My first recipe

[forrest1984]

Hi, firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong section of the forum, it's my first post on here. I've been reading a while but have only just got onto all grain brewing. If I'm in the wrong place, please feel free to redirect me, I'm not used to posting in forums at all, never mind this one.

Basically, I've done one all grain brew which has worked out pretty well and know where I went wrong. Due to stock limitations of local brewing shops, I've not been able to get hold of exact ingredients for any recipes I've found either on the internet or in my book so I've kind of come up with my own (which is probably a little ambitious given my lack of experience, I know!).

Anyway, I'm after a hoppy beer that's quite light but with a bit of colour and head and from my limited knowledge, ice come up with the below. I was just wondering if anyone could give an experienced eye to the recipe and point out if I'm planning on doing anything stupid that isn't going to work!

Recipe:

5kg Maris otter
125g crystal malt
125g Torrified wheat

1 hour boil

14g Amarillo 9.47% 60 min
10g chinook 12.5% 45 min
10g Amarillo 15 min
10g chinook 15 min
20g Amarillo 1 min
20g chinook 1 min
30g cascade 9.2% dry hopped

Us west coast yeast

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

 

[IvanBrew]

The only thing that stands out for me is the terrified wheat, but then at 2.5% of the grist, it's not a big deal. Are you subbing that for another cara malt that you're having trouble finding?

What color crystal are you looking at? With such a small addition, you could go all the way up to 120L and still be on the low end of style guidelines for an American IPA.

If you want something "quite light," make sure you mash this at the low end of the temp range. Also, oxygenate well and pitch an appropriate amount of healthy yeast. Beersmith estimates your OG at 1.059-1.063 (68-72% eff.) That's lots of sugars for the yeasties to chew on and you'll want them happy and healthy to start the job.

On the dry hop, I'd consider going heavier, but that's a huge matter of personal preference. I'd use 2-3 times the amount in your recipe. Actually, I'd probably stick with what you have, but add an equal amount of Amarillo...

 

[forrest1984]

Thanks for the reply Ivan. With regard to the crystal malt and torrified wheat, I've got some wheat left over for my previous brew and I bought some crystal malt for this one, although there wasn't a choice in colour. Perhaps I should ditch the wheat and add more crystal? My normal shop is shut for a holiday and the closest other one didn't have a huge selection of malts/grains.

More than happy to go with your recommendation of more Amarillo in the dry hop, got enough spare so will do that!

With regard to yeast, of all the brewing it's probably the area that I'm weakest in in terms of knowledge. I have a dried sachet of 10g (0.35oz) of west coast yeast, is that enough, or would you recommend more?

And one final question, this 'beersmith estimates', is that a website or something where one can input a recipe and it gives and indication as to the og?

Many thanks for your help, much appreciated!

 

[And1129]

Hi Forrest, recipe looks ok. You might consider using a "wheat malt" instead of torrified wheat as you should get more sugars from malted wheat. The wheat is a good idea in any case as i've found it will usually add good head retention qualities. Also, that amount of crystal malt will probably be fine, but i've found adding crystal in an IPA recipie tends to make is sweeter than i'd like, which is not good for an IPA, so i've found that using Munich malt instead of crystal will give you the similar color you're looking for but will ferment out much drier. One last thing, if you can find it, try using Wyeast 1056 for your pale ales and IPAs, it's great! Good luck!

 

[IvanBrew]

Again a matter of personal taste, but I like a bit of crystal in my pales. Most (myself included) recommend keeping it below 5% of grist, and you're at half that.

On the yeast: One 11.5g pack should be fine. You'll be under pitching just slightly, and you're better off to do that than over pitch. The key question is "how viable is your yeast?" Is there a date on the pack? Has it been stored in a refrigerator it's whole life? If it's within date and has been kept cold, it's fine. If it's out of date and/or has been at room temperature for weeks/months, try to find new yeast.

That strain should be fine for an American style IPA. I really like Fermentis S-04 & S-05 too. The strain And1129 mentioned is another winner.

 

[chickypad]

The torrified wheat is fine to use for a little body and head retention (it actually has about the same potential a wheat malt, just no diastatic power). In fact I think you could double that. I also agree a little crystal is fine, especially since you don't have any other character malts there. I don't always use it in IPA's but usually do in pales. Not knowing your efficiency I guess it's hard to know where you are between those 2 styles. Do you know what efficiency you got on your first batch? Beersmith is a poplar software program for sale, but there are others online like brewers friend, brewtoad, etc. I'm also wondering where your IBU's are coming out, I do think it would be good to plug your recipe in and get some numbers.

 

[IvanBrew]

The torrified wheat is fine to use for a little body and head retention (it actually has about the same potential a wheat malt, just no diastatic power). In fact I think you could double that. I also agree a little crystal is fine, especially since you don't have any other character malts there. I don't always use it in IPA's but usually do in pales. Not knowing your efficiency I guess it's hard to know where you are between those 2 styles. Do you know what efficiency you got on your first batch? Beersmith is a poplar software program for sale, but there are others online like brewers friend, brewtoad, etc. I'm also wondering where your IBU's are coming out, I do think it would be good to plug your recipe in and get some numbers.

I didn't save the file, but when I ran it through Beersmith earlier (to help comment on the grist) I think IBU's were around 48.

It's a bit on the low side, but it's within profile. For my tastes, you could certainly bump up

 

[forrest1984]

Thanks for all your input on this guys. The brew seemed to go well (although I used too much water for the sparge).

It's been conditioning for nearly two weeks and I did my first hydrometer test today, hoping to bottle on Sunday I think.

Will let you know the results!


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