First Own Recipe Attempt

[Matt12398]

Here's my first try at creating my own recipe and wanted to get some ideas as to whether this might work. So far I've just been following everyone else's recipes. With brewing software it's pretty easy to get the bittering levels right but when it come to flavour/aroma additions I find that bit really difficult because I don't know if I've seriously over hopped this or fallen short.

4.2 kg Marris Otter Malt
300 g Crystal Malt
200 g Biscuit Malt
80 g Chocolate Malt
200 g Torrified Wheat
32 g Challenger @ 60 minutes
10 g Challenger @ 10 minutes
10 g EKG @ 10 minutes
20 g EKG flameout
Wyeast 1098

I thought the addition of the biscuit malt would give it a nice flavour. All of these figures seem to look pretty good in Beersmith for the malts but I'm less sure about the hops. I don't know whether I'm gaining anything by having the 10 minute addition or whether I should go with all at flameout. Not sure if I should leave the challenger for bittering only and just use EKG for flavour/aroma

I was also going to try a bit of water treatment and include some DLS. I have very soft water.

I really just wanted a nice English style ale with some good hop flavours in there.

[Matt12398]

Was it that uninteresting? Someone must have a view.

[james1988]

I find replies can be quite quiet in these parts. Unfortunately I can't give any advice as I'm not experienced enough too.

James

[boingy]

Can't comment on the biscuit or the yeast because I've never used them but challenger for bittering and ekg for flavour/aroma is a classic choice. It might be interesting to brew one with the biscuit and one without to get an understanding of the differences. I definitely prefer very simple grain bills and only one or two hops in any particular beer but other folks are the opposite.

It's your beer and if the numbers look good then brew it and see what you think. It certainly won't be a bad beer.

One thing I would say is be very careful with the water treatment. It's easy to overdo it and overdoing it can be worse than not doing it at all.

[Matt12398]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the replies. Might repost in AG.

[Barley Water]

If you post you expected O.G. as well as your calculated IBU's it's a little easier to help out (I could tell you what my system would do but your's might be quite different).

I can tell you from experience though that using biscuit malt works out very well, when I make British beers I want that unique biscuit taste and although Maris Otter will get you there adding a bit of biscuit malt will really make it good. Hell, I even chucked about 4 ounces in an Oktoberfest I have in secondary and I am very optimistic that it will be great. I also have alot of experience with that yeast strain and just love it. It floculates better than any strain I have ever used however there are a couple of things to think about when using it. First of all, it throws off a lot of diacetyl and secondly, it is not the best attenuator. Because the beer will clear really quickly you will be tempted to pull it off the yeast quickly, if you do you will get buttered popcorn beer, leave in on the yeast for a week. The attenuation thing is really not that big a deal and in some situations is an advantage, just make sure to pitch enough yeast. Also, because it doesn't attenuate as well as other strains that will affect the amount of crystal malt you might want to use but that is a trial and error sort of thing as well as a matter of taste. Just make the beer and if you think it needs improvement then start screwing around with the recipe (oh and keep notes by the way).

What I do is make a beer and if I think it's decent then I enter it into a competition. Blind judging is the best way to get unbiased comments and ideas for improvement. Although it's nice to win metals, the best score sheets are those that help you improve on either your processes or recipe formulation. Go for it and have fun, it's much more satisfying to enjoy drinking a recipe you came up with yourself.

[Matt12398]

Thanks Barley Water. I like a bit of residual sweetness so hopefully the yeast will work well. Would you lower the crystal or even leave it out in that case?

The calculated IBUs 32.7 and the expected OG is 1046.

I intend to leave it on the yeast for a week so hopefully that will help out will sort out some of the diacetyl.

[Barley Water]

I think I would try it as it is and see what you think. Have fun and good luck.

[Matt12398]

Damn straight I will. Cant wait to give it a go.