First All Grain

[OZZ]

Hey everyone,

I'm starting my first all grain brew tonight and I found the recipe here online but it didn't have any guidelines as far as mash temp and stuff like that. Here is the recipe:

Amarillo Pale Ale
5.5gal
10lbs 2 row
8oz Cara-pils
8oz Crystal 60L
1oz Cascade @ FW
1oz Amarillo @ 20
1oz Amarillo @ 5
Safale US-05

When I plug it into beersmith it says to mash at 148. That seems a little low to me but I'm a green newbie. What do you think?

Also, I'm at 7,200' elevation. Recently I stumbled across a brewers post in boulder, Colorado that says he boils for 90 minutes due to the elevation and lower boiling point of water (204 vs 212)... I'm wondering if I should do the same? If so, how do i FWH with a 90 minute boil? Can beersmith can adjust for elevation? I only did a 60 minute boil on my first extract brew and it turned out fine.

Thanks in advance I'm brewing tonight and want to make sure all my ducks are in a row.

 

[WayFrae]

Hey everyone,

I'm starting my first all grain brew tonight and I found the recipe here online but it didn't have any guidelines as far as mash temp and stuff like that. Here is the recipe:

Amarillo Pale Ale
5.5gal
10lbs 2 row
8oz Cara-pils
8oz Crystal 60L
1oz Cascade @ FW
1oz Amarillo @ 20
1oz Amarillo @ 5
Safale US-05

When I plug it into beersmith it says to mash at 148. That seems a little low to me but I'm a green newbie. What do you think?

Also, I'm at 7,200' elevation. Recently I stumbled across a brewers post in boulder, Colorado that says he boils for 90 minutes due to the elevation and lower boiling point of water (204 vs 212)... I'm wondering if I should do the same? If so, how do i FWH with a 90 minute boil? Can beersmith can adjust for elevation? I only did a 60 minute boil on my first extract brew and it turned out fine.

Thanks in advance I'm brewing tonight and want to make sure all my ducks are in a row.

I don't think you need to boil for 90 minutes but I have never brewed at that elevation. I am at 4,200 feet and haven't had any problems.

Your FWH would be done the same but it would be boiled for 90 minutes but Beersmith will make the IBU adjustment for that. I have never checked if you can adjust the temp of boiling water in Beersmith, I don't know that it really makes much of a difference.

I think that mash temp will be fine. I like my pales dry so I usually mash at 148-150°F.

One thing that I would add to your recipe is a dry hop of 2-4 oz for 5-7 days right before packaging.

 

[OZZ]

Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll just stay with a 60 minute boil to keep things easy. I read that the difference is nominal.

 

[TungstenBeer]

Generally, I always advocate for a 90 minute boil for everyone. They aren't required and like you said, you still made good beer without doing it on your extract batch.

The only thing I can think is that your lower boiling temp (around 198-199 I'd guess?) means your get slower hop isomerization. A longer boil might help isomerizing the alpha acids in your case. And someone mentioned it already, but FWH is done the same, just make sure you adjust your boil time in Beersmith so it recalculates your IBUs. I do think there is somewhere you can change boiling point in Beersmith, but I don't know if that will matter for you.

If you can swing it - do it. If not, probably no big deal.

 

[TungstenBeer]

(Sorry for back-to-back posts)

Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll just stay with a 60 minute boil to keep things easy. I read that the difference is nominal.

Go for it - you'll be fine.

 

[OZZ]

I did set my boil time in beersmith to 90 minutes, but I'm not sure what you mean by "recalculate your ibu's"??

Could someone explain that? I understand that boil time affects the IBU extraction, and if I boil with the same amount of hops for 60 vs 90 minutes the results will be different. I'm not sure if this implies that I need to add more hops or do something on my and though???

Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks!

 

[McKnuckle]

When I plug it into beersmith it says to mash at 148. That seems a little low to me but I'm a green newbie. What do you think?

Huh? Beersmith doesn't tell you what temp to mash at. You tell it! You probably just have a mash profile pre-selected and that's the temperature on it. It's not a direction; it's a placeholder. Change it.

 

[TungstenBeer]

I did set my boil time in beersmith to 90 minutes, but I'm not sure what you mean by "recalculate your ibu's"??

Could someone explain that? I understand that boil time affects the IBU extraction, and if I boil with the same amount of hops for 60 vs 90 minutes the results will be different. I'm not sure if this implies that I need to add more hops or do something on my and though???

Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks!

Sorry for my confusing post, heh. If you change to a 90 minute boil and also add hops at 90 minutes, then your IBUs will increase (which Beersmith will do for you). You probably don't need to do anything because I don't believe the increase will be that much.

If you add your hops at 60 minutes regardless of whether you're doing a 60, 90, or 1000 minute boil, then IBUs are obviously the same.

 

[OZZ]

Gotcha. That's what I was guessing but just wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly.... And on that note, that's the point of the longer boil then. Since hop utilization is less at higher elevation, the longer boil compensates for that. Makes sense. I wasn't sure if doing a fwh on 90 minutes would be detrimental in anyway since most of the recipes FWH at 60.

Thanks a ton! Its ooonnnn.

 

[TungstenBeer]

Gotcha. That's what I was guessing but just wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly.... And on that note, that's the point of the longer boil then. Since hop utilization is less at higher elevation, the longer boil compensates for that. Makes sense. I wasn't sure if doing a fwh on 90 minutes would be detrimental in anyway since most of the recipes FWH at 60.

Thanks a ton! Its ooonnnn.

It isn't the only benefit of a longer boil, but it's one of them. Driving off more DMS is another. There are some others too, but a 60 minute boil still works, of course.

Not to complicate this further, but it's arguable you could actually boil your hops *too* long, although I haven't experienced that before.

 

[bobbrews]

-Mash at more like 151-152 F.

-Don't FWH. At your elevation, I would definitely recommend boiling the wort for a good 15-30 minutes BEFORE adding any bittering hops. If this means a 75 or 90 minute boil, then so be it.

-I second dryhopping.

-This will be better with more hops (5-8 total ounces) and if you switch up your hopping schedule, e.g. 60/10/0/Dryhop

-This will be better if you use a high alpha hop for bittering, such as Warrior, Magnum, Columbus. Hit 20 IBUs or so, and let the 10/0 minute additions take care of the rest of the IBUs.

 

[OZZ]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I'm not a huge hop head. That's why I was attracted to this recipe, for example... I think SNPA has a hair to much hops. One or two and I like it, much past 4-5 of them and its too much...same thing with IPA's.

With that being said, I don't want to be left wishing for more in the finale product either. I have 2 oz cascade, 2 oz Amarillo, and 1 oz centennial on hand. I'm open to suggestions. Brewing starts in about 3 hours! Lol

As it sits I was thinking 1 oz cascade at 60, 1 oz Amarillo at 20, 1 oz Amarillo at flameout.

Maybe I could throw another oz of cascade in at around 30 but I don't want to go over 4 oz total and I'm not wanting to dry hop this one.

I'm all ears though if anyone has any more suggestions. Thanks!

 

[bobbrews]

I'm not a huge hop head.

Disliking bitterness/IBUs is different from disliking the intoxicating aroma of Pacific NW hops when you rub them in your hands. You can attain huge aroma and pleasant hop flavor by implementing a warm (160F) hopstand and dryhop with the right hops at the right amounts.

I have 2 oz cascade, 2 oz Amarillo, and 1 oz centennial on hand. I'm open to suggestions.

Since you've already brewed this, add 3 oz. of your choice to the dryhop for 5 days.

 

[OZZ]

Disliking bitterness/IBUs is different from disliking the intoxicating aroma of Pacific NW hops when you rub them in your hands. You can attain huge aroma and pleasant hop flavor by implementing a warm (160F) hopstand and dryhop with the right hops at the right amounts.



Since you've already brewed this, add 3 oz. of your choice to the dryhop for 5 days.

OK, so Id like to dry hop this but Im not sure if I have time. It needs to be ready to go for a bday party on the 28th of march.

I brewed it on March 4th (one week ago today) and its in the primary. I used a strong starter and it went gangbusters for about 4 days before quieting down.

If I give it another three days or so (10 days total in primary), then add dry hops to the primary and let it set another 5 days, then cold crash for two days and rack to the keg.... that leaves me a week to let it set on gas.

Sound doable or should I skip the dry hop on this one since Im short on time??

 

[OZZ]

I guess what Im asking is, would I be OK to add the dry hop to the primary with only 10 days of fermentation under its belt...then let it set for another 5? The airlock has been quiet for a good 5-6 days now.

 

[fimpster]

I guess what Im asking is, would I be OK to add the dry hop to the primary with only 10 days of fermentation under its belt...then let it set for another 5? The airlock has been quiet for a good 5-6 days now.

If the krausen has fallen, you'd be fine to add them today. I usually like to dry hop for 7 to 10 days before kegging.

 

[bobbrews]

I guess what Im asking is, would I be OK to add the dry hop to the primary with only 10 days of fermentation under its belt...then let it set for another 5? The airlock has been quiet for a good 5-6 days now.

It's perfectly fine to do exactly this ^. Fermentation for standard gravity ales is typically complete in 3-5 days anyway. If you're looking at a higher gravity ale, you might want to wait 6-8 days.

What the extra time in the primary does is allow all of the particles that contribute to haze to drop to the bottom of the fermentor. Some additional yeast clean up occurs as well.

 

[OZZ]

What the extra time in the primary does is allow all of the particles that contribute to haze to drop to the bottom of the fermentor. Some additional yeast clean up occurs as well.

Thanks for the help everyone !

I've read this quite a bit, but I'm curious then.... If the extra time in the primary helps haze and let's the yeast "clean up".... Then does dry hopping during this time interrupt this process?? Will it keep the beer from clearing??

Obviously if and when time is not an issue, I'd simply dry hop now and then give it more time to clear in the keg.

 

[bobbrews]

No, it won't interupt anything. I typically leave my IPAs in the primary for 3 weeks including dryhop out of habit. Some folks dryhop as soon as fermentation is complete, but I personally notice less "greener" beer with a 3 week primary including dryhop.

Let gravity work for you to drop out any particles. Try not to agitate the primary after fermentation is complete. Follow this up with a careful racking procedure, i.e mesh bag wrapped around the racking cane.

 

[OZZ]

Good deal,I'll givevit a 5 day dry hop then.

Thanks again!

 

[beerisking]

You could also try the dry hop on the keg stage during gassing. Just pack it loosely in a mesh bag with some weight,lower it with unflavored floss halfway down the keg,and seal it.