Summer Wedding Brew, feedback needed.

Hey fellow brewers!

I'm trying my hand at a partial mash BIAB recipe for my wedding in June, and wanted to post my simple recipe and process here to see what you guys have to say about it.

First off, this brew is designed to be our life in a glass, a light, bright, and sessionable on a summers day. Brewed with Fuggles, Galena hops, and honey to represent where we got together (the UK), where I proposed to her (Galena, IL), and (cheese alert!) how sweet she is.

I'm limited to my 5 and 4 gallon kettles so my grain capacity cant be much more than 5 lbs mashing in the 5 gal, while my sparge water will be heated in the 4 gal. Here's the recipe, I'm more than open to tweaks!

SunshineCloud Ale

5 lbs 2-row, mashed in low at 150-52, 62.5%
3 lbs light honey, added 15 mins before flameout, 37.5%

.5 oz Galena bittering 60 mins
1 oz Fuggles flavoring 15 mins
.5 oz Fuggles aroma 5 mins
Total IBU's: 28.76

1 tsp Irish Moss 15 mins

Safale US-05 American Ale Yeast

I'm following general BIAB procedure of 60 min mash, mash out at 168, batch sparge a gallon or two at 170 to bring up to 4 gallons, then 60 min boil. My main concern is that the grain bill may be unbalanced as far as flavor for this ale, Ive thought about replacing some of the 2-row with wheat malt or even honey malt, or even adding a bit on top of the 2-row to give the beer more flavor character. The amount of honey also concerns me, as I don't want the beer to taste too fruity. Being a mead maker as well I'm familiar with the esters honey can create when fermented.

As it stands, Id like to keep this brew around 4.5-5% range and 25-30 IBU's for nice and bright summer enjoyment. Brewing a batch this week so I should have test #1 kegged and serving by the end of March. Id appreciate any thoughts you fellas may have on how I can tweak this ale for the wedding!

Thanks in advance.

You could probably go higher than 5 lbs of grain in a 5 gallon pot. Most brewing software will calculate mash volumes. Sparge by dipping the bag in the 4 gallons of Spsrge water.

Congratulations!

metal850 said:

You could probably go higher than 5 lbs of grain in a 5 gallon pot. Most brewing software will calculate mash volumes. Sparge by dipping the bag in the 4 gallons of Spsrge water.

Congratulations!

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That's good to hear, I'll check it out. An extra pound or so of grain would allow me to reduce some of the honey, but what malt would you reccommend? The options running through my head are wheat, honey malt, flaked maize, etc. Or a combo, but Ive never worked with those...

I like the sound of wheat with the honey. But if you want it a little malty u could use Munich. Or just add more 2 row in place of the honey. 35% honey is a lot.

But hey its a first run. Go with your gut and see how it tastes.

Thanks man, my thoughts exactly. My gut tells me to try it with an extra lb of wheat malt on top of the 2-row and in place of one lb of the honey. It keeps the color around 3 SRM, % right there, and will probably add a bit of "cloud" to the SunshineCloud!

I'm getting married in June as well! (June 2). I'm making mead for the wedding, so that fits the theme of having honey.

CreamyGoodness said:

I'm getting married in June as well! (June 2). I'm making mead for the wedding, so that fits the theme of having honey.

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I'm June 1st, cheers! Yes, nothing better to start your honeymoon off with than a glass of mead!

Vendrixfly said:

Thanks man, my thoughts exactly. My gut tells me to try it with an extra lb of wheat malt on top of the 2-row and in place of one lb of the honey. It keeps the color around 3 SRM, % right there, and will probably add a bit of "cloud" to the SunshineCloud!

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Excellent. Go for it!

Keep in mind that adding honey will not make your beer sweeter. Honey is almost 100% fermentable so it will dry out your beer not add sweetness.

If you simple want honey flavor look into adding honey malt.

Fathand said:

Keep in mind that adding honey will not make your beer sweeter. Honey is almost 100% fermentable so it will dry out your beer not add sweetness.

If you simple want honey flavor look into adding honey malt.

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I am aware of that, it's the thought of honey being one of the ingredients that provokes me to use it, for sentimental value That, and the fact that it adds fermentables without messing too much with flavor leaving me with a clean, light colored ale. I'd add honey malt but it really darkens the end product too much. Maybe I'll fool around with using just a tad, like .25 lbs, to leave some residual sweetness. Although I don't know if that amount will even be noticeable, I've never used it.

You can mash a whole lot more than 5 lbs in a 5 gallon pot. I want to say about twice that much.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

that says at 1.25qts/lb you can probably get 12 lbs in. You don't need any honey (although you can use it for sentimental reasons).

tennesseean_87 said:

You can mash a whole lot more than 5 lbs in a 5 gallon pot. I want to say about twice that much.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

that says at 1.25qts/lb you can probably get 12 lbs in. You don't need any honey (although you can use it for sentimental reasons).

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It appears I've grossly underestimated my 5 gallon kettle! I may further reduce the honey for more 2-row or wheat, maybe even Munich for some deeper malts. This is good news, thanks!

I'm still confined to doing partial boils though. Need to get me a bigger pot.

Thanks for all the feedback! Here's the updated recipe:

5 lbs 2-row Pale 60.61%
2 lbs White Wheat 24.24%
.25 lbs Honey Malt 3.03%
1 lb Honey (15) 12.12%
ABV: 4.72%

.5 oz Galena 60
1 oz Fuggles 15
.5 oz Fuggles 5
IBU'S: 28.96

More or less balanced? Heading to LHBS today to pick up the extra wheat malt. I'll brew the first run tomorrow morning.

Looks good! Good luck

Kegged this up today.

The color is spot on, as well as the haze from the wheat. The hydro sample tasted very light with absolutely no off flavors that I could perceive, but...it actually fermented all the way down to 1.002! iBrewmaster saw it a full 10 points above that...think something may have gone wrong? I have been having problems overshooting the FG with the last three batches, but never as much as 10 points.

Was shooting for a really light, easy drinking summer beer but I guess you gotta be careful what you wish for. Thanks for any insight you guys might have.

OG 1.044
FG 1.002
~5.5%