First recipe ever made.....any critiques?

[ahsmatt7]

Hello,

I have brewed quite a few extract and some partial grain kits from Brewer's Best. I really want to start creating my own custom recipes. I am using BeerSmith 2 to develop this one. It is my first ever recipe. Its supposed to be an American IPA....once again...."supposed" to be.

Anyways, I would love some feedback for it. Any advice or changes would be greatly appreciated!

Its a partial grain recipe...

Type # %/IBU
3 lbs Vienna Malt 30.0 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 10.0 %
3 lbs Light Dry Extract 30.0 %
3 lbs Pale Liquid Extract 30.0 %
1.00 oz Simcoe - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 30.3 IBUs
1.50 oz Amarillo - Boil 45.0 min Hop 6 29.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 3.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop 7.0 Days

Est Original Gravity: 1.068 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.6 %
Bitterness: 62.8 IBUs
Est Color: 9.2 SRM


Do the ingredients make sense?
Are the grains/extract amounts look normal for a partial mash?
How about the Hops and their time frames in the boil?

I am brand new at this recipe stuff...don't laugh to hard.

 

[eetu]

When I do partial mashes I just add some light DME to reach my desired gravity. My equipment is quite small so I need to do this with bigger beers. Adding 30% of Vienna won't make much of an impact but will give you a feel for the mashing process. 10% Caramel is pretty much in an IPA and will make the beer too sweet in my books.

I would drop the liquid extract and replace it with more grains if your system can handle it. Something like this:

~70% Vienna
~30% Light DME

Some prefer their IPAs without any caramel but you can throw in 1-3% for better head retention and some sweetness/mouthfeel. I prefer slightly darker caramel, 50-70L, but if that's what you have then just go for it.

For an IPA you want to get as much hop aroma as possible. Try flipping the IBUs upside down. Something like 30% IBU from early boil and 70% late boil/steep will give you a good place to start. I won't use any calculators here but you'll get the idea. I also think that Simcoe would overpower the Amarillo in your recipe.

60min - Simcoe ~20 IBUs
20min - Amarillo ~30 IBUs
5min(or 10min steep) - Simcoe and/or Amarillo ~10 IBUs
Dry Hop 4-7 days with a minimum of 1oz

Your target numbers look good to me so you clearly have an idea where you should be heading. My first IPA also had Simcoe and Amarillo and it was delicious!

Happy brewing!

 

[ESBrewer]

Not an IPA fan but I think eetu already shared some good ideas. I would cut down Crystal either completely or to 2.5-5% depending on the type of the crystal. 10% is a lot and crystal is not necessary for the style. Flameout/whirlpool type of hops and dry hops will be important (in addition to bittering hops) and it is probably a good idea to emphasize those even more. Vienna is suitable for the partial mash. If you are able to mash more grain you could mash Vienna together with some two row or pale ale malt and diminish the amount of extracts but that is completely up to you and your setup. 2-row or pale malt would make the mash more efficient as they have more enzymatic activity than Vienna, but the Vienna has enough to make it alone if you handle it properly (proper crush, pH and temp). I would probably aim for a little dryer IPA in the FG range 1.010-1.015. Mashing not too high and limiting the amount of crystal will make it, together with the yeast choice.

 

[ahsmatt7]

The is for the advice guys! I think I'm starting to get an idea of where to start in terms of the grain bill.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like I s houkd pick a base malt thst I like, then use these for the vast majority of the fermentables. Then select smaller amounts of other grains to impart color, flavor and head retention characteristics.

Also, I think I s houkd be trying to mash as much base grain as my equipment can work with...

Also, how do I love the estimated FG?

Are my thoughts correct?

Once a gsin, thanks for all the help.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with the grain bill ...I would hop like this though:
1.0 oz Simcoe - Boil 60.0 min
2.0 oz Amarillo - Boil 10.0 min
2.0 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop 7.0 Days

...or split the Amarillo and Simcoe for the 10 min and dry hop

 

[Aaron Beers]

As mentioned by others, I personally wouldn't hop at 45 minutes as it won't yield the full bittering potential nor provide much aroma. I would do one bittering addition at the beginning of the boil, then aroma hop additions. And for the aroma hop additions, I'm more inclined to do them at flameout, hopstand, and dryhop as any boiling is going to preclude the maximum amount of aroma from being retained in the beer.

 

[ahsmatt7]

I'll have to rephrase a question due to some serious autocorrect errors from my phone...

How do I lower the FG?


I'm starting to think that I may want to do a single hop recipe.

I am really interested in simcoe hops. I may end up doing these at the times some of you suggested in the boil.

 

[eetu]

Don't worry about the final gravity. As long as you mash roughly 60min at 149-152 and include extracts in your recipe, you'll be creating a decently dry beer.

Besides, FG has less impact on anything than people seem to think. There's a Brulosophy exbeeriment on this topic, if interested.

 

[ahsmatt7]

Don't worry about the final gravity. As long as you mash roughly 60min at 149-152 and include extracts in your recipe, you'll be creating a decently dry beer.

Besides, FG has less impact on anything than people seem to think. There's a Brulosophy exbeeriment on this topic, if interested.

I am fairly interested in it. I'm trying to find out the "why" for a lot of the reasons people do why they do when building grain bills and hop bills as well as fermentation and what not.

 

[ESBrewer]

Mash temperature (->activity of different amylase enzymes) defines the ratio of fermentable and unfermentable sugary compounds produced from the (mainly base) starch that is contained in malts. More fermentable simple sugar production during mash means more attenuation (fermentation) and lower FG. Specialty grains contain unfermentables that cannot be consumed by yeast and thus the high amount of specialty grains (crystal, roasted etc.) contribute to FG. High original gravity also affects the final gravity cause it means that the same mash will leave more unfermentables in the wort. Yeast strains have varying abilities to ferment certain sugars (especially maltotriose) and thus the choice of yeast strain (highly attenuative vs low attenuation strain) will affect the FG, which is result of mainly sugars and dextrins remaining in the solution post fermentation.

 

[Cascadesrunner]

Specialty grains contain unfermentables that cannot be consumed by yeast and thus the high amount of specialty grains (crystal, roasted etc.) contribute to FG.

The short answer to this is if you decide to drop the Crystal down as suggested above you will see the estimated FG come down as well. Brewing software is a good tool, but not exact. The only way to really know how fermentable each batch is to do a forced ferment of leftover wort.

To do a forced ferment, just take a little wort at the end and ferment with yeast. It just requires a little more than the volume of your cylinder you use to test specific gravity. I would not recommend using the cylinder itself. This sample should be kept at least room temperature. You're trying to provide the best environment for the yeast to eat through everything it can in that particular wort. It usually takes less than a week at these conditions and the result will tell you what the lowest possible number is for that batch. That number is a good reference point, but not always the number you want to be shooting for. Your fermentation schedule will be cooler than the FF and likely I would not expect those numbers to match when both are complete. What you do get is two data points from the same batch. If you are finding those numbers are not particularly close together you need to evaluate your results. If the resulting beer is what you were looking for and expecting, great! If it seems a little sweet, you need to go back and look at how to get a better fermentation. That could be an all day post, but a couple things to keep in mind. Treat yeast like tiny little workers that are living beings and not just another ingredient you toss in. They need food, shelter and numbers to complete the given task.