Going to brew my first self-designed recipe...

Well if I can get feedback and critique, I'd love to know what I should or should not do with the following:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP051
Batch Size (Gallons): 2.5
Original Gravity: 1.063
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: ~122
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: ~9
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): ~21 @ 68-72
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): ~10 @ 68-72

Before I list ingredients, I'm going for a "ruination" of the buds but not necessarily Stone's Ruination. Tell me what (if anything) I should change for better effects. Hopefully I'll just brew it like this first, then take your considerations to heart after deciding I should have listened!

Ingredients:

3# Briess 2-row
1# Briess Vienna
1# Briess White Wheat
8oz Crystal 40L
8oz Malto-Dextrin

Mash @ 150 for 60-70 min. ?

Hop Schedule:
1/2 oz Summit @ 60
1/4 oz Summit @ 20
1/4 oz Centennial @ 20
1/2 oz Cascade @ 10
1/2 oz Centennial @ 10
1/4 oz Summit @ 5
1/2 oz Cascade @ Flame out
1/4 Centennial @ Flame out

1 oz Simcoe Dry hop in secondary for 10 days

So there it is. Love it or tear it apart. I've made 2 AMAZING brews with minor tweaks to base recipes and just want to know if I'm headed in any remotely good directions. Thanks ahead of time for input of any kind.

Most of all, if you've read this far, THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THIS SITE! IT HAS MADE ME A SEVERELY ADDICTED MAN!

Interesting. I just posted a recipe as well for my first go and I use vienna and White Wheat. Im extremely curious to see what people think about the white wheat.

Wow...good for you. Summit and Centennial are one of my favorite combination. I hop burst (do all hop additions under 20 minutes) so I get a serious in your face aroma/flavor but this should work.

You do have a lot going on with your grain bill...have you tried a beer or kit with this combo. My only regret when i did my first original recipe was that I had a bill like yours...5-6 grains. I had no way of knowing what was shining through or what I wanted to adjust. Funny thing was, I started with 3 grains and ended up brewing with 6. A year later, almost all my IPAs are the simple 3 grains I started with.

IMO, there is some contradictory ideas in this too...why the maltodextrin? If you want a fuller beer, mash higher and get rid of the crystal to balance the sweetness. I personally don't like vienna but its just my palette. Looks nice!

this video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sSKHzmhrzY -- really changed how I think about recipes. i'd recommend taking five minutes to watch it before proceeding.

Is this a full wort boil, i.e. 3.5 gallons boiled down to 2.5? I highly suggest a full wort boil versus topping off with plain water. I would even try 4.5 down to 3.5 for more beer with the same amount of brewing time.

Moving on... 122 IBUs is a bit much for 1.063 OG. You would probably enjoy more like 70-100 IBUs and an OG of 1.070-1.074.

Good job on the fermentation temps and times. I would even suggest skipping the secondary for a simple beer like this and just doing 4 weeks in the primary including the dryhop. Try to keep it between 64-68 F.

Alterations to the grain bill:

4 or 5# Briess 2-row
1# Briess Vienna
1# Briess White Wheat
8oz Crystal 40L
Some corn sugar perhaps

Mash @ 150-151 for 60 min

Alterations to the hop bill:

1/2 oz Summit @ 60
1/2 to 3/4 oz Summit @ 15
1/2 to 3/4 oz Centennial @ 10
1/2 to 3/4 oz Cascade @ 10
1/2 to 3/4 oz Cascade @ Flame out
1/2 to 3/4 oz Centennial @ Flame out
1/2 oz Summit @ Flame out

1 oz Simcoe Dry hop in primary for 7-10 days
1 oz Centennial Dry hop in primary for 7-10 days

I typed out a response, and then it was "gone". I tried again, and Bob's response was above. Mine is eerily similar, actually.

Definitely leave out the maltodextrine (it's a "thickener"), and otherwise the grain bill looks great. I mash my IPAs at 152, but with my system I know that would finish at 1.010 without corn sugar and with that mash temp. If you're unsure, follow Bobbrews advice.

Increase the later hops, too. For dryhopping, I normally dryhop 3-7 days (preferring 5 days) but 10 days is alright.

bmunos said:

Interesting. I just posted a recipe as well for my first go and I use vienna and White Wheat. Im extremely curious to see what people think about the white wheat.

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I'm still in my first year so I can't say much about your recipe except I love white wheat. I used .5# white wheat in a pale ale and I'm pretty sure that was the reason for the best head I've ever gotten.

Krovitz said:

reason for the best head I've ever gotten.

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Wow that must be some damn good beer!