Advice On Creating Recipes In Brewmate

[Truman42]

Im trying to add a recipe into brewmate (so I can learn and better understand how it works) I was told roughly what the ingredients were.


This is the recipe for a black IPA. As you can see the EBC is only 21.3 but this beer was jet black. (I could ask again in case I misheard the quantities but want to try and work it out myself)

Black IPA
Imperial IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 21.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.220
Total Hops (g): 40.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.055 (P): 13.6
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (P): 3.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.40 %
Colour (SRM): 10.8 (EBC): 21.3
Bitterness (IBU): 11.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
4.800 kg Pale Ale Malt (91.95%) (recipe said Ale malt)
0.200 kg Crystal 120 (3.83%)
0.200 kg Wheat Malt (3.83%) (Recipe said Roasted wheat)
0.020 kg Carafa I malt (0.38%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Falconers Flight Pellet (10.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Falconers Flight Pellet (10.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Falconers Flight Pellet (10.5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Falconers Flight Pellet (10.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)

Just a few questions if you could please help out..
1.So If I want my brew to be a certain colour I can just keep tweaking with my quantities or types of grain until I reach the desired colour, but still keeping within the correct SG (SG field is still yellow)??

2.Also is Pale ale malt in brewmate the same as ale malt? And if not what should I be using for Ale malt?

3. Same with roasted wheat which the recipe called for, is that the same as wheat malt?

4. Mash times werent given so what would you need to consider to determine your mash time? When would you do 60 mins and wehn would you do 90 mins?

Thanks for the help and advice.

 

[Spork]

I'm guessing the roasted wheat makes the beer (much!) darker than the Wheat Malt you input.

 

[manticle]

Possibly some of the colour is missing because you have entered wheat (which is pale) instead of roasted, dark or chocolate wheat (dark).

Pale malt and ale malt are similar. Pale malt can describe specific commercial products but it is mainly a generic term for pale base malt (ale, pilsner, marris otter etc). There are differences between all of these malts and differences between the same type from different maltsers. For this recipe (and your early developing experience) sticking with easily attainable, basic pales will be fine. Once you get a handle on things, start trying out some of the more expensive ones, appropriate to the style you are brewing and see if you think the difference is worth it. I do but that doesn't mean that cheap, basic pales won't make a decent beer.

If you want to bump up the colour, the carafa will have the most effect on colour and the least on flavour (nothing I've ever used has NO effect on flavour though).

60 minutes will be fine for this.

The IBU doesn't look right though. Is this a late hopped IPA or are you missing some early additions. 11 IBU is wheat beer territory and only just.

 

[Truman42]

Possibly some of the colour is missing because you have entered wheat (which is pale) instead of roasted, dark or chocolate wheat (dark).

Pale malt and ale malt are similar. Pale malt can describe specific commercial products but it is mainly a generic term for pale base malt (ale, pilsner, marris otter etc). There are differences between all of these malts and differences between the same type from different maltsers. For this recipe (and your early developing experience) sticking with easily attainable, basic pales will be fine. Once you get a handle on things, start trying out some of the more expensive ones, appropriate to the style you are brewing and see if you think the difference is worth it. I do but that doesn't mean that cheap, basic pales won't make a decent beer.

If you want to bump up the colour, the carafa will have the most effect on colour and the least on flavour (nothing I've ever used has NO effect on flavour though).

60 minutes will be fine for this.

The IBU doesn't look right though. Is this a late hopped IPA or are you missing some early additions. 11 IBU is wheat beer territory and only just.

I think thats correct, I was told over the phone and may have missed something. If I tick No chill it bumps the IBU up to 27.4. What should I be aiming for?

Thanks for the advice on the malts etc. So if I were to increase the carafa to say 400 grams how do I know if I should decrease something else to compensate? Or is it something you learn through trial and error when you learn what sort of flavours the different types of malts produce etc??

 

[felten]

I'd start by replacing the wheat malt in your recipe with carafa if that's all you have. IE. 220g carafa

 

[adniels3n]

Style guide for IPA's (American & English) show 40-60/70 IBU. Imperial IPA starts at 60 IBU. Your recipe shows no straight bittering (60min) hop additions. Is that correct?
Edit: Brewing Classic Styles has a good write up on what flavours the different malt types contribute. Great read for a newb like myself.

 

[yum beer]

Hey truman, the problem with the IBU's is that you have no bittering addition. 45-60mins, you will find this will make a big difference
when added to your other additions.
adding 10gm for 60 mins will add an extra 16 IBU to your brew, but for the style you probably want to double or even triple your hop quantities

 

[manticle]

I think thats correct, I was told over the phone and may have missed something. If I tick No chill it bumps the IBU up to 27.4. What should I be aiming for?

Thanks for the advice on the malts etc. So if I were to increase the carafa to say 400 grams how do I know if I should decrease something else to compensate? Or is it something you learn through trial and error when you learn what sort of flavours the different types of malts produce etc??

Before taking any more advice, I'd check the recipe again with the person you got it from.

 

[Truman42]

Ive been given another Black IPA recipe by Warm beer which Im going to try, but hey I learned something from all of this. I most probably didn't hear all the recipe details. Or more to the point didnt understand everything he said.

Thanks again.