Will This Recipe Work?

I'm new to brewing, and wanted to experiment with a partial/mini mash brew. Here is my plan:

1 Can Muntons American Style Light Beer (LME)
1.1 Lbs of Pilson Light DME
1.1. Lbs of Carmel 10L (Crushed)
2.2 Lbs of American 2-Row (Briess) (Crushed)
1 oz Glacier (or Fuggle) Hops for flavor (near end of boil)
7g of Coopers Yeast (I may use more, I have 14 grams)

I plan on sparging the crushed grains, and maybe making a yeast starter with the coopers. I could use a secondary fermentor if needed.

Anyone see any problems with this recipe, or have any reccomendations? I'd welcome any and all comments.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

What are you going for in this recipe? From what I can see here, you want no hop bitterness in the beer just aroma?

Yes Fennis, I figured there would be enough bitterness from the Muntons LME. I'm really just trying to soup up the Muntons beer kit, using some grains and DME.

unionrdr said:

I generally use 5lbs of grains to 3-3.3lbs of extract. That gets me in the 1.04X range. You could even increase the 2-row to 2.7lbs to get the OG up slightly imo. I used 4lbs base malt with .5lb each of crystal & carapils with 3-3.3lbs of extract for the stated gravity range.
I did partial mash/partial boil BIAB as well. I put a cake cooling rack in the bottom of the BK,using another stock pot for an HLT to heat sparge water.
But I'll tell you this; don't waste time on muslin grain sacks. I've found through experience that a paint strainer bag to fit the BK would def be way better. When the paint strainer bag can be open & rolled over the lip of the BK,you can then stir the mash to break up dough balls & evenly wet the grains. I learned from a podcast on youtube from 4 of the big guns that stiring the mash is important to getting into the proper OG range for the recipe in question. They're def right on that account.
On a lighter note,I also had the idea a couple weeks ago to do something like this with the Cooper's OS cans I used for AE brews. I'll be interested to here how this comes out!

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Union, thanks for the advice. I actually ordered some nylon grain bags to use for sparging. I will consider using a bit more 2-row as you said. And stirring the mash is something I didnt think of, but it makes sense. Maybe I will look into the paint strainer bags.

unionrdr said:

Brewing TV has some episodes that show the paint strainer bags in use. The podcast was hosted by the beersmith originator,& 3 other big guns of the home brewing world. They mentioned that not stirring the mash was a major reason for lower efficiency. Read lower OG here.

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Might explain why i had 55% eff today. I got it to temp covered with a sleeping bag, came back an hour later and stirred. Then i pulled my bag.

How often would you suggest stirring, i try not to lose too much heat.

And Union, thanks for mentioning Brew TV. I checked it out, and it looks like there is a lot of great episodes to watch.

Naturallight16oz said:

Might explain why i had 55% eff today. I got it to temp covered with a sleeping bag, came back an hour later and stirred. Then i pulled my bag.

How often would you suggest stirring, i try not to lose too much heat.

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I usually stir it around every 10-15 minutes or so. I brew in an unheated shed attached to me house, so from October - March I have to go out and check the temperature anyway while the grains are mashing, so I stir it around each time I check.

If this is the dry Cooper's yeast, you don't need a yeast starter. Just rehydrate and go. This is the general rule with all dry yeast since they have much more cells than liquid. As for the secondary, there are many schools of thought, but I just leave mine in the primary for a month, than bottle.

irunxcjm said:

If this is the dry Cooper's yeast, you don't need a yeast starter. Just rehydrate and go. This is the general rule with all dry yeast since they have much more cells than liquid. As for the secondary, there are many schools of thought, but I just leave mine in the primary for a month, than bottle.

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Thanks. Good advice. I appreciate it.

Will this recipe be considered a lager? I'm not quite ready to do a lager, so if will there be any problems if I ferment at ale temps? And what type of beer will I end up with using my recipe? Light ale?

Or perhaps an American Pale Ale?