Recipe Formulation & Ingredients Descriptions

[Justibone]

If I'm not mistaking, the percent, such as 75%, relates to the expected sugar extraction from the grain. I am more in doubt about the specific gravity.

To me it seems that the percentage is the maximum possible fermentables you can extract from the grain, the gravity column is the maximum gravity you could get from one pound of grain in one gallon of wort.

the SRM Colum is colored from yellow to brown.

SRM - Home Brewing Wiki

SRM simply refers to color. Low numbers are light, high numbers are dark. There is very little difference in the high numbers (between 100 and 200, for example) but big differences in the small numbers (between 10 and 20, for example).

My last question deals with the term Mash. Some malts require the Mash process when others do not? I would have thought all grains would have to be processed in a Mash Tun. Is the mash process adding hot water for about 60 minutes? I may be getting the terms Mash and Sparge mixed up.

Most grains that add fermentables must be mashed. Mashing is enzymatic conversion of starches to sugars. Mashing is usually done between 140-155 degrees F, with roughly 1-2 quarts per pound of grain.

Steeping is used when a grain adds flavor or color, but not fermentables. An example might be Chocolate grain, or Roasted grain.

Steeping is also used with the Cara- grains, which have already been converted to sugar inside their grain husks, and merely need to be steeped in order to get the sugar into solution.

Sparging is just rinsing the grain to get some more sugars off of it.

 

[PCharles]

Your discussion of mash vs steeping helped a lot. Referring back to the chart, Malted Oats (near the top of the list) does not have a check next to Mash Required. They still list a yield and SG. Perhaps my question should have been what does the Mash Req field mean? Can malted oats be used to flavor alone if not mashed or be used to ferment with if they are mashed?

You did make a good point though. I understand that there are some grains added for the purpose of adding flavor and aroma, not for fermentation.

Referring back to the potential yield, if the expected SG is 1.035, am I correct that sugar would be added to bring the SG up to about 1.050 to achieve a higher alcohol %? I would be surprised if a recipe would start with an SG that low.

 

[helibrewer]

Your discussion of mash vs steeping helped a lot. Referring back to the chart, Malted Oats (near the top of the list) does not have a check next to Mash Required. They still list a yield and SG. Perhaps my question should have been what does the Mash Req field mean? Can malted oats be used to flavor alone if not mashed or be used to ferment with if they are mashed?

If mashing is required that means that the starches in the grain need to be converted into fermentable sugars through enzyme activity.

You did make a good point though. I understand that there are some grains added for the purpose of adding flavor and aroma, not for fermentation.

Referring back to the potential yield, if the expected SG is 1.035, am I correct that sugar would be added to bring the SG up to about 1.050 to achieve a higher alcohol %? I would be surprised if a recipe would start with an SG that low.

Remember that the reference is for 1 pound in 1 gallon. By increasing the ratio of grains to liquid you increase the SG. So 5 pounds of grain in a 5 gallon final volume would be about 1.035, but 8 pounds of grain in a 5 gallon final volume would be higher...I'm guessing but probably in the mid 1.050's

I come from a wine background also and the OG's and FG's you see in brewing are nothing like what we see in wine making. By the way, if you have a refractometer it can be used in brewing instead of a hydrometer with a simple conversion to account for alcohol.

 

[ExplosiveJoseph]

Hi all, I'm still trying to work on recipe formulation but am finding it difficult to decide on which grains work well with some while other grains would be best. This is an Irish Red Rye I'm working on. I'm not going for a traditional Irish red, I'd like a hint of American hops with a solid rye backbone. This is what I have so far. Please make any corrections or flat out criticism if you can.
Its a partial mash recipe:
2 lb 6 Row
1lb flaked Rye
1lb Pilsner Malt
4 oz Crystal 120
6.6 Amber LME
1oz Willamette at 60min
.5oz Citra at 30min
.5oz Citra at 15min
.5oz EKG at 15min
Irish ale yeast

I think it's pretty much what I want but I could be missing something.

 

[Justibone]

ABV% is going to be on the high side. High alcohol means you should age it, so you are going to lose some hop aroma. I'd back off on the LME a couple of lbs.

Citra at 30 min. is a waste, IMO. I really like the Citra aroma, but as only half aroma, half bitterness I think it has a better use later in the boil.

Crystal 120 is pretty dark. I think it has a raisin taste. I'd go a bit lighter, but that's me.

I also think that rye is kind of spicy, kind of sharp. I like the Citra, but the EKG... IMO you're trying to mix the classic with the new. I'd say commit in either direction, but don't muddle it. I like where you're going with the Citra, though, so if I had a vote (and I don't), I'd go in that direction entirely. My $.02 is to skip the EKG and go for more Citra at flameout, but I haven't done the IBU calculations so make sure you would still be balanced for bitterness.

Good luck, and enjoy!

 

[smyrnaquince]

Adjuncts and Other Ingredients

Flaked and Raw Adjuncts

These ingredients can come in handy for a large variety of purposes.

Could you mention what effect they have? For example, which one(s) contribute to the mouthfeel if I want a "thick" beer?

 

[TrubHead]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart

I'm looking for the percentage of fermentable sugar in malts. I'm not sure if the "Yield" column in the chart above lists that aspect. Clarification is appreciated.

 

[Diaperload]

I noticed in the hop "C" section that you didn't include Chinook. I was wondering why. Is it an offshoot of one of the ones you listed? If so, which one?

 

[julypena]

Awesome post @DeathBrewer! Took lots of notes

 

[jamissr]

Much appreciate your posts DB, ive followed your BIAB posts both for Partial Grain and All Grain, i am currently on my 4th batch of AG and loving it.

Not specifically asking you to do it, and i havent had a chance to look through all of the posts on the forums yet, but this would seem to be an appropriate place to list different general mixes of grains/hops. More generalized and high level overview than actual recipeis, something like "munich works well with 2 row but not as well with pilsner and these hops work well with this type" (no clue if thats true about the grains).

not sure if im being clear, or if its even possible, but im trying to figure out what hops to use in different IPAs, and it kinda seems like i can use pretty much anything, but im scared of using too much munich, not enough crystal 60, or 20, not enough citra, or willamette, or maybe those two dont work well together, i dont know. would be nice to understand what hops work together with each other, what grains work together well, and what hops work with what grains. might just have to experiment to figure it out. also maybe i need to just keep reading, that seems to work every other time ive ever posted with a question on any subject

again thanks for all you have done and you have great instructional posts, hope i dont seem like im complaining, just having a hard time figuring out how to make my own recipes, or substitute things in existing recipes.

 

[Justibone]

not sure if im being clear, or if its even possible, but im trying to figure out what hops to use in different IPAs, and it kinda seems like i can use pretty much anything, but im scared of using too much munich, not enough crystal 60, or 20, not enough citra, or willamette, or maybe those two dont work well together, i dont know. would be nice to understand what hops work together with each other, what grains work together well, and what hops work with what grains. might just have to experiment to figure it out. also maybe i need to just keep reading, that seems to work every other time ive ever posted with a question on any subject

In my opinion, this is preference. If you want to simulate a certain style, I guess you can follow certain guidelines, such as noble hops for German wheat beers, but when people experiment is when they make the best recipes.

There are a few guidelines, such as crystal shouldn't be more than 5% of a recipe, and 2-row goes with *everything*... but reading will help you pick those up over time.

In my opinion, go with proven recipes for a while, then tweak them to be what you like... Saaz hops in a roggenbier, for example. You'll catch on soon enough.

 

[jamissr]

Thanks!

thats what ive been doing so far, using recipes that are popular on the boards here. Im just looking to make some IPAs, but never seem to have the exact hop schedule that is called for in any recipe, so i was considering just mixing the hops i have (i have about $60 worth of different types), but im just not sure what works well together, i think i just need to make a decision to either use what i have, or go buy some more. im sure either way will work out.

its kinda the same way with grain for me, i have lots of grain, but never seem to have exactly what a specific recipe calls for, so i consider using what i have and then usually just go buy the right grain.

Thanks for the response, much appreciate it!

 

[Beeraid94]

Hey Death Brewer thanks so much for your information its a lot of help! I come from Nepal and its very hard to get malt extract here and the only 1 I could find was from a science lab. do you think it can still work out?

 

[gono]

Seriously great information here! I am still new to brewing and this is a great resource for me! Thank you!

 

[unionrdr]

Since I posted these in a couple threads today,I decided to put them here. A link to a conversion chart another member posted I find handy; http://www.jaysbrewing.com/2011/11/17/lazy-chart-for-converting-dme-lme-grain/
And some conversion formulas from metric to US standard from- http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/metric_conversions
Fluid ounces to Milliliters-FO x 29.57 = mL
Gallons to Liters-G x 3.785 = L
Liters to Gallons-L x .264 = G
Milliliters to Fluid ounces-mL x .034 = fl oz
grams to ounces-g x .035 = oz
Celcius to Fahrenheit-(c x 1.8C) + 32 = F
ounces to grams-OZ x 28.35 = g
pounds to kilograms-LB x .454 = Kg
Kilograms to pounds-Kg x 2.202 = LB
Hope these help with recipes,etc.

 

[cleverley]

ich werde später mal versuchen, die Methode klingt sehr gut, oder braucht jemand auch Bierglässe? Habe ich einige hier
http://www.newnewshop.ch/Sonstige Küchengeräte-p-3740.html

 

[donniej]

This is great! Lots of info, presented clearly and concisely. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Walzenbrew]

Combined with Designing Great Beers, this has given me a great foundation for recipe formulation.

I have found that beersmith has helped tremendously with the process as well.

 

[Clarke]

I did not read the OP thread, I did skim for this link. For me this link was, if not, still is the best tool I know to use. I started with a trial of beer smith but all I was doing was punching numbers, I needed to know what these numbers mean. I created my own excel spreadsheet with it and I feel I can control more aspects of my beer making because I feel I understand how each formula is connected to the other.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Beer_math

 

[mitchandginge]

I haven't posted for a while, and I don't know if this is posted in the correct thread.
I have had three successful brews now, all slightly different, but all three using the same cerveza malt from my local wilkos shop.
The first was brewed with 1.5kg of brewing sugar and 500g of light spray dried malt. It was really tasty but had a slight ale taste to it.
The second, I left out the dry malt and just went with 2kg of sugar, tasted nice, quite strong but not much flavour.
The third, I used 2kg of sugar and app. 200g of wakatu hops (I now realise that this may have been quite excessive), the taste was overpowering with a floral/fruity taste, yet still very drinkable!
I have just bottled my fourth, which is a wilko pilsner, and I added just 2kg of sugar and nothing else as I want to see what the kit tastes like without any other flavours.
My next brew, I'm thinking of getting a nice balance with the cerveza, dry malt and hops. Was thinking 250g of dry malt, 1.5g of sugar and 30g of wakatu hops. Looking forward to it.

 

[xzcfzgxgh]

These ingredients can come in handy for a large variety of purposes. Raw ingredients must go through a cereal mash before being used in brewing. Your regular mash must then contain enough enzymes to convert the starches, because these ingredients contain no enzymes of their own.

 

[unionrdr]

Pretty much, yeah. I think that's why some that use a lot of adjuncts in a beer add 6-row to get more enzymes for conversion. Besides water to grist ratios & temps.

 

[Bdhflhhomebrew]

Just starting to learn about home brewing. Great info. Thanks for this post!

 

[spunxter]

Very useful info here! Thx for putting it out there. I learn so much everytime i read this site. Lovin it. I still havnt experimented with a lot of different grains but posts like this enable me to make better beer and learn what some changes/experiments in grain might do. Just went all grain 10 or so batches ago. Planted 8 dif varieties if hops this year which im also excited about. And my small backyard chicken flick absolutely love spent grains. CHEERS!

 

[Ksu-ksu]

Guys, I need help... What do you think is going on here??View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1434464312.519888.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1434464332.503374.jpg

Thank you for advise...

 

[unionrdr]

Definitely infected.

 

[InityBrew]

Pitch some bugs and let it ride.

 

[unionrdr]

Actually, it does look like the kind of bugs guys pitch for sours & the like already?

 

[MountainManAAA]

I may have missed it because i tend to start reading lots of forum posts after drinking a few beers, but what style of brewing is required to make recipes? i just recently began brewing (i am fermenting my 3rd and 4th batches right now) but have thus far only used malt extract kits from home brew supply shops. Do people make their own recipes with LME? or should i start moving towards all grain? also how does all grain differ from partial mash?

Thanks so much for all the info

 

[unionrdr]

I've brewed many different beers from extracts. You can brew a lot of them With extracts. Partial mash uses a smaller mash than all grain to produce wort for the boil. Then you ad plain DME or LME to get up to recipe OG. All grain is just that, no extracts involved. That said, my PB/PM BIAB beers are getting to be more like, " mostly mash". I only use some 2 1.2lbs of extract @ flame out to get up to recipe OG.