recipe guidelines

[marshman]

So, I've been looking through the recipes and trying to determine a baseline for quantities. From what I've been able to gather, these seem to be a good set of basic guidelines:

For a beer that will finish in the 5% range, @ 1.1# of DME -OR- @ 1.3 lbs LME per gallon of finished product...eg a 5 gallon ferment should need 6.5 lbs of LME to end in the 5% ABV range.

For a beer of moderate hop levels, using pellets, @ 1/2 an ounce per gallon of boil, divided equally through the boil at 50 min, 15 min and flameout.

Seem reasonable enough?

 

[sonvolt]

Just use the recipator to design your recipes.

 

[disaffected]

Just use the recipator to design your recipes.

Hey, cool! Great resource!

 

[marshman]

Ok, while the recipator is undoubtedly an amazing tool, I'm looking for basic guidelines I can use for in-my-head calculations...aka daydreaming. I'm trying not to over-think the process. I don't use hydrometers, I like the basic 1-2-3 process, knowing that those have to go up a bit if I'm trying to make a big beer.

But thanks, I can try that out if I actually start using my own recipes.

 

[Beer Snob]

Well ProMash puts it as 8 pounds of Generic LME (light) gives 1.051 and 6 pounds of Generic DME (light) gives 1.050. This is for a 5.5 gal wort size to account for loss in trub and siphon..... Use specialty malts for whatever desired characteristics you want.

 

[sonvolt]

Buy Ray Daniel's Designing Great Beers book. I don't have it, but it sounds as if this is the information you are looking for.

 

[david_42]

You can't discuss bittering without knowing the alpha acid level of a hop. 2.5 oz of Fuggles at 4.4% is low bittering, the same amount of Columbus or OSU's experimental 19.6% hop will clean your teeth to the bone.

 

[Beer Snob]

Buy Ray Daniel's Designing Great Beers book. I don't have it, but it sounds as if this is the information you are looking for.

It is a very good book. Not for recipes, but as the title says, great for Designing Great Beer Half the book is that is the other half is historical (which to me is real interesting...... he does a good job).

 

[Walker]

Ok, while the recipator is undoubtedly an amazing tool, I'm looking for basic guidelines I can use for in-my-head calculations...aka daydreaming. I'm trying not to over-think the process. I don't use hydrometers, I like the basic 1-2-3 process, knowing that those have to go up a bit if I'm trying to make a big beer.

But thanks, I can try that out if I actually start using my own recipes.

A good rule of thumb:

1 pound of LME per gallon of water for a light bodied beer.
1.5 pounds of LME per gallon of water for a full bodied beer.

1.0 pound of LME = 0.85 pounds of DME.