First Original Recipe, Need Help

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bleedbluesgtr71

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I recently wrote up my own small batch extract/specialty grain recipe and i think i may have messed it up. It's suppose to be my interpretation of a English Bitter.

I steeped 1lb of Muntons Pale Ale Malt in 1 gallon of water for 45 minutes at a temp between 155-162 Farenheit (My electric range doesnt maintain a constant temp, it works in a cycle. It will heat up then shut down for 15 seconds, then heat back up.) I then brought to a boil then added 2 pounds of Muntons Plain DME stirred it up till it dissolved, then added my first charge of hops (1 ounce Kent Golding hop pellets, 4.9% AA) and started the 60 minute boil. With 15 minutes left i added irish moss and last charge of hops (1 ounce Saaz hop pellets, 3.3% AA). After the boil finished i placed the brewpot in a sink of ice/cold. It wasnt reaching 70 fast enough so i decided to top the 2.5 gallon fermenter off with cold water. That brought the temp down to 68 degrees Farenheit (will this effect the brew at all?). I then pitched the yeast (White Labs WLP002 English Ale Yeast). I let it set between 70-75 degrees farenheit (like the White Labs vial said) for 8 hours. I then moved it into my garage were it has been at 69-70 degrees Farenheit for 3 days.

Now my question is, will using Pale Ale Malt as a specialty grain not work? Ive heard crystal and roasted malts are really the only ones that should be steeped.
 
Your grain bill is really low for a 5g batch. I think you need more fermentables. What was your OG? That recipe calculates at 1.8% ABV.
 
That is a good OG for a 2.5g batch. Not a lot of color from steeping a pale but it should make a good blonde.
Cheers.
 
The thing im worried about is if the steeping did anything or if i just wasted grain. I've heard that only crystal or roasted malts can be steeped because there starches have been partially converted to sugars already.
 
Took the first gravity reading today, it read 1.011. Taste is pretty good, clean and crisp now signs of infection or other off flavors. I feel now that i should have used a slightly darker malt to balance the hops out. Its defintely not an extreme hop bite considering both hops used have low alpha acids. But i feel something like a crystal malt with a SRM of 30 or maybe caravienna would have been the perfect balance. O well, thats the wonderful thing about homebrewing. Other then the balance not being perfect, Im very pleased with the outcome. I will continue to tweek this recipe till it is perfect.
Cheers!
 
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