1st AG - ESB

[Fells_Pint]

I've been extract brewing for a year or so and decided to treat myself for my birthday to not only BeerSmith 2.0 but also an AG set up with a 10 gallon igloo cooler and a 7.5 gal kettle to handle 5 gal boils.

Decided that my first attempt would be a nice, malty, drinkable ESB. However, I've noticed BeerSmith gives me very different numbers than BrewersFriend's recipe calculator did and I was hoping someone could double check my numbers?

5 gallon ESB recipe

5.5 lb Maris Otter
2.5 lb Victory
.5 lb carapils
1 lb Caramel 80L
10 g Gypsum

Mash at 152F for 60 mins; batch sparge

1 oz EKG hops at 60mins boil
1 oz Fuggles hops at 45 mins boil

Yeast starter using Dry English Ale (White Labs WLP007)

Ferment for 2 weeks at 165F.

According to BeerSmith my numbers should be:

OG: 1.058
FG: 1.013
IBU: 34.6

I know I'm using a lot of the 'bread' grains, this won't turn out too malty will it?

Thanks for any input!

 

[chickypad]

I think you'd need in the range of 85% efficiency to hit that OG on a 5 gal batch. If that's not what you're planning (which I wouldn't on a first batch) looks like your settings need to be adjusted. Check your equipment profile, losses, efficiency, etc. There are tutorials and info on the beersmith site and forums. It can take a few batches to dial it in so take good notes. As for the recipe that would be way too much victory for me. I keep that under 10%, usually about 5%. I think you could use some late hops as well.

Good luck with it!

 

[Fells_Pint]

Thanks for the input!

I think my biggest fear is getting the calculations wrong on beersmith, but from everything I've read it seems the only way to get those right is to do a few batches & confirm my numbers.

I did cut back on the victory, upped the amount of maris otter, added some munich malt for maltiness, and added some finishing hops.

I'm going to try to mash it for a longer period of time (90 mins) as well to better increase my efficiency.

 

[DogStar]

I would delete the victory and carapils, you don't need them.

I'd also swap the hops over as the goldings will give the better flavour. Add the fuggles at 60 and the half the goldings at 15 minutes and the rest at flameout.

MO is highly modified and 60 minutes is plenty of time to mash it efficiently. Your choice of yeast is good. WLP007 is one of my favourites.