First Formulated Recipe Question.

[Shaneoco1981]

I formulated my first recipe for a smoked pale ale. I am wondering if any of you would look at it and let me know what you think?

Batch Size: 10.50 Gal.
Boil Size: 13.30 Gal.
Boil Time: 60 Min.

Grain Bill:
10 lb Pale Malt 2 Row
3 lb 12 oz. Breiss Cherrywood Smoked Malt
3 lb 12 oz. Munich Malt
2 lb Caramel Malt 20 L
2 lb Caramel Malt 40 L
1 lb Victory Malt

Hops:
1.5 oz Magnum 60 Min
1.2 oz Williamette 30 Min
1.2 oz Williamette 10 Min
2 oz. Williamette Dry Hop for 7 days

Yeast:
2 packages of US-05

Mash @ 156 F for 60 Min with 29 quarts of water.
Fly Sparge with 9 Gal. of water @ 170 F

Any thoughts?

 

[BigEd]

Any thoughts?

First a question: What are you trying to accomplish in terms of body, flavor, color, etc?

Thoughts without knowing that, IMO too much crystal malt and too high a mash temp. That combination is going to give you a lot of unfermentables and a potentuially "flabby" beer. I would cut the crystal amount in half and add that total to one or all of the first three ingredients as well as bringing down the mash temp 4-5 degrees. The dryhopping may also fight for attention with the smokiness.

 

[Yooper]

First a question: What are you trying to accomplish in terms of body, flavor, color, etc?

Thoughts without knowing that, IMO too much crystal malt and too high a mash temp. That combination is going to give you a lot of unfermentables and a potentuially "flabby" beer. I would cut the crystal amount in half and add that total to one or all of the first three ingredients as well as bringing down the mash temp 4-5 degrees. The dryhopping may also fight for attention with the smokiness.

Yeah, I agree. WAY too much crystal malt! I'd mash at 153 or so, but I have a system that seems to overattenuate every beer. If that isn't the case for you, 151-152 might be the sweet spot.

Hoppy beers and smoky beers don't tend to go together.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

I am looking for a pale ale with a nice smokey flavor. I went that high on my mash temp to keep some of the malty sweetness to contend with the smoke. At least that was the thought behind the mash temp. As I have never dry hopped before, I was under the impression that dry-hopping was pretty much all in the nose and not so much flavor. Am I wrong in that assumption?

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Yeah, I agree. WAY too much crystal malt! I'd mash at 153 or so, but I have a system that seems to overattenuate every beer. If that isn't the case for you, 151-152 might be the sweet spot.

Hoppy beers and smoky beers don't tend to go together.

I will cut the crystal malt in half. I will add a pound to the 2 row, and a pound to the Smoked Malt. I will lower the mash temp to 152 or 153. I would like a little of the malt to shine through though. If I am to hoppy, what would you recommend?

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Ok, so new recipe looks like this:

Grain Bill:
11 lbs. Pale Malt 2 row
5 lbs Briess Cherrywood Smoked Malt
3 lbs 12 oz Munich Malt
1 lb. Caramel Lv. 20
1 lb. Caramel Lv. 40

0.75 oz. Magnum 60 Min
0.5 oz. Williamette 30 Min
0.5 oz. Williamette 10 Min

Mash at 152 for 60 min

Look better?

 

[BigEd]

Look better?

Yes.