Critique my Recipe before I brew it....

Hello All,
I am attempting to make a English Style Pale Ale. I wanted to use some biscuit malt. How does it look? Does anyone think its out of balance? I was thinking this would come out like a Lake Placid P&B 46'er Pale Ale.

Thanks!



BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 5.0L English Ale
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13.44 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.44 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 10.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 9.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 12.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.2 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.3 %
16 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 69.6 %
4 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 17.4 %
2 lbs Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.7 %
1.50 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 10.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 6.2 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 2.9 IBUs
2.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 Yeast 10 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 23 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 32.75 qt of water at 157.7 F 148.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.79gal, 7.22gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

dieselboy said:

Hello All,
I am attempting to make a English Style Pale Ale. I wanted to use some biscuit malt. How does it look? Does anyone think its out of balance? I was thinking this would come out like a Lake Placid P&B 46'er Pale Ale.

Click to expand...

I have no clue about Lake Placid 46'er but IMO you are way overcomplicating things here. English bitters (pale ale) are simple beers with simple recipes and techniques.

Biscuit malt? Fine, but go easy. You have UK pale malt as a base. It doesn't need a lot of help, if any. 2-3% biscuit is plenty. 17%+ crystal malt is way too much if you ask me. And if you're going to use crystal here the traditional UK 55L is your best choice. 5% or so works well. What the hell are the rice hulls for? They're totally unnecessary, get rid of them. Don't know about the Lake Placid but traditional English bitters use two hop additions, one early (90 min) and one late (15-20 min).

dieselboy said:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 5.0L English Ale
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13.44 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.44 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 10.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 9.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 12.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.2 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.3 %
16 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 69.6 %
4 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 17.4 %
2 lbs Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.7 %
1.50 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 10.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 6.2 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 2.9 IBUs
2.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 Yeast 10 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 23 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 32.75 qt of water at 157.7 F 148.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.79gal, 7.22gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click to expand...

Here's a re-formulation for consideration:

18.5 lbs English 2-row Pale
1 lbs Belgian Biscuit
1 lbs Crystal 55; UK Malt
1.5 oz Challenger (Pellets, 7.50 %AA) boiled 90 min.
1 oz Fuggle (Pellets, 4.50 %AA) boiled 20 min.
Yeast : White Labs WLP002 English Ale

I think it looks good overall. Maybe a touch high on the caramel/crystal??? Personally, I like to keep the crystal <10-15%. I don't like a beer to get too caramel flavored/too sweet. I have not used over 5% biscuit either, so can't say for sure if that is getting high or not. I also tend to brew more toward ordinary bitters than ESB's though - so, take that for what it is worth. Otherwise, I think it looks good overall..... Either way, I think you are talking a few % one way or the other with the recipe you have.

I like BigEd's suggestions..... Not sure if you have brewed this before, or similar. If not, I would start with BigEd's and undershoot the crystal, the biscuit and simplify the hops. If you feel it needs to be tweaked in the future - then do so.

As has been stated, there is no need for the rice hulls. I would also completely remove crystal from the recipe...especially 4 lbs.

Personally I'd use this grain-bill:

10 lbs Marris Otter
10 lbs Golden Promise
2 lbs Munich

As for a hop schedule:

60
20
15
5

I'm not going to recommend hops, use what you want...but that's the schedule I use for ESBs.

Thanks You for the suggestions. I have never brewed this. I will definitely cut down on the crystal/biscuit %'s. I use rice hulls to prevent the mash from getting stuck.

BigED how would you get the SRM to Creep up? Right now BS is showing 8.4 Im shooting for 13. Thjanks

You could just throw in an ounce or two of roast barley, carafa, debittered black malt or something like that. As long as you are keeping it a really small amt. (1-2-3 ounces) you will not get any/much flavor coming through - just color.