Centennial Blonde Recipe Critique

[Tpost704]

I am preparing for my first BIAB batch and was hoping for some input. I provided the recipe below. I will be mashing and dunk sparking with RO water. I am using Brew'n Water with the "Yellow Full" water profile as my target. Based on Brew'n Water, if i add 0.5 grams/gallon of calcium chloride, 0.2 grams/gallon of epsom salt, and 1 ml/gallon of lactic acid to 4.0 gallons of RO water in combination with my grain bill, my estimated mash ph will be 5.32. I was going to mash for 1 hour at 150 and then dunk sparge in 3 gallons plain RO water with no additions. Does this sound like a decent approach to this brew or are there other additions/tweaks you would recommend. As always, thanks for the input. Cheers!



****5 Gallon Batch****

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.0 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)


Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.

 

[Tpost704]

Also should add I am working with a 15 gallon kettle on a propane burner.

 

[BrewSomeMore]

Ditch the carapils, add some more Vienna, like to 2lbs and maybe add bittering addition at 60 and save centennials/ casade for 10mins and below. You will get more flavor and aroma. Otherwise looks good.

 

[sfgoat]

Ditch the carapils, add some more Vienna, like to 2lbs and maybe add bittering addition at 60 and save centennials/ casade for 10mins and below. You will get more flavor and aroma. Otherwise looks good.

I agree with ditching the carapils, the other suggestions are a matter of personal taste but more vienna would probably be ok. I would probably add a flameout addition of .25 ounce of centennial for a little for flavor and aroma.

 

[Tpost704]

What do you think of the mash additions? Seem appropriate?

 

[sfgoat]

Should be fine. I dont usually even sparge if I do BIAB. Without BIAB i do notice a better quality if I tweak the sparge water and the mash water.

 

[RM-MN]

I haven't used Carapils in an all grain batch and get a solid head from the caramel malts.

With the way bittering works your 35 minute addition of Centennial is approximately the same as a 60 minute addition. I'd just add both parts at the beginning. I'd also probably move the 20 minute Cascade to 10 minutes or less. 20 minutes will get you quite a bit of bittering and not much flavor as the boil drives of a lot of the volatile oils.

Your mash at 150 is an admirable goal but don't worry if your temperature drops before the 60 minutes are up. If your grain is milled fine for BIAB (double milled?) the conversion will be complete well before the hour is up. I've begun limiting my mash time to 30 minutes but I know how well my grain is milled and have verified with iodine and with the resulting fermentation and final gravity readings that I do have complete conversion.

 

[Tpost704]

I currently don't have a mill and am getting my grains pre-milled. Based on this, I figured an hour mash with a dunk sparge will help extract more of the fermentable sugars seeing as how I cannot mill the grains as fine as I want.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Kinda OT, and I'm not assuming you are a beginner, but you should look into getting your own grain mill. A precise, consistent crush is one of the most important variables to control in achieving consistent, predictable and high-quality brews. If you're buying your pre-milled base and specialty grain from more than one source, the outcome of any tweaks you make to your recipe will be subject to the additional variables of time since crush and the fineness of the grist. Even if you're using the grain mill at your LHBS to grind it yourself, the crush may be unpredictable.

Grist is a deeply personal matter and IMHO using a communal mill is akin to renting underpants.

 

[Tpost704]

Kinda OT, and I'm not assuming you are a beginner, but you should look into getting your own grain mill. A precise, consistent crush is one of the most important variables to control in achieving consistent, predictable and high-quality brews. If you're buying your pre-milled base and specialty grain from more than one source, the outcome of any tweaks you make to your recipe will be subject to the additional variables of time since crush and the fineness of the grist. Even if you're using the grain mill at your LHBS to grind it yourself, the crush may be unpredictable.

Grist is a deeply personal matter and IMHO using a communal mill is akin to renting underpants.

Lol! Yes I am planning on getting a mill, I have been working on upgrading my equipment and just got a fermentation chamber and dual stage temp controller. Ph meter and grain mill are the next things on my list to get.