I came across a reference to a Kentucky Common from a YouTube video and did a small amount of google-foo to get a better idea of what they were talking about. Well it turns out HBT's own member Revvy played a part in bringing this style back to life. (please see his original recipe here )
The BJCP guidelines for the style can be found here
At the same time I was messing around with ChatGPT and asked it for a recipe suggestion and this is what it gave me:
Batch Size: 5 gal into fermenter
Boil Time: 60 min
Efficiency: ~70%
Grain Bill
Mash Schedule
Hops
Yeast
With the Blackprinz, you’ll hit the classic amber-brown look, but avoid any acrid roast. Combined with the biscuit malt, you’ll have a nice grainy-toast depth with crisp corn smoothness.
If you've made it this far you're probably saying "CJ, those ChatGPT numbers don't look right. And I agree, according to Brewer's Friend it should have been an OG of 1.052 versus the 1.046 listed above, IBU's would have been closer to 26.71, and the SRM should be 20.04 . Always a good idea to double check against an AI but this recipe was as much in good fun as it was for accuracy. (Give a little on one side, take a little on another).
With the long Labor Day weekend, sounds like a great time to brew in my opinion, and I haven't done an all grain in over a year. With that said, Sunday afternoon we were up and running.
Crushed with my ugly corona mill. (I still love her after all these years and I swear that's grain dust on the bucket side, it's not paint!)
Mashing was 1 hour. The first 40 minutes had the majority of the grains and the corn, with the Black malt added at the last 20 to round out the hour.
Only one hop addition and it was at the start of the 60 minute boil. My LHBS was out of Cluster so I subbed in 5.8AA Wilmette in it's place.
After the boil it was taken inside to cool off. With my wort chiller and available ground temperature water I was able to get it cooled down to 90 degrees F and then put it in my fermentation chamber overnight to get to 64 degree F pitching temp. Added a pack of US-05 at 64 degrees and it's happily bubbling away as we speak.
My OG looks to be 1.046 so a bit low on efficiency according to Brewer's Friend, and spot on according to AI, so I'm satisfied.
Thank you for reading along about my day.
to you and I hope you have a great rest of your week!
The BJCP guidelines for the style can be found here
At the same time I was messing around with ChatGPT and asked it for a recipe suggestion and this is what it gave me:
🛠 Kentucky Common
Batch Type: Brew-In-A-BagBatch Size: 5 gal into fermenter
Boil Time: 60 min
Efficiency: ~70%
Targets
- OG: ~1.046
- FG: ~1.010–1.011
- ABV: ~4.6–4.8%
- IBU: ~20
- SRM: ~13 (deep amber-brown, smooth)
Grain Bill- 6 lbs (57%) American 2-Row Pale Malt (note: 6-row is historically more accurate but hard to get locally in my area)
- 2.5 lbs (24%) Flaked Corn
- 1 lb (10%) Caramel/Crystal 40L
- 0.5 lb (5%) Biscuit Malt
- 4 oz (2%) Caramel/Crystal 80L
- 4 oz (2%) Briess Blackprinz (Debittered Black Malt)
Mash Schedule- 148°F for 60 minutes (balanced body & fermentability)
- Add Blackprinz in the last 10–15 min of the mash (“capping”) for smooth color.
Hops- 1 oz Cluster (7% AA) @ 60 min → ~20 IBU
Yeast- US-05 (clean & neutral)
With the Blackprinz, you’ll hit the classic amber-brown look, but avoid any acrid roast. Combined with the biscuit malt, you’ll have a nice grainy-toast depth with crisp corn smoothness.If you've made it this far you're probably saying "CJ, those ChatGPT numbers don't look right. And I agree, according to Brewer's Friend it should have been an OG of 1.052 versus the 1.046 listed above, IBU's would have been closer to 26.71, and the SRM should be 20.04 . Always a good idea to double check against an AI but this recipe was as much in good fun as it was for accuracy. (Give a little on one side, take a little on another).
With the long Labor Day weekend, sounds like a great time to brew in my opinion, and I haven't done an all grain in over a year. With that said, Sunday afternoon we were up and running.
Crushed with my ugly corona mill. (I still love her after all these years and I swear that's grain dust on the bucket side, it's not paint!)
Mashing was 1 hour. The first 40 minutes had the majority of the grains and the corn, with the Black malt added at the last 20 to round out the hour.
Only one hop addition and it was at the start of the 60 minute boil. My LHBS was out of Cluster so I subbed in 5.8AA Wilmette in it's place.
After the boil it was taken inside to cool off. With my wort chiller and available ground temperature water I was able to get it cooled down to 90 degrees F and then put it in my fermentation chamber overnight to get to 64 degree F pitching temp. Added a pack of US-05 at 64 degrees and it's happily bubbling away as we speak.
My OG looks to be 1.046 so a bit low on efficiency according to Brewer's Friend, and spot on according to AI, so I'm satisfied.
Thank you for reading along about my day.
to you and I hope you have a great rest of your week!
