First AG batch recipe question

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theRick

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I've been brewing off and on for 22 years, almost exclusively partial mashes. I finally built a picnic cooler mash tun and am ready to try it out. For my first batch I was thinking of doing 10 lbs 2-row and no specialty grains to get a good idea of my system efficiency (5 gallon batch). It will make a drinkable beer, I'll get an idea of my efficiency (using LHBS milled grains) and I'd like to see the lightest color I can get using 2-row. The only con I can think of is it will be just a basic beer, (but still beer!). Yes, I'll use hops and good yeast.

After searching I couldn't find anyone else who did this, most were pretty ambitious in their recipe selection. I think I have enough experience and knowledge to reach close to maximum efficiency for my set up and grain crush the first time. Is it worth it to do a batch this way? Should I just brew a normal recipe and keep track of efficiencies as I brew more? Any comments will be appreciated.

Also I think this forum is extremely helpful, I've been lurking a long time and now ask for your help, thanks!.
 
Look up SMaSH recipes - Single Malt and Single Hop. Lots of people do this and make great beers.
 
I am back to brewing after a long layoff (15 years). Previously I did only extract brewing. Now since coming back it is all grain brewing. Point is this - I started with a basic recipe to play with. A amber ale. 10 pounds 2 row, 1 pound crystal malt and 1 pound carared. Mainly cascade hops but here is where the varation comes in. I make small changes to see the difference. It has been fun to work out the fine points and just nail the process and the recipe....have fun Mike
 
You can do a single malt if you want or you can do a couple of specialty malts with it. The real key for figuring out your efficiency is to make a beer with an average OG because the bigger the beer the lower your efficiency. Welcome back to brewing!
 
I think your idea is great, and there are plenty of styles out there that can be made with only one malt. Simplicity is great for your first AG.

Most important thing for a first time AG: TAKE A PREBOIL GRAVITY READING.

If you do this, you'll know if you hit your target efficiency, and you'll know if you need to add more DME before the boil. Nothing is more frustrating to your first AG batch than coming down to pitching time and realizing you missed your OG by 10 points or more.

DON'T FORGET
 
Thanks for your input, I think I'm going to do a smash recipe with the 2-row and use a hop I don't normally use to taste the flavor of it. Being from the west coast I tend to use alot of Cascade, I mean alot of Cascade (hey, my wife's from Chico).

As for pre boil gravity, is it proportional to volume? If I reduce volume by 20% will my gravity go up by 20% post boil? If I go from 7 gallons to 5.5 gallons in the boil (about a 20% reduction in volume) will my gravity go up 20%? Seems so. I do have some Lt DME on hand just in case.

I'm not exactly getting back to brewing, just finally taking the AG plunge, which is long overdue. I have a Celebration clone and an american brown on tap right now. Thanks again for the advice! This site rocks!
 
(pre boil volume x pre boil gravity units)/post boil volume=post boil gravity units
 
My cutoff point for OG is 1.050. In my process this gives me the ABV as well as the flavor I want. So I do not add all of my sparge water untill I get an OG reading. After I get the OG reading I will add the sparge water to add volume but not allow the OG to be less than 1.050.

My $0.02 - MIke
 
Do you mean that an OG of 1.050 is your minimum but you don't mind if it's higher? If that's true, then there's no need to hold back any sparge water. Just run it all through.

If 1.050 is your MAX, then you still should be able to dial in your system a little better than this. Or put it this way - keep running off until you have your target volume, take a reading, and if it's too high you can just pull out a quart of wort and replace with a quart of water to dilute.
 
In my opinion that is the smallest value og OG that makes beer I like. But your right in saying that it is ok if it is higher. As you know there is a tradeoff in volume vs OG. I want as much wort as I can get from a batch without going lower than 1.050 on the OG. Thats my criteria. So far it has worked well. I get good color, clarity, head retention and I like the flavor. Course the flavor will vary with hop additions and this is a lot of fun to experiement with.

I have made this recipe with small hop changes 4 times in a row. I think I am hitting my numbers. If I get bored I will try something else - but I like the amber ale..

best regards, Mike
 
Thanks again for the help, brewed yesterday and got 78% efficiency. I'm happy. Thought about using a newer hop but used Willamette instead. I've never used it before and wanted to see if I liked it. Now I think I need some brewing software to help out my organization but that's another discussion. Missed my mash temp by 2 degrees but now I know my system better so shouldn't be an issue next time.

Anyone waiting to do AG, do your homework and jump in with both feet. Should have done this 10 years ago, but I thought it was too much work. I'm hooked and am already planning my next brew. Til then, :mug:
 
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