malt is 140ebc

looks good to me although i would just go for a 60 minute boil.

The caramalt and crystal together might me a little cloying so personally i would choose one or the other only.

I might be tempted to add a nice handfull of goldings at flame out for a steep too.

What he said.

[CestrIan]

I wouldn't add any sugar. It will just reduce the mouthfeel, less body, make it taste thinner. It can be useful to add sugar to brews that are more than 6% ABV to make them more drinkable as they can start to taste a bit thick, but for your Summer Ale no sugar required.

Everything else looks good. Flame out hops and dry hopping are two ways to make your beers stand out from normal run of the mill commercial brews. Do a search on the forum or google for 'hop bursting'. Lots of home brewers are doing it these days.

[legion]

The caramalt and crystal together might me a little cloying so personally i would choose one or the other only.

I don't think it would be cloying but it would probably be more than is needed for summer ale.

You keep them both but reduce the amounts of each. This would give more complex caramelly flavors by having multiple crystal malts of differing ebc's.

[50quidsoundboy]

6o minute boil is enough for most people.

i always do a 90 minute boil because i get predictable results that way, in terms of boil-off / OG. i'd like to experiment with shorter boils for pale beers but presumably i'd need to get a better mash efficiency - or mash more grain - in order to hit my volume + gravity targets.

one other reason i do 90 minute boils is because i suspect (rightly or wrongly) that it makes a flavour contribution to the beer.

[Mr. Dripping]

A ninety minute boil will also give you a more stable finished beer.

[50quidsoundboy]

A ninety minute boil will also give you a more stable finished beer.

what sort of stability?

it seems like 60 minute boils are standard in the USA.

[Mr. Dripping]

The longer the boil, the more proteins are able to coagulate and clump together and precipitate out of the beer.
The more of this matter you can remove then the more stable the end product is.
Historically, export beers were given extended boils to help with stability on long sea journeys.
Malt is generally of much better quality these days and the boil length is probably not as relevant as it once was; but it still will have an effect.
For beers that are intended to be drunk within a few weeks of production it probably is not an issue and a 60 minute boil will work okay.

[50quidsoundboy]

interesting, thanks. i read "Farmhouse Ales" recently and that said that saisons were made using extended boil times; given that these beers were intended for storage in presumably less-than-optimal cellar conditions, i wonder if this was a factor.

[Barley Water]

I always boil at least 90 minutes and I would especially urge anyone using alot of pilsner malt in the grist to do so also. If you don't, you risk leaving alot of DMS in the beer. Although many lagers will have some the better examples at least keep it reasonable. Also, if using a direct fired copper as most of us do, you get some melonodin reactions going which while darking the beer somewhat also add some complexity to the malty flavors which is a very good thing in my opinion.