Dark ale recipe
- Thread starter Chull
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manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
Yes
technobabble66
Meat Popsicle
Hey,Chull said:
I'm a noob here also, so i'd primarily go with what manticle said
, & to be honest it looks tasty as is to my inexperienced eye; but if you want something to complicate it:FWIW, if you download ianh's spreadsheet (pinned in the K&K section - definitely get this at some stage) you can quickly analyse your recipe. If you select "australian dark ale" it'll even give you a rough guide for the parameters you want to aim for.
I just put yours through it. Basically your OG would be a bit low, resulting in your alc% being a bit low also (~4%). If you want a 4% finish, that's fine.
Otherwise, i'd maybe be tempted to increase your LDME to 1kg. That'll get it to 4.8%. Bit more maltiness is always good too!
Also, i've generally read/been told that you get better flavour by only making brews up to 19-20L, rather than the full 23L. I've done this for the 3 brews i've made (i *did* say i was a noob!) and it worked a treat.
Yours should already end up being a little bitter, & dropping some volume will also increase the bitterness somewhat. May be an issue if you don't like bitter. I'm guessing that's no problem if you're choosing to go for a dark ale anyway.
So i'd be tempted to drop your final volume to 19-21L, depending on how you want your bitterness.
Keep in mind though, as manticle said, your brew should be fine as it is; and i'm going more on some numbers, not real experience!!
Oh, one final thing - i love hops, so i'm always tempted to add more hops. I'd be v tempted to boost the flavour with a late or dry hop addition of something low in Alpha Acid%. Though with the bitterness already high, this could be a bad move...& in a dark ale, the hops flavour may be lost anyway.
my 2c, from one noob to another :unsure:
happy brewing!!
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
When I brewed kits, I brewed exactly that recipe. It's not a 'super, wonder, oh my god amazing craft' drop but it is a tasty, malty brew that is dead simple. 500 dme + the dex. I found that 1 kg dme was always a bit too thick.
Brew as is, complicate it later.
Keep fermentation temperatures down and allow some proper conditioning time of course.
Brew as is, complicate it later.
Keep fermentation temperatures down and allow some proper conditioning time of course.
NewtownClown
Cenosilicaphobic
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That's a brew that stands out in memory from my kit days, too.
Tried a few variants (BE1, BE2, 1kg DME, etc, etc), always went back to the one you posted. .
Tried a few variants (BE1, BE2, 1kg DME, etc, etc), always went back to the one you posted. .
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
And the gravity is stable and where you would expect it to be?Chull said:
mosto
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Hmmm...1014 sounds a little high to me. Assuming you used the kit yeast, ianh's spreadsheet suggests a final gravity of 1008. What was your original gravity? It may worth picking the fermenter up a giving it a gentle swirl. This will wake the yeast up if they have gone to sleep so they can finish the job. At worst it means you wait an extra few days, which won't hurt the brew at all, but I know that being patient is not easy with your first brew
G'day bloke's, new member here & getting back into brewing. Just put down 3rd brew - Morgans Dark Ale 1.7 kg, Amber Liquid Malt 1.5kg & 12gms Fuggles steeped in hot water for 10 mins. For sum reason only topped to 22lt instead 23 @ 22.c. Get's better, spilt about 1/3 kit yeast on ground, left it there & threw in remainder. Back to LHBS they give me Safale us-05 10gs all in. Any thoughts , I've got thick skin OG 1.048 @ 22c.
Ahh thanks mosto. Wasn't sure about the half kit yeast already in fermenter mixing with the 05 I put in a hour or so later( flavours) just have wait see. Had a shocker & ill keep reading this forum. There's so much knowledge on this site I look forward to doing another brew.
