Please Help "Decode" Recipe

[grantopia]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to homebrewing but wanted to make this Christmas beer recipe I found online. I need some help "translating" into something I can follow step by step. I'm assuming the steeping refers to the hops? And I didn't see any reference to the amount of yeast and when to add the vanilla. Anyone with more experience mind helping out??? Please

Bad Santa
(5 gallon/19-L, extract
with grains)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%

Ingredients
7.5 lbs. (3.4 kg) light dried malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Steep grains in 3.0 qts. (2.8 L) of water at 152 °F (67 °C) for 45 minutes. Boil for 60 minutes, initially reserving half of the malt extract. Remove 2 qts. (2 L) of wort and steep cherries. Add remaining malt extract and maple syrup with 15 minutes left in the boil. Add cherry steeping wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.

 

[Ridire]

Steeping refers to the grains, not the hops. Steep grains in 3 quarts of water at 152 degrees for 45 minutes just means to soak your grains (probably in a hop bag) in 152 degree water for 45 minutes.

The hop additions are indicated next to the hops in the recipe...60 minutes, for example, means to add hops with 60 minutes left in the boil.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to homebrewing but wanted to make this Christmas beer recipe I found online. I need some help "translating" into something I can follow step by step. I'm assuming the steeping refers to the hops? And I didn't see any reference to the amount of yeast and when to add the vanilla. Anyone with more experience mind helping out??? Please

Bad Santa
(5 gallon/19-L, extract
with grains)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%

Ingredients
7.5 lbs. (3.4 kg) light dried malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Steep grains in 3.0 qts. (2.8 L) of water at 152 °F (67 °C) for 45 minutes. Boil for 60 minutes, initially reserving half of the malt extract. Remove 2 qts. (2 L) of wort and steep cherries. Add remaining malt extract and maple syrup with 15 minutes left in the boil. Add cherry steeping wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.

No you will need to soak (steep) the cherries to rehydrate them as they are dried.

Wyeast 1084 comes in a smack pack.

Dry spices added to fermenter after primary fermentation has taken place.

 

[Ridire]

Also , pay attention to the temperature of the steep. This is not an arbitrary number. I didn't look at your grain bill in detail but if any of your fermentables are coming from the grain (similar to doing all grain), then this temperature determines how well the converted sugars will ferment.

Further "decoding": when you see all grain guys talk about a "mash", they are essentially doing this steeping step in order to extract and convert sugars from the grains...this sugars are equivalent to your extract.

If the steep (or mash) temperature is too high, the sugars produced will not be the kind the yeast can ferment, resulting in lower ABV and higher sweetness from sugar remaining unfermented in the beer.

 

[grantopia]

Thanks! That is super helpful. Maybe I'm missing something...but what grains are being referred to here? The dry malt?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks! That is super helpful. Maybe I'm missing something...but what grains are being referred to here? The dry malt?

The dry malt is extract.

The grains are listed in your recipe.
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt

 

[grantopia]

Thank you so much - this one looks simple enough for me but just far outside of my comfort zone to make it exciting! And Homer and Red Green pics in the same thread - great day!

 

[unionrdr]

I'm concerned that You use real maple syrup or at least a syrup with no preservatives that'll mess with the yeast or at the least not ferment. also odd that the only hops listed are the bittering hops. I'm not sure the cinnamon & vanilla bean can carry it. And being steepable malts,they're already converted or just give color,so mash temps don't apply 100%.

 

[Yooper]

I'm concerned that You use real maple syrup or at least a syrup with no preservatives that'll mess with the yeast or at the least not ferment. also odd that the only hops listed are the bittering hops. I'm not sure the cinnamon & vanilla bean can carry it. And being steepable malts,they're already converted or just give color,so mash temps don't apply 100%.

Munich malt is a base malt. The temperature of the steep (mash) does apply. It's pretty common in spice beers and malty beers to not have any hops additions besides the bittering addition.

You've got pretty good directions there, so just follow them step-by-step and don't deviate and you'll be fine.

 

[JimRausch]

Grantopia:
To further confuse your day, with an OG of 1.085, one Wyeast smackpack will not be enough yeast. Mr.Malty says you will need 289billion cells, and 1 smackpack usually has 100billion. So, either make a starter(but it sounds like you're not ready for that), or use three packs. OR, skip the liquid yeast for this one, and pitch 2 dry yeast packs.

 

[unionrdr]

Munich malt is a base malt. The temperature of the steep (mash) does apply. It's pretty common in spice beers and malty beers to not have any hops additions besides the bittering addition.

You've got pretty good directions there, so just follow them step-by-step and don't deviate and you'll be fine.

Ah. I was thinking of a munich malt I saw that's a crystal or other. Must've gotten the names mixed up in my mind...

 

[jnr1005]

Just made that recipe last weekend. Wort tastes amazing! If you search, there is a thread on here for Bad Santa with a lot of good reading. (I think under the recipe forums).

Anyhow, one tip on the forum was to add the syrup at flame out..otherwise you really loose the flavor. Another was to soak your vanilla bean in vodka for the "extract". Doing both, so we will see how it turns out in a few weeks.

PS, keep the cherries for use with the spent grains...makes amazing bread and even after "steeping" the cherries still had some flavor. Making a cherry nut bread with them.

Good luck!

 

[TheLateJC]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to homebrewing but wanted to make this Christmas beer recipe I found online. I need some help "translating" into something I can follow step by step. I'm assuming the steeping refers to the hops? And I didn't see any reference to the amount of yeast and when to add the vanilla. Anyone with more experience mind helping out??? Please

Bad Santa
(5 gallon/19-L, extract
with grains)
OG = 1.085 FG = 1.018
IBU = 40 ABV = 8.6%

Ingredients
7.5 lbs. (3.4 kg) light dried malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) Carahell® malt (19 °L)
0.50 lb. (0.45 kg) CaraMunich® malt (30–40 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
13 fl. oz. (384 mL) maple syrup
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) dried cherries
12 AAU US Northern Brewer hops (60 mins)
(1 oz./28 g of 12% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale) yeast
1 vanilla bean (split)
3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches, broken into pieces)

Step by Step
Steep grains in 3.0 qts. (2.8 L) of water at 152 °F (67 °C) for 45 minutes. Boil for 60 minutes, initially reserving half of the malt extract. Remove 2 qts. (2 L) of wort and steep cherries. Add remaining malt extract and maple syrup with 15 minutes left in the boil. Add cherry steeping wort at end of boil. Ferment at 62–64 °F (17–18 °C). Dry spice in secondary for 2–3 weeks.

Planning to brew this tomorrow but I had a few questions. First, in all my past brews, I've always steeped with about 3 gallons of water for a partial mash. 3 quarts seems like a tiny amount of water to steep in. Also, if the final volume is 5 gallons, when do you add the other 4.25 gallons. Directly into the fermenter? Finally, I accidentally got LME instead of DME. Is there a ratio of LME to DME I could use or do I need to save the LME for another brew and head back to the store to get DME?

 

[unionrdr]

Ok,first of all,what you're doing IS NOT mashing or partial mash. With crystal grains & the like in 3G of water,you're steeping.
Mashing involves more precise water amounts & base grains that need their starches converted to sugars. 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grains,with a mix of base grains,crystal,caramel,specialty grains,etc. then you have to keep it at,say 153F for the one hour mash. It's def more involved than steeping.

 

[TheLateJC]

Fair enough. So if I start with 3 qts, do I have to attempt to mimic a lauter tank and sparge the mash with hot water? Would I add the additional 4.25 gallons then or just some portion of it? Presumably since the nextstep is boiling, I'd want to use the hottest water I can.

 

[unionrdr]

Sparging with 168F water is what I use. I sparge to boil volume,which for me is 3.5-3.75 gallons in a 5 gallon kettle. Rinsing the grains to get to boil volume is better than toping off the kettle with water.