Brewing tomorrow, advice needed.

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

l3asturd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2011
Messages
423
Reaction score
10
Location
Visalia
Well I'm brewing tomorrow. My first AG batch. I'm a little concerned about my recipe kit though. I thought it would come with more specific instructions, such as mash temps, sparge temps, etc. It's the B3 Belgian Pale Ale. If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it. If I don't hear from anyone I'm probably going to mash in at 155F and sparge at 168F.

They base their recipe on a 70% Mash efficiency (Haha I laugh at 70%).
Here are the ingredients (10 gallon batch):
20LB 2-Row
8oz Caramunich
8oz Special B
1LB Carapils
1LB Corn Sugar (For drying out)
2oz Perle Hops
2oz Mt Hood Hops

Beersmith corrected the grain bill for 70% efficiency and it's significantly smaller. I put the unedited MoreBeer recipe in beersmith and it said my OG was over 1.062 which is way over target. I'm wondering if there's something in my beersmith settings that's wrong or maybe I should just trust MoreBeer's recipe.
 
Make sure your batch volume is right in beersmith. That can greatly affect your OGs. I'd mash in at 152F and sparge at 168F. 155F is just fine also, bu if you're using some sugar to dry it out, you can also mash at a lower temp (148-149F) to help it out. You'll get a thinner beer because the lower temp gets fewer dextrines into the wort.
 
Mash 147 to 149 F. The corn sugar is in there for a reason. You need to mash low and long to get a very fermentable wort.
 
+1 on mashing on the lower end. I would mash @ 148-150...you want it to be on the dryer side. 155 will leave too many fermentables.
 
Looks like the mash/sparge temps are OK, are you using liquid or dry yeast?

If using liquid I would highly recommend a starter, 2L minimum if you can. If you are using dry yeast then do not use a starter!

If you can control ferment temps then try to pitch your yeast at ~70°F then keep it about 72° or so to get some of those nice esters (banana or clove), I am assuming you are using a Belgian yeast of course!
 
Back
Top