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Beer is good · 10-06-2006, 09:02 PM

thanks a lot for the help guys!

why the honey? well, my friend said "I want to try putting honey as an ingredient next time we brew", then I started looking for a recipe and found that porter and thought, I will pour honey into this.

is there a possibility that putting the steeping grains in the water at 170 and putting the lid on and letting it sit for 1/2 hour could have converted any of the starch into malt?

Also where can I find one of those calculators mentioned to figure my alcohol content?

Thanks again everyone! I can't wait to drink it... mmm..........

Beer is good · 10-07-2006, 09:24 AM

I would be truly appreciative if someone could plug my recipe into some calculator thing, I have never used one, I have seen those promash reports but I dont have that program... or if someone could direct me to a free, preferably open source calculator?

if there is not one, I will consider writing one. in fact, I am going to, if there is not an open source alternative I will start a project...

thanks everyone

clayof2day · 10-07-2006, 12:35 PM

http://www.hbd.org/recipator/

dougjones31 · 10-09-2006, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beer is good

is there a possibility that putting the steeping grains in the water at 170 and putting the lid on and letting it sit for 1/2 hour could have converted any of the starch into malt?......

Yes, but only a small amount get converted if it is not done correctly. Actually 170 is the borderline for being hot enough to kill the enzymes that convert the starch. You should heat the water to 160 degrees and then steep the grains. Turn down the flame a tad and try to keep the temp @ 158 degrees for the steeping period. Then sparge or rinse the grains with 170 degree water. The sparge water is the last effort to remove the sugar....so it does not matter if it kills the enzymes. You just do not want 175 degree or hotter water to go on the grains.....it will extract bitter tastes that you do not want in your wort and it will kill off your conversion enzymes. killing the enzymes is not the end of the world for extract recipies since you get very little sugar from the specialty grains anyway.

dougjones31 · 10-09-2006, 08:24 PM

Your recipe will yield about 6.5%-7% alcohol by volume

Your steeping yield was probably @ 25% which added .5 lbs of sugar....but a Bunch of color and flavor!

Normal steeping converts @ 40% of the sugars.

Beer is good · 10-11-2006, 04:17 AM

Thanks!!

You said my steeping yield was 25%, normal is 40%? How could I increase my yield? I "sparged" the grain bag with two pints of near boiling hot water...

Thanks for the information, it looks like very good beer and smells great so far...

dougjones31 · 10-11-2006, 01:20 PM

I think you probably got it too hot to take full advantage of the enzyme conversion. If you limit temps to 158 while steeping then you should get a better conversion.

Evan! · 10-11-2006, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clayof2day

http://www.hbd.org/recipator/

WARNING! The Recipator calculator is crap! I tried using it one time...plugged in 10 ounces, TEN FREAKIN OUNCES, of hops, including high AA hops, and the stupid thing claimed that my IBU would be 45.

Stay away from that site's calculator (though, the recipe database is cool). If you want, you can go to promash.com and download the free trial. Sure, you can only save/edit a couple times, but if all you're looking for is a calculator, the demo works great.