Adam's Apples
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- Sep 30, 2006
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I've just been gathering ingredients for my next brew. I have just kegged a stout, which involved a lot of steeping grains and this is something I would like to do for all future brews, whatever the style, if possible.
Right now I am trying to develop a house bitter or pale ale that could be a regular brew. I visited my LHBS and picked up a few supplies and it seems the hop shortage has at last hit me - as 100g / 3oz of most hope varieties were priced at £6.00 ($12.00)!! I will hold off on the IPA brews for now. Below are the ingredients I have by me now:
10lbs light DME
12.5oz Crystal Malt (50L I think)
9oz Chocolate Malt
2oz Northern Brewer
3oz Target
I have heard quite a few people mention victory malt as a nice steeping grain to add character to pale ales / bitters, but I have never used this. I could check the availability with my LHBS as I really would like to use a few steeping grains each brew to add character. What do you guys think?
Also, I think that both of the hops I have are primarily used for bittering as are both quite high AA, especially target. Could I use either for decent aroma, or would I need another? Alternatively I could use the target for bittering and use no aroma and make this a less aromatic and hoppy bitter, which I have no problem with as I like malty bitters also. I will be doing a late addition, haven't planned exactly how, but I wasconsidering 10% of the DME at start and remainder at last 45 mins of boil, which will help keep costs down also. Somebody on here mentioned you have to use enough malt for the hops to bind to initially. I'm not sure what the formula is for finding this, but every beer tool I have used shows higher IBU achieved with a lower gravity boil, although I have heard it's not a good idea to boil the hops in water only and add all the malt at the end. What kind of portions do you guys use for % of malt at start of boil and % at end, for those who use the late addition method?
I realise I have raised quite a few points here, but, as usual, any help with recipe ideas or any other points mentioned will be much appreciated.
Cheers
Right now I am trying to develop a house bitter or pale ale that could be a regular brew. I visited my LHBS and picked up a few supplies and it seems the hop shortage has at last hit me - as 100g / 3oz of most hope varieties were priced at £6.00 ($12.00)!! I will hold off on the IPA brews for now. Below are the ingredients I have by me now:
10lbs light DME
12.5oz Crystal Malt (50L I think)
9oz Chocolate Malt
2oz Northern Brewer
3oz Target
I have heard quite a few people mention victory malt as a nice steeping grain to add character to pale ales / bitters, but I have never used this. I could check the availability with my LHBS as I really would like to use a few steeping grains each brew to add character. What do you guys think?
Also, I think that both of the hops I have are primarily used for bittering as are both quite high AA, especially target. Could I use either for decent aroma, or would I need another? Alternatively I could use the target for bittering and use no aroma and make this a less aromatic and hoppy bitter, which I have no problem with as I like malty bitters also. I will be doing a late addition, haven't planned exactly how, but I wasconsidering 10% of the DME at start and remainder at last 45 mins of boil, which will help keep costs down also. Somebody on here mentioned you have to use enough malt for the hops to bind to initially. I'm not sure what the formula is for finding this, but every beer tool I have used shows higher IBU achieved with a lower gravity boil, although I have heard it's not a good idea to boil the hops in water only and add all the malt at the end. What kind of portions do you guys use for % of malt at start of boil and % at end, for those who use the late addition method?
I realise I have raised quite a few points here, but, as usual, any help with recipe ideas or any other points mentioned will be much appreciated.
Cheers