First all-grain recipe.. comments?

[jbenedetto]

So I've finally decided on my first AG batch and worked up a recipe. I'm going for a nice amber ale with very hoppy aroma and flavor. I plan to do a late hop addition for a robust hop flavor, and dry hop for a week for added aroma.

This is my first attempt at all-grain, any comments would be appreciated!

Taste: (35.0) A hoppy amber ale.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 12.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU

10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 83.33 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.17 %
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
2.00 oz Bramling Cross [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 24.5 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.00 %] (15 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast- Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 12.00 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash-in Add 15.00 qt of water at 167.3 F 155.0 F

 

[Mutilated1]

I would drink it.

 

[Bob]

I'd cut the 40L to a pound. That's it! Good formulation.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[DeathBrewer]

yeah, little too much crystal, IMO, but otherwise looks good.

 

[carnevoodoo]

I'd change the 30 minute hop addition. Why do people still use a 30 minute addition these days?

 

[DeathBrewer]

30 minutes gives plenty of flavor and contributes to bittering. whats the problem?

 

[carnevoodoo]

30 minutes gives plenty of flavor and contributes to bittering. whats the problem?

It is inefficient. The flavor profile of hops really drops to minimal levels at a 30 minute boil. At 15 minutes, you get a lot more flavor, and with a 60 minute boil you get better utilization for bittering.

Hop Characteristics Derived from Boiling Times

Consider that chart. If you really want the flavor of the hops to stand out, you add them later. If you want the bitterness, you add them earlier.

 

[jbenedetto]

That's an interesting chart, though it doesn't really state a source for the data, so we have no idea how accurate it is. For what it's worth, the lines for flavor and bitterness intersect at 30 minutes.

Basically what I'm going for is an appropriate IBU, with strong hop flavor and aroma profiles. Adding hops at 30 minutes seems to work well. Adding the hops sooner would make it too bitter and not hoppy enough. Adding it later would make it unbalanced and overly hoppy.

I'm definitely no expert, but I think when to add your hops really depends on what you are looking to get out of them.

jb

 

[DeathBrewer]

am i reading that chart wrong? it looks like i would get a balance of bitterness and flavor at 30 minutes.

plus, that's not an absolute...the bitterness might not be as harsh as it would be at, say, 60 minutes.

i've drank enough continuously hopped beers and beers with different varying hop addition times to tell you there are many various flavors you can get from entering hops at different times.

try a beer with a 60, 30, and 5 minute addition and then try a beer with a 60, 10 addition with the same hops and IBUs. they will have a different profile and whose to say which is better? it depends entirely on the beer.

i don't see how getting bitterness and flavor out of a 30 minute addition is ineffectual.

 

[DeathBrewer]

Consider that chart. If you really want the flavor of the hops to stand out, you add them later. If you want the bitterness, you add them earlier.

what if i want both? say i add a small amount of a certain hop at the beginning for some soft bittering and then a 30 minute addition for more bittering and some flavor (maybe a different hop, different bittering compound) and then add some aroma hops.

what's wrong with that?

 

[Bob]

Carnevoodoo, the following is not directed at you, personally. You just unwittingly brought it up.

That chart is bollocks. It should be banned, all copies of it burnt.

First off, when one axis of an XY graph is undefined, that graph is useless. The percentages of this graph aren't defined in any meaningful way.

Second, the bell curves are deceptive, because there shouldn't be bell curves for aroma and flavor. Any brewer worth the name knows that the boiling off of aromatics impacting flavor and aroma begins instantly; the longer hops remain in the kettle, the further the loss of aromatic compounds. If you add hops at flameout and let them stew until the wort is chilled, you get tremendous hops flavor and aroma.

Third, the textual analysis following the chart would be wrong even if the chart was worth a tinker's damn. Peak aroma follows after a period of boiling!? Bollocks. See above. Peak flavor happens at XX time? Maybe, but only because you've boiled off the higher aromatics that impact aroma. All that's saying is that strong aroma can impact the perception of flavor, which is a no-brainer. Try kimchee.

I'm getting to really, really hate seeing over-simplified bollocks being cited as supporting documentation.

Bob