First all grain brew

[kalbo777]

Getting close to doing my first all grain brew, still getting my brew house set up. I'm thinking about using Magnum for bittering and Citra for my aroma hop and maybe for dry hopping also, trying to find an American Pale Ale with just those two hops. Also using JW Traditional Ale malt along with some JW Crystal, yeast will be US-05. Also looking to get between 5 and 5.5% ABV. Looking to keep the IBU about 35. Batch will be around the 20L mark to fit a corney keg.

Any words of wisdom from the experts? If you know of any good recipes with these ingredients would be happy to hear from you.

Cheers,
Doug

 

[Aussie Mick]

Following this one.

I'd also be interested whether there would be any adverse issues to ending up with around 16 litres of wort and diluting to 20 litres with cold water in the fermenter. Reason being, only having the capacity to actually boil up 16 litres without further expense

 

[Coalminer]

Following this one.

I'd also be interested whether there would be any adverse issues to ending up with around 16 litres of wort and diluting to 20 litres with cold water in the fermenter. Reason being, only having the capacity to actually boil up 16 litres without further expense

Always do this
As I no-chill I can only fit 21.9L in cube but due to efficiency it is always 5 - 7 points over gravity
usually dilute to desired gravity and end up with up to 24 - 25L in fermenter

 

[Dan Pratt]

^ the water you add needs to be sterile, so boiled and cooled then added to the 16L, or distilled water which is bought.

Diluting will also dilute the ABV and the Ibu.

Kalbo,

A simple recipe is a good start to target 5% and 35ibu.

Usually 95/5 two malt combo is for IPAs, for a pale adding a third malt like Vienna will really set the malt profile.

80% Ale
15% Vienna
5% Crystal 70ebc or 100ebc

Mash that at 66c for an hour then raise temp to 78c for mash out.

Magnum is a good choice for bittering, target 15-18ibu from that addition.

Citra at 10m to make the remaining Ibu, when the boil finishes add 2g/L for a Hopstand, you can whirlpool the wort and get ready for chilling the beer.

Citra is very solid for aromatics and flavour, dry hop with the same amount 2g/L for 3-5days when fermentation has finished. Cold crash the fermenter to 4c when the dry hop stage is complete and transfer to the keg.

Google electric brewery and find the award winning recipe section, there is a heap of tried and tested styles for brewing.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Keep your recipe SIMPLE

Pratty's is a good start, and its one you can modify to see how different ingrediants work

But most of all, take notes.. LOTS OF NOTES. This will help you find out where you go wrong

 

[Rocker1986]

You could bitter it with Citra too, it works well as a bittering hop; I brewed an APA last year with all Citra through the boil and a 40g ish dry hop (25L batch) and it ended up being really nice.

I only use hops like Magnum for bittering when I'm doing multi hop APAs or using a hop for aroma and flavour that doesn't work well for bittering.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Brewing software too if you don't have it. I use Beersmith. It really makes it fun to design your own brews and can turn a newbie into an intermediate level pretty quick. Record everything and notes in the software.

Just for eg. it took me 3 minutes to throw this recipe together. Keeping it simple.

4.75kg Ale Malt = 92.2%
0.3 Crystal = 5.8%
0.1kg Acidulated Malt = 1.9% (this gets correct pH for the mash, around pH 5.2 to 5.4) For most water variations.

20g Magnum for 60 minutes. = 18 IBU
60g Citra at flame out/steep for 20 minutes = 16.3 IBU
IBU total = 34.3

Right in the middle balance of American Pale Ale
OG = 1.052
FG = ~ 1.012 - Medium body mashed at 66c (Mash for full body at 69c or light body at 63c)
IBU = 34.3
Color = 17 EBC
ABV = 5.2%

Or you could lean more towards hop aroma and go less Magnum at 60 and more Citra in late additions.

Have fun...

 

[kalbo777]

^ the water you add needs to be sterile, so boiled and cooled then added to the 16L, or distilled water which is bought.

Diluting will also dilute the ABV and the Ibu.

Kalbo,

A simple recipe is a good start to target 5% and 35ibu.

Usually 95/5 two malt combo is for IPAs, for a pale adding a third malt like Vienna will really set the malt profile.

80% Ale
15% Vienna
5% Crystal 70ebc or 100ebc

Mash that at 66c for an hour then raise temp to 78c for mash out.

Magnum is a good choice for bittering, target 15-18ibu from that addition.

Citra at 10m to make the remaining Ibu, when the boil finishes add 2g/L for a Hopstand, you can whirlpool the wort and get ready for chilling the beer.

Citra is very solid for aromatics and flavour, dry hop with the same amount 2g/L for 3-5days when fermentation has finished. Cold crash the fermenter to 4c when the dry hop stage is complete and transfer to the keg.

Google electric brewery and find the award winning recipe section, there is a heap of tried and tested styles for brewing.

Thanks Pratty, that will be a big help to get me started.

I was also thinking about a SMASH as my first brew, one of the reasons is, we have to buy bulk up here, 25kg grains and minimum of 500g for hop pellets, Citra are about double the price of Magnum and come in at equiv. AU$43 per 500g. I could try and buy just a kilo or two of the specialty grains from some local craft breweries I know.

Have been pretty busy researching the net also reading Palmer, probably overloaded with ideas and tech, I think as mentioned in the replies is to keep it simple to start. Was thinking Brewer's Friend, Beertools or Beersmith for the software, also saw a really good spreadsheet on the YouTube channel of Beer n BBQ Larry but it only does Imperial units, no metric so far.

 

[kalbo777]

You could bitter it with Citra too, it works well as a bittering hop; I brewed an APA last year with all Citra through the boil and a 40g ish dry hop (25L batch) and it ended up being really nice.

I only use hops like Magnum for bittering when I'm doing multi hop APAs or using a hop for aroma and flavour that doesn't work well for bittering.

Cheers Kelsey, also thought about a SMaSH as my first brew, so I guess the Citra would work well for that apart from being a bit expensive here. Thought in the long run getting the Magnum for bittering and Citra just for aroma would be more cost effective.

 

[kalbo777]

Brewing software too if you don't have it. I use Beersmith. It really makes it fun to design your own brews and can turn a newbie into an intermediate level pretty quick. Record everything and notes in the software.

Just for eg. it took me 3 minutes to throw this recipe together. Keeping it simple.

4.75kg Ale Malt = 92.2%
0.3 Crystal = 5.8%
0.1kg Acidulated Malt = 1.9% (this gets correct pH for the mash, around pH 5.2 to 5.4) For most water variations.

20g Magnum for 60 minutes. = 18 IBU
60g Citra at flame out/steep for 20 minutes = 16.3 IBU
IBU total = 34.3

Right in the middle balance of American Pale Ale
OG = 1.052
FG = ~ 1.012 - Medium body mashed at 66c (Mash for full body at 69c or light body at 63c)
IBU = 34.3
Color = 17 EBC
ABV = 5.2%

Or you could lean more towards hop aroma and go less Magnum at 60 and more Citra in late additions.

Have fun...

Thanks Dan, that's looks pretty good, got a couple of good starting recipes to consider and get me underway. I have been looking at the various software available, just need to choose one and get into it!

Cheers!

 

[Aussie Mick]

Always do this
As I no-chill I can only fit 21.9L in cube but due to efficiency it is always 5 - 7 points over gravity
usually dilute to desired gravity and end up with up to 24 - 25L in fermenter

Thanks Coalminer and Pratty.

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread Kalbo 777.

 

[kalbo777]

Thanks Coalminer and Pratty.

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread Kalbo 777.

No probs Mick, cheers.

 

[Moad]

Citra I believe is higher aa than magnum so you wouldn't need to use as much for bittering. I recently did a citra smash and it turned out great. Citra is awesome!


Edit: should have looked it up before I posted. Magnum is high alpha too. Second statement stands, citra ftw

 

[kalbo777]

Citra I believe is higher aa than magnum so you wouldn't need to use as much for bittering. I recently did a citra smash and it turned out great. Citra is awesome!


Edit: should have looked it up before I posted. Magnum is high alpha too. Second statement stands, citra ftw

Talked to the supplier yesterday and they have run out of Citra! 2-3 months wait!! There is one other supplier, waiting for the reply, was thinking to substitute with Cascade if I can't get them soon.

A Citra smash is tempting, for sure I'll try one day.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Try a SAAZ Samsh.... well worth it

 

[mstrelan]

500g Citra on special at Hoppy Days. http://www.hoppydaysbrewingsupplies.com.au/product/exp-6-crosby-hop-farm-hop-pellets-t-90/

No affiliation.

Edit: Duh just saw location

 

[Rocker1986]

I make Saaz almost SMASH beers all the time in the form of Bohemian Pilsners. Great beer style.

Anyway, when I create hop schedules for APAs I start with the late additions and then make up the IBUs to my target 37-38ish with either a 60 minute addition or a first wort addition. This early boil addition is usually somewhere around 10g.

 

[kalbo777]

I make Saaz almost SMASH beers all the time in the form of Bohemian Pilsners. Great beer style.

Anyway, when I create hop schedules for APAs I start with the late additions and then make up the IBUs to my target 37-38ish with either a 60 minute addition or a first wort addition. This early boil addition is usually somewhere around 10g.

Cheers Kelsey, that's good to know, I'll have a play around with the software when I know what hops I'll be using.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

SAAZ Ale

5% Med-Lite Xtal
10% Wheat
85% Base malt

Bitter to 35IBU
!st addition to about 28IBU
2nd to about 32IBU
3rd addition to about 35IBU

 

[kalbo777]

Stu. that's one to try when I get set up, cheers!