Need Recipe Advice

[mmc1]

I picked up the wrong kit a couple of days ago and didn't realize until after I opened it. It is a Brewer's Best American Micro Style Pale Ale. It includes: 2 cans of Munton's light malt extract 3.3 - lbs each, 1.5 ounces of cascade bittering hops, 1.5 ounces of williamette finishing hops, and 12 ounces of crushed crystal 60L malt. Now being that I don't really care for a pale ale, I thought about trying to make a honey ale using .5 ounces of the cascade bittering hops and .5 ounce of the williamette finishing hops, and adding 1 lb of honey at the end of the boil. Since I am new to this, I don't know if I will be using enough of the hops to balance out the sweetness of the honey. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nallanrex]

Well I put your numbers into beer smith. How long do you boil the hops for? Boil size? Final volume?

I put down 60 min for the cascade and 5 min for the williamette. I did a boil size of 5gal and a final volume of 5gal.

With the honey and .5 oz of cascade and williamette i get an IBU/SG of .211
OG 1.055 SG of 1.014

With the pale ale using 1.5 oz of cascade and williamette i get an IBU/SG of .721
OG 1.048 SG 1.013
Now it will change if the boil size is different or the final size is different.

Based on my other recipes I would say that .211 is low, and may not give you the bitterness you want. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in.



-Nick

 

[mmc1]

Thanks nallanrex , I forgot the hops schedule and boil/batch size but you are correct on everything except I do a 2 gallon boil. That does sound low. I was hoping for something along Newcastle bitterness level.

 

[nallanrex]

OK with the 2 gal boil

with .5 oz of cascade(60min) and .5 oz of williamette(5min) and added honey (1lbs)gives you IBU/SG .110

with 1.5 oz of cascade(60min) and 1.5 oz of williamette(5 min) and no honey gives you IBU/SG .377

with 1.5 oz of cascade(60 min) and 1.5 oz of williamette(5min) and added honey (1lbs) gives you IBU/SG .330

If your new to this it is a good idea to make the recipe the way it is supposed to be made. But if you really want to add the honey I wouldn't change the hop schedule.

Good luck in whatever you decide and keep us posted on how it turns out!



-Nick

 

[mmc1]

nallanrex, I have never seen IBU's expressed as .377 the books I have express them as 25.5 , 30 ect.. is this a different unit? I would leave the recipe alone if I would drink it but I just don't like that much bitterness. Thanks for your help.

 

[nallanrex]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/aberdeen-brown-ale-newcastle-clone-ag-36912/

I found this recipe. I get IBU/SG .463.

If you put in 2.2 oz of cascade(60 min) 1.5 oz of williamette(5 min) and use the honey(1lbs). I get IBU/SG .459.

Now these are just numbers in Beer Smith. I have no idea how well it would actually taste. I would still suggest to just make the recipe as is. Then after you've made someone elses good beer to tinker around with your own thing.

You don't want to make a bad batch of something and have to ask yourself "is it bad cause of my recipe or my process?"

But ill still be your friend if you choose to ride the wild side. Especially if it turns out good



-Nick

 

[nallanrex]

nallanrex, I have never seen IBU's expressed as .377 the books I have express them as 25.5 , 30 ect.. is this a different unit? I would leave the recipe alone if I would drink it but I just don't like that much bitterness. Thanks for your help.

It's the IBU per Specific gravity ratio.

with the 2 gal boil

the original recipe is 18.1 IBU

the recipe with honey and .5 oz of cascade and williamette is 6.1 IBU

the recipe with honey and 1.5 oz of cascade and williamette is 18.1 IBU

with honey and 2.2 oz of cascade and 1.5 oz of williamette is 25.2 IBU



-Nick

 

[Smurfe]

Did you buy it at a local shop? Maybe they will let you return it. I was wondering what type of beer did you want? Maybe you can pick up some adjuncts at a local shop to make something different.

 

[mmc1]

Did you buy it at a local shop? Maybe they will let you return it. I was wondering what type of beer did you want? Maybe you can pick up some adjuncts at a local shop to make something different.

No not a local shop we were on a trip an stopped at a shop. He had just gotten a order in and had several boxes that he hadn't unpacked so I grab 3 out of one box that were supposed to all be English Brown Ale which I have made before. When I got them home I discovered one of them was a pale ale.

Thanks for the info Nick still haven't decided what I'll do yet but I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[mmc1]

Nick your numbers and the ones on the kit instuctions are way different.
They have a starting gravity of 1.050 to 1.055 with a IBU of 40 to 60.
But your numbers are correct using the formula in my book I come up the same as you. That is strange because the numbers that they have listed on the other kits I have come up very close to what I figure.
Thats why I was thinking it would be pretty bitter looking at the IBUs they supplied. Here is a link to the ingredients/instructions

http://www.ldcarlson.com/public%20catalog/Brewers%20Best%20Recipes/1013%20Micro%20Style%20Pale%20Ale.pdf

 

[nallanrex]

Well i double checked everything and i still get 18.1 IBU instructions says 40-60 IBU.


I checked out there English Pale Ale OG of 1.042 and IBU 15.2. Instructions say OG 1.044-1.048 and IBU 20-40. The OG is close enough but the hops seem to be out. But not as bad as The American Pale Ale. No wonder you were worried.

http://www.ldcarlson.com/public catalog/Brewers Best Recipes/1006 Classic English Pale Ale.pdf

I guess you'll have to contact them and see whats up.


Can anyone else run this in beer smith to make sure i don't have a setting wrong.



-Nick

 

[mmc1]

Well called Carlson today and they ran the numbers and came up with 46. So I downloaded Beersmith and I came up with 18.5 for a 2 gal boil and 36.2 for a 5 gal boil.
I didn't realise that it would be that big of a difference with different boil sizes. I guess I'm gonna make it as is with a 2 gal boil and see how it comes out.

 

[Smurfe]

One of those brand lists the IBU's as HBU's I believe. A guy I work with does extract kits. He came by the station a couple weeks ago with the brew sheet for an IPA kit. It listed the Hop Bittering something like 15 or in that range. I am pretty sure this was a kit Crosby and Baker sell as the local brew shop gets all their supplies from them. They use another rating scale for measuring bittering

 

[nallanrex]

Beer Smith uses the Tinseth equation to figure out IBU. Brewers best must use one of the other ones. Rager, Garetz or Generic.

So I guess that's why we get different numbers.




-Nick