my 1st recipe

[2talljones]

So I wrote my 1st recipe. I have brewed a lot of other people recipes and did them as is or tweaked them some but I am venturing into a new territory. I have this one on the beersmith cloud but I am looking for your thoughts/advice. I have the base grains and hops currently which is why I am sticking with using these items. Why is there such a difference between the estimated ABV and actual ABV? (The experimental hop was purchased from Nikobrew and is an apollo crossbreed)


Whammy! IPA
American IPA (14 B)
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.22 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 5.72 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.00 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
Date: 25 Jan 2016
Brewer: Ivory Duke Brewing
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Duke's brewing
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 74.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
0.25 oz Experimental hop 07270 [16.60 %] - First Wort 60.0 min
0.75 oz Experimental hop 07270 [16.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Zythos [8.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min
0.25 oz Zythos [8.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)
1.00 oz Cascade [7.10 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days
Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color
Est Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Bitterness: 65.9 IBUs
Est Color: 10.6 SRM
Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Sparge Water: 3.57 gal
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs 12.0 oz
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 17.19 qt of water at 167.9 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 3.57 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Keg
Pressure/Weight: 12.54 PSI
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 45.0 F
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Keg with 12.54 PSI
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 65.0 F

 

[bransona]

Alright, so I don't know what you're gunning for, but a precursory glance says:

1) Your ibu ratio is high, imo. With that tiny og, those ibus are gonna do some damage. which leads me to
2) The bittering schedule is ridiculous. You should stick to your fwh up to X amount of your ibu, finish it all off in a big ol' hopstand/whirlpool of Y ibu that adds up to your desired ibu Z. The 30 and 20 minute additions are gratuitous. I would bump the whole oz of bittering to fwh and all the flavoring to hopstand for a half hour. I don't know the flavors of your first two hops, but the dry hop looks good.

Now these are just based on my tastes. I would much rather have a balanced bitterness with massive hop flavor, be it juicy, herbal, spicy, etc. Just lots of flavor. I always brew with that in mind and have found that I get much hoppier beers than commercial examples. My most recent ipa had 5x the amount of bittering and dry hop combined in the hopstand. Lended some huge flavor and no harsh bitterness, largely due to using strictly fwh for bittering. I've also brewed 100+ ibu monsters, which, while delicious, didn't deliver as much hop flavor per se. (I think moops wrote an article on hopstand additions, so try searching through the hbt articles for "not your father's ipa)

I'm rambling, but I hope it helps somehow Hope your first scratch recipe goes well!

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

I assume this is a Beersmith printout and everything with "Actual" in the name is the program's default value rather than what you actually measured, right?

 

[2talljones]

Thanks for your input bransona. I appreciate your technical thoughts. I will look at upping the first wort hop and moving all flavoring hops to the 30 minute mark.
Iguana you are correct that I copy pasted the beer smith print out to add here

 

[chickypad]

Thanks for your input bransona. I appreciate your technical thoughts. I will look at upping the first wort hop and moving all flavoring hops to the 30 minute mark.

Not the 30 min mark in the boil, that will be mostly bittering. bransona meant to move all those middle additions to after flameout for a 30 min hopstand (you can partially chill to around 160* if you want before adding the hops to help preserve aroma). You've got no late boil additions and a fairly small dry hop, so as mentioned it will be bitter but not very IPA like in hop flavor and aroma. If it were me I'd go at least a few oz for the hopstand, and I'd also up the dry hop an oz or two. You can throw in another oz or two if you want at 5-10 min.