Nice Brew

[prongs_386]

I brewed a nice ale a couple of months ago and just got to finally taste it and it was awsome. Reminds me of a double IPA but without the alcohol hit.

The recipe was:
4kg Joe white traditional ale
0.8kg vienna malt
0.2kg flaked barley
0.1 amber malt
0.1 car-pils

30gm centennial 60min
20gm centennial 15min

I mashed at 70c for an hour and had 1.048 OG and 1.018 FG. I'm still trying to sort out my efficiency problems which is why its a bit low.
I used us-05 to ferment at 17 degrees.

I'm not really sure how to classify this beer but its awsome so I thought I'd share. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to add some late additions for more aroma and try to increase the ABV.

 

[flano]

I am the last person to solve any beer making problems .
However,
I mash for 90 mins and seem to get the same OG and FG each time.
1050 and 1010.

like I said though.....I know zero about this efficiency stuff.

 

[Pennywise]

Mmm, I suppose I call it a dark Amber Ale, looks nice none the less.
Your efficiency issues could be a number of things, but I'd first look at your mash temp. How sure are you that it's correct, is what your using to measure it calibrated? Hot spots in the mash tun should also be eliminated as much as possible.
Me, I'm having issues the other way, my FG is mostly too low, although I've started to fix this with a better mashout to stop enzymatic activity

 

[zephon]

I mashed at 70c for an hour and had 1.048 OG and 1.018 FG. I'm still trying to sort out my efficiency problems which is why its a bit low.
I used us-05 to ferment at 17 degrees.

You don't mention your volume so it's hard to say but for a "standard" 23l batch you're around 70% efficiency which is fine.

I'm not really sure how to classify this beer but its awsome so I thought I'd share. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to add some late additions for more aroma and try to increase the ABV.

Thanks for sharing it looks tasty! If you want to get your FG down try mashing at a bit lower temperature. Say around 65-67 degrees. By mashing at 70 degrees you will be extracting more unfermentable sugars from the grain resulting in a higher FG. Of course if you do this you'll be changing the body of the beer which may or may not be desirable.

Have fun experimenting! :icon_cheers:

 

[Pennywise]

Feck, how'd I miss that bit. Deffinatly a high mash temp as simma said

 

[Nick JD]

If you're mashing at 70C, you don't need to mash for very long. Between 30 and 60 minutes you get about 1% more than you had at 25 minutes in.

 

[Bribie G]

Ex-forum member Butters makes killer UK milds and he mashes at 70 - he does an iodine test and if the mash is converted after say 40 minutes then it's spargin' time.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

My best dark ale was mashed at 72 degrees (it was the limit, in winter of 78 degrees less calc of temp losses between water temp & grain temp). Ended up with a velvety dark ale that was 3.9%, FG 1.022.

I'd not do a mild that high, probably would at 70. I'd imagine that you'll end up with a good solid beer, that allows you to operate machinery, etc after a couple. Given most of mine are over 5%, it'd be handy to have.

Goomba

 

[browndog]

Dropping your mash temp will not effect your efficiency, it will only increase your attenuation, you need to look at your crush and sparging processes for increases in efficiency. Assuming you are not a fly sparger, you could start with a double batch sparge. If that recipe was for a 23L batch then your efficiency is quite acceptable.
cheers

Browndog

 

[manticle]

Try mashing lower (say 64) for 10 minutes, then bump it up to 70 for the remainder to get better attenuation but still keep some of the body a high mash temp gives you.

As mentioned - efficiency is not a problem with this brew.

 

[prongs_386]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I do like the sweetness of this beer for the given grain bill which is why I went with a high temp. (I actually only wanted 68 but I overshot the mark and decided to just go with it)
It was 23 litres so the efficiency isn't a major problem, I just hope to get a little bit higher.
I'm actually putting together a herms system at the moment so when it's ready i'll be mroe accurate with my temps and I'll experiment with a step of 64.