Can someone please critique this recipe?

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wbosher

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Hi guys,

I’ve found a recipe on the net and have modified it slightly. I added a little more pale malt to up the gravity a little, removed the wheat (there was bugger all there anyway), and upped the hops a little to increase IBU slightly.

Everything is pretty much in the middle of the range in Beersmith for the style - English Pale Ale.

I'm using US-05 simply because it's one that I am comfortable with, I've heard 04 is crap and I'm not ready for liquid yeasts yet.

Check it out and let me know what you think, I'm hoping to get this one on next week.

Recipe: My English Pale Ale
Brewer: wbosher
Asst Brewer:
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 32.84 l
Post Boil Volume: 24.78 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 l
Bottling Volume: 18.30 l
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 24.4 EBC
Estimated IBU: 38.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.4 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.30 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 86.8 %
0.30 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 2 6.1 %
0.30 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (59.1 EBC) Grain 3 6.1 %
0.05 kg Carafa Special II (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC Grain 4 1.1 %
18.00 g Pacific Gem [13.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 29.0 IBUs
30.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 9.5 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
25.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) [5 Yeast 9 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.95 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 35.87 l of water at 70.7 C 67.0 C 90 min
Mash Out Add 0.00 l of water and heat to 78.0 C 78.0 C 10 min

Sparge: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
 
Looks good to me, I've always been against the use of US-05 in UK Bitters till Sav brought round a bottle of UK style India Pale Ale (IIRC) and asked me to guess the yeast and guess what :D
The only thing I've found with it in UK bitters - I once used it as an "emergency" is that it can take a heck of a long time to clear. Maybe use Nottingham if you don't like the idea of SO4 or if your local has a good range of yeast, try Windsor?

To me, Melanoidin could be a tad high, maybe reduce to around 200g as Maris Otter is fairly aromatic in its own right but keep it at 300g if using domestic malts. I've got to use up a sack of Aussie Pale and will be using Melanoidin myself to "fake" it in UK bitters. The UK breweries traditionally add wheat for head retention and lacing, if you want to be adventurous you can even use 100g of cake flour (low protein) and simmer it up to a sauce first to gelatinise it. Coopers in Adelaide used to use a ton of flour in their old recipes according to a quote from a brewer that was posted on AHB a few years ago.
 
Thanks Bribie. I'll be using Maris Otter for this one so I'll reduce the Melanoidin to 200g. My LHBS doesn't have a very good range of yeast so will probably just use 05 this time around, I'm not in any hurry for it to clear. I usually find after a couple of weeks it's pretty much all dropped out. If not, another few days won't hurt.

In regards to the wheat, I'm only brewing for me, so as long as it tastes good I'm not too concerned about head retention and lacing.

I'm not adventerous enough to try flour yet, trying to keep things pretty basic at this stage.

Thanks for the advice. :)
 
Bribie G said:
Looks good to me, I've always been against the use of US-05 in UK Bitters till Sav brought round a bottle of UK style India Pale Ale (IIRC) and asked me to guess the yeast and guess what :D
The only thing I've found with it in UK bitters - I once used it as an "emergency" is that it can take a heck of a long time to clear. Maybe use Nottingham if you don't like the idea of SO4 or if your local has a good range of yeast, try Windsor?

To me, Melanoidin could be a tad high, maybe reduce to around 200g as Maris Otter is fairly aromatic in its own right but keep it at 300g if using domestic malts. I've got to use up a sack of Aussie Pale and will be using Melanoidin myself to "fake" it in UK bitters. The UK breweries traditionally add wheat for head retention and lacing, if you want to be adventurous you can even use 100g of cake flour (low protein) and simmer it up to a sauce first to gelatinise it. Coopers in Adelaide used to use a ton of flour in their old recipes according to a quote from a brewer that was posted on AHB a few years ago.
Find that hard to believe Bribie, sounds like something the Guru of the north would say though. According to the Coopers published historical grain bill records there is no mention of Flour at all. Although it would be more than likely they do crush their malts, including wheat malt to a fine flour like crush.

Totally with you on the Melanoidin, 300g is way over the top.

wbosher said:
Thanks Bribie. I'll be using Maris Otter for this one so I'll reduce the Melanoidin to 200g. My LHBS doesn't have a very good range of yeast so will probably just use 05 this time around, I'm not in any hurry for it to clear. I usually find after a couple of weeks it's pretty much all dropped out. If not, another few days won't hurt.

In regards to the wheat, I'm only brewing for me, so as long as it tastes good I'm not too concerned about head retention and lacing.

I'm not adventerous enough to try flour yet, trying to keep things pretty basic at this stage.

Thanks for the advice. :)
I've used 05 in english ales and they were fine, just don't expect to get any of the fruity malty notes you would with a decent English strain.

Andrew
 
Take the plunge on liquid yeasts - they're easier than dry, IMO.

Rehydrating dry yeast ups the risk of infection and I've read that dehydrated yeasts are a bit gnarly from the process. Yeast likes liquid.

Just get a nice fresh smack pack (the last one I bought was only two weeks old), smack the balls out of it and pitch directly.
 
AndrewQLD said:
Find that hard to believe Bribie, sounds like something the Guru of the north would say though. According to the Coopers published historical grain bill records there is no mention of Flour at all. Although it would be more than likely they do crush their malts, including wheat malt to a fine flour like crush.

Totally with you on the Melanoidin, 300g is way over the top.


I've used 05 in english ales and they were fine, just don't expect to get any of the fruity malty notes you would with a decent English strain.

Andrew
I may have developed an incorrect 'rule of thumb' re 04 & 05, but if I want more malt character I go 04; more hop notes 05. Perhaps even a greater "onychocryptosis" could be
04 = U.K.; 05 = 'Septics'
 
geneabovill said:
Take the plunge on liquid yeasts - they're easier than dry, IMO. Rehydrating dry yeast ups the risk of infection and I've read that dehydrated yeasts are a bit gnarly from the process. Yeast likes liquid. Just get a nice fresh smack pack (the last one I bought was only two weeks old), smack the balls out of it and pitch directly.
I use both dry Yeasts and liquids and have no problems with either. An example is that if I want to crank something out quickly I will use Notto. Never heard of dry yeasts becoming 'gnarly' from the rehydration process. If your sanitation is up to scratch rehydrating a dry yeast shouldn't matter. The advatange of liquid yeasts is the variety of flavours............I know of commercial brewers who us dry yeast almost exclusively and make great beers.

As for the Melanoidin I couldn't agree more with the Bribie and Andrew. I use it a fair bit and I would even cut it back to 100 for a 20litre batch.
 
Rowy said:
As for the Melanoidin I couldn't agree more with the Bribie and Andrew. I use it a fair bit and I would even cut it back to 100 for a 20litre batch.
Split the difference and make it 150? ;)

The hops look ok? Not too much at the 20min and flame out?
 
Hops look good.............particularly as I love Fuggles. Hope the brew tastes great :icon_cheers:
 
Thanks guys. I've got another week off work with the school holidays, so hopefully I'll get this one down early next week. :)
 
Hi wbosher,
Try and grab a book called "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels (I think it is Ray).
This will give you a good insight into what goes into many styles and the proportions of each addition.
Use this along with style guidelines from Beersmith etc and it is hard to go wrong,
Good luck with your brew,

Cheers
 

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