Leftover hops - What can I make?

I have an odd assortment of hops left over from previous batches. Being a rather frugal (cheap) type person, I'd like to use them up rather than just tossing them out. Toward that end I'd like some input from more experienced/adventuresome brewers to come up with some recipe suggestions about how to use these hops. All recipe suggestions will be appreciated and if I end up making the recipe I promise I'll follow up with a report of how it turned out.

I'm looking for 5 gallon batches - all grain. Existing recipes are good. Created recipes are great. I 'll be happy to buy more hops to complete a recipe, but I don't want to be left with partial bags when I'm done. And I know I won't use them all up in one batch. Tell me how you'd use these hops. Cheers!

Horizon 1/2 oz.
Mt. Hood 1 oz.
Centennial 1 1/2oz.
U.K Fuggles 4 oz.
Hallertauer 1/2 oz

Make a porter with the Fuggles and Hallertauer. I'd use the Horizon, Mt. Hood and Centennial in a nice IPA/DIPA. Horizon for bittering, Centennial for flavoring and Mt. Hood for aroma.

aiptasia said:

Make a porter with the Fuggles and Hallertauer. I'd use the Horizon, Mt. Hood and Centennial in a nice IPA/DIPA. Horizon for bittering, Centennial for flavoring and Mt. Hood for aroma.

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I hadn't thought of combining those that way. Great suggestions! Thanks.

english IPA or pale. horizon to bitter and fuggles to flavor. maybe a sprinkle of mt. hood to cut them.

american pale. horizon to bitter, centennial and mt hood to flavor. maybe cut with a bit of fuggles to add that noble/continental spice to the mix.

milk stout. small amount of horizon to bitter. fuggles at 20 to season.

big belgian dubbel or tripel. bitter with fuggles, flavor with hallertau.

you have a good variety. it's easy to think of ideas. especially if you can pick up an ounce or two to balance it out.



for what it's worth you could probably do a few of these considering it's hops. like, i could see doing an APA and a milk stout with this. or even the belgian since it wouldn't take much. lots you can do if hops are the only factor.

RonPopeil said:

american pale. horizon to bitter, centennial and mt hood to flavor. maybe cut with a bit of fuggles to add that noble/continental spice to the mix.

you have a good variety. it's easy to think of ideas. especially if you can pick up an ounce or two to balance it out.

for what it's worth you could probably do a few of these considering it's hops. .... lots you can do if hops are the only factor.

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This is what's so cool about this forum. I've been brewing for about a year and am still getting a feel for what goes with what. It's great to get feedback from experienced brewers.

It looks like the Horizon for bittering is a common thread. I didn't realize that the centennial and the Mt Hood were used for flavoring/aroma. I think I'll go with that combination and build an APA.

And I still like the earlier suggestion where I can use the Fuggles and Hallertauer by making a porter.

Thanks!

Puddlethumper said:

This is what's so cool about this forum. I've been brewing for about a year and am still getting a feel for what goes with what. It's great to get feedback from experienced brewers.

It looks like the Horizon for bittering is a common thread. I didn't realize that the centennial and the Mt Hood were used for flavoring/aroma. I think I'll go with that combination and build an APA.

And I still like the earlier suggestion where I can use the Fuggles and Hallertauer by making a porter.

Thanks!

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mt hood is going to come off like a noble hop. if you're doing an APA trying making the flavor centennial dominant. 2.5-3:1 ratio centennial:MH if you can. otherwise you could just drop the mount hood.

RonPopeil said:

mt hood is going to come off like a noble hop. if you're doing an APA trying making the flavor centennial dominant. 2.5-3:1 ratio centennial:MH if you can. otherwise you could just drop the mount hood.

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Didn't know that about the Mount Hood. I don't even recall why I bought them in the first place, but the recipe must have called for a small amount or I wouldn't have the leftovers now.

I have something close to your suggested ratio in my leftovers. What do you think of an APA using 1 oz. Horizon at 60 min for bittering, then use 1 1/2 oz Centennial and 1/2 oz Mt Hood for aroma at 1 min? I'm thinking about 8 1/2 lbs. domestic two row, 1 lb Munich, 8 oz Vienna and maybe 8 oz. Crystal 40L.

BTW, what kinds of beers are MH hops typically used in?

Puddlethumper said:

Didn't know that about the Mount Hood. I don't even recall why I bought them in the first place, but the recipe must have called for a small amount or I wouldn't have the leftovers now.

I have something close to your suggested ratio in my leftovers. What do you think of an APA using 1 oz. Horizon at 60 min for bittering, then use 1 1/2 oz Centennial and 1/2 oz Mt Hood for aroma at 1 min? I'm thinking about 8 1/2 lbs. domestic two row, 1 lb Munich, 8 oz Vienna and maybe 8 oz. Crystal 40L.

BTW, what kinds of beers are MH hops typically used in?

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your recipe is pretty close. i'm guessing your hops are pretty set so i changed your grain bill a bit. the grainbill you have nets a 1.038 OG. with a healthy amount of crystal you're going to finish higher. your hops also net you 50 IBU's, 43 from the bittering charge. this would be a pretty bitter beer with not much hop flavor and possibly on the thin side. makes 4% ABV.

if you go to 9.5lbs of 2 row you end up a bit more balanced. even at this point you're OG is 1.056 and you're netting 50 IBU, 46 from the Horizon addition. not sure how bitter you like your beers but that's gonna come off quite bitter. you could reduce your horizon addition to .5oz then bomb all your hops in at 10 minutes. that will put your IBU's right around 50again but give you good hop flavor.

My personal preference would be to grab 2 more ounces of centennial. then do something like

9.5# 2 row
1# munich
.5# C10
.5# C40

0.5oz Horizon @ 60 23.4 IBU
1.0oz Mt Hood @ 10 7.2 IBU
2.5oz Centennial @ 5 (or less) 18.9 IBU (or less)
1.0oz Centennial Dry hop, four days

your numbers there look like:

OG 1.056
FG 1.014
IBU 50
SRM 7.3
ABV 5.5

so your IBU's work out to be the same but a lot of it is coming with the centennial charge rather than getting all flavorless IBU's from the horizon addition. you're also staggering the hop additions which will put more emphasis on the centennial compared to adding them all at the same time.

Mt. Hood was bred from Hallertau. It's used in beers where you typically use noble hops. situations where hop flavor isn't the focus. wheats, tripels, pilseners/lagers.. that sort of thing. not to say they don't taste good. they're just a far cry from the pungent stinky american cones we usually use in hoppy beers.

here's a free beer calculator.

http://www.brewtarget.org/

i use a linux machine so i use this rather than beersmith or some such. it's pretty good for free. it takes a bit of fiddling around to get used to it. it can be quirky. one of the things that i always forget is to add a yeast. if you don't plug a yeast in it won't give you gravities.

sorry for the leisurely response. school's been stressful lately. hence the empty fermenters.

RonPopeil said:

sorry for the leisurely response. school's been stressful lately. hence the empty fermenters.

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Great suggestions and I really appreciate the time you spent on this. I'm thinking I may just follow your recipe and see how it turns out.

I prefer my beers a little "malt forward" with a leaning toward English and Irish beers. Bitterness is OK in moderation, but beers like most double IPA's are, to my taste buds, over the top. So 50 IBU's is going to be pretty bitter by my standards, but if balanced with enough malt, will probably taste pretty good.

I have yet to figure out how to use beer calculators. Need to bear down on that I guess. So far have just been "winging it" following recipes and tweaking them with what sounds good. Not a lot of science in my brewing technique.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Puddlethumper said:

Great suggestions and I really appreciate the time you spent on this. I'm thinking I may just follow your recipe and see how it turns out.

I prefer my beers a little "malt forward" with a leaning toward English and Irish beers. Bitterness is OK in moderation, but beers like most double IPA's are, to my taste buds, over the top. So 50 IBU's is going to be pretty bitter by my standards, but if balanced with enough malt, will probably taste pretty good.

I have yet to figure out how to use beer calculators. Need to bear down on that I guess. So far have just been "winging it" following recipes and tweaking them with what sounds good. Not a lot of science in my brewing technique.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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no worries man.

if you want to figure how malty/hoppy your beer is going to be it's good to use the BU:GU method. just take your IBU's and divide that by the last two numbers of your original gravity, or three if it rolls over to 1.100. typically your number comes back as a decimal that's less than one. you can look up BJCP guidelines for beer styles that use that measurement. brewtarget also calculates it for you.

since you prefer a little more maltiness do a thick mash, 1qt of water per LB of grain on up to 1.25. no higher. you could also use a lower mash temp (~150) to bring the malt presence out. I would also cut the IBU's back to the 30's.

if you do .5oz of mt hood at 10 mins and 1.5 of centennial at flame out that will bring you down to 30 IBU flat. if you want it a little more bitter doing the centennial at 5 mins will give you 38IBU. perceived bitterness should be quite low since you're getting more bitterness from late additions than early.

RonPopeil said:

since you prefer a little more maltiness do a thick mash, 1qt of water per LB of grain on up to 1.25. no higher. you could also use a lower mash temp (~150) to bring the malt presence out. I would also cut the IBU's back to the 30's.

if you do .5oz of mt hood at 10 mins and 1.5 of centennial at flame out that will bring you down to 30 IBU flat. if you want it a little more bitter doing the centennial at 5 mins will give you 38IBU. perceived bitterness should be quite low since you're getting more bitterness from late additions than early.

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I feel like I'm going to school here! Thanks! I did not know that about the mash consistency. I've seen any number of discussions on this board re: thin vs. thick mash but have never heard that it will affect the finished flavor of the beer. Knowing that will help.

Thanks for including the link to the beer calculator. I downloaded it and found it to be a pretty neat little program and was really easy to figure out. I worked several of my recent brews through it and learned a lot. It's amazing how close it came to the numbers I got, both OG and FG.

I take it that each of the changes you've listed will impact the finished beer in small measures. The change from dropping the hops at flameout to 5 minutes won't have a huge impact by itself, but combined with other tweaks the overall character of the beer will drift from hoppy to malty or vice versa. Do I have that right?

Also, how would you handle the fermentation schedule? I typically hold my beer for two weeks in primary, two weeks secondary then bottle at 4 - 5 weeks.

Forgot to add to my list of available hops: I bought a pound of Williamette and ended up not using but a little of it. (Went through the Cascade and EK Goldings quick!)

What is the best use for Williamette hops?

Puddlethumper said:

I feel like I'm going to school here! Thanks! I did not know that about the mash consistency. I've seen any number of discussions on this board re: thin vs. thick mash but have never heard that it will affect the finished flavor of the beer. Knowing that will help. Thanks for including the link to the beer calculator. I downloaded it and found it to be a pretty neat little program and was really easy to figure out. I worked several of my recent brews through it and learned a lot. It's amazing how close it came to the numbers I got, both OG and FG. I take it that each of the changes you've listed will impact the finished beer in small measures. The change from dropping the hops at flameout to 5 minutes won't have a huge impact by itself, but combined with other tweaks the overall character of the beer will drift from hoppy to malty or vice versa. Do I have that right? Also, how would you handle the fermentation schedule? I typically hold my beer for two weeks in primary, two weeks secondary then bottle at 4 - 5 weeks.

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the hop changes were mostly for manipulating bitterness. Centennial will add a good amount of bitterness and we're using a fair amount.

The mash adjustments will greatly effect the finished product. Thick/tight mashes are a hallmark of English beers which are well known for their maltiness. The temperature you hold the mash at effects which enzymes manipulate the grain. 153F is the middle point where both enzymes (beta amylase and alpha amylase) are active. This results in middle of the road efficiency and a balance between sweetness and dryness. When you go lower you only have beta amylase working on the grain. This enzyme breaks down the bigger sugars and leaves the smaller ones. This results in a thinner drier malty beer. North of 153 is alpha amylase territory. This works the opposite way. Breaks down the smaller sugars and leaves the bigger. Beers mashed higher will be sweeter, make less alcohol(less efficient), and have a higher finishing gravity.

You said you prefer malty so I recommended adjustments to get you there. You might end up tasting this and deciding it's too malty. Then next time you brew you can water down the mash a bit more and then mash at the same temp. See what that does. Etc etc. just keep tweaking the process until you like what you have.

I'm glad you like brew target. I think it's way under rated considering its free.

Puddlethumper said:

Forgot to add to my list of available hops: I bought a pound of Williamette and ended up not using but a little of it. (Went through the Cascade and EK Goldings quick!) What is the best use for Williamette hops?

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Williamette is super versatile. You'll find it in just about everything.

They're bred from fuggles and are also low in alpha acids. Since they're low alpha they work best as aroma hops. We'll suited to your taste as a malty beer guy. You could use them late in the boil in about anything. Similar idea to mount hood but williamette is more fruit and flowers while mount hood is more earth and spice.

As for fermentation schedule it sounds like you're on target. I actually keg so my process is different but from what I understand about bottling you have it right. Just make sure you get the same hydrometer reading at least 3 consecutive days in a row. That way you avoid bottle bombs. I secondary in my kegs then cold crash while slow carbing on 7psi serving pressure. Unless I get anxious. Then I crank the gas to 15-20 and I have bubbles in 7-10 days.

RonPopeil said:

. Just make sure you get the same hydrometer reading at least 3 consecutive days in a row. That way you avoid bottle bombs.

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Thanks for the insight on the Willamette. Since reading your post I've reviewed several of my favorite recipes and I can see where I can substitute them for other aroma hops. Will be very interested to see how the flavors of these brews change with this change in hops.

A question on the hydrometer tests though. Do you take the samples even after a 4 - 5 week fermentation? I've just bottled at that point assuming that after that much time the fermentation about had to be complete. Am I taking a risk in this?

And I completely agree with you about BrewTarget. It is both easy and fun. Great program!

the idea of the three consecutive readings is that you're trying to make sure the batch is done fermenting. after adding dextrose to your bucket and then bottling your FG should be close to where you were when you bottled but don't be surprised if it's a little lower. dextrose will dry beers out since it's easy to ferment. that's about all i would expect from a gravity reading then. to get that reading you'd have to test bottled beers so i don't think it would matter much then. you could give a shot to settle curiosity though.

I'm sorry, I guess I didn't ask my question right. And my ignorance on this is showing.

If the beer has been in the fermenter for 4 - 5 weeks wouldn't it be pretty safe to assume it was done fermenting? Would you still take three consecutive readings even after that length of time?

Puddlethumper said:

I'm sorry, I guess I didn't ask my question right. And my ignorance on this is showing. If the beer has been in the fermenter for 4 - 5 weeks wouldn't it be pretty safe to assume it was done fermenting? Would you still take three consecutive readings even after that length of time?

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A normal gravity ale fermented at reasonable temps (over 55 degrees, say) should be done by then, in my opinion. The only problems I've had have been after adding fruit or juice in secondary, and not letting those sugars ferment out enough. Super high OG stuff could also take a bit longer.

In a conversation on another thread the subject of a stalled fermentation came up. I suppose a guy ought to take readings to be sure the brew dropped close to the targeted FG before bottling just to avoid the possibility of bottle bombs or over-carbonated beer, too.

Puddlethumper said:

In a conversation on another thread the subject of a stalled fermentation came up. I suppose a guy ought to take readings to be sure the brew dropped close to the targeted FG before bottling just to avoid the possibility of bottle bombs or over-carbonated beer, too.

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like ong said, after 5 weeks at ale fermentation temps it should be safe to say the beer has dropped enough to bottle. always check though. some yeasts will stall for weeks at a time and then start up again. one of the big belgian strains is notorious for this. i think a few english yeasts are as well.

Puddlethumper said:

I prefer my beers a little "malt forward" with a leaning toward English and Irish beers. Bitterness is OK in moderation, but beers like most double IPA's are, to my taste buds, over the top.

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[steeples fingers]

Excellent.



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/pride-raubsville-108079/

Sub in Fuggles for the hops. Shoot for the same IBU. Done.

Bob

RonPopeil said:

like ong said, after 5 weeks at ale fermentation temps it should be safe to say the beer has dropped enough to bottle. always check though. some yeasts will stall for weeks at a time and then start up again. one of the big belgian strains is notorious for this. i think a few english yeasts are as well.

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Just had a problem with a batch I bottled two weeks ago. It had 2 weeks in the primary and 3 in the secondary. Brought it inside and let it get up to room temp for three days before bottling. Still got a batch of over-carbonated beer with one bottle grenade.

Common denominator? No gravity readings.

becareful how much sugar you add as well.

what do you mean brought it inside?

RonPopeil said:

becareful how much sugar you add as well.

what do you mean brought it inside?

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I'm down to about 4 - 4 1/2 oz of corn sugar in a 5 gal batch trying to avoid over carbonation.

Inside, in my situation, means I have a huge freezer set up outside my garage for a fermentation chamber. I normally keep it set at 65F since that seems to be the happy place for most yeasts.

This last batch I brought inside the house where the temp could come up to about 75-78 for a few days prior to bottling. The beer had been held at 65 for about 4 weeks prior to this move.

Puddlethumper said:

I'm down to about 4 - 4 1/2 oz of corn sugar in a 5 gal batch trying to avoid over carbonation.

Inside, in my situation, means I have a huge freezer set up outside my garage for a fermentation chamber. I normally keep it set at 65F since that seems to be the happy place for most yeasts.

This last batch I brought inside the house where the temp could come up to about 75-78 for a few days prior to bottling. The beer had been held at 65 for about 4 weeks prior to this move.

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that's odd. 65 is on the cool side for cali ale. english yeasts like it that low. i ferment my cali ale's at room temp which is usually 68-72. if you are using cali ale/US-05/WLP001/wyeast 1057 you might consider letting it sit inside at the warmer temp for a bit longer. at 65 i'm thinking that yeast fermenting a tad slower. if it does it with english yeast as well then i would guess it's priming sugar but i'm not good with bottling so don't put much faith in that.

That's a good suggestion. I got in the habit of the lower temp because I've used a lot of Nottingham and it seemed to be working with the others as well. This batch used BRY-97. I'll try fermenting a few degrees warmer and, as you suggested, bring it up to room temps for a least a week before bottling.

from what i gather that's Rogue's "Pacman". temps should be similar to west coast ale/1056/wlp001/etc. pacman is known to be voracious so it may go a bit more dry than sierra's west coast ale. that could also explain the bottle bombs.

Not quite sure I'm following you on that. Pacman? Please explain.

Pacman is a yeast strain. Like Cali Ale, or some other name instead of number.

Bob said:

[steeples fingers]

Excellent.



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/pride-raubsville-108079/

Sub in Fuggles for the hops. Shoot for the same IBU. Done.

Bob

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Looks good. I've yet to progress beyond a single infusion mash. Think this would work with that or should I hold the recipe back against the time when I'm ready to tackle a stepped mash?

Bob said:

Pacman is a yeast strain. Like Cali Ale, or some other name instead of number.

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Thanks. Hadn't run across it yet. Is it sold under that name?

So it seems agreed that for all Cali ale yeast strains it is better to ferment a little warmer and check SG regularly? Right?

Just hit the LHBS yesterday and invested in a better wine thief and sample jar.

That is a single infusion. With a mash out.

I have yet to see Pacman sold by number only.

No, it is not agreed that "all" Cali strains should be fermented warmer. I used to use 1056 and Cal V daily. Some recipes called for different temperatures. Each strain - Belgian, Cali, Brit, yadda yadda yadda - will exhibit different characteristics given different environmental impacts. Hell, some Cali strains like a warmer ferment than others.

Beware "all", "best", "every", etc. It's almost always wrong.

Bob

Bob said:

That is a single infusion. With a mash out.

I have yet to see Pacman sold by number only.

No, it is not agreed that "all" Cali strains should be fermented warmer. I used to use 1056 and Cal V daily. Some recipes called for different temperatures. Each strain - Belgian, Cali, Brit, yadda yadda yadda - will exhibit different characteristics given different environmental impacts. Hell, some Cali strains like a warmer ferment than others.

Beware "all", "best", "every", etc. It's almost always wrong.

Bob

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A couple more questions come to mind:

If Pacman isn't sold under that name or even has a number assigned to it, how is a person supposed to know when they are working with it?

When a recipe calls for a sacharification rest and a mash out, doesn't that describe a simple stepped mash?

Since all the various yeast strains perform best at different temperatures, and there are no general guidelines to help a person know which types of yeast prefer which temperature ranges, where then does one come by the information regarding best fermentation temps for any particular yeast strain?

Puddlethumper said:

A couple more questions come to mind:

If Pacman isn't sold under that name or even has a number assigned to it, how is a person supposed to know when they are working with it?

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Because ten seconds with the interwebz yields this:

https://www.google.co.vi/?gws_rd=cr&ei=ft9IUsqzD4m69QT1_oDwCA#q=rogue+pacman

When a recipe calls for a sacharification rest and a mash out, doesn't that describe a simple stepped mash?

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No. It describes a single infusion with a mash out. Mashing out is a separate point in the brewing cycle. Like sparging.

Since all the various yeast strains perform best at different temperatures, and there are no general guidelines to help a person know which types of yeast prefer which temperature ranges, where then does one come by the information regarding best fermentation temps for any particular yeast strain?

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By empirical observation, searching and reading of internet fora, and, in many cases, reading the information given by the yeast manufacturer. In this case, a simple Google search on two terms - "rogue" "pacman" - yielded the results you sought. I'm surprised that hadn't occurred to you.

Seeking generality is a recipe for mediocrity. Each strain has different requirements. This is why I advise new brewers to pick a strain or two and spend a couple of years with it. Over that time, you learn its idiosyncracies (I don't think I spelled that correctly, but I might have). Once you figure out the kinks of a few strains, you'll find you experience far more consistent results. Beats the hell out of running to a new yeast every time you brew something and wondering why the beer is "meh".

Make sense?

Bob

Bob said:

Make sense?

Bob

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To some extent, yes. But your response has convinced me that my best course of action is to learn to make a couple simple recipes that I like. The rest of that I will leave for others to worry about.

Puddlethumper said:

To some extent, yes. But your response has convinced me that my best course of action is to learn to make a couple simple recipes that I like. The rest of that I will leave for others to worry about.

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There's two enzymes you manipulate when brewing. One is active under 153 and the other is active over 153. When you do a single step you hold at a single temperature to manipulate one enzyme (or if you hold at 153 you get a little from both). If you were to mash at a temp under 153 and the. Add water to bring the mash temp above 153 you would be doing a step mash. This is different from mash out because of the temperature you're using. At 170 enzyme activity stops which means mashing is over.

There's some other things to talk about at this point like tannin extraction but that takes it away from your question.

Bob said:

Seeking generality is a recipe for mediocrity. Each strain has different requirements. This is why I advise new brewers to pick a strain or two and spend a couple of years with it. Over that time, you learn its idiosyncracies (I don't think I spelled that correctly, but I might have). Once you figure out the kinks of a few strains, you'll find you experience far more consistent results. Beats the hell out of running to a new yeast every time you brew something and wondering why the beer is "meh".

Make sense?

Bob

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While I agree with your first point - that generality is unhelpful - the rest I eminently disagree with. One of the great benefits of living in the present is not needing to manually re-tread the ground already walked - this is what allows us to see further than the ones who came before.

To wit, HBT has a reputation for being the last word on homebrew techniques, and we all know that taking advice from a kit's printed, official instructions over the midnight scratchings of an HBTer is one of the gravest sins. It's worth giving the benefit of the doubt: fella may just not have realized that plenty of primary sources are still worth reading.

Of course, he knows to Google now. If he doesn't pick it up now I'll meet you in the town square with a pitchfork and a torch.

I agree, for the most part. Yes, the internet has given Yer Avridge Homebrewer access to a greater amount of knowledge than I imagined in my wildest dreams when I started in the early 1990s. It took me ten years to amass the kind of knowledge a new brewer can now amass in a weekend.

However - here is where I do not agree - knowledge does not equate with experience. You can read up on yeast all you like, but you still will have no idea how it will actually behave in your brewery until you use it. If you have an extremely well-equipped home brewery with temperature control and yeast-harvesting/building equipment, you have a much greater measure of control, and I will agree with you 100%. But the majority of brewers don't have that. Yeast/ferment management is beyond the skill and scope of most hobbyist brewers and breweries except in the most rudimentary of ways.

Selecting a handful of yeasts to use all the time lets the brewer learn how to maximize consistency and excellence under those circumstances. I use three yeasts - three - to brew everything I brew. I can actually RDWHAHB, because I know how each will perform at any given time in my brewery. They're like old friends.

Puddlethumper, I stress strongly in my fevered jottings here on HBT and elsewhere how sound an idea is keeping it very basic in the beginning.

It's like brewing in a brewpub. A pub-brewer has a "stable" of standard house beers. Generally speaking, you have "training wheels", Amber, Brown, and Dark. All of these the pub-brewer must be able to brew consistently to excellence without blinking. Then you have a rotating tap or three of stuff which lets you play, stretch your legs, expand your scope. Brewing the "stable" day in, day out lets you build XP to a point where you're high enough level to actually approach Imperial Pumpkin Raspberry Belgian Sour IPA with a reasonable assurance of success.

Let's say you take my advice and pick four good recipes from the HBT archive: Light, Amber, Brown, Dark. You brew them until you know them inside and out. You know what they're supposed to taste like. You've been brewing an all-malt Blonde as your "Light", and really enjoy it. Now let's say you get the itch to brew a Belgian Blonde. Your experience brewing your Blonde means you can simply switch the yeast. You have enough XP that you don't really need to worry about anything other than making a new yeast strain work.

See what I mean? It's a method of reducing variables and worry so that you can be more assured of success. Too many brewers want to jump right in with the Imperial Pumpkin Raspberry Belgian Sour IPA, not realizing it can take years of adventuring to gain enough XP to level up to where you can cast that spell. You need to learn Magic Missle before you can learn Fireball.

Okay, enough full-frontal nerdity in the metaphors. You probably get the picture now.



Bob

Bob said:

IOkay, enough full-frontal nerdity in the metaphors. You probably get the picture now.



Bob

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Yes, I do. And my decision to keep it simple is reinforced. Thank you.

RonPopeil said:

Add water to bring the mash temp above 153 you would be doing a step mash. This is different from mash out because of the temperature you're using. At 170 enzyme activity stops which means mashing is over.

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That makes sense to me now. Thank you.