Recipe suggestion for left over hops...

I am about to make my first all grain batch, and I had a bunch of left over hops in my fridge. I have the following hops:

0.75 Oz German Magnum 12% AA
0.50 Oz Northern Brewer 8% AA
0.75 Oz UK Kent Goldings 4.5% AA
0.50 Oz US Kent Goldings 4.5% AA

I was hoping to just have to go buy grains and yeast, and then get brewing.

Anyone have a suggestion on how to use these?

Thanks!

I wouldn't use them all in the same beer, but for an English ale, you could easily use the magnum for bittering and then the EKG for flavor and aroma.

I like northern brewer, but it's a "minty"ish hop and I'd save it for something else.

I'd use maris otter or golden promise for base malt, and then some English crystal.

8 lbs Maris Otter
9 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
6 oz Wheat, Torrified
.75 oz magnum 60 min
0.75 oz EKG (15 min)
0.25 oz EKG (0 min)
English ale yeast- like Windsor for dry. Or S04.

I have a super simple English Ale recipe that uses magnum and EKG. It's taken on the name "Awesome Ale" around my group of brewing friends...they're always looking forward to the next batch.


10 Lb Maris Otter
1 lb English Crystal (50-60 Lov; I usually use Simpsons Medium Crystal, I believe Muntons makes a similar grain...probably many others too)

.75 oz Magnum at 60 minutes
.85 oz EKG at 15 minutes
.4 oz EKG at 0 minutes

Yeast: S-04

Thanks guys!!!!

The fuel pump on my truck went bad, so this sort of got pushed to the back burner for a few days.

I was at my LHBS today and picked up ingredients to make the English Ale.

You guys don't make a starter for the s-04 do you? I was just going to sprinkle the dry yeast right on top after I aerated it...

Oh and, since this is my first all grain, what should I be shooting for as far as my OG with these recipes???

1048 - 1060 is a good target range. The 10lbs or Marris Otter and 1lb of Crystal gets you to 1062 with an efficiency of 75%. 1058 with an efficiency of 70%. I'd use that recipe as is. If you get high efficiency, you can drink it as is or don't boil it down quite as much to reach your desired OG. I wouldn't worry about it.

Yooper really knows her way around the brewhouse... her advice is always spot on. HSB's recipe sounds terrific and simple. I'd mash at 155 degrees (or so) for an hour. I (personally) like to mash out for brews that I want more body to stop conversion.

Don't make a starter, don't pitch it directly into the wort, rehydrate. What I do is at the beginning of the boil, boil water and rinse out my glass liquid measuring cup with the boiled water, then pour in 8 oz, cover with foil and take the dry yeast out of the refrigerator to get to room temperature.

While the wort is cooling I take the temp of the water with a sterilized thermometer, if it is right (90-100 f) I sprinkle the yeast in, don't stir, just let it drop and gently hydrate. If it is too cool or too warm I either microwave it a bit or stick it in the freezer for a short period.

After 20 minutes or so I'll gently stir it to suspend it and keep it covered till the wort is cooled. By that time it will have creamed up nicely. I give it a stir and pour it in then swirl the carboy to mix and add a bit of oxygen.

My first (and last time) using filtered water from my fridge!



My home made mash tun filter:







My set up... yes it's ugly, but hopefully it will get the job done!





Dough in



Currently mashing at 152...

The Gravity of the first runnings was about .058.... then sparged until I had 6.5 gallons and checked the gravity of the whole thing and it was down to .030?!?!?!?!?


I siphoned off about 3 gallons and I'm in the process of heating it up to about 165 to dump back into the mash tun. I think I'm going to let it sit in there for a little while before I drain lauter it out the second time.....

stblindtiger said:

The Gravity of the first runnings was about .058.... then sparged until I had 6.5 gallons and checked the gravity of the whole thing and it was down to .030?!?!?!?!?


I siphoned off about 3 gallons and I'm in the process of heating it up to about 165 to dump back into the mash tun. I think I'm going to let it sit in there for a little while before I drain lauter it out the second time.....

Click to expand...

Those numbers don't really make sense. I'd take another sample, and chill it in the fridge and check it again. I definitely wouldn't put the wort back through the grain!

Did you mix the wort once you combined the batches? Those numbers do seem off. What's the total volume you collected? What volume do you intend to ferment?

Well, I ended up putting 2.5 gallons back through the grains... stirred everything together, and still ended up with a gravity reading of 1.030????

I think I know what happened with my readings though.... I didn't stir up the grain bed again after the first runnings. So when I did the lauter, I didn't disolve all the sugars back into the wort.

I had a starting volume of 6.5 gallons, boiled for 90 minutes, and ended up with about 4.5 gallons. I topped it off with 1/2 a gallon of water to make a total of 5 gallons. My Original Gravity reading ended up being 1.058???

Hopefully it doesn't end up tasting like crap.

I wouldn't worry about it... It'll turn out terrific. I had a rough day brewing my IPA yesterday. I drank too much while I brewed and ended up doing all sorts of things wrong. I'm not worried though. It'll still be great!