Help me create a beer?

[BeerDaddy94]

Hi guys, I'm still a bit of a newbie in the partial mash method and have used pre packaged recipe kits. Though to my visits to the closest homebrew supply shop Ive been like a kid in a candy shop and purchased quite a few different types of my own ingredients so I thought it'd be fun to list the ingredients I have here and have you guys help me come up with something! I want to make a 1 gallon batch using a mixture of the things I have. Like I said I'm still pretty new so any advise/constructive criticism and technical details of the ingredients is very appreciated. Alright I'll quit rambling and post the ingredients below
Lets make a beer!

So for grains I have the following in 1lb bags.
Simpsons Brown (Coffee) Roasted Malt
Crisp Pale Chocolate Roasted Malt
Dingemans Special Belgium Crystal/Carmal Malt

For DME I have the following in 1lb bags
Traditional Dark
Sparkling Amber
Plain Wheat
Pilsen Light

For Yeast I have Nottingham High Performance Ale Yeast and SafeAle K-97

And for hops Northern Brewer Cascade alpha 6.0%(roughly 7 oz) and 1 oz of UK Challenger alpha 5.1%.(please forgive my noobness but I'm still not quite sure what the alpha percentages mean)

So what do you all think? So far my experience as member here has been great and really fun so I thought this would be a really fun idea! Thanks Guys!

 

[jtratcliff]

Alpha % is the amount of Alpha Acids in the hops... Corresponds to bitterness. So a high AA% hop would need less added to produce the same bitterness (measured in IBUs) compared to a low AA% hop....

Also, when converting recipes, the original might have used a hop with a different AA than what you have. You need to compensate by increasing or decreasing the amount of hops you use proportionally to the AA difference to get the same IBUs as intended for the recipe... A good recipe will not only list the type and amounts of hops used, but also the %AA.

You could probably get a christmas ale of those ingredients... maybe some of the amber & wheat DME w/ a little bit of chocolate & special B...( like only 1 oz each for a 1 g batch!) to about 1.060 OG? (not sure how much DME for a 1g batch... I do 6G all grain, so no feel for small batch partial mash) Add some Cinnamon stick, orange peal, clove (or other xmas spices... ginger, allspice) near flameout. Maybe the challenger at 60m and at 20m to about 20-25 IBUs... and Ferment w/ Notty... tsp vanilla extract at bottling.

Or perhaps a pumpkin ale... Use the wheat and amber DME... Pumpkin pie spices at flameout...

Dunno... Look up some holiday ales in the recipe database and see what you can find!

Good luck!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

1 gallon batch

1 lb DME (OG 44-ish) with Nottingham (80%-ish attenuation) will yield 4.5%-ish beers. For a stronger APA / IPA, consider adding some sugar. Sugar is also OG 44-ish, so adding 4 oz sugar will get you to an OG 55-ish & ABV of 6%-ish. Adding an additional 4 oz Wheat DME bumps OG to 66-ish and ABV to 7%-ish.

Another way to achieve IPA ABV with 1 lb DME is to use less water (see Hop Sampler below). Be aware that you'll get a six-pack rather than 8 bottles.

Shorter boil times: research 15 Minute Pale Ale.

Even shorter boil times: research Basic Brewing Radio's Hop Sampler.

Consider a Hop Sampler using Amber DME and Cascade hops for a "classic American Amber Ale".

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/1-gallon-brewers-unite.311884/

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

partial mash method

So for grains I have the following in 1lb bags.
Simpsons Brown (Coffee) Roasted Malt
Crisp Pale Chocolate Roasted Malt
Dingemans Special Belgium Crystal/Carmal Malt

The specialty grains you listed (roasted and crystal/caramel) do not need to be "mashed" (use enzymes in the malts to convert starches into sugars), just "steeped" in water to extract the existing colors / flavors / sugars.

There are a couple of common ways to steep: 1) add the grains at flame-on, remove them when the water gets to 160-ish; 2) heat the water to 150F, add the grains, steep at 150F-ish for 30 minutes. I find that either works well.

Mashing requires a base malt (typically a "two-row" malt) and reasonably stable temperatures (150-ish) for 30 to 45 minutes. Check out "1-Gallon Brewers Unite!" in the 2019 - 2020 time frame for creative ideas on maintaining temperature control during the mash.

Don't be afraid of "mashing". In the 1 to 2.5 gal batch size, BIAB + A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer makes all-grain brewing approachable.