combining grains

[gwjames47]

I am putting together a brew using the following:

3# Harrington 2 row
3# Vienna
2# Golden Promise
1# Maris Otter
8oz. Munich 10
4oz. Special B

Plus 3# Breiss Pilsen Extract

Planned hops include Chinook 60 min. and Centennial 30 min.

I was wondering if using this combination sounds good or not, just want some opinions. Also what style would this group of ingredients most likely fall under.

Thanks, GW

 

[ehedge20]

What the beer becomes would also depend on what kind of yeast you plan on using. Do you have an anticipated OG? While not being an extract or partial mash brewer It seems that 3 pounds of extract would add too much sugar to the almost 10 pound grain bill. If this is true I would compensate by mashing at a higher temp like 156 deg.

 

[permo]

I would ditch the extract, this should put your OG around 1.050. Bitter it up to 25 IBU with chinook at 60 and throw in basically as much centennial as you want at flameout.

You would have yourself a nice little summer pale ale.......

I would reccoment a yeast like WLP007 and mash at 154 or so to keep some of that body from all the premium base malts involved.

 

[gwjames47]

I would ditch the extract, this should put your OG around 1.050. Bitter it up to 25 IBU with chinook at 60 and throw in basically as much centennial as you want at flameout.

You would have yourself a nice little summer pale ale.......

I would reccoment a yeast like WLP007 and mash at 154 or so to keep some of that body from all the premium base malts involved.

I will be using a 500ML starter of US05, I plan on reducing or eliminating the Extract. I use Brewsmith and had the Brewhouse Efficiency set at only 60% which gave me OG estimate of 1.061.

With my equipment I can only boil 4.8 gallons of wort and have to top off to make 5.25 I use the Extract to compensate for the dilution. I have not been able to get the Brewhouse Efficiency much past 65% I try to mash near 158. I like your advice on the late addition of the Centennial hops, makes sense.

GW

 

[onthekeg]

Do not make a starter with US-05, it will actually be harder on the yeast. Just rehydrate per instructions or pitch directly on the cooled wort.

 

[ArcaneXor]

I am putting together a brew using the following:

3# Harrington 2 row
3# Vienna
2# Golden Promise
1# Maris Otter
8oz. Munich 10
4oz. Special B

Plus 3# Breiss Pilsen Extract

Planned hops include Chinook 60 min. and Centennial 30 min.

What are you trying to achieve by using three varietal base malts thrown together? What you are basically doing is making your own pale malt by throwing the varietals in together. For the hops, move the Centennial to somewhere between 15 minutes and flameout. At 30 minutes it's basically a second bittering charge with little flavor carry-over.

I will be using a 500ML starter of US05

That's not a good idea. A sachet of dry yeast has somewhere around 220 billion cells in it, at about 85% viability. To get any propagation out of that, you'd have to make a starter somewhere in the 3-4 liter range. A 500 ml starter is only useful when you are propagating yeast from bottles, slants, or expired/very old vials/smackpacks.

Definitely rehydrate your dry yeast though.

 

[gwjames47]

Do not make a starter with US-05, it will actually be harder on the yeast. Just rehydrate per instructions or pitch directly on the cooled wort.

I used the wrong term I guess, I am pitching 500ml of harvested US05 which consists of 300ml of harvested yeast and 200ml of a low gravity wort to kick it off. I have done it this way numerous times and have had a 100% success rate. When using dry yeast from a sachet I only rehydrate. My bad I should have been more clear.

GW

 

[emjay]

What is the point of all those different pale malts anyways?

 

[gwjames47]

What are you trying to achieve by using three varietal base malts thrown together? What you are basically doing is making your own pale malt by throwing the varietals in together. For the hops, move the Centennial to somewhere between 15 minutes and flameout. At 30 minutes it's basically a second bittering charge with little flavor carry-over.

I really like these grains individually(Golden Promise, Maris Otter, Vienna) so I just wanted to see what they would taste like combined. I have decided to add 1/2 oz. more Chinook and double up on the Centennial for 10min.

GW

 

[Germelli1]

What is the point of all those different pale malts anyways?

I also want to know what you are trying to achieve with them, but I also think it is a great recipe. I don't see anything wrong with using them all I just am curious how they will turn out!

 

[emjay]

I would ditch the Harrington then and just go with 3# each of MO and GP (actually, I would just go with GP, but I won't stop you from learning!)

 

[gwjames47]

What is the point of all those different pale malts anyways?

Part of the point is, I am cleaning up my little dabs of inventory of grains that have been around awhile, plus I thought it would be interesting to see how the different flavors meld together. Perhaps sometimes it is ok to color outside the lines.

GW

 

[Germelli1]

I agree, and like the idea. And I really want to hear how it turns out!

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Part of the point is, I am cleaning up my little dabs of inventory of grains that have been around awhile, plus I thought it would be interesting to see how the different flavors meld together. Perhaps sometimes it is ok to color outside the lines.

GW

I do this all the time, it was exactly my first thought when I read the recipe. No worries imo. I'm a slave to FIFO in order to keep grains as fresh as possible (but almost always just base grains that are somewhat close). Even if I have plenty of other grains on-hand, I still like to get that last 1.75# or whatever out of the bin and into the tun.

 

[gwjames47]

I agree, and like the idea. And I really want to hear how it turns out!

Well, I am headed down to the basement to get started on this brew, I crushed all the grains yesterday. I will post the final recipe when I get it finalized and follow up with a report in about 2 weeks. Since I am kegging (I just built a Kegerator) I can force carb it up and have something to sample in about 2 weeks. I am sure gonna miss washing, sterilizing, and capping all those bottles.

GW

 

[Germelli1]

haha now that you mention it, I have what seems to be a half put together recipe of grains sitting in a bucket in my basement. I think it is from one of those gung-ho "had a few too many beers and really want to piece together a recipe TONIGHT" (I may be the only one who gets those nights so I don't expect anyone to understand).

Needless to say, I now have like 7 pounds of mystery grains in a bucket in my basement that might become the use up random grains and hops batch.

 

[gwjames47]

Okay here is the final recipe for my Summer Ale composed mostly of odd amounts of inventory I was trying to clean up. I brewed this on 7/22, moved it to a secondary on 7/28 and kegged it 8/1 I was in a hurry to get this one kegged after switching from bottles and I was out of beer

I force carbed it at 35psi for 24 hrs. reduced it down to 20 for another 24 hrs. I am currently dispensing at 12 psi. and have it chilled down to 37 degrees. It is quite tasty, has pretty decent hop bitterness on the back of the palate, a little on the nose from the late addition of Centennial. The head retention is good with nice lacing. I am quite pleased with the outcome, it is a smooth balanced easy drinking brew. It does have some chill haze which I hope dissipates at the low temps I am storing it. I think a few days more in the secondary would have helped with the chill haze.

........GW.........

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.55 gal
Boil Size: 4.80 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 8.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 64.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.00 lb Briess Pilsen Liquid Malt Extract (3.5 SRMExtract 17.02 %
3.00 lb American 2 row Harrington (2.0 SRM) Grain 25.53 %
3.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 25.53 %
2.00 lb Golden Promise (2.2 SRM) Grain 17.02 %
1.00 lb Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 8.51 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4.26 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (130.0 SRM) Grain 2.13 %
1.00 oz Chinook [11.50 %] (60 min) Hops 31.7 IBU
1.50 oz Centennial [9.10 %] (5 min) Hops 7.5 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safale (Lesaffre Goup #US-05)500 ML harvested from
a previous batch.


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 9.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 12.19 qt of water at 173.8 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 4.88 qt of water at 197.8 F 168.0 F