Recipe question

jamorgan3777 · 01-04-2012, 08:42 PM

I am preparing to brew "McQuackers Oatmeal Stout" from "Brewing Classic Styles" and have some questions about the recipe. Hope that someone out there can help out. Kind of a noob here so any help is greatly appreciated.

First, they call for English Pale Ale LME (3.5 degL). I can't seem to find "English" just Pale and Extra Pale. Should that matter? I am thinking that since its a Stout, then it's the steeping grains that are giving most of the malt flavor and color and the EPA is just the "base".

Second, the recipe lists a pre-boil gravity with 7gal boil which the recipe states will result in 5 gallons of finished beer (after boil and trub losses). I am used to doing partial boils of 2-3 gal with 1/2 of my extract and then filling to 5gal at "knockout" after the remaining extract is added. Do I need to adjust my weights to compensate? I would think that the boil losses will not matter and at most I will be a gallon off, but that still seems like a lot. The amounts listed in the recipe seem appropriate for a 5 gallon batch (i.e. am I reading too much into this?).

Thanks!

BluBruShack · 01-05-2012, 11:19 AM

I'm not having a lot of luck finding the english pale either locally or on the web. I would just go with the Light LME. You are correct in saying that you will get most of the flavor and color from the grains steeped.
As far as your total volume boiled goes. Since you are steeping your grains first( I assume) They should be able to get the most out of those. Your LME will have their own amount of fermentables all ready to go. Whether you boil 2-7 gallons that should be the same. The major difference is going to be your hops utilization. The more volume boiled the better/more IBUs your going to get in less time. I like to plug all my recipes into Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator and adjust things if needed. I hope this helps
Happy Brewing

BBS

**dezman** · 01-05-2012, 11:57 AM

Yea you can just use regular pale LME and as long as your final volume is 5 gallons you should be ok doing a partial boil. As BluBru said though you might have to add a little bit more hops since the recipe appears to be a full boil.