I brewed an experimental recipe a few weeks ago...

[Hoochin'Hank]

Brewed this up mid December, and bottled just after New Year's.

3 gal into fermenter, about 2.8 gal to be packaged
2 gal "london" water, 1 gal RO water, topped up to 3 gal in fermenter with RO water

Briess Golden Lite DME 3 lb
Briess Amber DME 1 lb
6oz cara 40L steeped
4oz black patent steeped
4oz chocolate malt steeped
2oz pale chocolate malt steeped

0.3 oz Magnum 15.1% AA @ 60
0.2 oz Kent Golding 5.5% AA @ 60
0.2 oz Kent Golding 5.5% AA @ 10

US-05, fermented between 60F and 64F 12 days, 68F 3 days

OG: 1.061, FG: 1.012, ABV: 6.7%, IBU: 35, SRM: 33

It's finally tasting pretty danged good, gonna brew this again, soon as I see how another porter I recently made turns out -- bottling tomorrow, hopefully.

-- tasting note update: I wish it had a touch more roastyness flavor. I'm hopeful that the batch that I just finished bottling today (Fawcett Dark Crystal 85L instead of caramel 40L, 5 oz victory, 4 oz pale choc, 4 oz choc, 4 oz midnite wheat) might get a little closer to what I'm searching for, but I think I might need to break down and add some roast barley, even if that only belongs in stouts, no matter what sort of german nonsense @Miraculix might say)!

-- 05-feb-2023 buzzed tasting-note-update:
Bah on the "needs more roastyness", this tastes very good, definitely the best beer I've made so far! Wish there were more than 13 bottles left!!!

 

[RM-MN]

Brewed this up mid December, and bottled just after New Year's.

3 gal into fermenter, about 2.8 gal to be packaged
2 gal "london" water, 1 gal RO water, topped up to 3 gal in fermenter with RO water

Briess Golden Lite DME 3 lb
Briess Amber DME 1 lb
6oz cara 40L steeped
4oz black patent steeped
4oz chocolate malt steeped
2oz pale chocolate malt steeped

0.3 oz Magnum 15.1% AA @ 60
0.2 oz Kent Golding 5.5% AA @ 60
0.2 oz Kent Golding 5.5% AA @ 10

US-05, fermented between 60F and 64F 12 days, 68F 3 days

OG: 1.061, FG: 1.012, ABV: 6.7%, IBU: 35, SRM: 33

It's finally tasting pretty danged good, gonna brew this again, soon as I see how another porter I recently made turns out -- bottling tomorrow, hopefully.

Try to save a few bottles. I think it will be noticeably better by March.

 

[Hoochin'Hank]

Try to save a few bottles. I think it will be noticeably better by March.

Someone famous once said "but the waaaaaaaiting, is the hardest part".

 

[RM-MN]

Someone not so famous said, "Don't waste your time, brew another beer".

 

[Hoochin'Hank]

This beer was bottled just 2 and a half weeks ONE week ago, but the bottle I just tried tastes really nice. Best beer I've made so far, gonna re-brew it this weekend!

3 lb Briess Golden Light DME
8 oz brown sugar
6 oz Thomas Fawcett Dark Crystal 85srm [labels on this seem to vary a lot, anyways, it's the one from RiteBrew]
5 oz Briess Victory
4 oz Briess Chocolate
4 oz Midnight Wheat
4 oz Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate

Used 0.4 oz Magnum @ 30 for 28 IBU, and 0.5 oz Kent Goldings @ 20 for 11 IBU
S-04, first week temps around 60F to 64F, then another week around 68 to 70F

2.7 gallons into the fermenter, og: 1.065, fg: 1.016, abv: 6.3%, ibu: 39, bu/gu: 0.6

I think I will add a little more Kent Goldings, just at the end of the boil, and see what that does for me.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

topic title: I brewed an experimental recipe a few weeks ago...

Big Red Ale (~ 9%)

Statistics: 1.75 gal into fermenter; OG 90; FG: ~ 20; IBU: ~70; SRM ~16

Grain bill: 2 lb Briess Amber DME, 1 lb Brewers Crystals, 0.5 lb sugar; 5 oz Simpons DRC

Flavor salt addition: 0.6 g CaCl

Hops: your choice

Yeast: your choice

Process:

• Cold steep in OG 22-ish wort for 45 minutes, shake occasionally;
• add CaCl, sugar, crystals, DME (in that order) at ~ 140F;
  • visually confirm each of the ingredients dissolves
• 35 min boil with first hop addition at 30 min

Notes: hydro sample was 'promising'.

Background:

• a fresh attempt at making a 9% DME-based beer that I like
• a bunch of things were changed at the same time
• a bunch of 'forum wisdom's were ignored

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Big Red Ales "Little" Brother (7.5%, Muntons Amber DME).

Statistics: 1.5 gal at end of boil; 1.25 gal into fermenter; OG 72; FG: ~ 16; IBU: ~65; SRM ~14
Grain bill: 24 oz Muntons Amber DME, 8 oz Brewers Crystals, 4 oz sugar; 3 oz Crystal Wheat

Flavor salt addition: none

Hops: your choice

Yeast: your choice

Process:

• Cold steep in OG 22-ish wort for 30 minutes, stir/shake occasionally;
• add sugar, crystals, DME (in that order) at ~ 140F;
  • visually confirm each of the ingredients dissolves
• 35 min boil with first hop addition at 30 min

It's not my intent, with these recipes, to compare different brands of DME in the same recipe side-by-side (that's already been done by others).

---

This recipe also 'completes' a set of observations that I started back in 2019. As I've mentioned in another topic a while back, when I add Briess DME at 140F, I consistently see 'flakes' forming in the wort at about 170F. When I brewed with Muntons DME a couple of times back in 2019, I didn't see this. And I didn't see this ('flakes' forming) when I brewed with Muntons DME today.

Does it matter? Probably not. So it's probably nothing more than just an observation on the differences between brands of DME.

For those curious in the process, here's what I do:

• at flame on: add water to kettle and heat to 140F
• when the water gets to 140F, add the DME. I've found that I can add sugar, brewers crystals, and wort from steeping as well. DO NOT ADD HOPS.
• observe the wort every 5 minute or 5F increase in temperature

Like I said early, it's probably just a visual difference and doesn't impact the beer.

 

[ncbrewer]

Big Red Ales "Little" Brother (7.5%, Muntons Amber DME).

Statistics: 1.5 gal at end of boil; 1.25 gal into fermenter; OG 72; FG: ~ 16; IBU: ~65; SRM ~14
Grain bill: 24 oz Muntons Amber DME, 8 oz Brewers Crystals, 4 oz sugar; 3 oz Crystal Wheat

Flavor salt addition: none

Hops: your choice

Yeast: your choice

Process:

• Cold steep in OG 22-ish wort for 30 minutes, stir/shake occasionally;
• add sugar, crystals, DME (in that order) at ~ 140F;
  • visually confirm each of the ingredients dissolves
• 35 min boil with first hop addition at 30 min

It's not my intent, with these recipes, to compare different brands of DME in the same recipe side-by-side (that's already been done by others).

---

This recipe also 'completes' a set of observations that I started back in 2019. As I've mentioned in another topic a while back, when I add Briess DME at 140F, I consistently see 'flakes' forming in the wort at about 170F. When I brewed with Muntons DME a couple of times back in 2019, I didn't see this. And I didn't see this ('flakes' forming) when I brewed with Muntons DME today.

Does it matter? Probably not. So it's probably nothing more than just an observation on the differences between brands of DME.

For those curious in the process, here's what I do:

• at flame on: add water to kettle and heat to 140F
• when the water gets to 140F, add the DME. I've found that I can add sugar, brewers crystals, and wort from steeping as well. DO NOT ADD HOPS.
• observe the wort every 5 minute or 5F increase in temperature

Like I said early, it's probably just a visual difference and doesn't impact the beer.

I might have posted my email from Muntons earlier in this thread, but I'll post it here for clarity:
"Our spraymalts are designed primarily to supplement home brew kits (used instead of brewing sugar), or to act as a yeast growth medium when propagating and storing yeast. There is nothing wrong with using these for the main source of wort fermentables, but we do not design a grist to give the complexity of flavour you ordinarily get from a using a host of different malts. For this purpose I would direct you towards our liquid range Homebrew Malt Extracts Archives - Muntons. Unfortunately our website does not currently display the full range. Full range is made up of;
• Vienna
• Munich
• Maris Otter
• Oat
• Sour
• Wheat
• Light
• Light hopped
• Extra light
• Amber
• Amber hopped
• Medium
• Dark
• Dark Hopped
I advise that you contact ABC Cork at ABC Cork Co. if you want to understand the availability in your region.
So, in answer to your question, I recommend that you use speciality malts such as light crystals and caras in order to get the full depth of flavour you would expect from an amber ale, instead of relying on the amber spraymalt that will give you colour but less of the fruity, crystalised sugar flavours."


I've just started using Muntons DME to see how I like it - only one batch so far, and it's just been bottled. But their email states that their amber DME only gives color - little of the expected flavor. It looks like you're using it successfully and getting the expected flavors. Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

But their email states that their amber DME only gives color - little of the expected flavor.

So perhaps a grain bill of "base malt" + "de-bittered black malt" (for coloring)?

If so, that might be noticeably different than Briess's Amber: "a robust malt profile that gives the beer a nice caramel flavor note".

It looks like you're using it successfully and getting the expected flavors.

Don't know yet (I brewed the recipe yesterday).

It may be that the 1st attempt at Big Red Ales "Little" Brother is short on malt flavors. If so, maybe the hops will "step up their game".

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Some background notes on #46 & #47:

• As I've mentioned earlier, I get poor results (sorry, no tasting notes for readers to ponder) when I brew DME-based recipe in the OG 90 range (double IPAs, barley wines, ...)
• It's probably a personal taste taste thing
• Is it related to over-'mineralization'? or something else?

The recipes in #46 & #47 purposefully changes a couple of things (and ignored some 'forum wisdom') in an attempt to find a different starting point for these recipes.

For me commercial double reds and red IPAs (two different styles) are hard to find, so trying something "red" for the 1st attempt added some enjoyment to the process. I also have access to a known fresh commercial double IPA, so my next attempts (if any) will probably be double IPAs. When the results are good, I'll probably try a barley wine recipe.

The recipes are making assumptions about ingredients (e.g. low mineral content in brewers crystals, ...) which may not be true. And all-grain recipes may not 'algorithm-magially' convert to this approach.

So this is going to take some time (reasonably a two months between attempts) - maybe I'll have an update late this year.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I brewed up a 2.5 gallon batch of extract American Pale Ale today (target 2.75 gal into the fermenter). Pretty much all the extract batches I have done over the past many years have been small (mostly 0.75 to 1 gallon) batches to try out hops or yeasts. I figured it would be worth trying to combine some of what I have learned brewing those extract batches with my current all-grain brewing practices to see if I could actually make a good beer. Plus there is an area competition with a special award for the best extract based beer.

I debated about how much I wanted to "simplify" my process with stuff like a zero boil or room temp with Voss. I decided to go with a 30 minute boil and use a half pack of US-05 I had on hand. I looked at my hop stash and decided a Columbus and Cascade combo sounded good. I also tossed 1 gram of Gypsum into the water (tap water, I would likely use 2.5 to 3 grams for an all-grain batch).

The core fermentable was a 3 lb bag of Briess Pilsen Light DME. I have found that about 10% sugar helps to lighten the body of extract, so I added a 5 oz bag of corn sugar (a spare bag of priming sugar from a kit). I steeped 4 oz of Crystal 40 in the water as it heated up. The goal was a simple way to add a little "grain" character to the beer. I was targeting a gravity of 1.051, but measured 1.055.

Overall, the beer looks like a good color. It was a simple brew day that took just over 2 hours from filling my kettle with water to having chilled wort in the fermenter (with just a little cleaning left).

Fermentables:

• 4 oz Crystal 40L - Steeped
• 3 lb Briess Pilsen Light
• 5 oz Corn Sugar

Hops

• 0.2 oz Columbus - 30 min - 14.6 IBUs
• 0.25 oz Cascade - 15 min - 4.5 IBUs
• 0.25 oz Columbus - 15 min - 12.6 IBUs
• 0.5 oz Cascade - 0 min - 2.0 IBUs
• 0.5 oz Columbus - 0 min - 5.7 IBUs
• 0.5 oz Cascade - Dry Hop
• 0.5 oz Columbus - Dry Hop

Yeast/Misc:

• 1/2 pkg Safale US-05
• 1/4 tablet Campden
• 1g Gypsum
• 1g Irish Moss

Dump of pictures:

 

[Hoochin'Hank]

This beer was bottled just 2 and a half weeks ONE week ago, but the bottle I just tried tastes really nice. Best beer I've made so far, gonna re-brew it this weekend!

3 lb Briess Golden Light DME
8 oz brown sugar
6 oz Thomas Fawcett Dark Crystal 85srm [labels on this seem to vary a lot, anyways, it's the one from RiteBrew]
5 oz Briess Victory
4 oz Briess Chocolate
4 oz Midnight Wheat
4 oz Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate

Used 0.4 oz Magnum @ 30 for 28 IBU, and 0.5 oz Kent Goldings @ 20 for 11 IBU
S-04, first week temps around 60F to 64F, then another week around 68 to 70F

2.7 gallons into the fermenter, og: 1.065, fg: 1.016, abv: 6.3%, ibu: 39, bu/gu: 0.6

This beer was really good at one week in the bottle, and it's fantastic at 8 weeks in the bottle. I have made it twice since, giving it a touch more roast (changed 4 oz midnite wheat to: 2 oz midnite wheat + 2 oz roasted barley 300srm), and another 0.5 oz KG once cooled to 175F. I call it a "smooth porter", cuz it doesn't have the rough roasty bite that a robust porter does.