My first beerbrew recipe - tips and tricks?

[EGorsel]

Dear brewers,

Yesterday, I bought my first beer brewing kit. Now, I would like to brew my first batch of beer with a friend. He is hosting a small festival on the weekend of July 7-9, and what could be better than bringing a few crates of my own bottled beer? :beersmiley:

To ensure that this beer is truly enjoyable, I thought of sharing my recipe here so that more experienced brewers can offer some tips and tricks. After conducting research all day yesterday on brewing processes and the best hops, yeast, malt, and other flavorings to use, I decided to make a light blond beer with a possible fruity aftertaste. For this, I have purchased the following ingredients:

• 5 kilograms: Weyermann Pale Ale Malt
• 1 kilogram: Dingemans Aroma 50 MD Malt
• 100 grams: Hallertau Tradition Hop Pellets
• 11.5 grams: Fermentis Saflager S-23 Dry Beer Yeast
• 5 kilograms: Dingemans Organic Pilsen MD Malt

---

The recipe I will follow using these ingredients to make 20 liters of beer is as follows:

• 4 kilograms of Weyermann Pale Ale malt
• 1 kilogram of Dingemans Organic Pilsen MD malt
• 500 grams of Dingemans Aroma 50 MD malt (to add a fuller flavor and beautiful red color)
• 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 60 minutes
• 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 15 minutes
• 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - add when boiling is finished
• 11.5 grams of Fermentis Saflager W-34/70 yeast

Mash Schedule 20 liters of mash water 8 liters of sparge water

• 5 minutes at 66 degrees Celsius (mashing in)
• 40 minutes at 62 degrees Celsius (Beta-amylase)
• 20 minutes at 72 degrees Celsius (Alpha-amylase)
• 5 minutes at 78 degrees Celsius (mash out)

Wort Boiling Total boiling time: 60 minutes

• 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 60 minutes
• 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 15 minutes
• possibly 20 grams of orange peel - boil for 15 minutes (I'm still unsure about this)
• possibly add coriander seeds - boil for 15 minutes (I'm also unsure about this; I'm afraid it might become too overpowering, and I'm not sure how much to add)
• 300 grams of granulated sugar - boil for 5 minutes
• 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - add when boiling is finished

Do you think this will indeed result in a refreshing, fruity, light blond beer that will be perfect for a summer festival? If not, do you have any suggestions for adjustments? I'm also curious about the best way to add fruit to beer. Many websites mention adding fruit after the initial fermentation, but time-wise, it might not be possible for me.

After hours of research, I have also created a brewing schedule for myself, which I believe is a compilation of the best methods I came across. I will include it below in case anyone is interested in taking a look.

---

Brewing Schedule

Phase 1: Milling

1. Add 10ml of water per kilogram of malt to your malt mixture while stirring.
2. Continue stirring for 5-10 minutes until your malt mixture feels almost dry.
3. Let the malt mixture rest for 10 minutes.
4. Set the mill to 1-1.1mm (you can use a credit card as a reference, which is approximately 0.78mm), and crush the malt.

Phase 2: Mashing

1. Bring the water to the desired mashing temperature.
2. Hang a cheesecloth in the pot using clamps. Ensure that the cheesecloth does not touch the bottom of the pot (to prevent tearing).
3. Add the malt at a rate of 1 kilogram per minute during the mashing phase:
   
   • 5 minutes at 66 degrees Celsius (mashing in)
   • 40 minutes at 62 degrees Celsius (Beta-amylase)
   • 20 minutes at 72 degrees Celsius (Alpha-amylase)
   • 5 minutes at 78 degrees Celsius (mash out)

Phase 3: Filtering/Sparge

1. Heat sparge water to 80 degrees Celsius.
2. Remove the cheesecloth from the pot, squeeze out excess liquid, and place the malt mixture in a sieve.
3. Pour the sparge water over the malt mixture using a colander while holding it above the pot with wort.

Phase 4: Wort Boiling

1. Bring the wort mixture to a rolling boil.
2. Add bittering hops and boil for 60 minutes.
3. After 40 minutes, add aroma hops and boil for 20 minutes.
4. After 40-55 minutes, add spices/dried fruit and boil for 5-20 minutes, depending on the type of spice/fruit.
5. After 55 minutes, add granulated sugar and boil for 5 minutes.

Phase 5: Wort Cooling

1. Fill the sink with water and ice.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and place it in the sink with ice water. Allow the wort to cool to 20 degrees Celsius.
3. Once the wort reaches 20 degrees Celsius, remove the pot from the sink and take a specific gravity (SG) reading.

Phase 6: Fermentation

1. Sanitize the fermentation vessel.
2. Pour the wort into the clean fermentation vessel through a sieve or colander (pour it from a height to introduce more oxygen).
3. Vigorously stir the wort mixture with a whisk.
4. Follow the instructions on the yeast packet to dissolve the yeast and add it to the wort.
5. Check if you have the correct amount of wort. If not, top it up with water from the tap and stir thoroughly.

Phase 7: Bottling

1. Ensure you have enough bottles for bottling.
2. Clean the bottles with boiling water and sanitize them afterward.
3. Carefully transfer the beer to another sanitized fermenting vessel (to avoid sediment in your beer).
4. Boil sugar in 200ml of water for 5 minutes. Gently stir it into the beer until dissolved.
5. Use the spigot of the fermentation vessel to fill the bottles up to about 2 centimeters below the rim.
6. Store the beer in a dark place outside the refrigerator. Wait at least two weeks (preferably one month) before enjoying.

 

[VikeMan]

You have a very detailed recipe and process, but it's light on what's arguably the most important step, i.e. fermentation. At what temperature do you plan to ferment? At what temperature(s) can you ferment, given your locale/equipment? S-23 (or is it 34/70, you list both) is/are lager yeasts, suited for making lagers, which are best fermented at about 50F. And if you are going to make a lager, you'll also (ideally) need some cold conditioning (i.e. "lagering) time below 40F after fermentation. But from context, it sounds like you're trying to make a blonde ale of some sort ("blond beer" and "fruity aftertaste") or a witbeer ("possibly 20 grams of orange peel" and "possibly add coriander seeds"), but there is no wheat (a key ingredient in Witbier) in your recipe.

For your first beer, the best "tips and tricks" I can offer would be to decide what style of beer you want to make (an ale rather than a lager would be a good choice for beginners), buy a recipe kit for that style, and follow the directions included with the kit. A hodgepodge of internet "brewing processes and the best hops, yeast, malt, and other flavorings to use" is a recipe (pun intended) for disaster. This whole thing feels like the answer to a question posed to an AI. You may take that as a compliment.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

To add what VikeMan wrote, for a first time brew you should keep it simple. This is your first trip down the road of brewing. You're doing the right thing by searching the right procedure to brew a beer but if you're using a kit that should be provided with it. I wouldn't muddy the water with all sorts of other suggestions.

Brew the first kit, follow the instructions and take notes. When I first started brewing, around 1984, I kept a notebook where I'd keep the kit instructions and take notes through the whole process, both good and bad. As you get a few kit brews under your belt then try adding some extra malt, fruit addtions or yeast types. There's a lot of variables you can do to a standard kit to enhance its flavor and results.

When I started, I went with a wheat beer style as it offered a simple base to start with then later on I started to add fruit extracts. Fast forward - now in 2023 I brew my own recipes; all grain and I use real fruit.

Good luck and enjoy your first brew, also take good notes!

 

[hotbeer]

You're pushing it to be ready by July 7.

Might be good enough, but it'll be better towards the end of July. At least that's been my experience with my brews.

If that is a pack of dry yeast in the kit, then there is no need to aerate the wort if you intend to direct pitch it.

If you think brewing beer is going to be your thing for a while, then get a hydrometer for beer. And use it with your first brew and keep notes on what your SG's were. Particularly the preboil SG. The SG of what you put in the fermenter (OG) and the SG prior to bottling before adding priming sugar.They are inexpensive even when bought at a LHBS.

When I started brewing it seemed to me that knowing the specific gravity of wort and beer was the most important thing to let you know what's going on. So I got one for my first brew. But don't bog yourself down with worries if you are not meeting any numbers given by the recipe or others.

Keep a journal of what the SG is at the various times and then you'll have information that you can use to help decide what went right or wrong after you've tasted the results.

Not that I'm saying you have to have a hydrometer to brew good beer, but it does help with diagnosing and assuring that this beer will be the same beer you made before if you do the same recipe again.

 

[IslandLizard]

@VikeMan All your suggestions are spot on, I just don't agree with this one:

buy a recipe kit for that style, and follow the directions included with the kit.

I don't think buying a recipe kit is necessary at all.
The OP is in Amsterdam, Netherlands, not sure what the homebrew scene is there, regarding sourcing loose ingredients vs. "recipe kits."

For a first brew one can build (or extend) on an existing and proven recipe, Then buy/weight-out/mill the loose ingredients as well, or better than a clerk in the store does.
Also, many kit instructions are confusing, some even wrong. He can download them from Northern Brewer or MoreBeer, to see if they add anything useful.

Maybe his brew friend has some of the needed experience for a successful brew day?
Properly cleaning and sanitizing where and when it counts, those are very important.

By lack of a seasoned brew day mentor, there's always John Palmer's How to Brew, 4th Ed.

 

[bellhp]

This whole thing feels like the answer to a question posed to an AI

That's how I read it.

 

[eric19312]

I'll bite whether talking AI or not...

I quick plugged your recipe into Beersmith assuming a 5 gallon batch which is 18.9L This is 5 gallons into the fermentor and there will be some fermentor loss so about 4.6 gallons (17.4 liters) to bottling. Assumed 72 % brew house efficiency which is probably reasonable for process you mentioned.

Got expected OG 1.084 and calculated IBU 38.6
With 80% AA on the yeast you would be aiming for final gravity 1.016 and 9.1% ABV
9.1 SRM which might be pretty but not light colored. Guessing more brownish than red. If you want red you need to use very light colored malts and just a bit of something completely black like midnight wheat which avoids roasty taste but adds that touch of black that turns gold into red.

This is not a small beer at all. I predict a hot mess not a light fruity beer. The spices are up to you but not going to make it lighter or more drinkable. Hops are kind of heavy for those spices to shine, coriander and orange tend to go in beers with very light hopping.

I highly doubt one pack of dry lager yeast even pitched at ale temperatures will achieve a full attenuation. You might get it to ferment out with 3 packs of lager yeast but there is a lot of technique involved in getting a good result from such a large beer. I'd just not go there.

My suggestion to get the beer you described
a refreshing, fruity, light blond beer that will be perfect for a summer festival

would be to aim for
1.048 OG
1.010 FG
5% ABV
say 30 IBU hops with some fruity character - cascade or citra would be easy money - your late an flameout additions are good
yeast something like S-04 or US-05 are super reliable, but looking for something called America Ale or English Ale yeast that isnt being described as too exotic would be good direction.

Your pitching temp of 20 C is fine for ale yeast. Try to keep the fermentor at that temperature if you can. It will try to rise on its own.

If you do want to do the orange and coriander I'd go with a belgian yeast and hop at more like 15-20 IBU with the hops you have.

Good luck, hope you come back and let us know what you decided to do and how it turned out.

 

[IslandLizard]

Phase 5: Wort Cooling

1. Fill the sink with water and ice.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and place it in the sink with ice water. Allow the wort to cool to 20 degrees Celsius.

That's such utter bullsh!t!^
Also often seen in kit instructions.

No need to use ice to get wort from boiling temps down to ~120°F/50°C. Pretty much any water will do that, almost as fast, and virtually for free.

Use the ice only at the end of chilling, where it counts, when water is not cold enough to bring the wort down those last 50°F/30°C degrees, to (yeast) pitching temps.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Phase 5: Wort Cooling

1. Fill the sink with water and ice.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and place it in the sink with ice water. Allow the wort to cool to 20 degrees Celsius.

That's such utter bullsh!t!^

It's also "the conventional wisdom" that is used at many home brewing "blogs". And if LLMs are trained on free content, the models would likely see that content frequently.

---

Here's an interesting idea - "embrace, extend, and extinguish" ChatGPT summaries.

Outline a series of "stickies" focusing on things like
1) beginning homebrewing topics,
2) brew day instructions,
3) ...

Use ChatGPT to generate the first draft, have one person review & revise, do a larger group review "sticky" the results, then reference them in topics as appropriate.

Quality content won't kill the "Stochastic Parrot", but it should allow use to ignore the noise.

 

[lumpher]

11 grams of lager yeast, and want a lager ready in 4 weeks? Nope.

 

[bellhp]

Use ChatGPT to generate the first draft,

You lost me right there.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Use ChatGPT to generate the first draft,

You lost me right there.

• Machines amplify human strength (e.g. Caterpillar 7495 HF & 797F vs shovel & pail)

• Software amplifies human knowledge (e.g. Quickbooks vs accounting ledger books)

• /r/homebrewing's human generated wiki and FAQ has generally allowed discussions to focus on novel intermediate to advanced topics.

• With home brewing content, ChatGPT's errors and omissions are still obvious; ...
• ... but the summaries it creates are often a good "good enough" first draft ...
• ... for essentially zero human effort.

• "Embrace, extend, extinguish"
  • Embrace the first draft
  • Extend it with human knowledge
  • Extinguish the need for others to use the tool

 

[JaxBrewerSahti]

If you want a fruity taste, i suggest adding Willamette hops instead of just Hallertau