Here's an actual recepie. Input?

Alright! So I finally plugged in some stuff into a calculator and came up with, what I think, will be my first viable partial mash.

I copied and pasted this, so it's sort of a gigantic wall-o-text, but it's readable. Let me know what you guys think!




Method: Partial Mash
Style: Belgian Blond Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 4 gallons
Efficiency: 50% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.073 Final Gravity: 1.018 ABV (standard): 7.28% IBU (tinseth): 10.76 SRM (morey): 4.65
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
1 lb Flaked Wheat 34 2 8.3%
0.5 lb Flaked Oats 33 2.2 4.2%
1 lb American - White Wheat 40 2.8 8.3%
0.5 lb American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) 33 1.8 4.2%
2 lb Honey 42 2 16.7%
1 lb Dry Malt Extract - Wheat 42 3 8.3%
6 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Extra Light 37 2.5 50%
12 lb Total
Hops
Amount Variety Time AA IBU Type Use
0.5 oz Saaz 60 min 3.5 3.85 Pellet Boil
0.5 oz Domestic Hallertau 60 min 3.9 4.28 Pellet Boil
0.5 oz Saaz 5 min 3.5 0.77 Pellet Aroma
0.5 oz Domestic Hallertau 5 min 8.5 1.86 Pellet Aroma
Hops Summary
Amount Variety AA Type
0.5 oz Domestic Hallertau 3.9 Pellet
0.5 oz Domestic Hallertau 8.5 Pellet
1 oz Saaz 3.5 Pellet
Mash Steps
Amount Description Type Temp Time
16 qt Sparge 155 F 30 min
Other Ingredients
Amount Name Time Type Use
0.5 oz Coriander 5 min Spice Boil
3 each Star anise 30 min Spice Boil
0.5 oz Lemon peel 0 min Flavor Primary
4 each Camomile tea bags 5 min Spice Boil
1 oz Sweet orange peel 5 min Flavor Boil
Yeast
White Labs - Belgian Wit Ale Yeast WLP400
Attenuation (avg):
76%
Flocculation:
Low-Med
Optimum Temp:
67 - 74 °F
Starter:
Yes
Fermentation Temp:
70 °F
Pitch Rate:
0.5 (M cells / ml / ° P)
Priming
Method: Corn sugar Amount: 4.5oz
Target Water Profile: Balanced Profile
Ca+2 Mg+2 SO4-2 Na+ Cl- HCO3-
75 5 80 40 75 110
This recipe is not shared.
Last Updated: 2013-02-12 20:15 UTC

 

2# of honey is a lot for a 5 gallon batch. I would go with .5#-1#. Also, be very careful with spice. This looks overly spiced to me.

 

I've never brewed with honey, so I'm not sure how much honey flavor is left after fermentation. I would second the concerns over spicing that SC_Ryan brought up. Pick one or two spices and go with those.

Also, with an OG in the 70's and only 10 IBUs, I think this beer may end up a bit on the sweet side. Hopefully the honey addition will help dry it out though.

 

Oops, for some reason I was thinking honey malt and not actual honey. You can disregard my honey comment.

 

Thanks guys.

Do you think the mash grains look ok?

 

> 1 lb Flaked Wheat 34 2 8.3%
> 0.5 lb Flaked Oats 33 2.2 4.2%
> 1 lb American - White Wheat 40 2.8 8.3%

you're on the low side for conversion - only the white wheat has diastatic power, the flaked wheat and oaks contain no enzymes. you should be OK but i wouldn't go any lower. an extra half-pound of wheat or two-row wouldn't hurt.

> 3 each Star anise 30 min Spice Boil

way too much. the stuff is really powerful. i'd start with half a star and see how you like that.

you seem to be in the throws of a bad case of newbiekitchensinkitis. we've all gone through it. a piece of advice that you probably won't heed, but here goes anyways: put down the spice rack and step back. cut those additions in half, if not more (as in, do not add 5 ingredients, pare down to three - say both peels and the coriander). with so much stuff in there you won't know what is creating the flavors, and what to change next time - so you opportunity to learn from this batch is greatly reduced.

it's much better to have a few flavors that compliment each other than an army of tastes that turn everything into a giant mess. do you think you'll taste all those spices? even if you do, you won't be able to taste the malt and delicious belgian yeast. a traditional witbier has very subtle spicing.

also, you've got 8.5% hallertau?!?

 

Thank you!


So, your right. Lets tone this business down some.




I'm going to ditch the partial mash. Simply because I don't think I'm ready to mash quite yet. I want to research some more. So lets do this extract and steep.




White Horse
Added By: Tackett
Method: Extract
Style: Witbier
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Efficiency: 35% (steeping grains only)
Original Gravity: 1.050 Final Gravity: 1.012 ABV (standard): 5.02% IBU (tinseth): 19.28 SRM (morey): 4.27
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
1 lb Dry Malt Extract - Wheat 42 3 11.1%
6 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Wheat - (late addition) 35 3 66.7%
7 lb Total
Steeping Grains
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
1 lb Flaked Wheat 34 2 11.1%
0.5 lb Flaked Oats 33 2.2 5.6%
0.5 lb American - White Wheat 40 2.8 5.6%
Hops
Amount Variety Time AA IBU Type Use
0.5 oz Domestic Hallertau 60 min 3.75 8.32 Pellet Boil
0.5 oz Saaz 60 min 3.5 7.76 Pellet Boil
0.5 oz Saaz 5 min 3.5 1.55 Pellet Aroma
0.5 oz Domestic Hallertau 5 min 3.75 1.66 Pellet Aroma
Other Ingredients
Amount Name Time Type Use
0.5 oz Crushed Coriander 5 min Spice Boil
1 oz Bitter orange peel 5 min Flavor Boil
4 each Camomile Tea Bags 5 min Flavor Boil
Yeast
White Labs - Belgian Wit Ale Yeast WLP400
Attenuation (avg):
76%
Flocculation:
Low-Med
Optimum Temp:
67 - 74 °F
Starter:
No
Fermentation Temp:
70 °F
Pitch Rate:
0.5 (M cells / ml / ° P)
Priming
Method: Corn sugar Amount: 4.5 oz
Target Water Profile: Balanced Profile
Ca+2 Mg+2 SO4-2 Na+ Cl- HCO3-
75 5 80 40 75 110
This recipe is not shared.
Last Updated: 2013-02-12 16:48 PST

 

in terms of learning about brewing, i think that moving to partial mash will do more to (potentially) improve your beer than the multiple spice additions. so stick with the PM if you can and feel comfortable about it (and ask questions on this board if you aren't!).

you say you want to revert to extract & steep, however your recipe still contains flaked grains and wheat malt. these all need to be mashed, you can't just steep them. flaked grains and wheat malt are unconverted.

the only grains you can steep (only) are converted grains, AKA crystal or caramel grains: C-15, C-60, honey malt, caramunich, black patent, chocolate malt, etc. go to http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart and click through to a malt's entry - if it has "Recommend Mash: TRUE", then you cannot just steep it and you need to mash it.