My first Partial Mash, how's the recipe look?

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optimal_pizza

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Decided to take the next baby step out of Extract brewing and attempt a Partial Mash.
I found some rough guidelines for a beer I really like, Uncle Dave's Rye IPA from Discretion Brewing
Here's the recipe I came up with through the Brewers Friend calculator.

Any recommendations or critiques?

Title: Uncle Ray's Rye

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Efficiency: 70%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.059
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV: 6.37%
IBU: 67.95
SRM: 6.93

FERMENTABLES:
3.5 lb - Extra Light DME (37.8%)
3.5 lb - Pale 2-Row (37.8%)
0.5 lb - Crystal 40L (5.4%)
0.5 lb - Crystal 15L (5.4%)
1.25 lb - American Rye (11.4%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Magnum for 60 min, Boil
0.5 oz - Cascade for 10 min, Boil
0.5 oz - Citra for 10 min, Boil
0.5 oz - Cascade, Whirlpool, 30 minutes
0.5 oz - Citra, Whirlpool, 30 minutes
0.5 oz - Simcoe, Whirlpool, 30 minutes
1 oz - Cascade, Dry Hop 7 days
1 oz - Citra, Dry Hop 7 days
0.5 oz - Simcoe, Dry Hop 7 days

MASH STEPS:
1) Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Rehydrated Safale US-05
Ferment at 64 degrees
 
Looks pretty good to me, I just think I'd mash lower. That's a decent amount of crystal for a straight IPA, but I think it's okay in this. IME rye makes a recipe taste drier - that plus the relatively high bittering I think would carry the crystal, as long as it attenuates well.
 
Cool, thanks for the input.

I like my IPAs less malty and more hoppy so would reducing the crystal and upping the 2 row help? Or would I up the DME?
 
It might be worth checking out the water primer in the brew science section. Its a good idea to get your mash pH in the right range to improve efficiency and prevent off-flavors.
 
I'm not familiar with the beer but on the site it looks to be leaning toward amber colored. Maybe you want to go with .5 lb of C-60 and make up the rest with 2-row (or rye, bumping that up a half lb would get to 16%).
 
It might be worth checking out the water primer in the brew science section. Its a good idea to get your mash pH in the right range to improve efficiency and prevent off-flavors.

Efficiency really should be much of a problem in a partial. The steeping grains are mostly used to add flavors and colors, not so much fermentables. They will add some, but the extracts are not going to be impacted by water ph.
 
Efficiency really should be much of a problem in a partial. The steeping grains are mostly used to add flavors and colors, not so much fermentables. They will add some, but the extracts are not going to be impacted by water ph.

For sure, but I note the OP is also mashing a good portion of base malt in the posted recipe. I recall battling off-flavors when I did similar PM batches without treating. That said, others may not detect off-flavors with their system, but its something to be aware of for sure.
 
I found this pic I took of the note card from the brewery if that gives any more clues.
Regarding the water treatment, does it apply just to tap water or to bottled water as well?

Also I messed around with the grains a bit

4 lb - Extra Light DME (44.4%)
3 lb - Pale 2-Row (33.3%)
0.25 lb - Crystal 15L (2.8%)
0.25 lb - Crystal 40L (2.8%)
1.50 lb - American Rye (16.7%)

media-20150724.jpg
 
Efficiency really should be much of a problem in a partial. The steeping grains are mostly used to add flavors and colors, not so much fermentables. They will add some, but the extracts are not going to be impacted by water ph.

Like rhys I would also disagree with that. In this case the OP is getting about half his/her fermentables from the partial mash. Some folks partial mash 60, 70, 80%. So not the same as extract and steeping. Now I'm not saying the OP has to worry about water right away, and I agree pH probably is pretty low on the list for things to affect efficiency, but not something to be ignored. Especially in it's relation to off flavors as mentioned.
 
I found this pic I took of the note card from the brewery if that gives any more clues.
Regarding the water treatment, does it apply just to tap water or to bottled water as well?

Also I messed around with the grains a bit

4 lb - Extra Light DME (44.4%)
3 lb - Pale 2-Row (33.3%)
0.25 lb - Crystal 15L (2.8%)
0.25 lb - Crystal 40L (2.8%)
1.50 lb - American Rye (16.7%)

Doesn't give a lot more info, though usually brewers list the malts in proportionately descending order so I think you have that right. I like the looks of the new recipe.

Regarding your water, if using tap I would definitely do something to treat for chloramines just in case, like simply adding campden (see article here). As far as other water treatments, ideally you would want to know your source water. Most folks need a little acid to bring the mash pH into ideal range, depending on recipe of course. I partial mashed for a year or so before getting into manipulating water and had good luck, but I also happen to have excellent tap water for brewing. If you want a simple guide that walks you through using RO or distilled water check out the water primer in the brew science forum. It's not a bad idea to start learning about it if you plan to do a lot of partial mashing and/or move to all grain.
 
OP...is the Pale an extract or is that grains? The 3.5lbs makes me think it is a jug of LME. If I am wrong, then yes mashing is more important than I suggested.
 
The pale is grains.
Thinking of going something like this:
4 lb - Extra Light DME (44.4%)
3 lb - Pale 2-Row (33.3%)
0.25 lb - Crystal 15L (2.8%)
0.25 lb - Crystal 40L (2.8%)
1.50 lb - American Rye (16.7%)
 
My water isn't the best for brewing, and minerals tend to fluctuate due to my river water supply - so I go with bottled RO water and build minerals from scratch. I find its by far the easiest way to do it, starting with a blank canvas if you will. I simply plug the grain bill into the EZ Water spread sheet, then add minerals and a little lactic acid to get the mash in the right pH range. It's a lot easier than it might sound.

I don't know your water, but if you decided to use RO/distilled for your mash then the following should work based on your posted grain bill. I'm assuming you're doing this all in one pot, probably using a grain bag to hold your grains (i.e.: BIAB)...

- Add 1.7 gallons RO/Distilled water to your pot and heat to 162F.
- Stir in 3 grams (0.7 tsp) Calcium Chloride while its heating and make sure its all dissolved.
- Also add 1 mL of 88% lactic acid, using a syringe. (the calcium chloride, acid and syringe should be available at your LHBS).
- When you're at temp, add your grains (3 lb 2-Row, 0.5 lb crystal, 1.5 lb rye), stir to remove dough balls, cover, insulate with a towel and mash for 75 or even 90 minutes. Your temp should stabilize around 150-152 F and its a good idea to check this at about 15 minutes into your mash.
- After mash is complete, lift out and drain the bag. To get extra sugars out you can squeeze and then rinse (or dunk) the bag in a gallon or so of 160F water to obtain your 3 gallon total volume for the boil.
- After collecting your wort, proceed with the boil as usual and add the extract at flame-out (or 15 minutes if you prefer).
- Assuming partial boil... top up to 5 gallons in the fermentor with bottled spring water or your tap water if you're confident of its quality (note chickypad's comments re: chloramine). If you're doing full boil, make your adjustments to the above as needed.
 
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