Ingredient Ratios

[Pete2501]

So I did my thing and made some beer. It was pretty high at 1.071 but is now down to 1.020.

1.70 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain
0.25 kg Chocolate Malt
0.50 kg DME
0.25 kg Dex
0.75 kg corn
15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 9.3 IBU
15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
35.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332)

Things came a little unstuck when I only had certain quantities.

 

[gwozniak]

You sure about the 1071? Don't seem to have enough fermentables there for that gravity. What's your volume?

 

[Pete2501]

Yeah pretty sure. I checked when it was 30 degrees C and it was 1070. I used beersmith to work out the temp adjustment.

It was 22 litres so nothing special.

1 x can 1.7kg
1 x boost (0.5kg DME, 0.25kg corn&dex)
1 x corn 0.5kg
1 x crystal/choc 0.5kg

I was shocked when I took the reading because i was expecting 50s not 70s and double checked with a fresh pour but it did it again at 70.

 

[bum]

Have you checked you hydrometer's accuracy in 20 deg water (should read 1000)? Mid 1040s would be as high as I'd expect for those fermentables. One point for 10 deg doesn't seem like the right adjustment either.

 

[Pete2501]

Fairo. I'll do the water test.

 

[MarkBastard]

Said this in another thread recently. Sometimes you have a higher gravity bit of beer stuck in the little shaft in the tap, so when you take your first sample it is of an abnormally high gravity. This happens when topping up with water and the water is mixing through fine but the little shaft bit is kind of shielded. In fact it may even be almost pure malt extract depending on how you did it.

 

[Pete2501]

@Mark^******* Ah that would explain it. I did fill two tubes for testing but maybe the extract just didn't want to come loose.

I racked this to a secondary yesterday and dry hopped the rest of the Amarillo.

I just had to add that the flavour wasn't overly sweet. The hop bitterness came through first and the malt sweetness came through as a nice after taste. Looking forward to the smell the dry hops bring. I'll be bottling this for sure. Some for new years eve and the rest for Australia day.

Edit: add stuff

 

[rude]

Have just been reading this old thread especially the bu/gu ratio bit

Just wondering what the bu/gu for a APA is but split up for bittering flavour & aroma

Allso the same for a english bitter Tony said he uses 0.8 for these but can you break it down for the 3 hop additions ie 60 min 15min 2 min

cheers keen to balance my beers

 

[bconnery]

Have just been reading this old thread especially the bu/gu ratio bit

Just wondering what the bu/gu for a APA is but split up for bittering flavour & aroma

Allso the same for a english bitter Tony said he uses 0.8 for these but can you break it down for the 3 hop additions ie 60 min 15min 2 min

cheers keen to balance my beers

Unfortunately, and perhaps you wont' be surprised to hear, it isn't that simple.
You can't really break it down easily because it depends on so many factors.
It is really an overall guideline, not a specific measurement.

I don't know what the bu/gu range for an APA is off the top of my head but you break it down so easily because you can have a wide range of options for splitting your hops. You can have no real bittering additions and get all your IBUs from late hops, after 20 minutes, known as hop bursting. You can have a small bittering addition, you can have no real aroma addition, in the last few minutes, and dry hop only.
On top of all this it can be affected by the recipe itself. A grain bill, or flavour of the beer, may lead you to want to go towards the higher end of any ratio, or the lower, regardless of OG.
THere are too many variables to reliably break it down by additions in my book.

Ditto for an English bitter, You may not have the three additions, you may have a single bittering addition, or a small flavour addition, again, it is really an overall measurement.

Balancing your beers depends on a number of factors, not just the bu/gu ratio. This ratio is just one of the many guidelines you can use...

 

[Screwtop]

Unfortunately, and perhaps you wont' be surprised to hear, it isn't that simple.
You can't really break it down easily because it depends on so many factors.
It is really an overall guideline, not a specific measurement.

I don't know what the bu/gu range for an APA is off the top of my head but you break it down so easily because you can have a wide range of options for splitting your hops. You can have no real bittering additions and get all your IBUs from late hops, after 20 minutes, known as hop bursting. You can have a small bittering addition, you can have no real aroma addition, in the last few minutes, and dry hop only.
On top of all this it can be affected by the recipe itself. A grain bill, or flavour of the beer, may lead you to want to go towards the higher end of any ratio, or the lower, regardless of OG.
THere are too many variables to reliably break it down by additions in my book.

Ditto for an English bitter, You may not have the three additions, you may have a single bittering addition, or a small flavour addition, again, it is really an overall measurement.

Balancing your beers depends on a number of factors, not just the bu/gu ratio. This ratio is just one of the many guidelines you can use...

On the question of BU:GU there is some information to be found HERE . As a result I prefer to use the Balance Value formula. There is a ratio used by a lot of UK brewers for English Pale Ales/Bitters where 75% of total IBU's are used for bittering and the remaining 25% of total IBU's for a 20 min addition.

Screwy

 

[bconnery]

On the question of BU:GU there is some information to be found HERE . As a result I prefer to use the Balance Value formula. There is a ratio used by a lot of UK brewers for English Pale Ales/Bitters where 75% of total IBU's are used for bittering and the remaining 25% of total IBU's for a 20 min addition.

Screwy

Screwy,
The balance value describes what I was getting at about the beer style and recipe driving the necessary ratio.
That is some good info, and the bitter addition ratio is also.

It all serves to drive home my point though, I've tasted some very tasty well balanced bitters that didn't use that formula.

I still believe that balancing beers is something that can't be achieved simply by following a formula per se, you can just get some good guidelines.

Still, the more you can have to guide you in recipe formulation the better!

 

[jbirbeck]

Screwy,
The balance value describes what I was getting at about the beer style and recipe driving the necessary ratio.
That is some good info, and the bitter addition ratio is also.

It all serves to drive home my point though, I've tasted some very tasty well balanced bitters that didn't use that formula.

I still believe that balancing beers is something that can't be achieved simply by following a formula per se, you can just get some good guidelines.

Still, the more you can have to guide you in recipe formulation the better!

+1, but to add to that perceived balance can often come down to the choice of ingredients. For example you'll get a very different bitter perception using Chinook versus say Southern Cross. Not because of the flavour but the smoothness of that bitterness. Also the difference between mashing high and mashing low and using crystals to get 'sweetness'.

Formula are useful to get you the idea of whether you're in the ball park but balance is about taste and perception and that is experience. so brew, drink, tweak and enjoy. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[bradsbrew]

On the question of BU:GU there is some information to be found HERE . As a result I prefer to use the Balance Value formula. There is a ratio used by a lot of UK brewers for English Pale Ales/Bitters where 75% of total IBU's are used for bittering and the remaining 25% of total IBU's for a 20 min addition.

Screwy

Ahh now that has helped me understand. When I first started using brew mate I thought that the balance value should equal 1.00 then it would be balanced but that did not suit most of my recipes. I could not understand why my stouts were sitting around 2.00 I thought they couldn't be that out out of balance. Having a quick look through the balnce value chart and some I my recipes i have hit the ballpark area with most :icon_chickcheers: . Thanks Screwy

Cheers Brad

 

[rude]

Cheers guys helped heaps nothing beats experience

Hey Brad I've been haveing a go at Brew Mate & I really like it