Recipe I am trying to develop

[epistrummer]

I ended up with a 50 lb sack of 6-row and now I'm trying to find ways to use it up.

After researching the types of beers that use 6 row and following some suggestions found throughout the web, I came up with this recipe proposal for a cream ale-

8 lb 6-row
1.5 lb flaked corn
1 lb Briess caramel 60 L

1 oz Amarillo 60 min
3/4 oz Amarillo 5 min

US-05 yeast

Mash at 152F 60 min
Sparge 170F


The only thing I'm not real sure about is using the caramel malt. I didn't find any recipes that used it in cream ales but I did notice some people had suggested using it to add body to the beer. Is there anything else I should add to this recipe or change it to make it a little better?

 

[iambeer]

Nice... I wonder how many gallons that is for (5?) and the expected gravity reading before and after fermentation.

 

[Draken]

I like to toss in Caramunich. I find it helps a lot with head retention.

 

[epistrummer]

Nice... I wonder how many gallons that is for (5?) and the expected gravity reading before and after fermentation.

5 gallon batch. I'm not sure what my OG will be. I need to learn more about that part of brewing. Comparable recipes I found are expecting around 1.050 with a FG around 1.010 to 1.020.

 

[epistrummer]

I like to toss in Caramunich. I find it helps a lot with head retention.

Do you think I should substitute the Caramunich for the Briess caramel? Or add it to the recipe?

 

[brewit2it]

That's basically something between a pale ale and a cream ale and looks fine. If you don't do it already, you should get access to free recipe formation software by going to Hopville and clicking on beer calculus.

As far as what kind of beers can be made with 2 row, it's more like what kind of beers can't?

 

[KevinW]

looks like about 1.056 for a 5 gallon batch, the color is around 9.5 SRM. The crystal 60 seems a bit much for me. For a lighter color pale and more caramel flavor I would go with crystal 30 but that is my preference otherwise it looks like a nice easy drinking pale!

 

[epistrummer]

tried beer calculus...didn't know it existed until just now, so thanks to brewit2it...looks like expected OG is 1.054 and FG is 1.015.

I'm just going to make it as is, and if it needs tweaking, I'll adjust and experiment until I have a masterpiece.

 

[brewit2it]

tried beer calculus...didn't know it existed until just now, so thanks to brewit2it...looks like expected OG is 1.054 and FG is 1.015.

I'm just going to make it as is, and if it needs tweaking, I'll adjust and experiment until I have a masterpiece.

Yeah, I use Beer Calculus all the time, glad you found it handy. I don't have an IPhone and dont really find I need anything more than Beer Calculus and a free online strike temp calculator to do all my brews. I'm going to have to donate to Hopville b/c I really do use BC pretty much every batch.

Great idea sticking with your original recipe. Then you can see how you like it and consider some of the changes recommended here or maybe something else you come up with to tweak it.

Let us know how it comes out.

 

[Wig]

You can lager that recipe too. It isn't hoppy, be sorta an interesting dark pils or an o'fest.

If you want to add body/head retention without the color try some carapils instead of 60.

 

[epistrummer]

Thread update-

I've brewed this batch finally and bottled it yesterday. although still green, I can tell it's going to be tasty beer. A little darker than I thought it would be so it isn't really a cream ale but almost a pale/amber cross colorwise due to the caramel 60. I'll post more details in a few weeks when I crack open a bottle.

 

[epistrummer]

Ok, so it's time to drink this stuff, and I have to say it's pretty good. Nicely carbonated, almost amber colored but tastes more like a pale ale. The hops taste very pleasant and floral. It's probably not the most complex beer because the ingredients list is pretty short but I think it's a pretty good first batch that I brewed off my own recipe design.