My girlfriend got me a True Brew kit for Xmas this year. Although I don't buy them myself, they make great gifts....I treat them as a set of mixed raw ingredients and an excuse to experiment. However, this one has me a little unsure. The box was labeled "German Style Dark All Grain" (which was mis-labeled, as it was a "German Style Dark" extract kit inside).
The kit contained:
3.3# Munton's Dark HOPPED LME (50-60 EBC, 45-55 EBU, 80-82% solids)
(East Anglian barley and English hops) [UK]
2# Munton's Dark DME (22 Lovi, 57 EBC) [UK]
6oz Munton's crushed Crystal (2-row barley, color not on label) [UK]
1oz UK First Gold pellets @ 7.30% Alpha
1pkg Danstar Nottingham dry yeast [Austria]
The instructions note a 20-30 steep in 1-1.5 gal., followed by a 20-30 minute boil, calls for a 1-week ferment and a 3-week bottle aging.
I'm rather put off by the hopped LME....I've never bothered with it (as I always tweak my recipes) and am not sure how large an impact that's going to have.
But more importantly, for the life of me I can't determine which BJCP category this should fall into! The darkness intended does not seem to make sense with the light body (OG=1.043-1.045, FG=1.010-1.012, HBU=13.0, according to the instructions). Further, with both the hops in the LME and the additional pellets, the resulting HBUs should be well over 13, so I'm not sure how they intended to meet their own numbers. .......and this really doesn't sound like it'll taste very German to me (no wheat, no rye, all English ingredients....)
I'm pretty darn sure that I don't want to make it as listed....but really need some help determining what base category this is so that I have a style to adhere to as I build my own recipe on this stuff....any ideas?
-Bryan
(aka Dark Brood Homebrewery)
+++++++++++++++++++++++>>>
Primary: >holiday break<
Secondary: >holiday break<
Tertiary: >holiday break<
Aging: Solstice Special Ale, OktoberMissed, Whis'Kee Whe'Add Ale
Drinking: Red Alert Irish Red, Chocolate-Vanilla Stout
In Mourning: Hop-Hanger IPA, My Cousin Vinny Amber-Oatmeal Ale
The kit contained:
3.3# Munton's Dark HOPPED LME (50-60 EBC, 45-55 EBU, 80-82% solids)
(East Anglian barley and English hops) [UK]
2# Munton's Dark DME (22 Lovi, 57 EBC) [UK]
6oz Munton's crushed Crystal (2-row barley, color not on label) [UK]
1oz UK First Gold pellets @ 7.30% Alpha
1pkg Danstar Nottingham dry yeast [Austria]
The instructions note a 20-30 steep in 1-1.5 gal., followed by a 20-30 minute boil, calls for a 1-week ferment and a 3-week bottle aging.
I'm rather put off by the hopped LME....I've never bothered with it (as I always tweak my recipes) and am not sure how large an impact that's going to have.
But more importantly, for the life of me I can't determine which BJCP category this should fall into! The darkness intended does not seem to make sense with the light body (OG=1.043-1.045, FG=1.010-1.012, HBU=13.0, according to the instructions). Further, with both the hops in the LME and the additional pellets, the resulting HBUs should be well over 13, so I'm not sure how they intended to meet their own numbers. .......and this really doesn't sound like it'll taste very German to me (no wheat, no rye, all English ingredients....)
I'm pretty darn sure that I don't want to make it as listed....but really need some help determining what base category this is so that I have a style to adhere to as I build my own recipe on this stuff....any ideas?
-Bryan
(aka Dark Brood Homebrewery)
+++++++++++++++++++++++>>>
Primary: >holiday break<
Secondary: >holiday break<
Tertiary: >holiday break<
Aging: Solstice Special Ale, OktoberMissed, Whis'Kee Whe'Add Ale
Drinking: Red Alert Irish Red, Chocolate-Vanilla Stout
In Mourning: Hop-Hanger IPA, My Cousin Vinny Amber-Oatmeal Ale