Planning My First Ag

[Cannibal Smurf]

Hey all,

Planning my first AG recipe for Feb to work in with the SEQ grain bulk buy. Trying for a Trois Pistoles clone and was wondering if you would mind checking my recipe and passing along feedback or suggestions.

Cheers

 

[barls]

redbeard and i are brewig the same thing next week but we are using this recipe as it looked easier

Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
Belgian Pilsen Malt 5.550 kg 79.1 % 3.7 In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 60L Malt 0.225 kg 3.2 % 5.6 In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Caramel Munich Malt 60 0.225 kg 3.2 % 5.6 In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Biscuit Malt 0.113 kg 1.6 % 1.0 In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - Candi Sugar Dark 0.453 kg 6.5 % 52.0 Start Of Boil
Sugar - Invert Sugar (Golden) Syrup 0.453 kg 6.5 % 0.0 Start Of Boil


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
Slovenian Styrian Goldings 5.4 % 35 g 21.5 Loose Pellet Hops 60 Min From End
Slovenian Styrian Goldings 5.4 % 14 g 4.3 Loose Pellet Hops 15 Min From End
Czech Saaz 3.0 % 7 g 0.1 Loose Pellet Hops 1 Min From End


Other Ingredients
Ingredient Amount When
Orange Peel, Bitter 7 g In Boil
Whirlfloc Tablet 1 In Boil
Star Anise 1 g In Boil
Star Anise 1 g In Boil


Yeast
Wyeast 1214-Belgian Ale

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: Single Step Infusion (65C/149F) 90minute

Step Type Temperature Duration
Rest at 65 degC 90


Recipe Notes
from p 36 of beer captured
whirlfoc, anise and orange peel in at 15 minutes
second lot of anise at 1 minute

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

Cheers barls, let me know how it goes

Nobody else??

 

[sponge]

I'm still getting together the last peices i need for AG so I'm probably not the best person for advice, but wouldnt it be better to stick with a simpler recipe for a 1st AG? Like base malt and 1 spec grain with bittering, 20min and flameout additions just so that you can concentrate more on getting use to your setup and not worrying about all these different additions?

Sponge

 

[bouncingcastle]

That for a first AG.... hmmm

May I suggest doing something with a simpler grain bill for your first. Don't get me wrong, multiple grains have their place - HOWEVER, you won't yet know what half of those grains can add to your beer.

My suggestion, start with something pretty much idiot proof (not calling you an idiot ), but you will have heaps going on your first time and you will need a forgiving recipe.

Try a basic APA (Don't have an exact recipe on me, however)... Something like

80% Ale Malt, 15% munich, 5% crystal ... bitter to ~25IBU with some mid and late additions. US05, or 1272 if you want a liquid

Just a thought...

Chris

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

I would second what bouncingcastle has to say.

Doing such a high gravity beer without knowing what efficiency to expect (I see you predicted 75%) is fraught with danger.
I couldn't see you getting a gravity of 1.109 as your first all grain effort. That is me speaking from experience.

Whenever I brew high gravity batches my efficiency drops between 10 and 15% and I regularly get 72% for a OG from 1030 to 1070.

Try a simple ale to start with and have a few attempts at beers in the OG 1050 range so at least you may know what your system does for you.

However, if you insist on brewing the Trios Pistole clone as your first AG then have some malt extract on hand so you can bump up the OG.

Good luck.

C&B
TDA

 

[HoppingMad]

+1 on what Bouncing has said.

Looks like a pretty complex recipe for starting out. Go with something that's simple and combines a smaller number of ingredients. Then trade up. I'm a newbie at the AG and that's what I'm doing - starting with some simple APAs and IPAs myself.

Hopper.

 

[muckey]

+1 for keeping it simple

My first AG was DrSmurto golden ale - found that mash to be very forgiving

Its a great beer and not too high in grav - made for an easy cherry popper

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

Well, I came here for advice and it looks like I'm brewing something easier first attempt or two, then depending how they go I might move up to the Pistoles.
Since the Bulk buy is just around the corner I might search in there for something that uses the same Pilsner malt as a base. Will see what I can find and post again when I find something.

Thanks guys

 

[Effect]

c'mon man - tis summer - brew something that you can drink now - not one that you have to wait some months for it to mature...

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

Open to suggestions if anyone has a recipe for me...

 

[clean brewer]

Open to suggestions if anyone has a recipe for me...

Smurf,
Just go to the top of the page, click on Recipe DB and sort by ALL GRAIN and maybe ALE..
Have a look through all the Recipes and find one that is Easy, maybe a Pale Ale or something..

Once I had my Base Malts, I just went through the Recipes and picked about 8 that looked OK and then wrote down what HOPS, SPEC MALTS, OTHER MALTS and YEAST I need and ordered them from Ross.

This way I had what I needed for 8 brews(8kegs/16 cartons) and nothing more, once ive done them, ill sort out another 8 and order accordingly.. Mind you I rounded up the other malts to the 1/2 kg or kg and the hops to 90gr, so I can prob do another 2 brews after that with the left-overs..

Jaisus! Is the DB empty? FFS, I think not. Do you really need to be led by the f@#$%n hand?

Heaps of Recipes in their butters, sounds like you typed this response after a few? Not like you to give a reply like that...

 

[HoppingMad]

Smurf,

I'm a newbie like yourself and doing my first AG for this weekend. I'm going with the cliche and doing the Dr Smurtos beer which is listed on the Recipe DB. You can use Pilsener as a base grain for it or he has a version which he says is more successful in award comps using Traditional Ale grain. I'm going for the Trad Ale version myself. Using all Joe White stuff as my budget doesn't stretch to Weyermann.

Around the traps I have heard that Coopers pale ale clones are pretty simple to do also - they use primarily pilsener grain, and pride of ringwood hops. Tasted some and it was amazing - perfect match of the original - but the key is to be able to do it right is to re-culture coopers yeast to get it authentic, and that takes some expertise I don't have yet. Don't have a recipe for it myself but something to consider if you know how to get yeast cells going from the bottom of a bottle!

Some of my brew buddies swear by a book by Jamil & Palmer called "Brewing Classic Beer Styles - 80 award winning beers anyone can brew". Has good recipes for all learning curves and a good way to check out how the different ingredients vary according to the style.

Have fun dude - that's the main thing, you'll be fine whatever you come up with :icon_cheers:

Hopper.

 

[dpadden]

Some of my brew buddies swear by a book by Jamil & Palmer called "Brewing Classic Beer Styles - 80 award winning beers anyone can brew". Has good recipes for all learning curves and a good way to check out how the different ingredients vary according to the style.

+1 for this book, it is a cracker. Also has extract versions so really is a book for everyone. Have search around and can usually pick it up for $10 - $15. Worth every cent

 

[muckey]

As stated before, I did the smurto GA as my first (trad ale version :icon_drool2: ) - dead easy and a very forgiving mash. Dont rush any of it. If the mash sits a bit long it will be OK. Just make sure you stir the mash well. batch sparge and if that sits a little longer no prob there either. Get your boil going and that will be Ok if its boiling for a few minutes until the first addition. Set a timer of some sort so your hops go in at the right time.

You really need to know what type of beer you like and look for that type of recipe.

Dont try something with too high or too low OG to start with, just make your first as straight forward as it can be and when you see how easy it is, you'll get adventurous in no time.

I can understand being the first time that you are probably a little apprehensive but just get your hands dirty, Oh and if you post the date you will be doing the mash then if there are any concerns along the way you can always make a post. That is , unless you can get a brewer who is close by to give you a hand.

 

[buttersd70]

sounds like you typed this response after a few? Not like you to give a reply like that...

Umm, yes. Sorry, everyone. :unsure:

There are a lot of recipes in the DB, though, many of which use pilsner as the base malt. There was also a thread recently 'australian pale ale', where Tony posted his recipe for that, which also got awards.

Many of the apa recipes that use JW trad ale could be interchanged with pilsner (as has already been mentioned, Smurtos GA is one)

 

[clean brewer]

Hello! My name is buttersd70 and ive said something very naughty.. :huh:

 

[raven19]

Hello! My name is buttersd70 and ive said something very naughty.. :huh:

I wont be judging butters harshly at all, considering the wealth of information he freely shares with us all!

Beers!

 

[Katherine]

Or Ross's NS Summer Ale is also a great one for a newbie.... it's also perfect (wierdly) Summer drinking beer! Easy grain bill and single hop... Ive done about 5 brews of it using a different hop each time.... I find Nelson Sauvin needs another hop along side it...