Gordon Strong's Avant Garde Pale Ale

[biestie]

I was going to brew this tomorrow, the Pale Ale recipe from brewing better beer, but I plug it into beersmith, adjust for my efficiency and volume, and it comes up with a predicted final gravity of 1.008. Gordon's book says it should be 1.012. Can anyone do a sanity check and tell me what I'm missing?

My beersmith report:
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.98 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 10.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 0.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 74.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs 13.2 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 63.4 %
1 lbs 0.8 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 9.8 %
12.6 oz Caramel Malt - 40L 6-Row (Briess) (40.0 Grain 3 7.3 %
8.4 oz Caramel Malt - 80L 6-Row (Briess) (80.0 Grain 4 4.9 %
8.4 oz Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.9 %
1 lbs 0.8 oz Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 6 9.8 %
1.0 pkg American Ale Yeast Blend (White Labs #WL Yeast 7 -


Mash Schedule: A- My Batch Sparge Mash
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 12.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash Step Add 15.57 qt of water at 163.3 F 150.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.50gal) of 168.0 F water

And Gordon Strong's recipe without my adjustments.

Avant Garde American Pale Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.060 (14.7 °P)
FG = 1.012 (3 °P)
IBUs = 45 SRM = 10 ABV = 6.3%

This beer won a gold medal in the first round of the 2008 NHC competition.

Ingredients
6.5 lb (2.9 kg) Maris Otter malt
1 lb (0.45 kg) Vienna malt
0.75 lb (340 g) crystal malt (40 °L)
0.25 lb (113 g) crystal malt (80 °L)
0.5 lb (226 g) wheat malt
1 lb (0.45 kg) white sugar
1 oz (28g) Amarillo whole hops 8% AA (FWH)
0.5 oz (14 g) Columbus whole hops 14% AA (15 min.)
0.5 oz (14 g) Columbus whole hops 14% AA (10 min.)
0.5 oz (14 g) Simcoe whole hops 12% AA (5 min.)
1 oz (28 g) Amarillo whole hops 8% AA (2 min.)
0.5 oz (14 g) Simcoe whole hops 12% AA (0 min.)
White Labs WLP060 American Blend yeast

Step by Step
Mill grains and dough-in using RO water until a medium thickness mash is achieved. Treat mash with 1 tsp calcium chloride. Hold mash at 150 °F (66 °C) until conversion is complete. Add first wort hops to kettle. Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) RO water treated with 2 tsp phosphoric acid, collecting 6.5 gallons (24.6 L). Bring wort to a boil.

After the hot break, add the sugar. Boil for 75 additional minutes, adding the hops per the hopping schedule. Allow the wort to rest for 5 minutes, then chill rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Rack to fermenter, leaving break material behind. Oxygenate, pitch the yeast, and ferment at 70 °F (21 °C). Fermentation should be done in less than a week, but don't rush it.

 

[duboman]

You are not really missing anything and FG is only a prediction as many variables come into play including the way the software evaluates the fermentability of the wort based upon it's potential extract value and mash temps. Personally I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

I brewed this several times, it's a great beer. I actually tweaked it more to my liking and used it as the base recipe for my house pale ale that has placed second and third in several competitions over the years. IIRC it usually finishes right around 1.010 consistently.

 

[sptaylor70]

What you're missing is the sanity part. I don't think that four gravity points is something to get excited about.

I would use brown sugar, any variety, rather than white sugar. That's probably no more than personal taste, wanting more flavor.

 

[daksin]

Calculators are notoriously poor at predicting FG. Predicting isn't really even the right word- software FGs are really more like wild-assed guesses. The only way to predict the FG is to know how a particular yeast works in your brewery with a beer of similar fermentability.

 

[biestie]

Dunno, beersmith is always dead nuts on for me. Always

 

[jmhbutler]

Hate to bring up an old thread. I was considering brewing the same beer but I noticed that that Strong says the beer should be 45 IBUs but when I run it through the calculator I got more like 70 IBUs. Can anybody comment?

 

[duboman]

You don't have a time limit for your FWH and that could be throwing off the calculations but IME every calculator will figure things a bit differently.

 

[jmhbutler]

Perhaps Strong intends for the FWH be removed before the boil? I understand all calculators are different, but this is a 36% jump in IBUs, pushing it way outside the style.