Recipe Formulation question......

[ohill1981]

I just got all of my equipment to start All-Grain brewing and my sole purpose in doing so was so that i could begin coming up with my own recipes. I read in a David Miller book that he suggested starting with a Basic Recipe such as

6lbs pale malt
1oz hops
yeast
water.

and begin there.

I know this would not be the most desirable recipe, but i am looking to understand what i am tasting so that i can slowly work up to making my own more exciting recipe.

We'll i was considering starting out with a very basic American Wheat beer recipe and adding different ingredients to it once i have and understanding what i am tasting i will add more ingredients...

For anyone out there creating there own recipe's is this a good way to go about learning ? and also is the Basic American Wheat beer recipe below a good starting point.....

or should i simplify it more....

5lbs Wheat Malt
4.25 American Two row pale
1oz Centennial Whole leaf hops.....

 

[WorryWort]

Consider a SMaSH, a single malt and single hop beer. I personally wouldn't limit it to 1 oz of hops. that is a bit too restrictive.

Something like 100% two row, with a 60, 20 and 0 minute addition of cascade or centennial, at 1oz each time, that would make a fine beer. You can throw in one other grain for colour or body (crystal 40 or carapils/dextrine, etc...). I've seen some where guys lightly toast 1 or 2lbs of the two row in their oven as well, adding colour and flavour, but maintaining one grain.

From what I know, the trick with Wheat beers is maintaining a fermentation temp at around 60F. It tends to produce a much cleaner and crisper beer. If you can do that easily then go for it. If that's what you prefer to drink though, I'd start on it regardless - as that's the whole point anyway right? That recipe looks like it would produce a fine beer.

Hope that helps!!!

 

[ohill1981]

Hey thanks for the response... If i chose to only use 1 grain how many lbs of 100% two row malt would i need. to get roughly an OG of 1.050-1.055?

 

[WorryWort]

13lbs at 70% efficiency will give you 1.055 (for a 6 gallon batch). Try a demo of BeerSmith software, it helps me a lot, after 30 days it's only like $25 bucks. ProMash too, but I use BeerSmith.

I'd use that 13 lbs though, because on your first batch you might be less than 70%.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I may be wrong, but I think I read on a thread in the brewing software forum that ProMash is no longer in development meaning they are no longer updating their software. If this is truly the case I think Beersmith would be the better option, FWIW.

 

[ohill1981]

great thanks everyone !

 

[Yooper]

Just to be different, I want to share my thought about going AG and recipe formulation. Sure, making a SMaSH is a great way to learn about hops and grains, but just ONE at a time. One thing I loved was taking my favorite extract or PM recipes and making them as AG recipes. I already had a good grasp on specialty grains, and hops and I could then compare the results of my favorite extract recipes when I compared them to the AG version.

I used relatively simple grain bills, but I do that even today. I rarely use more than a couple of specialty grains along with my base malt. I think that some SMaSh beers are great- Richbrewer made a wonderful amarillo SMaSH. But they can be disappointing to a new AG brewer if they are one dimensional. For the first few brews, why not research the differences between British and American base malts, and make one of each, but use the same specialty grains, for example. Nothing wild or crazy, but maybe with more grain flavor than their extract counterparts. That's what hooked me on AG brewer- even BETTER favorites!

 

[passedpawn]

That first recipe looks really weak. I'd add a few pounds of malt.

+1 on using BeerSmith. I don't do anything without it.

Make that wheat. Ferment it cool, but don't worry... I have fermented many german wheats at 75F without issue (it helps to like bananas). Wheat was my first "Wow I Made That" beer. I would HIGHLY recommend putting a few ounces of rice hulls in there to avoid a stuck sparge, unless you really trust your system.

 

[WorryWort]

That first recipe looks really weak. I'd add a few pounds of malt.

+1 on using BeerSmith. I don't do anything without it.

Make that wheat. Ferment it cool, but don't worry... I have fermented many german wheats at 75F without issue (it helps to like bananas). Wheat was my first "Wow I Made That" beer. I would HIGHLY recommend putting a few ounces of rice hulls in there to avoid a stuck sparge, unless you really trust your system.

yeh man. like I said, if wheat is what you like, go for it. i personally wouldn't recommend it for your very first beer. but that's me.

 

[ajf]

Hey thanks for the response... If i chose to only use 1 grain how many lbs of 100% two row malt would i need. to get roughly an OG of 1.050-1.055?

At 70% efficiency, 10# American 2 row will give you an OG of about 1.050 (assuming a 5g batch)
noeldundas's estimate of 13# to give 1.055 seems to be based on either a larger batch size, or lower efficiency.

-a.

 

[WorryWort]

At 70% efficiency, 10# American 2 row will give you an OG of about 1.050 (assuming a 5g batch)
noeldundas's estimate of 13# to give 1.055 seems to be based on either a larger batch size, or lower efficiency.

-a.

yeh mine was for 6 gallons. i've edited the post, i meant to include that initially. but it was also for 1.055, not 1.050

 

[WorryWort]

Here's another though to add to what Yooper said.

I have the same goals as you; to understand what I'm doing and to make my own recipes. But rather than just making 'simple' beers with few ingredients I started by trying to brew specific styles. I've actually never made a SMaSH - it just seemed like the type of thing you'd like based on your OP!

Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles is a great book because the recipes are right (award winning) for those styles. If you can make them well, you know your process is good. You will also gain a solid understanding of how these flavours come to be, and how the process and recipe formulation can be applied to your own creations.

Just a though, but that's the approach I'm taking - I brew a few styles then I try to get feedback from competitions so I know the process is good. From there I make a bunch of my own 'inventions' and I hope that I like them - because those aren't for judges!

 

[ohill1981]

ok makes since ! you changed my mind... Because i to was starting to think i would be disappointing in such a weak recipe....I have not tried making brown ale yet.. I think i will get out my books and find a recipe Ty for all those responses going to the brew store hopefully today to buy all the grains.

 

[mkling]

I'm gonna chime in and agree others and say skip the wheat for now. Wheat makes for a sticky mash and the last thing you want on your first all grain brew is a stuck sparge. Now, lots of folks will chime in and say they've never had a stuck sparge, but all will agree that you're more likely to have one when wheat is 50% of your grain bill than when it isn't.

Also, I agree with yooper that a relatively simple grainbill, two or three types of malt max is good. No necessary reason to start with a SMaSH (though it's fine if that's what you want to do).

Finally, I'd personally recommend no more than 10 lbs of grain for a first all grain session. The more grain there is, the harder it is to work with and when you're new to this using a simple approach seems much better. Personally, you can make a lot of great beers with 8-9 lbs of grain & that's what I'd probably recommend.