My First AG Recipe- your thoughts?

[BrewinBama]

Greetings, Fellow Brewers!

So, I'm a Newbie....but I had this hair-brained idea to create my own recipe for my first AG batch. First let me say, the Denny Conn batch sparge method was so easy, I have no idea why I was doing extract kits!! Anyway, I have a week left in the primary on this batch and I was wondering if you real brewers might have some analysis of what you think I could do different or better:

Best Yorkshire Bitter
Special/Best/Premium Bitter
5 gallons
All Grain
1.052~OG → 1.016~FG → 4.7%ABV 49 IBU 10.8°L SRM
Yeast
Wyeast - 1469 4.23 ounces


Fermentables
9 pounds
Maris Otter- 7 pounds 77.8%
Sugar - Corn- 1 pound 11.1%
Crystal 120L- 8 ounces 5.6%
Wheat- 8 ounces 5.6%


Miscellaneous
Whirfloc 10 min

Batch/Fly 7.12 gallons
Strike- 152°F 3 gallons at 60 minutes
Sparge- 4.12 gallons at 170°F

Boil
1 hour, 5.83 gallons
Fuggles Pellet 1.5 ounces 60 minutes (+0)
Goldings (Kent) Pellet 1 ounce 45 minutes (+15)
Goldings (Styrian) Pellet 1 ounce 10 minutes (+50)
Fuggles Pellet 0.5 ounces 5 minutes (+55)

 

[Jayhem]

1. That's gonna be super bitter!

2. With AG there is almost never a reason to add sugar to the fermentables. If you want a drier beer just mash at a lower temp (148-150) and mash at 152-155 for a more malty beer. The only time sugar is really appropriate is on big IPA's and Belgians.

 

[losMythos]

The only thing I see that might be a problem is your strike temp. If that's your mash temp then OK but to achieve that your strike temp should be around 168 f. Looks good though. Good luck with it.

 

[losMythos]

1. That's gonna be super bitter!

2. With AG there is almost never a reason to add sugar to the fermentables. If you want a drier beer just mash at a lower temp (148-150) and mash at 152-155 for a more malty beer. The only time sugar is really appropriate is on big IPA's and Belgians.

^^ agree. No way that's gonna be 49IBU.

 

[BrewinBama]

The only thing I see that might be a problem is your strike temp. If that's your mash temp then OK but to achieve that your strike temp should be around 168 f. Looks good though. Good luck with it.

I guess I notated that wrong. 152 was the sacch rest temp. The strike temp was 168.

 

[BrewinBama]

1. That's gonna be super bitter!

2. With AG there is almost never a reason to add sugar to the fermentables. If you want a drier beer just mash at a lower temp (148-150) and mash at 152-155 for a more malty beer. The only time sugar is really appropriate is on big IPA's and Belgians.

So, I guess I'll be puckering through this batch!!!:cross:

 

[BrewinBama]

Alright, so I've brewed fermented and bottled this beer and first, it is no where near as bitter as I imagined it would be. Second, I over did it with the sugar and ended with a FG of 1.007 (target was 1.014) and a slightly watery mouth feel. Third, and this is the strange part, there is a distinct finish that tastes like I'm eating the grains raw, out of my hand. I swear it tastes exactly like the grain bill smelled prior to mashing! It's slightly burnt tasting, too, although that is not as noticeable and doesn't survive the bitterness of the finish. The aroma is fantastic, but the finish is...well, weird!

Any thoughts?

 

[opiate82]

I get a lot of biscuit notes from Marris Otter, maybe that is what you are tasting?

For my IPA's I usually use mostly 2-Row for my base malt with maybe 10% MO to get subtle versions of those notes.

 

[JustLooking]

2. With AG there is almost never a reason to add sugar to the fermentables. If you want a drier beer just mash at a lower temp (148-150) and mash at 152-155 for a more malty beer. The only time sugar is really appropriate is on big IPA's and Belgians.

BJCP Guidelines:

Ingredients: Pale ale, amber, and/or crystal malts, may use a touch of black malt for color adjustment. May use sugar adjuncts, corn or wheat. English hops most typical, although American and European varieties are becoming more common (particularly in the paler examples). Characterful English yeast. Often medium sulfate water is used.

 

[BrewinBama]

I get a lot of biscuit notes from Marris Otter, maybe that is what you are tasting?

For my IPA's I usually use mostly 2-Row for my base malt with maybe 10% MO to get subtle versions of those notes.

Maybe it is biscuit , but it's a biscuit that hasn't been cooked yet!!:cross: This is actually a Best Bitter or even an ESB depending on the IBU (which turned out way lower than expected) so I looked at what some of the great breweries of West Yorkshire use (Timothy Taylor, Samuel Smith's, etc. etc.) and decided on MO instead of Golden Promise to increase the maltiness. The slight burnt flavor is confusing me, too. Sanitation was good, mash temps stayed at 151* the entire 60 minutes, the iodine test passed, I had great OG (1.057), I don't think I over sparged, but I get a hint of burnt grain on the finish just before the dry bitterness closes out the sip....odd.

 

[BrewinBama]

So here we are 2 weeks passed bottling and what a difference a little time makes! The burnt flavor is completely gone and the bitterness has stepped up to the plate! The biscuit has fully cooked and I understand now, why people are in love with Maris Otter grains! There is a depth to the grain character that we've eliminated from our alchoholic hop-pony IPAs and APAs. Don't get me wrong, I dream about good blow-your-socks-off Pale Ales and spend not a little bit of money searching the craft brew section for my next high-alpha hop fix. But it's good to savor a simple grain bill that has multi-faceted tastes and finishes a mile from where it started. Speaking of hops... I've gotten so used to the Citras and Centennials and the Willamettes with their bright citrus tastes, that it's hard to appreciate the more brown, earthy fuggles and goldings. These sedated english hops are not as showy, not as narcissistic as their American cousins or as pompous as their continental spin-offs; they just show up, make a statement and, in proper gentlemen's fashion, leave exactly at the appropriate time.

When I brew this again (oh, yes I am brewing this again!!) I'll leave out the sugar that I put in for dryness. It did exactly what I wanted it to do, but I think I'd like this brew without the dryness just as well and then it might not over-attenuate!

Overall, a wonderful experience- growing out of the extract crib and walking with the "real brewers."

 

[opiate82]

Sometimes that magic ingredient is simply time. Glad it turned out, sounds like you got a great beer and learned a lot in the process as well.