Thoughts on this recipe

I'm going to be brewing this "Golden Strong" recipe tomorrow:

Extract 5.75 lbs Pilsner Malt Extract
Grain 3 lbs Belgian Pilsen
1 oz oz Target (60 minutes)
2oz oz Saaz (5 minutes) Y
Yeast Belgian Golden Ale(Wyeast 1388)
Paryial mash: 3.75 qts at 161 degrees added to grain, to keep mash at 150 for an hour. Raise temp to 168 and hold for 10 minutes. Sparge with 1.5 gallons of 168 to rinse mash.

I made a 2L starter last night w/ 7.5 ounces DME.

LHBS says OG 1066 & FG of 1010; abv ~7%, IBU 37.

However, tastybrew's recipe calculator shows OG 1055, FG 1014, 52 IBU, 5.3% ABV. Where does the difference come from?

I plan on doing a 6.5gallon boil for 60 mins (I usually boil off about 1.25 galls/hr) and finish with 5.25 into the fermenter.

Am I missing anything -- I'd like to end up at the higher end of the ABV range? Wyeast gives a 64-80degree temp range for fermentation -- what should I shoot for? Any quick pointers ya'll can give for my first Partial Mash? (I've read through DeathBrewers PM post).

The difference is probably based on the program and your LHBS's predicted conversion of the grain. The fermentables from 1Lb of grain can roughly be worth .6-.8lbs of extract depending on the skill of the brewer and the specific grain.

Your yeast can ferment at 80 degrees and be healthy, they can also fement at 90 degrees or even 100 degrees and be healthy.
But what happens is that at those temperatures they not only ferment so fast that they create a massive krausen blowing your airlock, they also produce fusel alcohols(propanol, butanol, ect.) in abundance, as well as various sulfur compounds which create horrible off-tastes.
Also remember the proverb that the candle which burns twice as bright burns twice as fast, at those temps your yeast wont achieve full sugar fermentation either

I would ferment it in the lower range of what they gave you, probably around 65, but no higher than 70 because that's when you start to get fusel alcohols forming.

Depending on how much alcohol you want, you can add either dextrose, table sugar (or any other simple sugar really), however both will "water" down your beer somewhat based on how much you add, and you shouldnt use more than 1Lb of table sugar per 5gal batch as anything above that usually leaves a cidery taste which for your brew is probably undesirable :3

Assuming you get good starch conversion on your grain your looking at around 7lbs of fermentables which looks fairly good. Your not missing anything as far as I can see, though I am fond of adding a spice or two to my beers.

Pointer on your partial mash, make sure you have a (preferably new) thermometer that floats well above the surface so that you dont burn your fingers when you need to check it(made that mistake once). Also make sure you have a high quality/very fine grain bag or you end up with crushed bran in your wort lol

That software is probably defaulting to 65% eff.

Add a pound of sugar (table sugar is fine) to it and it should help it ferment down and raise the abv. Don't be scared of the sugar, I just made a golden strong with 1.5lb of sugar and it has more than enough body to it, almost too much for style (style calls for a light body, crisp and high carb). I've never experienced "cider" flavors from using sugar, and Jamil uses up to 3lbs in a 5 gal batch in his book's recipes. I fermented mine at 68deg and it turned out great using that same yeast.

The recipe is missing some sugar. Most Belgian brews use up to 20% sugar. This helps make the beer, as the Belgians would say, "more digestible."

The very basic Tripel recipe is 80% Pilsen and 20% sugar. Get the BU:GU ratio to .37 (right now you are a little high) and you are good to go.

Give the yeast plenty of time to work. Belgian yeasts can be slow to get the last few points of attenuation.

Thanks for the responses!

SG was 1.063. Pitched the decanted starter into 70*F wort. I kept the carboy in a large bucket filled with water & was able to keep the temp <70F. I had no real risk of blow-off, but fermentation activity was pretty interesting (rolling, brown, crusty krausen with large bubbles). It has been in the carboy for just over 2-weeks. The krausen settled back about 5-6 days ago & I took a gravity reading yesterday and got 1.010. I drank the sample and found it to be pretty alcohol-y.

I know I'll need to age this a bit, but should I bulk age - or - bottle age? What kind of time frame is recommended either way? I **MAY** need the carboy soon, but if best results occur from aging in the primary, I'm willing to do that (and just buy another carboy)!

I know I'll need to age this a bit, but should I bulk age - or - bottle age?

Click to expand...

Both if you can. Give it another couple of weeks in the fermenter, then bottle.

Did you add any sugar? If not you may be at FG, but still let it sit for more time. If you did add some sugar it may go lower.

Ok. I can do that!

I put the sugar in during the boil - so can I expect the gravity to drop more?

So, I've got two more weeks in the primary, then how long would you recommend in the bottle?

Hi,

i made a new recipe and i need some feedback. I didn't brew it yet.

All grain

OG: 1.056
IBU: 41,4
EBC: 13.9
ABV: 5.7

Pale malt 89,1%
Munich 5.9%
Caramel 50 EBC 2%
Wheat 3%

15g MAGNUM 60min
10g CASCADE 30min
20g CASCADE 20min
15g STYRIAN GOLDING 5min
20g STYRIAN GOLDING 1min
30g STYRIAN GOLDING 0min
Safale US 05

DRY HOP STYRIAN GOLDING 30g

From these recipe i want clean smooth bittering, cascade flavour and styrian aroma. Not too much fruity aroma, but more earthy. So what do u think? Thanks