Converging two winter kits into one not-so-wintery beer? Need help with hop schedule.

[chexjc]

Hey guys,

I have some leftover extract recipe kits I never got a chance to brew this winter. I think the ingredients should be alright (they're from November), as the malts and steeping grains remained sealed in the refrigerator and the hops in the freezer in oxygen-sealed packaging. The dry yeasts were stored in the fridge as well, but I'm a little more concerned about those. However, I've been told that they're probably okay.

Anyway, I want to merge some ingredients to make a hoppy brown ale...something a bit more summery. Here's what I'm thinking:


Steeping Grains: (these are premixed from one of the kits) 8oz. Munich Malt, 8oz. Carawheat, 4oz. Carafa II, 4oz. Chocolate Rye, and 4oz. Melanoidin.

Extracts: 6lb Dark LME, 3.15lb Munich LME.

Hops: 1/2oz. Northern Brewer @ 60mins, 1oz. Vanguard @ 30mins, 1/2oz. Northern Brewer @ 20mins, 1oz. Cascade @ 5mins.

Yeast: Safale US-04

The hops are the thing I'm the least certain about. I also have an additional 1oz of Vanguard at my disposal. Does this recipe look about right for a brown ale on the hoppy side and can you suggest a better hop schedule?

 

[m00ps]

Im nto too familiar with vanguard, but a cursory search says they are akin to typical noble hops, a bit stronger. I woult nix the 30 min addition and do 1.5oz vanguard with the cascade at the end. Noble hops do well with brown ales and will compliment the roasty spicyness from those darker grains

I think this may be venturing into porter territory though. According to Briess their dark malt extract is: 54% Munich Malt 10L 30% Base Malt 13% Caramel Malt 60 3% Black Malt.

So basically you are making a beer with nearly entirely munich for a base malt. This will be pretty intensely malty but maybe that's what you are looking for. Personally, id sub like half that dark extract for a light one

 

[chexjc]

Im nto too familiar with vanguard, but a cursory search says they are akin to typical noble hops, a bit stronger. I woult nix the 30 min addition and do 1.5oz vanguard with the cascade at the end. Noble hops do well with brown ales and will compliment the roasty spicyness from those darker grains

I think this may be venturing into porter territory though. According to Briess their dark malt extract is: 54% Munich Malt 10L 30% Base Malt 13% Caramel Malt 60 3% Black Malt.

So basically you are making a beer with nearly entirely munich for a base malt. This will be pretty intensely malty but maybe that's what you are looking for. Personally, id sub like half that dark extract for a light one

Thanks for the advice! I didn't know the Dark LME was 54% Munich. I have 3.15lbs of Amber LME as well. Perhaps I should substitute that in place of the 3.15lbs of Munich LME?

 

[m00ps]

I'd probably use that amber LME in place of 3.15 lbs of the dark. So you've got roughly 1/3 each amber, dark and munich extract. This, combined with the bit of roasted grains you steep, should get you nicely in brown ale territory

LOL, for some reason Briess lists their amber extract ingredients as "proprietary" sounds more like laziness to me
http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Extracts.htm

 

[midfielder5]

I would punch the ingredients into a free online calculator to get a better handle on how dark, strong (9# of extract is probably too much) and hoppy (w/o giving us the AA's it is hard to tell) it will be.
I agree to sub the Amber LME for the dark.
It will be plenty dark given all the dark/roasty grains.

Dry yeast in the fridge is good for YEARS (even past its best by date). That is not an issue at all.

 

[chexjc]

I'd probably use that amber LME in place of 3.15 lbs of the dark. So you've got roughly 1/3 each amber, dark and munich extract. This, combined with the bit of roasted grains you steep, should get you nicely in brown ale territory

LOL, for some reason Briess lists their amber extract ingredients as "proprietary" sounds more like laziness to me
http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Extracts.htm

That's funny, lol. Okay so...just thinking out loud here mostly...

-Steeping Grains
-2.85lbs Dark LME
-3.15lbs Amber LME
-3.15lbs Munich LME
-1/2oz. Northern Brewer @ 60min
-1/2oz. Northern Brewer @ 20min
-1 1/2oz. Vanguard @ 5min
-1oz. Cascade @ 5min
-Safale US-04

Looks good? Do you think I'm safe to use the dry yeast from November? I could make a trip down to the LHBS, but I'd rather not if I don't have to . Thanks again!

 

[chexjc]

I would punch the ingredients into a free online calculator to get a better handle on how dark, strong (9# of extract is probably too much) and hoppy (w/o giving us the AA's it is hard to tell) it will be.
I agree to sub the Amber LME for the dark.
It will be plenty dark given all the dark/roasty grains.

Dry yeast in the fridge is good for YEARS (even past its best by date). That is not an issue at all.

Okay, great to know the yeast is fine! I actually do have the AA's, my bad. This is what I have:

-2oz. Vanguard 4.9%
-1oz. Cascade 6.5%
-1oz. Northern Brewer 11.4%

EDIT: My estimated OG from beersmith with the 6lbs of Dark LME and 3.15lbs of Munich was 1.068 and 30.2 SRM. Maybe I should lose another pound of Dark LME?