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So I opened my first bottle of my first all grain batch last night. It's darker than I expected (I have theories). I knew it would be once I saw it in the fermenter with the debris dropped out, but this was even more than I expected. So I'm trying to track down exactly why as a learning exercise and get comments on how to improve it overall. Picture at end of post. In general I'm happy with the beer for my second ever brew, but we can always do better right?
It's supposed to be a belgian pale, based on allagash's house beer. (http://www.allagash.com/beer/house/). 3.5 gallon BIAB recipie.
Here's my grain bill, mostly sticking to Allagash's except for one addition.
4.5lbs Pilsner 2 Row Bel
1.5lbs CaraPils
8oz Victory Malt
8oz Crylstal 80L
8oz wheat, flaked
So let's start with things I have already learned are wrong.
1. carapils. I had a dyslexic moment and read that as ingredient #2 when it's really #3. I've since learned it shouldn't really exceed 5% the grain bill as it's mostly unfrementable sugars. oops.
2. Crystal. I'm sure this is a lot of my color. I added some because beer smith was telling me I would be coming in too light. Without the Crystal i was looking at about 5 SRM which was really low side of the beer smith scale. I added the 80L and landed on 10SRM, right in the middle. Thinking for the next batch I knock that down either to less, or just a lighter version. Increasing the victory would also help darken the beer.
3. I also mashed way too high. I got about 30 minutes spot on, but it wasn't even. I heated it thinking it cooled when in fact I just had pockets, and did the rest at least 8 degrees too high. Don't know if this does anything to color, I know it effected my gravity some.
Hops. The Allagash has a good bit more hop flavor. Mine is really subdued. My schedule was as follows.
0.75oz Tettnang for 60 minutes
0.5oz Cascade at 5min
0.5oz Nelson Sauvin at 5min
0.5oz Saaz at 5min
0.5oz Nelson Sauvin dry hop after about 10 days in the fermenter. Dry hopped for 5 days.
So, again. My issues.
1. Tettnang is more of an aroma hop. I shouldn't have used it as my main bittering.
2. I should have used more at the 60 minutes.
I'm still learning hops and how to properly use each.
Yeast was Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Ale Yeast)
I think for Version 2 I'm going to try this:
4.75lbs Pilsner 2 Row Bel
1.5lbs Victory Malt
8oz wheat, flaked
6oz CaraPils
0.75oz Nelson Sauvin for 60min
0.5oz each of Tettnang, Cascade, and Saaz as a hopstand
Maybe light dry hop, maybe not.
So. Did I get any of that right? How would you switch things up to make this better next time.
It's supposed to be a belgian pale, based on allagash's house beer. (http://www.allagash.com/beer/house/). 3.5 gallon BIAB recipie.
Here's my grain bill, mostly sticking to Allagash's except for one addition.
4.5lbs Pilsner 2 Row Bel
1.5lbs CaraPils
8oz Victory Malt
8oz Crylstal 80L
8oz wheat, flaked
So let's start with things I have already learned are wrong.
1. carapils. I had a dyslexic moment and read that as ingredient #2 when it's really #3. I've since learned it shouldn't really exceed 5% the grain bill as it's mostly unfrementable sugars. oops.
2. Crystal. I'm sure this is a lot of my color. I added some because beer smith was telling me I would be coming in too light. Without the Crystal i was looking at about 5 SRM which was really low side of the beer smith scale. I added the 80L and landed on 10SRM, right in the middle. Thinking for the next batch I knock that down either to less, or just a lighter version. Increasing the victory would also help darken the beer.
3. I also mashed way too high. I got about 30 minutes spot on, but it wasn't even. I heated it thinking it cooled when in fact I just had pockets, and did the rest at least 8 degrees too high. Don't know if this does anything to color, I know it effected my gravity some.
Hops. The Allagash has a good bit more hop flavor. Mine is really subdued. My schedule was as follows.
0.75oz Tettnang for 60 minutes
0.5oz Cascade at 5min
0.5oz Nelson Sauvin at 5min
0.5oz Saaz at 5min
0.5oz Nelson Sauvin dry hop after about 10 days in the fermenter. Dry hopped for 5 days.
So, again. My issues.
1. Tettnang is more of an aroma hop. I shouldn't have used it as my main bittering.
2. I should have used more at the 60 minutes.
I'm still learning hops and how to properly use each.
Yeast was Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Ale Yeast)
I think for Version 2 I'm going to try this:
4.75lbs Pilsner 2 Row Bel
1.5lbs Victory Malt
8oz wheat, flaked
6oz CaraPils
0.75oz Nelson Sauvin for 60min
0.5oz each of Tettnang, Cascade, and Saaz as a hopstand
Maybe light dry hop, maybe not.
So. Did I get any of that right? How would you switch things up to make this better next time.