# Too much Caramunich



## Matplat (14/9/15)

Afternoon all...

I decided to make an APA to use up some cascade I had, an thought I would get some chinook to go with it as I couldn't get any citra but had read about the c-hop friendships....

Anyway, the recipe I've made is as follows:


*C-hop*
American Pale Ale

*Recipe Specs*
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.250
Total Hops (g): 70.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.046 (°P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.52 %
Colour (SRM): 9.7 (EBC): 19.0
Bitterness (IBU): 33.0 (Rager - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 80
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

*Grain Bill*
----------------
3.000 kg Pale Ale Malt (70.59%)
0.500 kg Caramunich II (11.76%)
0.500 kg Wheat Malt (11.76%)
0.250 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (5.88%)

*Hop Bill*
----------------
20.0 g Chinook Pellet (11.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
25.0 g Cascade Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Aroma) (1.1 g/L)
25.0 g Cascade Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (1.1 g/L)

*Misc Bill*
----------------

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale US-05


Recipe Generated with *BrewMate*




Now, I've been looking through the recipe database for the brew following this one, and seen some comments that more than 6% x-tal is too much.

I don't really want to drop out too much ideally, as I've got the base malt already from the brew shop, and don't want to drop the OG much further. But if it going to end up in a cloying pile of crap, I want that even less.

Obviously you can't tell me what my tastebuds will, but just need to know if I'm in the ballpark or not.

Thanks heaps, Matt


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## Dan Pratt (14/9/15)

Id halve the crystal to 6% and then reduce the Final Volume to keep the OG the same.


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## Matplat (14/9/15)

Thanks Pratty, would you include the carapils in your 6%total, or just the caramunich?


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## antiphile (14/9/15)

Hi Matplat

Merely my opinion, but I feel 6% Caramunich 2 with nearly 6% Carapils would be fine. Even Weyermann recommend the maximum for Caramunich 2 is 10%, but I wouldn't be comfortable using at that rate. The only place where I differ from Pratty is I'd be thinking of adding a little dry malt (somewhere around 200g I'm guessing) to the kettle for the last 15 mins to get to your desired OG, and keeping the originally intended volume. Beer Mate should be able to accurately calculate the required amount for you.


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## rude (14/9/15)

What about dropping the wheat and carramunich 11 to 100grams each

Drop the carapils totally and add 1kg of munich 1

mmm munchen 1 :icon_drool2:


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## kaiserben (14/9/15)

If it were me I'd change that CaraMunich to just Munich. 

I'd probably also halve the wheat and either put the extra back in as base malt or as your caramunich (or crystal).


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## Matplat (14/9/15)

Thanks guys, unfortunately I won't be back to the brewshop before I put this one down. I picked up the base malts milled and mixed on saturday so they are fixed. The spec malts however I have in separate storage.

Funny you should mention munich, as I was tossing up whether to put some in. I didn't put it in as I wanted a lighter flavour for summer afternoons!

As per antiphiles suggestion, I reckon I'l drop the Cara's back to 6% each, and yeah maybe add some DME to regain my OG or just brew a smaller batch. Now that I am brewing with an exposed heating element, I have a bit af a fear of DME clumping on the element and charring....


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## antiphile (14/9/15)

Maybe take out a few litres of boiling wort, dissolve the dry malt in a saucepan or similar, and pour it back in?


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## Matplat (14/9/15)

Yeah I think it will have to be something along those lines....


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## MHB (14/9/15)

I don't think it looks too bad.
If you look at the BJCP guidelines for APA they are talking 5-14SRM (10-28ish EBC) so it really isn't too dark
With the higher caramel/toffy flavours from more Xal malt you might want to lean on the bitterness a bit harder and think about carbing at the higher end to offset.
But I think it looks pretty tasty.
Mark


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## Eagleburger (14/9/15)

First time I used a crystal malt(actually caramunich) I chucked in 500g in a 23L batch. Only beer I have made that was not great. After investigation I made another with no crystal and combined the two. It turned out pretty good. Now I stick to about 2-3%


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## Barge (14/9/15)

What about leaving the grain bill as is and mashing in at 65-66 for a more fermentable wort?


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## Charst (14/9/15)

Can't drop the mash temp, minimise the caramunich and bump the gravity with sugar? 

Flame suit on!


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## Matplat (14/9/15)

Yeah i think im going to pare it back a bit, the aim is for a hoppy refreshing summery ale... I'd prefer to undershoot than overshoot, then adjust next time.


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## Matplat (15/9/15)

Final recipe as follows, I'm gonna punch this one out sometime this week.....

*C-hop*
American Pale Ale

*Recipe Specs*
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.150
Total Hops (g): 68.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.046 (°P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.52 %
Colour (SRM): 7.2 (EBC): 14.1
Bitterness (IBU): 32.7 (Average - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 80
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

*Grain Bill*
----------------
3.000 kg Pale Ale Malt (72.29%)
0.500 kg Wheat Malt (12.05%)
0.250 kg Caramunich II (6.02%)
0.250 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (6.02%)
0.150 kg Dry Malt Extract - Light (3.61%)

*Hop Bill*
----------------
18.0 g Chinook Pellet (11.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
25.0 g Cascade Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Aroma) (1.1 g/L)
25.0 g Cascade Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (1.1 g/L)

*Misc Bill*
----------------

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 17°C with Safale US-05


Recipe Generated with *BrewMate*


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## Matplat (1/11/15)

Been drinking this now for 2 weeks, tastes bloody brilliant. However I pretty sure it was channeling during the mash that caused only 60% efficiency and because my 5 min hop addition was set to 'aroma' it didnt add any IBU. So I topped up with 1kg of DME which brought the OG back up and balanced the corrected IBU....

Coincidentally I tried a 500ml bottle of 4 Pines Pale Ale in between two of these yesterday, and it tasted almost identical, although 4 Pines had a slightly maltier flavour going on. Colour was spot on. If you were trying to clone that beer this would be a good starting point. The recipe says 0 days dry hop but I actually ended up leaving them in there for about a week.


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