First time attempt at my own AG recipe...

[KageBrew]

Hello all... I hope this is the right place for this. I would like some criticism on my recipe for a 1 gallon AG batch. This is my first attempt on making my own recipe, and my first AG attempt.
I hope I am not biting off more that I can chew!

RyPA
This is a 1 gallon brew in the bag recipe.
1. Start win heating 1 gal of water to 155 to 165F, remove from heat, and add all the grains in to the water. Steep for one hour holding a temperature of 155 to 165F.
2. While the grains are steeping heat another ½ gallon of water.
3. Once the steeping is done in the main pot pull out the bag of grain, and rinse it in the smaller pot. Once the drippings from the grain bag run clear proceed to the next step.
4. Add the rinse pot of water to the main boil pot and continue to heat the mash till boiling.
5. Once boiling add .5oz of Fuggle hops and continue to boil for 45 min.
6. With 10 min remaining add .5oz of Centennial hops.
7. Remove from heat and cool the mash until it is 68-72F
8. Pitch yeast
9. Ferment for 2-3 weeks at 64 to 72F
After fermentation cold crash with gelatin for 48 hours.

Grain Bill
• 1.5 lbs. Row-2
• 1 lbs. Flaked Rye
• .25 lbs. Carmel Crystal 40L

Hops
• Fuggle (US) .5 oz.
• Centennial (US) .5 oz.

Yeast
• Wyeast 1968 – London ESB Ale

Expected Analysis
OG: 1.075
FG: 1.023
ABV: 7%
SRM: 6
IBU: 70

 

[C-Rider]

My only thought is "that's a lot of Crystal" for a 1 gallon batch. Not that I'm a recipe expert.

 

[Yooper]

1. No- hold the mash at 150-153. You don't want to go anywhere near 160, and going over that can denature the enzymes. Temperature control is important.

2-4. Yes, that's fine

5. Fuggles hops are an incredibly odd choice for a rye pale ale. If you aren't using them because you're using them up as leftovers, I'd really recommend choosing something else. A neutral bittering hop like magnum, or a US hop like centennial or chinook or even warrior would be preferable.

6. Good

7. Yes, cool the wort (not 'mash') to mid 60s if possible for best results.

8. Yes

9. Depending on yeast strain, 65-68 may be preferable. The choice of London ESB yeast is a very weird choice for this beer. I'd choose something else more suited to a rye pale ale.

Recipe wise, the fuggles don't "fit", the yeast doesn't fit, and it's far too much rye. Conversion would probably happen, but I'm not sure as I didn't do the math. Flaked rye has 0 diastatic power, as does crystal malt, so you want to make sure you have enough in the mash.

Reduce the rye to no more than 20-25% and reduce the crystal to less than 7% and make up the difference with base malt.

Is there a reason you want to make your own recipe, instead of trying a tried and true rye pale ale recipe? The recipe you have needs to be revamped quite a lot to make it work well in my opinion and it may be easier and produce a better beer to try something that will definitely work and create a good beer.

 

[Kevin79]

Hello all... I hope this is the right place for this. I would like some criticism on my recipe for a 1 gallon AG batch. This is my first attempt on making my own recipe, and my first AG attempt.

I hope I am not biting off more that I can chew!



RyPA

This is a 1 gallon brew in the bag recipe.

1.Start win heating 1 gal of water to 155 to 165F, remove from heat, and add all the grains in to the water. Steep for one hour holding a temperature of 155 to 165F.

2.While the grains are steeping heat another ½ gallon of water.

3.Once the steeping is done in the main pot pull out the bag of grain, and rinse it in the smaller pot. Once the drippings from the grain bag run clear proceed to the next step.

4.Add the rinse pot of water to the main boil pot and continue to heat the mash till boiling.

5.Once boiling add .5oz of Fuggle hops and continue to boil for 45 min.

6.With 10 min remaining add .5oz of Centennial hops.

7.Remove from heat and cool the mash until it is 68-72F

8.Pitch yeast

9.Ferment for 2-3 weeks at 64 to 72F

After fermentation cold crash with gelatin for 48 hours.



Grain Bill

•1.5 lbs. Row-2

•1 lbs. Flaked Rye

•.25 lbs. Carmel Crystal 40L



Hops

•Fuggle (US) .5 oz.

•Centennial (US) .5 oz.



Yeast

•Wyeast 1968 – London ESB Ale



Expected Analysis

OG: 1.075

FG: 1.023

ABV: 7%

SRM: 6

IBU: 70

My only comment would be wide range of temperature holdings. A ten degree spread for mashing is something you want to try and avoid. You typically want to aim for a temperature and hold that as close as possible for the duration of the mash (excluding mashout if you do that). A 1-3 degree change during the mashing process is acceptable for most cases. 10 degrees however is too wide a range. 165 seems a little high of a mash temp too, I've always heard 160 to be the highest you want to go for the mash to avoid tannins (once again mashout being the exception).

Same goes for fermentation temperature. 64-72 may be the recommended range for that yeast strain but if you fluctuate between those extremes you are going to get off flavors. Once again, try to aim for a specific temp and keep it within a few degrees.

As for the recipe itself it seems fine. The crystal makes about 10% of the grain bill so it's not too high. Some may say it's a little high for an IPA, but that's all a matter of preference if you like a dry IPA or a maltier one.

The important thing is it seems that you have the basics down and you have some easy corrections to do next time around to dial in your process. Brew on my friend!

 

[KageBrew]

Thanks all for the input... I now see that I have a lot of learning to do before I worry about going AG and making my own recipes!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks all for the input... I now see that I have a lot of learning to do before I worry about going AG and making my own recipes!

If you want to do a rye IPA, I'd highly recommend this recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=84515&highlight=wry+smile

Just divide it by 5 to make a one gallon batch. It's a really good beer!