ChadChaney

Recipes 

Brewing my first all grain batch, 10 gallon cooler mash tun and sparge vessel with 10 gallon pot. I know I need to adjust a bit in beersmith for total volume and such, but looking for a little critique on the amounts and balance of malts and hops...

Big Bad Brown
American Brown Ale
Type: All Grain Date: 1/3/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer: Oposition Brewing Co.
Boil Size: 6.52 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler ( 5 Gal/19 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.98 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal Est Mash Efficiency 82.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.0 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.4 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.4 %
8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 4 4.4 %
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.2 %
4.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.2 %
4.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.2 %
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 18.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 13.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 10 5.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35.49 ml] Yeast 11 -

Thanks in advance, be gentle, this is the first recipe I have created from scratch! Yooper/Remy please chime in, lol!

ChadChaney

Recipes 

Anyone?

Grumpybumpy

Recipes 

To me that looks like it'll turn out pretty dark with the chocolate malts and roasted barley. You might want to consider omitting one or decreasing it some. You sure do have a crazy variety in your grain bill, so I'd suggest simplifying it some so you know what to do next time. Wheat, rye, special, chocolate, roasted, victory... that probably isn't a bad combination, but you won't learn what tastes like what.You might have a bit too much hops going on, maybe decrease your 30 minute addition. I use willamette for my porters and they taste great!

Disclaimer: I'm very new to brewing myself.

Grumpybumpy

Recipes 

Also, I'm making a brown in a couple weeks with toasted oats, brown malt, biscuit, and maris otter for a base. I have high hopes for this brew!

BigEd

Recipes 

Resist the beginner's urge to use every grain on the HBS shelf and simplify the recipe. I also agree with the poster above that it's going to be too dark for a brown ale. With the chocolate and roasted malts @ 11% this beer will be close to the color of Guinness. Not that that's bad but it isn't a brown ale. Pick a chocolate malt and use a half pound. Get rid of the rye malt, the roasted barley and pick either Victory malt or Special Roast. Replace the deleted grains with additional pale malt.

ChadChaney

Recipes 

Thanks all, i have the recipe in beersmith, and it falls in the guidelines for an American brown ale, but this is the exact thing I am looking for! I want to leave the Rye in, for a little spice, but I will defiantly adjust based on these comments. I was curious about the hops, thought I might be a little high. I will post the adjusted recipe tomorrow, thanks again!

ChadChaney

Recipes 

Big Bad Brown
American Brown Ale
Type: All Grain Date: 1/3/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer: Oposition Brewing Co.
Boil Size: 6.52 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler ( 5 Gal/19 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.98 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal Est Mash Efficiency 82.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 81.8 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.5 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 4 4.5 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.5 %
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 18.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 7.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 5.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35.49 ml] Yeast 9 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.056 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 30.8 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 26.6 SRM


How about now?

BigEd

Recipes 

If you want to use rye malt then use a couple of pounds. The eight ounces won't do a hell of a lot.

bmock79

Recipes 

+1 to that, IMO that is kind of a waste need a pound or two for any noticeable effect...

HopDr

Recipes 

Another suggestion is to adjust the default efficiency on Beersmith. I think it sets it at 72% total efficiency, and most people don't get that high on their first AG batch (although it is always possible of course).

If you leave it at 72% and get, say, 60%, which is not uncommon, you will end up with a pretty low OG. You can always boil your wort down to get where you need it, but it can be hard to estimate and take forever. I think you are probably better off setting it closer to 60 or 65% and adjusting your grain bill to get your OG to where you want it, if you happen to get much better efficiency it is always easier to dilute a bit if necessary, the worst thing that happens is you have to throw a little out and you waste a pound or so of grain.

Oh, and I tend to agree with what the others said about simplicity, but no reason you can't try whatever you want to!

Good luck!