HELP! Creating my first extract recipe

[spencerholm31]

Howdy. I brewed two extract kits from Brewer's Best so far, the Oktoberfest Lager (fermented at ale temp) and the Pumpkin Spice Porter (I added real pumpkin). These kits are great, but I'm eager to create something to suit my own seasonal taste. I'm thinking about going with a flavorful American stout.

Here's what I've got so far:

10 gallon stainless kettle (borrowed from my buddy), so I'll steep in 3 gallons of spring water, 30 minutes at 154 F
-12 oz Briess 6-row caramel 50L
-9.5 oz Chocolate Malt
-8 oz Roasted Malt
-4 oz Black Malt

I'll add 2.5 gallons to bring the wort size to 5.5 gallons and boil for 45 minutes
beginning of boil:
-4 lbs of Light Dry Extract (45 minutes)
-1.5 oz Northern Brewer 10.3 Alpha 5.1 Beta hops (40 minutes)
-3.3 lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract (15 minutes)
-1 lb Maple Syrup (2 minutes)

I'll borrow my buddy's wort chiller and pitch 1 vial of White Labs 0005 Liquid Ale Yeast

Ferment for 10 days @ 68 F
14 days secondary
Bottle Condition


My extract brews came out somewhat thin, even though they were supposed to be somewhat heavy beers. I read that adding the Liquid Malt Extract within the last 5 minutes (unless it's hopped LME) will reduce that "thin" taste to the final product. Also, since I'm not using any aroma hops (unless I use my leftover .5 oz Northern Brewer to dry-hop for a day) I don't need to boil for such a long time. 60 minutes seems like an awfully long time to boil extract/already broken down malts. So I'm experimenting with the 45 minute wort boil.
The Maple Syrup isn't for flavoring, but it will boost the OG up to about 1.071 (FG 1.020). I've read that maple syrup is entirely fermentable sugars, so I'm thinking about adding trace amounts of maple extract, coffee, and or vanilla to the secondary fermentation and/or wort boil. Any tips?

I've got my hands full with this recipe, but I figure that the only way to get better at brewing is to experiment. Let me know what you think!
Thanks
-Spencer

 

[agentEhrman]

My one time experience with maple syrup is that it ferments out to the point of not being noticable, so if maple flavor is what you're going for, then by all means a little extract is not a bad idea.

As far as losing the thinness of your beer, since your using extract you can't control the mash to adjust this, but extract is known for being somewhat fuller anyways. The only thing I can think of to ensure more body in the end is to use a lazy yeast. One that won't completely finish the beer as dry as another yeast.

A 60 minute boil is always great to boil off DMS or other unwanted stuff in your water, but 45 will be fine I'm sure.

Lastly, a single vial of yeast seems like a very low cell count for a beer with this projected SG. I would recommend building that up with a starter, or pitching 2 vials for optimum yeast health. Mr. Malty has a great pitching rate calculator, as does beersmith.

Cheers, hope this helps and happy brewing.

 

[ThatSimpleman]

The fun for me has been tweeking recipes as I go. I know little with only 20+ brews but the body feel you are looking for might be found experimenting with Malto Dex (4 Tbl) or some Lactose as a late add. Plan looked good and tasty. :cross:

 

[spencerholm31]

My one time experience with maple syrup is that it ferments out to the point of not being noticable, so if maple flavor is what you're going for, then by all means a little extract is not a bad idea. As far as losing the thinness of your beer, since your using extract you can't control the mash to adjust this, but extract is known for being somewhat fuller anyways. The only thing I can think of to ensure more body in the end is to use a lazy yeast. One that won't completely finish the beer as dry as another yeast. A 60 minute boil is always great to boil off DMS or other unwanted stuff in your water, but 45 will be fine I'm sure. Lastly, a single vial of yeast seems like a very low cell count for a beer with this projected SG. I would recommend building that up with a starter, or pitching 2 vials for optimum yeast health. Mr. Malty has a great pitching rate calculator, as does beersmith. Cheers, hope this helps and happy brewing.

Thanks for the yeast advice. I chose this yeast as per advice from my local brew shop. The guy there told me this yeast doesn't need a starter since it's in a tube with sugars that keep it active. This particular strand of yeast handles high OG and is apparently pretty good for stouts http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp005-british-ale-yeast

Anyway, I looked online and saw how easy yeast starters are to make. Would you reccomend making a starter 24 hours in advance or the morning of brewing?

 

[spencerholm31]

The fun for me has been tweeking recipes as I go. I know little with only 20+ brews but the body feel you are looking for might be found experimenting with Malto Dex (4 Tbl) or some Lactose as a late add. Plan looked good and tasty. :cross:

Thanks!
Do you think the lactose would overpower the coffee/vanilla/maple or else compliment it?

 

[ThatSimpleman]

I just made a Chocolate coffee with vanilla bean/ oak chips in secondary, I totally missed my Og (3.4 abv) due to a poor grind. The flavors are faint but all there. A session stout light is what it turned into and was well received. I digress, I think it will give the flavors something to stand on ...in moderation.

 

[spencerholm31]

I just made a Chocolate coffee with vanilla bean/ oak chips in secondary, I totally missed my Og (3.4 abv) due to a poor grind. The flavors are faint but all there. A session stout light is what it turned into and was well received. I digress, I think it will give the flavors something to stand on ...in moderation.

Did you use lactose or maltodextrin?

 

[spencerholm31]

Howdy all! I brewed this up on Friday, and the whole brewing process went well. I made a few changes to the recipe though:
-full 60 minute boil
-All of the malt extract was added at the beginning of the boil (adding took about 12 minutes to fully stir, and I didn't start the boil timer until another hot break started a gentle rolling boil)
-Gave the 1.5 oz northern brewer hops 45 minutes, and added the remaining .5 oz at the end of the boil (I think 15 minutes, but i'll have to double check that)
-only used 1.5 cups of maple syrup (Grade A)
-added 1/2 pound of lactose for 15 minutes
-1 tablespoon of Irish moss for 15 minutes

Original Gravity ended up at 1.072, so this is going to be a high alcohol content winter brew!

 

[flyte74]

I recommend you get a blow off tube on that bad boy.