A good but very simple and basic recipe

[LRAT]

Howdy Team at AHB,

I finished building my own all grain electric HERMS brewery and want to do some test runs.
Before I jump into the deep end I want to start simple so that I can test every part of my system thoroughly.
I am after a very basic all grain recipe that produces about 40 liters of good refreshing summer beer with a relative low alcohol content (3.5 to 4.5%).
Pilsner style would be great but I can't ferment it at low temperatures. This time of year Melbourne can very from cool to hot. So, it should be based on a tolerant yeast.
Any ideas? What would you recommend?
Cheers,

Luc

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

That's quite a set-up, have you done a leak test with water?

For summer drinking a hefeweizen is great, 50 to 67% pale wheat malt, balance pilsner, bitter to 10 IBU with Halleteau Mittlefruh hops. Use WLP 300 or 351 yeast

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

Before you jump in at the deep end?? With a setup like that it looks like you're halfway across the Tasman already.

 

[kadmium]

Great looking setup.

Hard to go wrong with SMaSH beers (single malt and single hop) for ease. I went Mariss Otter and then any new world hop works great. Galaxy, Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe etc.

You may want to use a clean bittering hop like Magnum to 20 IBU and then add the flavour and aroma hops at 15 and 0. Going to about 3g/l and ferment it with any of the american type ale yeasts. Verdant is great.

You can dry hop if you're feeling brave. Even just a 50 - 100g hop towards the end of fermentation will freshen it up some.

Are you kegging or bottling?

 

[gap]

A very flash system. Do you have a temperature controlled fermentation system?

 

[cedric]

a great set up.
can't advise on yeast, but maybe i would be thinking about building a small cool room with insulated sheets.
you could wheel the unit in there to keep temps constant and keep the whole unit clean.
it looks like you have the space and skills.

 

[MHB]

I to would recommend a simple SMASH beer as a starting point. Go with something you can define easily and ideally with a beer you can compare you results to, for mine Coopers Pale Ale would be a good choice.
Just domestic Ale and POR for bittering and brew the same beer three times back to back.
Refferance the commercial example to see how well you are doing

Temperature control of your ferment is critical, a perfect wort can very quickly become second best beer if you cant control the ferment. I rank temp control above going all grain and just under hygiene in the pursuit of really good beer.
Just a tip, good brewing starts with good milling, play around with your mill, large husk fragments and a fine kibble being the goal, you need good fast even flow through the bed (especially with recirculating systems), good filtration and ideally very clear wort going to the kettle.
Mark

 

[Black Devil Dog]

That's a pretty schmick looking set up, especially for a beginner. One thing I'd suggest is replacing all your water supply hoses with hoses that are drinking water grade. The last thing you want is having a hint of garden hose flavour in your beer.

As for recipe, same as above, single malt, single hop, mashed at 66 deg. Lallemand Nottingham would be a good option for yeast, as it is suitable for temps 10 - 22deg.

 

[LRAT]

Thank you all for the many suggestions I received!
To answer all your questions:
Yes, I've done a leak test with water and went through a brewing simulation but with water only. All is well. No leaks.
I was very dissapointed with the recomended setup for valves and fittings. Most suppliers recommend the use of silicon washers and O-rings. In my experience they don't work well. One cannot tighten the nuts too much or the seal will be squeezed out. I reverted to dowty washers and copper washers. The end result is that now I can tighten everything to its required torque and have no leaks anymore. This copes well with temperature changes, like going from mashing, then to boiling and then to chilling.
I am going to do both: Kegging and bottling. (I got 6 kegs of 19 liters each and about 400 bottles).
I've got a KegKing temperature controlled fermentation fridge but I'm not happy with the temperature control. Currently I'm building an electronic thermostat based on an Arduino. Should be finished very soon and I will then replace the rudimentary KegKing temp control thermostat.
Good advice re. the garden hoses for the water supply. These are the best hoses I could buy here in Australia and I can't detect any taste difference at all. Because they are continuous pressurized to 600 kPa therefore it will be hard to replace these with foodgrade silicon hoses. I will look for it though.
OK, a SMASH beer is the way to go. Something similar to a Coopers pale ale sounds good and I will give it a try.
Thank you and have a great day!

Luc

 

[MHB]

I picked some wire reinforced PVC hose recently, my local industrial supplier had it in stock 25mm was just over $7/M which isn't too bad (a lot cheaper than the eBay link).
It did smell of vinyl until I washed it through with a warm Perk solution, works on both Suction and Pressure side but I wouldn't recommend it above the 65oC stated. It or something like it might be good for your job.
As listed on eBay

It looks like it is primarily being promoted to the boating and caravanning communities.

On the temp control for fermentation, (one more time) put a fan in your fermentation fridge, it will give you much faster cooling, get rid of thermal layering, keep your temp much closer to settings...
Just a small fan is all it takes, most of the STC type controllers are just fine you simply don't need more accurate control, unless you really feel like it.
Mark

 

[LRAT]

Thanks MHB for the info about the hoses. That will do in my opinion and I will order some.

Thank you all for the recipe tips. I took on your advice and will make a couple of SMASH brews to start with.
I've ordered a 25kg bag of Coopers Ale Malt from Beerbelly in SA.
I also ordered Hallertau, East Kent Goldings, Pride Of Ringwood and Slovenian Styrian Goldings for the hops.
For the yeast I decided to buy LalBrew Abbaye Belgian Ale yeast.
I'm curious to find out what sort of beer this conconction will create.
I will keep you informed about the result
Cheers,

Luc

 

[Killer Brew]

Great set up. +1 from me on the hoses. I did an early brew where I filled from the hose. Spent quite some time trying to work out what fault I had developed using trouble shooting guides before I narrowed it down to the classic aussie summer hose taste.

 

[JDW81]

Hey Luc,

Great looking setup you’ve got there. Very schmick.

I’m only going to add one recommendation. Make the same brew a couple of times back to back, just so you can see if you’re consistent and where you can improve your processes. If you make the same beer, with the same grain bill, mash schedule and yeast, you’ll be able to compare each beer side by side and then see how consistent you’ve actually been.

Once you’ve got it dialled in, then you can brew whatever you like.

JD.