please evaluate my first recipe

I've always just followed recipes for my brewing and never attempted to make my own. From the experience I have gained from brewing this is what I have come up with. I am shooting for a beer that is not too heavy. Be harsh in your evaluations as I do not want to make a beer that is not good.

5.5 lb extra pale LME
1 lb munich malt
8 oz carapils
8 oz crystal 20L
8 oz victory malt
8 oz special roast
0.5 oz us saaz for 60min
0.5 oz us tettnang for 30min
0.5 oz us tettnang finishing
irish moss
wyeast 1099

Munich and Victory need to be mashed, so you won't get much out of those additions. Special Roast probably should be mashed as well. Skip all three of them and add about 4 oz of chocolate malt instead. Also, if you're looking for a light bodied beer, skip the carapils.

Wyeast 1099 is the same as Fermentis S-04 (dry yeast). Dry yeast is cheaper and doesn't require as much care and feeding to achieve good results.

I planned on doing a minimash, so mashing is not a problem

kxmjb said:

I planned on doing a minimash, so mashing is not a problem

Click to expand...

You'll need about 2 pounds of base malt, then. You can use a little more if you can mash more, but that should be enough. Munich malt can convert itself, but it adding some base malt will definitely help. Victory malt can't convert without some help, and neither can special roast.

It's going to be less than 10 IBU. Definably use at least two oz of Saaz at 60. That should bring the BU:GU to about .5.

in case you don't already have it, this webpage helped me with IBU calculations immensely:

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Hop Bittering Calculations