Critique/Help needed!!!

[JoeK]

I'm still a new guy! Extract brewing is what I'm sticking to cause I'm cheap and simple. I found a recipe that sounded decent to me and simply added the citra hops as I heard that they can produce a distinct mango fruitiness to it. Please let me know what you think. Any critiques or suggestions are more than welcome!!!

1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) light liquid malt extract
3 lbs light DME
1.0 lbs pilsner malt
.75 oz chinook hops (60 min)
.75 oz cascade hops (60 min)
.75 oz citra hops (10 min)
.75 oz citra hops (2 min)
Nottingham ale yeast (starter)

I was thinking of racking onto 1lb. of frozen mango cubes for a week as I heard that this could potentially bring a crisp and refreshing mango taste to the beer.

 

[Dirt_McGirt]

Recipe itself looks fine, although I don't personally know the rationale between splitting your extracts between liquid and dried. I'd personally go all dry to ensure freshness and consistency. Not a big deal, though. If you're going to use Nottingham yeast though, make sure that you have good temp control. It does best below 66 or so during the first few days. If you're relying on ambient temps slightly above that, you might want to go with US-05, since it tolerate higher temps a bit better.

If you're still new to brewing, I'd recommend foregoing any fruit adjuncts in secondary so you can taste and analyse the products of your fundamental ingredients and process in your first few batches.

If you're really hell-bent on the mango, though, I'm not personally able to speak to that. One of the veterans will be able to speak to that better than me.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I dry hopped my last beer with Citra hops and it was amazing, but I wouldn't say mango. My wife says maybe a hint of mango, but for me I thought it was like fresh squeezed orange juice. She thought it was more grapefruity than orange juice though. Keep in mind this is dry hopping Citra. My late addition hops (and bittering hops) were all Amarillo.

 

[JoeK]

Mr. McGirt,
No rationale, just what was on the original recipe! I'll switch it to all dry and US-05 since my temperature control options are limited. I'll make sure to leave the mangos out for the first batch at least! Thank you so much! huge help!!

 

[JoeK]

Mr. AZBrewer,
Dually noted that the citra taste my not be as mangoey as I'd like. Your comment is much appreciated!

 

[Dirt_McGirt]

Happy to help.

One last thing - be aware that liquid extract volume has a different potency in your beer than dry extract. Be sure to scale them, appropriately, if you're going to change. Give this a read:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=51664

 

[Dixon9717]

Mango is the only fruit I've ever used and I've found 1lb per gallon works great. But those hops will most likely cover up the mango flavor.

 

[joshesmusica]

Citra is typically known to be a more grapefruity type of citrus.

I would also get down your techniques and processes of brewing simple beers before getting into any crazy adjuncts. You want to know that you can consistently produce good beers before venturing into the exotic. Otherwise if something gets screwed up, you won't know what the issue is. Also doing random experiments, I've found, are often a 50/50 toss up if they're going to be successful or not. As a new brewer, your odds of success are already about that anyways. No need to add more of a chance of screwing something up.

Temp control is probably the third most important thing to consider in brewing, especially in extract brewing. First is proper sanitation of everything that the wort/beer touches post-boil. Second is making sure you're pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast. If your ambient temps aren't great, look into the swamp cooler method. Without a fermentation chamber or good ambient temps, it's the best method for temp control.

Here's a thread that I started to show the temperature swings of ambient vs. actual temp in the fermenter during the most active part of fermentation:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=553916

The fermentations in that thread were styles that I specifically wanted higher temps (as in higher than 68F). When using us-05 or nottingham, you need to have the temperature of your beer to be 68F or lower. So ambient temps need to likely be around 60F for the first few days.

 

[dmtaylor]

Mango is the only fruit I've ever used and I've found 1lb per gallon works great. But those hops will most likely cover up the mango flavor.

I agree with this entirely. Tone down hops and use way more mango. Some experimentation may be required over the course of several batches before you get it right.

Fruit is also very tart and will thin out the beer. You might end up wanting to add unfermentable lactose or maltodextrin to balance with more sweetness. About 3/4 pound in 5 gallons is a good starting point.

Good luck.

 

[jlinz]

I made a wheat beer that I put on fresh mango in the secondary and dry hopped it with Citra. The mango definitely came through and the nose was awesome. What I didn't expect was that the mango seemed to dry out the beer more than I wanted.

 

[kombat]

Hang on a second, your recipe includes 1 lb of Pilsner malt, but you say you're brewing an extract recipe. Presumably, you plan to steep that Pilsner malt. This will not work. Pilsner malt cannot be steeped - it must be mashed. Drop the Pilsner malt and it looks OK, or convert the recipe to a partial mash (doesn't seem worth it for 1 measly pound).

 

[JoeK]

All of these suggestions and corrections have been immensely helpful! Thank you so much guys! Anyone else who has anything to add, please do!

 

[dmtaylor]

Hang on a second, your recipe includes 1 lb of Pilsner malt, but you say you're brewing an extract recipe. Presumably, you plan to steep that Pilsner malt. This will not work. Pilsner malt cannot be steeped - it must be mashed. Drop the Pilsner malt and it looks OK, or convert the recipe to a partial mash (doesn't seem worth it for 1 measly pound).

I would keep the pilsner malt in there and just incorporate a mini-mash. It's so easy to do and adds a ton of flavor. Just steep your pilsner malt in about 2 quarts water from 150-160 F for 20 minutes, then remove the bag, add the rest of your water and extract, and brew as normal. Totally worth the extra 20 minutes!!

 

[joshesmusica]

and adds a ton of flavor.

Huh?

More than likely the light extract was made from pilsner malt. Not gonna get much more flavor than is already present in the extract.

 

[dmtaylor]

Huh?

More than likely the light extract was made from pilsner malt. Not gonna get much more flavor than is already present in the extract.

That depends on the quality and freshness of the extract. You can't go wrong with a mini-mash. I'll never discourage anyone from mini-mashing. It's a doorway to a whole 'nother world of brewing.

 

[joshesmusica]

I'll never discourage anyone from mini-mashing. It's a doorway to a whole 'nother world of brewing.

I agree with you here. It can also make it cheaper if you're able to do up to 50% of the fermentables as grains.

Still disagree that mashing 1 lb of pilsner malt is going to add a "ton of flavor" in this particular recipe.