Recipe feedback

[bthunter87]

So, I've been brewing for a while, but have only used other peoples recipes so far. I've decided to start playing around with my own ideas and would like a little feedback on a pretty basic all-grain batch I've thrown together using stuff I've got lying around. Let me know what y'all think. Any/all feedback is welcome!

Thanks

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Boil Time: 75 min
End of Boil Vol: 5.98 gal
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Original Gravity: 1.083 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.8 %
Bitterness: 114.2 IBUs
Est Color: 7.7 SRM

Taste Notes:

Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.5 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.7 %
12.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.7 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.1 %
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - First Wort 75.0 min Hop 5 18.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - First Wort 75.0 min Hop 6 19.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 16.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 17.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 9 14.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 6.1 IBUs
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 11 -
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 12 9.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 13 12.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg US West Coast Yeast (Mangrove Jack's #M44) Yeast 14 -
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 16 0.0 IBUs

Planning to steep at 148° for 60 minutes, batch sparge at 168°. 75 minute boil.

Thoughts?

 

[CadillacAndy]

My only suggestion would be to possibly use some table sugar in place of some of the base malt in order to dry out the beer a little bit more. 1.017 isn't out of style for an Imperial IPA, but it may be a little heavy, depending on what you're going for.

 

[bthunter87]

So, I really enjoy the crisp clean IPA, but like the idea of a bigger beer. Would dextrose leave me with a lighter finish? Cutting my 2row back to 11lbs and adding 1lb dextrose will give me an OG of 1.077, SG of 1.011, and an expected ABV of 8.6%. Is that too much of an alteration? I definitely don't want to lose enough body that I have a hyper bitter beer, either.

 

[Yooper]

I think it's too many hops for bittering, with hops at FWH, 60 minutes, and 45 minutes; and not enough later hops.

With such a high OG, you could sub a pound of sugar for a pound of base malt if you want a crisp quaffable beer, but it's not imperative.

For hops, I"d do something more like:
1 oz hops bittering (FWH or 60 minutes), or up to 40 IBUs with this addition
1 oz hops 15 minutes
1 oz hops 10 minutes
1 oz hops 5 minutes
2 oz hops flame out/whirlpool
1-2 oz hops dryhop 5 days

 

[CadillacAndy]

Sucrose or dextrose is almost 100% fermentable, meaning you'll get the alcohol, just not the body.

You can bump up your mash temp a little bit to like 152F to increase the FG a little bit to keep some of the body. Personally the FG of 1.011 sounds great to me, but you may want to shoot for 1.013 or 1.014 to keep the body there. I assume you're using some sort of brewing software, so play around with the amount of sugar and mash temp until it evens out to where you'd like it.

The hop profile sounds excellent to me.

 

[bthunter87]

With such a high OG, you could sub a pound of sugar for a pound of base malt if you want a crisp quaffable beer, but it's not imperative.

Thanks for the hop feedback. In regards to subbing 1 for 1 - base malt for sugar, That would drive my ABV WAY up! Here is the readout from beersmith: Est Original Gravity: 1.087 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.8 %

 

[bthunter87]

Okay, after playing around, I've put my mash temp at 150, 12lbs 2row, and 1LB dextrose, and here is the readout. I think that looks pretty good, yeah?

Est Original Gravity: 1.082 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.0 %

 

[CadillacAndy]

Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me. Upon closer inspection based on Yoop's comments, I'd agree with her about the hops.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the hop feedback. In regards to subbing 1 for 1 - base malt for sugar, That would drive my ABV WAY up! Here is the readout from beersmith: Est Original Gravity: 1.087 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.8 %

It wouldn't drive your OG "way" up, as sugar is something like 9 points per pound per gallon and malt will give you about 5 points per gallon. So sub 1 pound of corn sugar for 2 pounds of base malt if the OG is too high- but it should be pretty negligible (about 4 gravity points).

Anyway, remember that an "estimated final gravity" via software is not very accurate and I would not rely on the software to predict your FG. Instead, use your knowledge and experience and choose the attenuative yeast strain you want, use a bit of corn sugar instead of malt to increase the attenuation, and manipulate mash temperature to have a more fermentable wort.

You can plug in 100% corn sugar into a recipe calculator and the FG will not be .990 like it should be. That's just an example of calculators only figuring a percentage of OG for its attenuation and probable FG, but that's why I say to not rely on that for guestimating your probable actual FG.

 

[bthunter87]

Yeah, the OG wouldn't go that high, but because the dextrose ferments completely, the ABV would end up almost 10% trading 1 for 1. I'm going to review my hop schedule as per your suggestion.

Any thoughts on the specialty grain combo I've chosen? I think those will go well together, but I've never put them all together, so I'm not 100% sure.


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[Yooper]

Yeah, the OG wouldn't go that high, but because the dextrose ferments completely, the ABV would end up almost 10% trading 1 for 1. I'm going to review my hop schedule as per your suggestion.

Any thoughts on the specialty grain combo I've chosen? I think those will go well together, but I've never put them all together, so I'm not 100% sure.


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I like Munich malt and victory malt in IPAs- although that amount probably won't really be very discernible. Munich gives a deeper malt flavor that gives an IPA a "malt backbone" without being cloying or sweet. Victory has this great toasty flavor to it, with a hint of dryness in the finish, that is great in an IPA.

 

[bthunter87]

Should I up the Munich and Victory and cut the crystal down? Because I've never really made my own recipe before, I don't have the experience to know what does what and how. I know crystal provides good head retention, which I love, but I definitely like the idea of a hint of toasty! Is there any problem with upping the Munich and Victory, without adjusting anything else?

I'd like to find a good balance between that clean crisp hoppy feel like in a nice west coast IPA like green flash, and I nice malty base. With the size of the beer, want to avoid the very wet almost wimpy/watery feel, but like that sharp crispness, if that makes any sense?


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[Yooper]

Should I up the Munich and Victory and cut the crystal down? Because I've never really made my own recipe before, I don't have the experience to know what does what and how. I know crystal provides good head retention, which I love, but I definitely like the idea of a hint of toasty! Is there any problem with upping the Munich and Victory, without adjusting anything else?

I'd like to find a good balance between that clean crisp hoppy feel like in a nice west coast IPA like green flash, and I nice malty base. With the size of the beer, want to avoid the very wet almost wimpy/watery feel, but like that sharp crispness, if that makes any sense?


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The amount of crystal you have is nice. I wouldn't go lower if you want a hint of caramel in the far background, and for the head retention. Although, hops oils create big time head retention as well, so you can have an IPA with 0 crystal malt, and still get awesome head retention.

If you want more Munich, you could just use more Munich instead of US two-row, pound for pound, and up the Victory to .75 pound if you want a more "toasty" note.

 

[bthunter87]

You rock! I'll keep y'all posted on how this turns out.


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[bthunter87]

Okay, here is the final recipe. Just going to ask for any more suggestions/feedback before I swing by my LHBS to pick up the rando other stuff. I also changed the yeast to US-05.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.7 %
Est Original Gravity: 1.086 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.6 %
Bitterness: 92.7 IBUs
Est Color: 9.8 SRM

11 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 71.9 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.4 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.8 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4 6.3 %
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 5 17.3 IBUs
12.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 6 4.7 %
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 17.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 6.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 7.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 7.8 IBUs
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 11 -
0.50 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 4.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 13 5.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 14 2.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 15 3.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 16 9.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 17 12.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 18 -
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 19 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 20 0.0 IBUs

Seems like a lot of hops, but hoppy is gooood I suppose!

 

[Yooper]

I wouldn't go over about .75 pound of the victory.

S05 is perfect if you want to use dry yeast.

 

[bthunter87]

I made this today. Only hit 69.8% efficiency, so my OG was 1.061.

Boo.

Anyways, everything else went well. We shall see.


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