Recipe Help

Hi,

So I'm about to brew my second batch ever. I want to brew something similar to an Otter Creak Stovepipe Porter. I found 2 recipes online which are very similar only one calls for only 3 lb 4 oz of light LME, and the other calls for 4 lbs of Alexander's Pale LME plus 3.25 lbs of light DME. Why such drastic differences in quantities of extract, and what would be the effects? The complete recipes are below.

On a side note, i was thinking of adding oak cubes to this beer. Is this a good beer to oak?

Also, I was thinking of trying to make it a little more smokey. Would adding a smoked malt work? If so how much do I add, and should I reduce another specialty grain to add it?

Lastly, I was reading that Irish Moss is only used to make the beer more clear, and some people said it should not be used for extract brewing. So I was planning on skipping the Irish Moss.

Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thank You!

Recipe 1:

Yield: 5 gallons
Starting Specific Gravity: 1.058-1.059
Final SG : 1.015-1.017
SRM: 84 (Black color)
IBU: 41
Alcohol by Volume= 5.4%
Heat 1 gallon of water to 160 degrees F.


12 oz. British Chocolate Malt
8 oz. Belgian Cara-Munich Malt
8 oz. US 60 degrees L Crystal Malt
4 oz. Roasted Barley

4 lb. Alexander's Pale Malt Extract Syrup
3.25 lb M&F Light Dry Malt Extract
6 oz. Malto Dextrin
1 oz. Chinook @ 11.6% AA (11.6HBU) (bittering hop)


1/4 oz. Cascade (flavor hop)
1/4 oz. Willamette (flavor hop)
1 tsp Irish Moss

1st choice: Wyeast 1098 British Ale
Ferment at 68-72 degrees F
2nd choice: Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Recipe 2:

Malt & Fermentables
% LB OZ °L PPG
71% 3 4 Light Dry Malt Extract


8% ~ 6 Chocolate Malt (UK)


5% ~ 4 Roasted Barley


5% ~ 4 American Crystal 60L


5% ~ 4 Belgian CaraMunich


4% ~ 3 Malto-Dextrin


Specific Gravity
1.063 OG
measured by brewer
(1.070 estimated)
15.4° Plato
1.021 FG
measured by brewer
(1.023 estimated)
5.3° Plato
Color
40° SRM
79° EBC
Black
Mash Efficiency
83% measured
(70% used for O.G. estimate)
Steep Efficiency
70.0%
Hops
Usage Time OZ AA » IBU
boil 60 min ½ Chinook ~ pellet 11.6 » 39.2
boil 15 min ⅛ Cascade ~ pellet 5.5 » 2.3
boil 15 min ⅛ Willamette ~ pellet 5.5 » 2.3
Bitterness
43.9 IBU
ƒ: Tinseth
6 HBU
BU:GU
0.62
Yeast
English Ale (WLP002)
yeast in liquid form with very high flocculation and 67% attenuation
Alcohol
5.6% ABV
4% ABW
(6.3% est. ABV / 5.0% est. ABW)
Calories
233
per 12 oz.
Miscellaneous Ingredients

boil 15 min ½ tsp Irish Moss

Recipe number one looks pretty good. Recipe number two can't be a 5 gallon recipe and still get to ~1.060. It must be like a 3 gallon recipe.

You don't have to mix the base malt extracts in recipe number one if you don't want to. Bring the recipe into your homebrew shop and they will be able to set you up with either a liquid or a dry extract. If they have an English malt extract like Northern Brewer's Marris Otter extract, that would be the best.

Oak would be fine in a beer like this. Or any beer really for that matter.

If you want to add smoked malt you will need to do a partial mash. Its really easy and is just like steeping grains. You can find all the information you need on the forum for that. And, yes you would replace some of the base malt(extract in your case) with some smoked malt. Your homebrew shop should be able to help you out with the conversions.

Irish moss and whirlfloc(easier form to use) coagulate proteins in the boil kettle and drop them to the bottom. You want to use it on every beer to help clarify it and get rid of excess protein.

I would also drop the maltodextrin. Most extract beers have enough trouble getting dry enough as they are. Adding maltodextrin will push up your finishing gravity, and possibly push it up higher than want you would want. Most extracts are mashed to give a good mouthfeel.

I would also pitch two yeast packs on this beer to make sure you have enough yeast to do the job when you are over 1.060 OG.

Thank you so much! That was really informative. I'll take a look at partial mashing, and I will definitely try the oak.

A word of warning, avoid peated malt. When you look for smoked malt, you want Rauchmalt, which is smoked over Beechwood. Waving a bag of peated malt over the wort will ruin it, way too smoky and the wrong character.

smizak said:

A word of warning, avoid peated malt. When you look for smoked malt, you want Rauchmalt, which is smoked over Beechwood. Waving a bag of peated malt over the wort will ruin it, way too smoky and the wrong character.

Click to expand...

Yep, what he says. Peated malt is gross. Unless you really like Islay scotches, and want your beer to taste like one.

You want German Rauchmalt, or Briess has a cherry wood smoked malt that is pretty nice too. I tasted a smoked wiezenbock with the Briess malt and it was really tasty.