Single-Hop Grain Bill

[SilverZero]

EDIT: My apologies, there are plenty of threads about this already, I don't want to clutter things up. Ignore this, I'll read on my own.


I'm going to spend some time brewing 1-gallon batches of single-hop beers as well as doing some side-by-side experiments, and I want a simple grain bill to work from. I've kind of cobbled together some ideas that people have got from Vinnie C. about his Hop2It grain bill, but they all are slightly different. They all say it's basically 2-row and C40 but I often see up to 5% acid malt as well (his words) and mention of Munich and CaraPils. I am a little worried about using acid malt when I can just acidify my mash on my own, so I'm thinking of putting some Munich in its place. Good idea or not?

My idea is 94% 2-row, 3% Munich, and 3% C40. Should I ditch the Munich and just go with the 3% C40? Or less/more Munich?

 

[cladinshadows]

If you are adjusting your pH via other means you should be safe to omit the acidulated malt. Acid malt is basically just pils that's been sprayed with naturally-produced lactic acid for brewers that want to comply with the Rheinheitsgebot. If you omit it there's no need to replace it with something malty like Munich.

All of the grain bills you mentioned would make good pale ales for hop comparison, but if simplicity is the goal as you stated, then why not go for the simplest recipe possible: a SMaSH? Vienna malt would work great for this purpose/ It's malty enough to stand up to some noticeable hopping but not cloying enough to get in the way.

Also, just to keep it confusing, there's at least one instance out there of a supposed Hop2It recipe with some Maris Otter:

74% 2-Row
13% Maris Otter
10% Crystal 20L
3% Acidulated Malt

(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=5615911#post5615911)

 

[SilverZero]

Yeah, I've seen that recipe but it doesn't really make sense based on the 2 other emails people have reported from Vinnie (2-row + acid + C40) so I have some questions. I guess it's the same idea as adding a bit of Munich (which he's also suggested he does) just a bit higher percentage.

The only reason I started worrying about the acid malt was because 5% seemed high, and then it just snowballed in my mind.

I haven't had good results from my own SMaSH attempts, and I'm not a huge fan of bready/biscuity malts, but I thought some Munich would give a bit of body. I might just drop it and do the 2-row + C40 thing. I always overthink everything.

 

[cladinshadows]

Munich malt is usually added specifically to get that bready/grainy character - so I'd keep it out of the recipe based on what you've said. The simplest way to boost body without adding a bready character is to increase your mash temp.

If you do 96% 2-Row + 4% C40 and choose a mash temp based on the amount of body you want you should have a great, simple pale ale.