Critique of 3 recipes, please

[jaytizzle]

Hey guys. I've got three recipes that I want to brew and I was hoping to get some critique. I'm not looking to hear that I should swap a 40L for 20L and 60L. I'm hoping for actual experience with these ingredients or an experienced brewer who can tell me these will taste like crap.

So here goes. They're all extract with specialty grains and single hop brews. Was thinking about late DME additions but after checking my BU:GU ratios I don't think that's a good idea.

1 - Flight of the Golden Turkey (American Pale w/ Falconer's Flight)
7# light DME
0.5# crystal 40
2oz crystal 60L
1oz chocolate malt

all hop additions are falconer's flight at 11.4% AA
1oz @ 60
1oz @ 15
1oz @ 0
1oz dry hop

Yeast = Wyeast 1056 starter
Expected OG = 1.059
Expected FG = 1.014
Expected ABV = 5.94%
IBU = 101.61 with flameout DME addition, BU:GU = 1.72
IBU = 65.32 with 60 min DME addition, BU:GU = 1.11

2 - Lastnight's Brunette (Amber w/ HBC 342)
6.5# light DME
0.5# crystal 80L
0.5# carapils
0.25# roasted barley

all hop additions are HBC 342 at 11.4% AA
1oz @ 60
1oz @ 30
1oz @ 0
0.5oz dry hop

Yeast = Wyeast 1056 starter
Expected OG = 1.055
Expected FG = 1.013
Expected ABV = 5.52%
IBU = 120.1 with flameout DME addition, BU:GU = 2.18
IBU = 79.55 with 60 min DME addition, BU:GU = 1.45

3 - Blackbeard's Nightmare (Black IPA w/ 7 C's)
7# light DME
1# dark candi syrup
0.5# caramel 60
0.5# midnight wheat

all hop additions are Falconer's 7 C's at 9.9% AA
3.5 oz @ 60
1 oz @ 45
1 oz @ 30
3.5 oz @ 0
3 oz dry hop

Yeast = Wyeast 1056 starter
Expected OG = 1.065
Expected FG = 1.015
Expected ABV = 6.59%
IBU = 305.88 with flameout DME addition, BU:GU = 4.71
IBU = 187.99 with 60 min DME addition, BU:GU = 2.89

I'm looking forward to what you guys have to say!

 

[krenshaw]

i'm not good at critiquing recipes. but wanted to give you props for the names.. i love fun names for brews!

 

[Yooper]

Hey guys. I've got three recipes that I want to brew and I was hoping to get some critique. I'm not looking to hear that I should swap a 40L for 20L and 60L. I'm hoping for actual experience with these ingredients or an experienced brewer who can tell me these will taste like crap.

If you want critique, but not to be told to swap ingredients, I'm not sure how to critique. What kind of ingredient critique would be ok?

 

[jaytizzle]

If you want critique, but not to be told to swap ingredients, I'm not sure how to critique. What kind of ingredient critique would be ok?

Sorry, Yooper. I guess I didn't explain all that clearly. I'm fine with ingredient critique. Whatever advice you guys have I will look into.

Hop schedules, specialty grain bills, everything, really. I am relatively new to making my own recipes. These are adaptations of recipes that I've found elsewhere and am more concerned that I am going to screw something up than anything else.

 

[jaytizzle]

i'm not good at critiquing recipes. but wanted to give you props for the names.. i love fun names for brews!

Thanks. I figured it'd be more fun than calling it "american pale ale", etc. I know my friends and family will get a kick out of it. A buddy and I talked recently about brew names and someone who named their beer "The Audacity of Aretha Franklin's Hat". It's silly but entertaining as long as you're not trying to market it or yourself.

 

[Yooper]

Ah, gotcha! The first recipe I looked out was the last. I'd change that up a bit, since IPAs are all about hops flavor, and not so much the bittering. Adding 3.5 ounces at 0 minutes would give good aroma, but with only bittering additions and those, plus a dry hop, I think it'd be lacking hops flavor that it needs. I'd change it up like this:


Falconer's 7 C's at 9.9% AA
1.5 oz @ 60 (or to get to 50 IBUs with this addition)
1 oz @ 15
1 oz @ 10
1 oz @ 5
1 oz @ flame out
2 oz dry hop

IBUs are sort of meaningless when you get over 100, because you simply can't get more than about 100 IBUs into solution once the wort is saturated with hops oils anyway. But you'll still want to use enough on the first addition to get to about 50 IBUs with that addition, and then load up the late hops.

I don't know about the grainbill- I've never used dark candi sugar or midnight wheat so I can't speak to that.

 

[gr8shandini]

Are you using any type of software to come up with these? I think your expectations for color are a little off. For example, I use similar specialty grains as your amber in my Irish red (1/2 lb 60L, 1/4 lb roasted barley) and it's a very, very deep red that's almost too dark for the style. If that's what you're going for, cool, but I'm thinking of something significantly lighter when I hear "amber." Other than that, I think your grain bills look good. Enough complexity to keep it interesting, but not a "kitchen sink" muddle.

I agree with Yooper on the hops, though. Throttle back on the bittering additions and load up the late / dry hops if you want more hop character.

 

[jaytizzle]

gr8shandini no I'm not using software but I'm about to buy beersmith and try it out. Do you use software? What do you recommend?

 

[jaytizzle]

Are you using any type of software to come up with these? I think your expectations for color are a little off. For example, I use similar specialty grains as your amber in my Irish red (1/2 lb 60L, 1/4 lb roasted barley) and it's a very, very deep red that's almost too dark for the style. If that's what you're going for, cool, but I'm thinking of something significantly lighter when I hear "amber." Other than that, I think your grain bills look good. Enough complexity to keep it interesting, but not a "kitchen sink" muddle.

I agree with Yooper on the hops, though. Throttle back on the bittering additions and load up the late / dry hops if you want more hop character.

Just put my recipes into beersmith. While I am at the very top of the color range for the style, I am still within style. I'm okay with these being extreme examples of a particular style. I will do iterations on them in the future, I'm sure, so I'm really just looking for a starting point for now.

And I do agree with Yooper on those hops additions for the black IPA. I will follow the schedule that she gave as it makes a lot more sense.

 

[gr8shandini]

I'm using Beersmith mainly because it was what I started out with. I haven't used any other programs, so I'm afraid I can't help you with any comparisons.

As for the color, I've found that Beersmith is a little deficient in that regard. The SRM values might be correct, but since I haven't calibrated my eyeball for SRM, I rely on the visualizations and they're not that great. They seem too dark for very light beers , too light for the mid-range, and then default to black for anything over about 30. But as you said, recipe formulation is an iterative process and if the worst problem your beer has is that it's a few shades off in color, at least you'll have some tasty "failures" to dispose of.

Good luck, and post up some pics and tasting notes when you're done.

 

[jaytizzle]

Thanks, gr8shandini. I certainly will. I'm thinking I will go ahead and order my ingredients but I've got a long list of brews to make now. In addition to these three, I've still got a vanilla imperial stout (calling it The White Imp) and a Nelson Sauvin IPA for a club "competition/demonstration". Not to mention the 4 beers that are already brewed and in various stages of aging/fermenting.

Our local club is getting together and we're all going to brew the same base IPA recipe and just change the hops (although some will be extract, some partial mash, and others all grain). Then when we're done we can give 2 bottles to each person in the group so everyone gets about 20-25 different hopped beers to compare to one another very easily.