Recipe Advice

[stuknkrvl]

Hi all.

I'm trying to build a recipe for my first IRS. I'm using BeerSmith and trying to keep it simple. I took my recipe inspiration from Ray Daniels' book Designing Great Beer.

Noob that I am, I started off with the grist percentages that I figured out from Daniels and plugged those in to BeerSmith. Here's what I got...

5 Gallon batch

UK Pale 2-row - 16 lbs 1 oz (80%)
Chocolate Malt - 2 lbs 0.1 oz (10%)
Roasted Barley - 2 lbs 0.1 oz (10%)

Gives me an OG of 1.098. 90 minute boil, using cascades @70 min and liberty @15 minutes, shooting for 85 IBU. WLP004.

BeerSmith tells me that's too dark (63 SRM) for the BJCP (upper limit is 40 SRM) so I tweaked it around a bit and got this grain bill...

UKP2R - 17 lbs 7.8 oz (89.9%)
CM - 15.8 oz (5.1%)
RB - 15.8 oz (5.1%)

Gives me the same OG, IBU, and estimated ABV, just adjusts the color.

Here's the deal - I'm not entering any contests, so I really care nothing about the color.

I'm wondering if, in your experience, the different grain bills are going to make any big difference in flavor?

Would you do anything different to the recipe?

Like I say, I've never done this one before so I'm looking for a little guidance.

Thanks!

 

[MadHomebrewer]

I would add dark caramel malt. Here is kind of what I go by for formulating recipes. This is kind of a rough simplified guide, though.

Basic Beer Style Guide:

Pale ale: base malt plus a half-pound of caramel malt

Amber ale: pale ale plus a half-pound of dark caramel malt

Brown ale: pale ale plus a half-pound of chocolate malt

Porter: amber plus a half-pound of chocolate malt

Stout: porter plus a half-pound of roasted barley

 

[m00ps]

20% roasted malts is pretty excessive. IME, you can easily get a jet black appearance with 10% any dark roasted malt so I'd go with the 2nd bill. At 20%, it will be very very roasty. Id just round them up to 1lb each though. I know you want to keep it simple but subbing 8oz of something like biscuit, aromatic, caramunich, etc could add some complexity. Or maybe some munich malt instead of a few lbs of the pale malt

 

[stuknkrvl]

Thanks, everybody. Gonna take MadHomebrewer's advice and throw in a half pound of Crystal 80.

Cheers!

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Thanks, everybody. Gonna take MadHomebrewer's advice and throw in a half pound of Crystal 80.

Cheers!

Like m00ps said, you might also reduce your chocolate and barely a bit and maybe use crystal 120?

 

[Calypso]

Id just round them up to 1lb each though.

This. Fractions of ounces is not going to make the slightest difference. The lowest I generally go is 4 ounce increments, unless it's something where a little bit goes a long way (honey malt, dark grains in light beers, etc.)

 

[jamina1]

I would add dark caramel malt. Here is kind of what I go by for formulating recipes. This is kind of a rough simplified guide, though.

Basic Beer Style Guide:

Pale ale: base malt plus a half-pound of caramel malt

Amber ale: pale ale plus a half-pound of dark caramel malt

Brown ale: pale ale plus a half-pound of chocolate malt

Porter: amber plus a half-pound of chocolate malt

Stout: porter plus a half-pound of roasted barley

Thanks for these guidelines! I brew small batches, so is half pound still applicable here, or would I reduce further for smaller batches?

For example, is 3 pounds of grain too high for a 1.5 gallon batch?

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Thanks for these guidelines! I brew small batches, so is half pound still applicable here, or would I reduce further for smaller batches?



For example, is 3 pounds of grain too high for a 1.5 gallon batch?

This would be based on a 5 gallon batch. You would need to scale it down.

 

[stuknkrvl]

This. Fractions of ounces is not going to make the slightest difference. The lowest I generally go is 4 ounce increments, unless it's something where a little bit goes a long way (honey malt, dark grains in light beers, etc.)

So I hit my LHBS and here's what I ended up with -

UKP2R - 17.5 lbs
CM - 1 lb
RB - 1 lb
Crystal 80 - 0.5 lb

Bumped the OG to 1.100 and estimated ABV to 9.5%.

This is getting brewed Sunday. Thanks for all the advice. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Good luck! Yes, let us know how it turns out! Cheers!

 

[stuknkrvl]

Yesterday was brew day, ended up hitting 1.096 OG and twelve hours in it's going so strong it's blowing the lid off my bucket in spite of the blow off tube! Very excited about this one.

 

[stuknkrvl]

5 gallons in an eight gallon bucket. Fermentation gone wild!

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[stuknkrvl]

Three days in and already fermented out to 1.020! Smells like cocoa and has a coffee and cream/espresso thing going on. Very tasty. Gonna give it till the end of the week then rack it over in to a carboy to let it age for a couple months before I bottle it.

Thanks everybody for the recipe advice!

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[m00ps]

congrats it turned out. But why are you taking samples at day 3? Id recommend giving it at least 10 days before cracking the lid. It can be hard to resist, but itll make for better beer

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

congrats it turned out. But why are you taking samples at day 3? Id recommend giving it at least 10 days before cracking the lid. It can be hard to resist, but itll make for better beer

I agree. I don't open the fermenter until at least a week, perhaps even two.

 

[stuknkrvl]

congrats it turned out. But why are you taking samples at day 3? Id recommend giving it at least 10 days before cracking the lid. It can be hard to resist, but itll make for better beer

Good old fashioned impatience. Again, first time I've used a starter, so first time I've had anything ferment this vigorously, and since my airlock was bubbling substantially less than the day before I got curious.

I'll leave them be in the future. I know better, just couldn't help myself this time.

Cheers!

 

[stuknkrvl]

Update! -

FG 1.014, 10.76% according to Brewer's friend abv calculator. Smells fantastic, like caramel and figs. Still uber boozey, but I know that will mellow out in a few months in the bottle.

Thanks for all the advice! I'm excited about this one!

Cheers!

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[stuknkrvl]

Two weeks after bottling. Quite boozey right now, but tastes so good! Lots of chocolate/cocoa and as it warms up a bit I get notes of licorice.

Patience isn't my biggest virtue, gonna be a bit of a struggle to let this age properly but I'm sure it's gonna be worth it.

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[RmikeVT]

I have a RIS that has been aging in my basement since March. I have it sitting on 2oz of oak. It has been pretty difficult to leave them alone. Trust me on this, hide a few bottles from yourself and let it get 9+ months on it. You will thank yourself. In the meantime brew something you can drink in 4 weeks and won't benefit from aging, like a pale ale or IPA.

 

[stuknkrvl]

I have a RIS that has been aging in my basement since March. I have it sitting on 2oz of oak. It has been pretty difficult to leave them alone. Trust me on this, hide a few bottles from yourself and let it get 9+ months on it. You will thank yourself. In the meantime brew something you can drink in 4 weeks and won't benefit from aging, like a pale ale or IPA.

Bottling a Mocktoberfest tonight and my pumpkin ale has been in the fermentor four days now. Planning to bring a couple of the RIS out for thanksgiving and Christmas and stash the rest for a while.