critique my 1st recipe

[Steve3730]

So planning on trying my first recipe.Just throwing **** together that i think sounds good and using a lot of Citra I have left over from Zombie clone. I have never partial mashed before and the honey malt requires it. should I mash all the grain? Not 100% clear on the process yet


5gallon
2 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 1 23.5 %
2 lbs Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2 23.5 %
1 lbs Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 11.8 %
3 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 4 35.3 %
8.0 oz Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 35.0 min Hop 5.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 19.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 0.0 IBUs

London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028) [124.21 ml]

2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop

Beersmith has it at 5.5abv 54ibu

 

[chickypad]

5 lbs of cara + honey malts sounds sickeningly sweet, that's almost 60% of your recipe. For a hoppy pale ale I would keep the total of those three to more like 10% or about 1 lb, and make up the rest with some 2-row or light extract. Or if you're wanting more backbone for the hops you could include some more flavorful base malts like vienna or munich. Just as a rough rule of thumb your base malts (including extract in this case) should make up more like 70+% of your fermentables. Looks like a citra bomb, which I think is fine if you know you like citra.

 

[RonPopeil]

Keep in mind that crystal malts aren't a requirement in IPA's so much as a trend.

 

[Steve3730]

Thanks I didn't know cara added sweetness.maybe I'll try vienna instead.

 

[RonPopeil]

crystal malts all add unfermentable carbs.

 

[Milan37]

It will taste like you "just threw **** together."

If that's what you want, go for it.

 

[Barley_Bob]

It will taste like you "just threw **** together."

If that's what you want, go for it.

Such a dick.

...I did laugh, though. So, I'm not sure I'm better.


I otherwise agree with what's already been said. I have an irrational fear of crystal malt, and I guarantee you definitely don't need it in IPA. It's an option. You should check out the recipes other users have posted for some ideas on how to write your own. I spend a lot of time doing that before I put pen to paper. It is a tried and true method.

 

[Milan37]

Such a dick.

...I did laugh, though. So, I'm not sure I'm better.


I otherwise agree with what's already been said. I have an irrational fear of crystal malt, and I guarantee you definitely don't need it in IPA. It's an option. You should check out the recipes other users have posted for some ideas on how to write your own. I spend a lot of time doing that before I put pen to paper. It is a tried and true method.

Oh, you're much better, trust me.

But it's an honest critique, if nothing else. Your advice is spot-on, though.

 

[Yooper]

It will taste like you "just threw **** together."

If that's what you want, go for it.

I agree, although I might have phrased it a little nicer.

I think you have a lot of good ingredients in there, but really far to many.

Remember to keep your specialty grains to under 15-20% of your recipe, and to keep the crystal malt at about 10% as a max. A few highly hopped beers, like big hoppy American ambers can go up to 15% crystal if they are bittered appropriately and have no other specialty grains in it. But that's not usually the case.

You need more basemalt, in the form of either a grain, like base malt two row, or DME.

The hopping looks good. For the rest:
1 pound crystal malt -you choice but 10L is pretty sweet, so if you use it, leave out the honey malt
OR
.25 pound honey malt
.5 pound crystal malt (crystal 10L-60L, your choice)

5 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)

A 'clean' well attenuating US yeast strain like S05, Wyeast 1272, WLP001

 

[smccarter]

If you aren't using one yet, you really should get a program like Brew Target, which is free... Use the application to develop your recipes. They really simplify the process.

As for doing a partial mash... I actually prefer to use less extract and do a full 60 minute mash with more grain. I use extract to boost gravity more than to flavor the beer. But I always develop the recipe in Brew Target beforehand. If you want to steep the grains, that's okay too. If you want to brew the recipe you posted... that's okay as well. People really need to remember that this is a hobby. You're not brewing 50,000 gallons of beer commercially. You're brewing a very small batch. If it turns out to be crap, then it's crap. You then have to decide whether to drink the crap or pour it down the drain. I've never poured a beer that I've brewed down the drain. I've been brewing for 11 or 12 years now I think.

I say brew it, then let us know how it turns out.

 

[Steve3730]

It will taste like you "just threw **** together."

If that's what you want, go for it.

Well I definitely don't want it tasting like ****. But I have no experience building a recipe. Whats the best way to learn? I based this off ingredients I like from other beers

 

[chickypad]

Some popular books include Brewing Classic Styles and Designing Great Beers (somewhat dated but still a good base). Reading through recipes in the database or other online sources will help too. Brewing software is a great tool but it's not going to give you the whole story. For example your original recipe may look fine in the specs, but the average program wouldn't tell you if your percentages were way out of range or that it would be particularly sweet. I get that it's a hobby and experimentation is great, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel either. Kind of like cooking, I don't cook at all but if I did want to bake a cake I would likely try someone else's recipe first rather than just throwing together a bunch of ingredients that I know go in a cake. I think starting from a proven recipe and making small tweaks is a good way to start. Even some of the most experienced brewers on here will ask for critiques of new recipes - no shame in that.

 

[kaconga]

I would do:
5 lb light dme
2 lb vienna
1 lb honey malt

That should put you in a better position on the grain bill, the hop bill looks fine. When designing recipes I follow the 80/20 rule, no more than 20% of your fermentables should come from crystal/specialty grains. The DME typically has carapils/carafoam added to it as I understand so keep that in mind as well. Hopefully that helps you out.

 

[LovesIPA]

0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 35.0 min Hop 5.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 19.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 0.0 IBUs

I haven't seen anyone discuss the hop schedule. With this much grain, you'll really want to do a one hour boil minimum. That being said, most brewers put their bittering hops in at the beginning of the boil to get the most iso-alpha acids out of them. You'll want to use a hop with high alpha acids for bittering. Warrior, Columbus, Summit, and others are good bittering hops. Cascade isn't. It's a delicious hop and its flavor and aroma properties should be preserved by adding it at the end of a boil, not at 35 minutes. Here it really serves no purpose. Hop additions from the beginning of the boil to about 20 minutes from the end are uncommon. Not that you can't, but you generally get the most out of your hops by using them at those more conventional times.

 

[snowveil]

I haven't seen anyone discuss the hop schedule. With this much grain, you'll really want to do a one hour boil minimum. That being said, most brewers put their bittering hops in at the beginning of the boil to get the most iso-alpha acids out of them. You'll want to use a hop with high alpha acids for bittering. Warrior, Columbus, Summit, and others are good bittering hops. Cascade isn't. It's a delicious hop and its flavor and aroma properties should be preserved by adding it at the end of a boil, not at 35 minutes. Here it really serves no purpose. Hop additions from the beginning of the boil to about 20 minutes from the end are uncommon. Not that you can't, but you generally get the most out of your hops by using them at those more conventional times.

Matt Brynildson would disagree. A 30 minute hop addition can add a "hop sweetness" that you don't get from a late/dry hop addition.

If you can get enough IBUs from late additions there's really no need for a 60 minute hop addition.

 

[Yooper]

I haven't seen anyone discuss the hop schedule. With this much grain, you'll really want to do a one hour boil minimum. That being said, most brewers put their bittering hops in at the beginning of the boil to get the most iso-alpha acids out of them. You'll want to use a hop with high alpha acids for bittering. Warrior, Columbus, Summit, and others are good bittering hops. Cascade isn't. It's a delicious hop and its flavor and aroma properties should be preserved by adding it at the end of a boil, not at 35 minutes. Here it really serves no purpose. Hop additions from the beginning of the boil to about 20 minutes from the end are uncommon. Not that you can't, but you generally get the most out of your hops by using them at those more conventional times.

You don't need a 60 minute boil, not with extract and a few steeping grains. The hopping actually looks pretty good. That to me was the bright spot of the recipe to me.

Some of my favorite IPA and APA recipes are 'hopbursted'- that is, all hops added to the boil with 15 minutes or less. While it may be more traditional to do a 60/15/5/dryhop type of schedule, the hops schedule as is looks quite good.

 

[Steve3730]

Thanks for the help guys. From doing kits and clones I have a pretty good understanding of how the hops effect the beer however the grains I have a lot to learn.

I use Beer smith but have never used Brew target

For the hops I have been reading a lot about late additions and wanted to try it.