Need input to fix recipe

[tyso22]

Hey everyone,

Had some left over grains after brewing a few batches of beer with a friend. I ended up with 2 bags that had 11lbs of 2-row and 1.5lbs of caramel 30L. Way too much caramel, I know but figured we would try it. Well I brewed the first batch using all centennial hops (1oz at 60 min then mostly late hop additions and flame out additions). Used an oz for dry hopping as well. Beer turned out with great hop taste and aroma but was quite too sweet for my liking. I'm guessing this was due to the overuse of caramel 30L? If so, how do I fix this for the next batch? Use more hops at beginning of the boil to increase IBU or can I use something to cut down on the sweet taste otherwise? Thanks!

 

[jtratcliff]

13% crystal malt isn't a horrible percentage... What was your mash temp? OG? FG? IBUs?

You could mash cooler to dry it out more, or up the IBUs to balance the maltinesss..

 

[tyso22]

Mash temp was a steady 154F for 60min. OG was 1.060 and final was about 1.010 and IBU as per BrewSmith was about 57. I just cracked another one and head formation and retention was good, carbonation was great, aroma was also great. I definitely think I will go with your suggestion on upping the IBUs though as I can really notice how little bitterness there is now and how pronounced the maltiness is.

What would you recommend as a mash temp and is adding 2oz of hops @ 60min adding too much bitterness?

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

I dunno, 13% crystal sounds like a lot for most ales.
I just skimmed a half-dozen of my APA and IPA recipes and the max was 7.2% crystal and that was a DIPA.
Most of my ale recipes are 5% crystal or less...

Cheers!

 

[jtratcliff]

is adding 2oz of hops @ 60min adding too much bitterness?

depends on the AA% of the hops

 

[jtratcliff]

I dunno, 13% crystal sounds like a lot for most ales.

Yeah, perhaps not ideal but not horrible necessarily...

I've heard people throw around 15-20% as a max amount of crystal in the grain bill...

I prefer ales on the maltier end (except IPAs), so 13% doesn't seem too bad...

Another thought would be to add some dextrose or honey to dry it out further....

 

[z-bob]

What yeast did you use?

 

[tyso22]

Yeah, perhaps not ideal but not horrible necessarily...

I've heard people throw around 15-20% as a max amount of crystal in the grain bill...

I prefer ales on the maltier end (except IPAs), so 13% doesn't seem too bad...

Another thought would be to add some dextrose or honey to dry it out further....

I was thinking of tossing in some dextrose to the next batch in addition to upping the IBUs. Would around 1lbs (approx 8% in this recipe) be enough to accomplish this?

 

[jrgtr42]

Personally I would start by dropping the mash temp to about 150.
I don't use much different grain bill for my IPAs, 12 - 14 lbs of 2 row and a pound of Crystal 40 depending on how big I want to go. I find this gets where I want to go depending on the hop sched.