My first recipe! Tips??

[wallawallabrewer]

This is the first recipe I've come up with and I'm gonna brew it soon. I was hoping to get some tips before I make it though. I'm not really sure what style this gonna be... just hoping it will be a nice balanced ale.

3 gallon boil for a 7 gallon batch.

1 lbs carapils steeping grains

6 lbs MO LME @ 60
3lbs Pilsen DME @ 60

1 oz Centenniel @ 60
1 oz Cascade @ 40
1 oz Cascade @ 30
1 oz Cascade @ 20
1 oz Cascade @ 10
1 oz Cascade dry hop

1 whir floc tablet @ 10

Safale US-05 Ale Dry Yeast

2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 2 weeks in bottles (with priming sugar)

So what do you think? I appreciate any thoughts.

 

[ProblemChild]

hop additions at 40 and 30 might do better later on

I would take the 60 min addition up to 1.25 - 1.5 oz depending on AA to get IBU, then hold hopping till 20 min left and after.

Additionally, I would put the bulk of the hops at 2 min and dryhop.

Don't get me wrong, that recipe will work out fine. i.e. 60 min IPA hops constantly over 60 min.

Still - since it is your first recipe - simplify the process. Additions between 60 and 20 are more bittering than anything. At 60 - all bittering. as it approaches 20, it goes toward flavor. 40 minutes especially is kind of a no-man's land.

 

[Pappers_]

Looks good.

If you're looking for a 'balanced ale', I suspect this will be balanced more towards hop bitterness than malt. You would need to run the numbers through brewing software to see for sure, but you've got 4 ounces of hops providing a lot of bitterness (from 60 - 20 minutes). If you're looking for a hop and bitterness forward beer, that's not a bad thing. It depends on what you're looking for.

Agreed about simplifying the hop schedule, perhaps. 60, 20, 15, 10 and five minute additions are what I usually do for an American Pale Ale.

Also, I'm not sure that steeping the carapils will do much for you. Extract batches usually don't lack for body, which is what carapils does for you. I also think it won't do any harm to steep carapils.

Good luck with your first recipe - let us know how things turn out!

 

[stz]

I too would ditch the carapils. It has a minor purpose to bring up the FG and promote head retention (debatable), but the method by which is brings up FG doesn't exactly taste of anything and extract usually finishes high anyway. You might want to play with it though for the sake of a steeping grain.

Everybody has their own method for hopping and it is more fake ocd that requires me to follow certain rules (we all do 'rules', 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, are all arbitrary, why not 33, 26 and so on?). But generally while there is a certain pleasure in hopping a beer every 5 minutes, I lean towards a cheap bittering hop, a 15 or 10 minute (rare), a knock out with or without a hop stand and/or recirculation to bring the temperature down with or without a hop stand.

I would save the centennial for the end because I like centennial? I understand if you are using it to bitter though because of the AA. I would do what you want for most of the IBU's at 60 and the rest at flame out with a 30 minute hop stand before transfer depending on chilling and collection speed. That way you get the required bittering and you get most of the aroma potential. There is something to be said for boiling hops though and a deeper character does come through splitting additions. But 10 minutes is enough for me when I use it, often knock out and hop stand is enough for me. Recirculation and low temperature addition followed by immediate transfer is the alternative.

 

[wallawallabrewer]

Thank you both very much! I think I’ll take your advice on the hops. I don’t want to completely over power all of those breadier/malty notes from the MO.