Help with my first partial mash

[brucepepper]

I've brewed two batches using Morgan's Amber Ale kit and both turned out well. I'm going to attempt a partial mash soon but I wouldn't mind a bit of feed back from some experienced brewers.

I've had a really tough time locating ingregients but I've managed to find the following.

2 cans (3.3 lbs each) Muntons Amber LME - 6.6 lbs total.
1 lb. crystal malt (I have 4lbs. but was planning on only using 1lb. in the recipe.)
2 ounces of cascade hop pellets. (I have 4 ounces but I'm not sure how much to use.)
2 ounces golding hop pellets.

I was hoping to make an APA that was a bit on the hoppy side, but I think that 4 ounces of cascade is too much. If I can't find yeast locally I think I will order Wyeast 1056 or WL California#1.

If any of you have advice on how I can turn these ingredients into a decent beer please let me know.

 

[carnevoodoo]

When do you plan on adding the hops? Is that all for the boil, or are you using some for finishing?

When you say partial mash, do you just mean you are going to steep the grains for 30 minutes or so? i just did this for the first time and it seemed really easy. I had a grain bag to hold it all in (made it like a giant tea bag!) and it was just an extra bit of time in the process and no problems with it at all.

Amber is typically a mix of pale and caramel from what I've read, so you're not going to get a pale ale out of it. I don't think that it'll be a bad beer, but I wouldn't expect it to look just like a pale ale.

 

[lgtg]

Hey Bruce,

I live in an area of Florida that is literally devoid of home brew shops and supplies and have been encouraged while interacting here at HBT to shop at Austin Home Brew Supply

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php/

Very good selection and flat rate shipping as well. As far as your recipe, I'm not a very experienced brewer but at a glance it appears that you have a decent beer waiting to be brewed. May need a little "tooling" with hop amounts to get what you like but I'd brew it!!

There are fine partial mash kits at Austin and I understand that they come with decent instructions as well. They also have "clone" recipes for your favorite micro's or craft styles. Good luck.

Larry

 

[Beerrific]

Hey Bruce,

I live in an area of Florida that is literally devoid of home brew shops and supplies and have been encouraged while interacting here at HBT to shop at Austin Home Brew Supply

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php/

Very good selection and flat rate shipping as well. As far as your recipe, I'm not a very experienced brewer but at a glance it appears that you have a decent beer waiting to be brewed. May need a little "tooling" with hop amounts to get what you like but I'd brew it!!

There are fine partial mash kits at Austin and I understand that they come with decent instructions as well. They also have "clone" recipes for your favorite micro's or craft styles. Good luck.

Larry

Austin Homebrew Supply is great. I have bought from them a bunch, good customer service too. I highly recommend their kits, easy to use, and not marked up.

A warning, with their kits if you choose partial mash you will get 4ish lbs of grain expecting to actually mash for an hour or so to extract ferementable sugars. They will include LME to make up the rest. I think you want the extract option, this will be all extract for fermentable sugars and grains to steep for color and body/mouthfeel.

Good luck.

 

[cubbies]

Well, that is not exactly a partial mash. That is just steeping specialty grains. In a mash, the objective is to use grain to extract sugars. What you are doing is just steeping your specialty grains for extra color and flavor, and maybe a little sugar.

This process is very simiple...however, it will make a better beer than extract alone in my opinion. All you are going to do is take your brewpot, fill it with the approximately 1 gallon of water, heat to 155, put crushed grain in a grain bag and steep it like a tea bag for twenty minutes or so. After you are done with that, disccard the grains and proceed as normal.

Also, as others have mentioned that is not going to be a APA. To me it looks more along the lines of a bitter, or ESB.

 

[brucepepper]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your advice. I forgot to mention that the goldings pellets are finishing hops. I think that I'm going to use 2 ounces cascade for the boil and then add the goldings in the last few minutes. I'm also going steep 1 lb. of the crystal malts. Let me know if that sounds reasonable.

Again thanks for being so helpful.

 

[brewt00l]

What are you looking for from an IBU perspective? If you know aprox where you want to hit, that will help you decide how to structure your hop additions.

 

[brucepepper]

Minimum 30 IBU's but I'm willing to try up to 45-50ish. I really enjoy the bitterness of St. Ambroise Pale Ale and would like to get somewhere near it. How much of the hops, and when in the boil would you recommend I use them?

 

[cubbies]

Minimum 30 IBU's but I'm willing to try up to 45-50ish. I really enjoy the bitterness of St. Ambroise Pale Ale and would like to get somewhere near it. How much of the hops, and when in the boil would you recommend I use them?

That depends greatly on the size of your boil. For example, if you put 2oz of Cascade in for 60 minutes with a two gallon boil...you will get roughly 55 IBU's...however, if you put 2oz cascade in for an hour in a 4 gallon boil, you will get roughly 70 IBU's. So, long story short...we would need to know your boil volume before being able to predict hop utilization.