My Next Brew: Little Creatures Pale Ale

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aj0081

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Hey Guys

Really impressed by this forum - the approach to sharing info and knowledge is really astounding.

Anyway, I am a growing home brew guy - and before I have even bottled my current amber ale, I am already avidly planning my next brew.

I am thinking about a pale ale this time, maybe like the little creatures one.

My LHBS suggests:

  1. Pilsner Blonde Can
  2. Brew Booster - 1kg
  3. Caramunich Grain Pack (I think it is about 250g) - steeped for 30 min
  4. Cascade Hop Bag - steeped for 10 min in the wort
  5. Safale Yeast (US-05 I would think???)
What are your thoughts on this spread? Without going over the top, are there ways I could imporve on this?

Should I be subbing the booster out for something else?

Or is something like this (found doing some research on here) the better option:

1.7kg Coopers Premium Draught
1.5kg Morgans light malt extract
200g dried wheat malt extract
EKG 15g @ 15
Galaxy 15g @ 15
Cascade 10g @ dry after 4-5 days
US-05
23l, ferment at 18C



I am keen to here your thoughts!
 
Hey AJ, I have found IanH's spreadsheet to be really useful for this sort of stuff (just google IanH spreadsheet AHB), the search function ain't so grat I have found in the forum.

You can bang all your ingredients in and it will give you IBUs and EBCs that you can then match up against the beers characteristics (colour and bitterness).

That being said I am sure one of the more experienced guys can probably make a call on it just buying looking at it, I'm nowhere near that yet :p
 
Thanks chaps - much appreciated.

Just read all 12 pages of Boonie's recipe. Ingredients have been locked in on the shopping list!

Thanks for the heads up on the spreadsheet Diggs... As a newb I will try and get my head around it!
 
I've done a Little creatures clone that came out pretty good.

Black Rock Blonde Pilsner
Brewcraft #15 Brew Booster or BE2 - both the same with 500g DEX, 250g maltodextrose and 250g Malt.
150g of Dry Wheat Malt (its a powder)
15g Cascade hop pellets
15g Willamette hop pellets
Safale US-05 yeast

I bought 1.5 litres to the boil and put in the wheat malt. Dropped the hops in for a minute before turning off the heat and steeping them for about 15 minutes. Then added the liquid to the fermenter. I generally strain out my hop residue when adding tit to the fermenter but you don't have to.
 
Based on Boonie's recipe - I can only track down liquid light malt extract (instead of liquid extra pale malt extract). Would this make a significant difference?

Kevman - thanks for the alternative. Did you add the Brew Booster to the water - or direct into the fermenter with the concentrate?

Thanks
 
With the brew boosters there are two main mixes, more or less equivalent to Coopers Brew Enhancers 1 and 2. The first one is just dextrose and maltodextrin to add alcoholic strength without thinning the brew down too much. The second one is dex, maltodex and some Light Dried Malt extract.

The second one can form little "malteser" balls if you are not careful so in my kit days I would always dissolve it in a stockpot with some warm (not hot) water and stir like buggery. Then add the kit to that and stir into a runny syrup. I found that adding kit to fermenter and stirring is a bit awkward and you don't really want your sweaty muscly hairy arm down there in your spotless fermenter :p
 
Thanks Bribie G - makes sense re: the fermenter's cleanliness. Would you add this to the other mix, or have a separte pot just for the brew booster?
 
Key item for your brewery is a 10L stockpot with a solid base (Aldi have good ones on sale now and again, with a glass lid, not expensive) and use that to mix everything up in. The cheap thin ones are false economy as they tend to burn on the bottom and don't sit straight on electric if you have an electric stove - Then you'll have a good pot for doing partials if you take that step, and if you go AG, a Stockpot is still a must-have part of the brewery and you can even make curry in it :p
 
My method is to add the brew booster/BE2 to the fermenter, put in 1 litre of hot water and swirl the water around in the bottom of the fermenter. This pretty much dissolves everything.

Then I add the kit to the fermenter and rinse the tin out with some more hot water.
 
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