Thoughts on a recipe for first 5-gal batch?

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tom9d

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Hi folks. So my brewing equipment is set to arrive today (I've been using Mr. Beer) and I was hoping for some feedback on a recipe for my first 5-gallon batch.

I wanted to brew a brown ale, but didn't come across a recipe that was quite what I was looking for, so I thought I'd just buy some ingredients...

4 lbs Munton's Amber DME
3 lbs Munton's Dark DME
1 lb honey
1 oz Bramling Cross hops
1 oz UK Fuggle hops
White Labs California Ale yeast

...I don't like bitter beer, and from what I've read, UK Fuggle is good for flavoring without bittering. I thought I'd add the Bramling hops either halfway through or toward the end.

Thoughts on these ingredients? Tips on how to best utilize them? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
My first suggestion would be to visit: http://www.bjcp.org/index.php

Find the style you are looking for and read through the description, Within the details you will find the ingredients that are typical for the style as well as the varieties of hops and standards for OG, FG, color, etc. This is a great site to use for researching styles of beer to put together recipes. You can then take this info to the LHBS and see what ingredients they have and what info they can help you with. Keep in mind extract recipes will usually be darker than all grain and you also need to determine whether you are going to do full boils or partial boils and then top off as utilization of hops then comes into play.
 
I am no recipe expert, but when I was brewing extract my recipes always used some sort of specialty grains. They add color and a depth of flavor that you will not get from using DME and hops alone.

If you don't have a local home brew store, there are several of HBT's sponsors, Brewmaster's Warehouse or Austin Homebrew...., that would be a huge help.
 
Use light dry malt extract and get your color and flavor profile from specialty grains. Good advice above about researching a style and it's guidelines to find out traditional ingredients. I also recommend trying to find a clone recipe of a commercial beer that you would consider a good example of what you want.
 
Very helpful. Thanks, all. I actually just found a LHBS yesterday, which I plan on visiting in the next couple of days. Girlfriend is out of town this weekend, so I'd love to use the time alone to brew a batch.
 
The California Ale yeast is pretty specialized yeast that is designed to give off some off flavors that probably aren't going to work in all styles.

What style are you trying to make?

Just Amber and Dark DME isn't going to fit any particular style that I know of, and the honey is pretty much just going to dry out your beer and add alcohol content.

What are you trying to accomplish?
 
Depends on which California ale though, the v will give off other off flavors, the regular 001 is pretty clean, though I don't know if I would use it in a brown ale or not.
 
tom9d said:
Hi folks. So my brewing equipment is set to arrive today (I've been using Mr. Beer) and I was hoping for some feedback on a recipe for my first 5-gallon batch.

I wanted to brew a brown ale, but didn't come across a recipe that was quite what I was looking for, so I thought I'd just buy some ingredients...

4 lbs Munton's Amber DME
3 lbs Munton's Dark DME
1 lb honey
1 oz Bramling Cross hops
1 oz UK Fuggle hops
White Labs California Ale yeast

...I don't like bitter beer, and from what I've read, UK Fuggle is good for flavoring without bittering. I thought I'd add the Bramling hops either halfway through or toward the end.

Thoughts on these ingredients? Tips on how to best utilize them? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

It looks like an "Englishy" beer, sort of. I'm not a fan of dark or amber DME, as I think it's preferable to use light DME and get the flavor and color from steeping grains, but with that recipe you'll be ok. I'd leave out the honey, though.

I know you don't want a bitter beer, but those are low alpha acid hops, and that's a lot of malt, so you've got the makings of a very sweet beer there.

I'd probably actually DEcrease the amount of fermentables there, and do this:

3 lbs DME Dark
2 lbs Amber Dry Extract
1.00 oz Bramling Cross [6.00 %] (18.7 IBUs)
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min (3.1 IBUs)
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min (1.2 IBUs)

That would give a better balance of hops/malt. If you want to add the honey, to give more alcohol, that would be ok. Otherwise, the above recipe I just posted would only be about 4.5% ABV.

If your Bramling Cross hops are higher than 6.00% AAU, then you could support more malt. I just went with the AAUs of the hops I have.
 
TopherM said:
The California Ale yeast is pretty specialized yeast that is designed to give off some off flavors that probably aren't going to work in all styles.

What style are you trying to make?

Just Amber and Dark DME isn't going to fit any particular style that I know of, and the honey is pretty much just going to dry out your beer and add alcohol content.

What are you trying to accomplish?
Click to expand...

I'm going for a brown ale. The "recipe" above was the original plan. Based on other suggestions here though, I may scrap that idea and instead use pale DME with some specialty grains for color and flavor.

I was a bit nervous about using specialty grains in my first 5-gallon batch, but the more I read, the less daunting it seems. So I'm thinking I might as well just go for it.
 
MotorcycleMatt said:
Depends on which California ale though, the v will give off other off flavors, the regular 001 is pretty clean, though I don't know if I would use it in a brown ale or not.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's the 001. I'm not attached to using it. I just went with one that looked versatile and had reviews that suggested it would work with a brown ale. Open to other suggestions before I visit the LHBS this weekend.
 
I really wouldn't do a 8lb fermentable list beer as your first.
1.070-1.080 range have a lot of quirks that are easier to deal with once you get your procedures down pat.
and know how your normal 5 gallon batches ferment and work out.
 
Yooper said:
It looks like an "Englishy" beer, sort of. I'm not a fan of dark or amber DME, as I think it's preferable to use light DME and get the flavor and color from steeping grains, but with that recipe you'll be ok. I'd leave out the honey, though.

I know you don't want a bitter beer, but those are low alpha acid hops, and that's a lot of malt, so you've got the makings of a very sweet beer there.

I'd probably actually DEcrease the amount of fermentables there, and do this:

3 lbs DME Dark
2 lbs Amber Dry Extract
1.00 oz Bramling Cross [6.00 %] (18.7 IBUs)
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min (3.1 IBUs)
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min (1.2 IBUs)

That would give a better balance of hops/malt. If you want to add the honey, to give more alcohol, that would be ok. Otherwise, the above recipe I just posted would only be about 4.5% ABV.

If your Bramling Cross hops are higher than 6.00% AAU, then you could support more malt. I just went with the AAUs of the hops I have.
Click to expand...

What if I instead go with pale DME as a base and supplement with specialty grains. I've looked at recipes for brown ales and they generally call for around 6 lbs of liquid extract. I know that is equivalent to just under 5 lbs of DME (right?). So something like...

5 lbs pale DME
.25 lb English chocolate malt
.25 lb Briess caramel 120L
.25 lb Belgian special B
.25 lb Weyermann CaraRed

?

I've seen combinations of those grains with others in recipes for brown ales, and picked those because according to their descriptions, they add flavors and colors I enjoy. Then I could hop as you suggested.
 
Hi folks. I placed an order last night for ingredients and I think it's a much better recipe than I first proposed. But before I brew, would love some feedback, as I plan on bringing this batch to North Carolina over Memorial Day Weekend for a family reunion/birthday party/etc with my girlfriend's family. I haven't met many of them before, and none of them have tried my beer, so I'd like to get this right :)

Here's what I was thinking, based on your previous input:
- 5 lbs Briess golden light DME
- .25 lb Briess caramel 80L
- .25 lb English chocolate malt
- .25 lb Belgian special B
- .25 lb Weyermann carared
- 1 oz Bramling Cross - 60 minutes
- .5 oz UK Fuggles - 15 minutes
- .5 oz UK Fuggles - 5 minutes
 
tom9d said:
Hi folks. I placed an order last night for ingredients and I think it's a much better recipe than I first proposed. But before I brew, would love some feedback, as I plan on bringing this batch to North Carolina over Memorial Day Weekend for a family reunion/birthday party/etc with my girlfriend's family. I haven't met many of them before, and none of them have tried my beer, so I'd like to get this right :)

Here's what I was thinking, based on your previous input:
- 5 lbs Briess golden light DME
- .25 lb Briess caramel 80L
- .25 lb English chocolate malt
- .25 lb Belgian special B
- .25 lb Weyermann carared
- 1 oz Bramling Cross - 60 minutes
- .5 oz UK Fuggles - 15 minutes
- .5 oz UK Fuggles - 5 minutes
Click to expand...

I like it! It's like a Southern English Brown style, I guess, or actually more like a "brown porter" because of the chocolate malt. What are the aau% on the hops? Just so you get the right bitterness (not too much, not too little).

Did you get an English yeast to go with it?
 
Thanks!! Glad to hear.

And oh yeah, sorry. Forgot to mention the yeast. In my initial order (which had shipped before I was able to cancel it and is probably arriving today), I'd ordered the White Labs California Ale yeast. The description said it was versatile, and there were a ton of user reviews, including a number that said they had success using it for brown ales.

...but I plan on taking a ride to the local brew shop this weekend and will look for an English yeast.

I don't know what the exact aau% is on the hops. The web description just gave a range. 5-7% for the Bramling Cross and 3-5% on the Fuggles.

Would love tips on hop usage. As I mentioned, I really don't like hop bitterness. But I am intrigued by the flavor descriptions of the hops, which is why I selected them (earthy, pipe-tobacco, floral for the Fuggles, fruity and spicy for the Bramling). So any advice on how to get those flavors out of them without bitterness would be appreciated.
 
...and I would prefer more of a Southern English Brown than a brown porter. I guess for that I should probably use less chocolate and slightly more of one of the other specialty grains? Or does there come a point where it doesn't even make sense to use the grain at all if I'm going to be using such a small amount? Is .10 lb chocolate a reasonable amount to use?
 
Dry yeasts are under-appreciated by most home brewers. You can brew just about anything you want with about 4 different dry yeast strains at $3 per pack which easily ferments 5 gallons in short order and you don't even need to make a starter or re-hydrate them.
 
tom9d said:
...and I would prefer more of a Southern English Brown than a brown porter. I guess for that I should probably use less chocolate and slightly more of one of the other specialty grains? Or does there come a point where it doesn't even make sense to use the grain at all if I'm going to be using such a small amount? Is .10 lb chocolate a reasonable amount to use?
Click to expand...

Sure, often times "less is more" in cooking and in brewing.

For example, I like salt. But I don't need an ounce of it when a teaspoon would do. Same with chocolate malt in some instances!

If your grains aren't mixed together, you could use 2 ounces of chocolate malt if you'd like. But with that amount, 4 ounces, it might not really be roasty and you may really like it. I'd try it that way first, unless you really don't want a hint of roast.
 
Guys, thank you.

Yesterday was brew day and it went great. I ended up downloading Beersmith last week, which I used to tweak my recipe to give me my target OG, SRM and IBU. Everything went smoothly, thanks to all the reading up I've done on here.

I was a bit nervous about my yeast, because the starter I made didn't seem to have done much. I checked my airlock every fifteen minutes last night...was getting very antsy. But I read the thread about fermenting often not starting for 24-72 hours and settled down. And sure enough, I woke up this morning to bubbling. It was like waking up on Christmas morning and seeing presents under the tree :)
 

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