I'm new to designing recipes ...

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Ruddager

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... so I'd welcome any comments on the following one so that I can gauge how I'm going a bit.


1.5 Kg Light LME
1.5 Kg Amber LME
500g Light DME
350g Caramunich
50g Chocolate Malt

6L boil with ...
30g Cascade @ 60
25g Cascade @ 45
15g Cascade @ 20
15g Cascade @ 10
15g Cascade dry hopped

23L total
US05 yeast

According to IanH's spreadsheet I'll get ...

OG: 1.051
FG: 1.013
IBU: 37.1
EBC: 25.6
ABV: 5.3%


I think I'll leave it at simply that rather than go on about why I'm doing it and what I'm aiming for.

So, please, any comments/observations/feedback are welcome.
 
Looks like it will make a nice American Amber Ale.
I wouldn't change anything on this one, but fine tune it next time, if you feel it needs it.

I don't know about IanH's spreadsheet, as I don't use it, but I suppose it takes into account your relatively small 6 litre boil to calculate your IBUs ?
 
It does. It has a "Hop Concentration Factor" ... thing. With 6L the value is 1.55, and if I switch it off (value becomes 1.00) the IBU is 57.7. That would be way too bitter for my liking, so hopefully the HCF thing works!
 
Couple of things...firstly, why the chocolate malt? Just for colour?

Also, their may not be a lot of point in a 45 minute hop addition. You're getting 30 IBU out of your first two hop additions, and they're both early enough in the boil that they won't contribute much in the way of flavour/aroma. Two alternatives I can see...up your initial addition of Cascade to 50 grams and drop the 45 min addition. Even better, given this is a hoppy ale, with late additions, switch out the 60 minute addition of Cascade for something like Warrior. It's got a neutral profile, so won't change the flavour much at all, and you can use half as much...25 grams of 16% warrior at 60 mins will give you 28 IBU. Then you save the Cascade for your late additions (20 and 10).

EDIT: I'm also a little worried about the HCF factor....if you turn it off, you jump from 37 IBU to 57. With a 6 litre boil it's a little borderline as to the calcs being right...certainly we've agreed in the thread regarding Ian's spreadsheet that 10 litre + boils should have HCF off. I'm keen to hear your result, but I have a suspicion your beer will end up higher than 37 IBU...maybe not a bad thing, but be prepared.

If you can step up to a 10 litre boil, turn HCF off and try it for yourself, then adjust your future hopping schedules accordingly...

Other than that, it's a good looking recipe.
 
The chocolate malt is just because I have it. Same with the caramunich actually!

Good advice on the 45 minute addition - thanks for that. The reason i'm using cascade the whole way through is that it's simply easier and more economical to buy 100g of the one variety.

Can't step it up to a 10 minute boil unfortunately. I could reduce it to 5L and compensate by putting all that 25g from the second addition in at the 60 min mark. Other than that, is there any way for me to measure the bitterness afterwards to see what I've wound up with? I'd also reduce the DME to 340g, which will lower the ABV too - might be a good idea.

(PS. great reply, exactly what I was looking for, thanks)
 
The more you boil the better I reckon. Go with your original hop schedule and see what you end up with...worst case is you have a 5% beer with an IBU in the 40's or 50's. There's no way for us to tell once it's brewed, other than back to back tasting with a beer that has a known IBU to compare...even then if the FG/abv is significantly different it will change the perception of bitterness. Just go with "this is awesome" or "this is too full on for my taste" and adjust accordingly. And grab yourself a 19l pot from Big W for $19 and start doing 10l + boils, then you can turn HCF off....

I think it's more economical in the long run though to use a high alpha bittering hop in these kinds of beers...25gm Warrior @ 60, with 15gm of Cascade @ 20, 10 & flameout would give you a similar IBU, but you'd have 55gm of Cascade left over for your next brew...where you could use the Warrior for bittering again. But it's very much a personal preference.
 
Well, it's brew day today and first thing I did this morning was head down to dubs to get one of those 19L stock pots. Time to re-jig everything with HCF switched off.
 
When doing extract brews I never found much advantage to 60 min boil. I would recalculate and do a 30 min cook up with 30/20/10 additions. 30 min boil also keeps losses in the pot down as well.


Cheers.
 
Actually I'm only going to end up doing a 40min boil

25g Nelson @40
10g Cascade @25
15g Cascade @15
15g Cascade @5
10g Cascade dry hopped
 
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