Recipe Help

[Gormand]

My first AG is a couple of weeks away and I am seeking some advice. BIAB English bitter, below is the planned recipe. Spec malts and hops are from a beer I enjoyed, but they didnt say what the base malt was. I have Willamette as a Fuggles replacement. I dont want it massivly bitter but I felt the beer I had was lacking @ 18IBUs.

22L batch
4.5kg - Simpsons Ale - Maris Otter or Joe White/Maltcraft Traditional Ale,
.2kg Choc malt
.25kg Crystal malt

Plan is to split the batch in half here and do 2 seperate boils I know it will take 2 hours but I want to try different hops so I can start getting an idea of what they add to a beer.

11L batch 1
Willamette @60 min to 25IBU
10g EK Goldings @5min (No chill in small batch, so treating as 15)
10g EK Goldings @0min (Dry hop)


11L batch 2
Willamette @60 min to 25IBU
10g Willamette @5min (No chill in small batch, so treating as 15ish)
10g Willamette @0min (Dry hop)

I was also thinking that instead of 2 boils putting the flavour hops into the cubes while I fill it and then removing when the cube is filled. But I figure that the wort will be a bit too cool by that point and they wouldnt be true 15min additions.


Any advice on which of the base malts I should use, changes to hop amounts and timing, amount of spec grain and such would be appreciated.

 

[Jimmeh]

Looks nice, except 200g of Choc malt might be a bit much

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Looks nice, except 200g of Choc malt might be a bit much

+1, too much for an English bitter - would work well in a black IPA, but not a bitter.

Goomba

 

[argon]

My first AG is a couple of weeks away and I am seeking some advice. BIAB English bitter, below is the planned recipe. Spec malts and hops are from a beer I enjoyed, but they didnt say what the base malt was. I have Willamette as a Fuggles replacement. I dont want it massivly bitter but I felt the beer I had was lacking @ 18IBUs.

22L batch
4.5kg - Simpsons Ale - Maris Otter or Joe White/Maltcraft Traditional Ale,
.2kg Choc malt
.25kg Crystal malt

Plan is to split the batch in half here and do 2 seperate boils I know it will take 2 hours but I want to try different hops so I can start getting an idea of what they add to a beer.

11L batch 1
Willamette @60 min to 25IBU
10g EK Goldings @5min (No chill in small batch, so treating as 15)
10g EK Goldings @0min (Dry hop)


11L batch 2
Willamette @60 min to 25IBU
10g Willamette @5min (No chill in small batch, so treating as 15ish)
10g Willamette @0min (Dry hop)

I was also thinking that instead of 2 boils putting the flavour hops into the cubes while I fill it and then removing when the cube is filled. But I figure that the wort will be a bit too cool by that point and they wouldnt be true 15min additions.


Any advice on which of the base malts I should use, changes to hop amounts and timing, amount of spec grain and such would be appreciated.

For a nice English Bitter i'd do this;
1046OG
14.5SRM
~35IBU

4.5kg Marris Otter
.25kg Crystal (Pale i assume?)
.1 Choc
45g Willamette @90
45g EKG into cube 1
45g Willamette into cube 2
SO4 or WYeast 1968

That way you'll have 2 beers highlighting each variety as a late hop

Edit: re cubing. Fill your cubes then just prior to sealing adding in the hops. This will lock in as much flavour and aroma as possible. I run-off pretty slow into cubes and by the time i add the hops i calculate the bitterness as approx 10min addition.

 

[Gormand]

Thanks for all the feedback on the choc malt. Ill drop that down to 100g. I wasnt sure how much is in there (I just know it is in there) so I threw in a random number and let people with more experience help out

Hmm argon, you may have swayed me on doing the single boil and cubing the hops. Acting as a 10min addition should still give me a reasonable amount of flavour if I have read and understood these things.

 

[Pennywise]

CaraAroma for the crystal FTW!

 

[argon]

CaraAroma for the crystal FTW!

absolutley... 97%TFFMGP + 3%Cararoma = :icon_drool2:

 

[Gormand]

CaraAroma for the crystal FTW!

I will keep that in mind for next time (Argon also seems to approve) Im planning to tweak this recipe over time to get a good EB recipe out of it so any suggestions are welcome. But want to stick with whats on the bottle first time round.

Im planning on doing the same thing with a bunch of other beers such as Stout (Choc and normal), Weissbier (Dark), Red Ale and other styles as yet undetermined.

absolutley... 97%TFFMGP + 3%Cararoma

What is TFFMGP?

 

[argon]

What is TFFMGP?

Thomas Fawcett Floor Malted Golden Promise

 

[Gormand]

Thomas Fawcett Floor Malted Golden Promise

Will any Golden promise do or does it have to be TFFW?

 

[argon]

Golden Promise is a widely used British grain and will give you the characteristics of a good English ale for sure. I'm a big fan of Timothy Taylor's Landlord and my recipe uses the 97%TFFMGP + 3%Cararoma i mentioned earlier. It's got to be one of the best beers i've ever made.

If you have the Marris Otter already definitely use that, as it's a wonderful malt also, very highly regarded.

If you're after a great english bitter have a read through this thread for some excellent info.

 

[Gormand]

Golden Promise is a widely used British grain and will give you the characteristics of a good English ale for sure. I'm a big fan of Timothy Taylor's Landlord and my recipe uses the 97%TFFMGP + 3%Cararoma i mentioned earlier. It's got to be one of the best beers i've ever made.

If you have the Marris Otter already definitely use that, as it's a wonderful malt also, very highly regarded.

If you're after a great english bitter have a read through this thread for some excellent info.

Thanks, I dont have any grains(But all the hops) yet getting everything in my head and on paper before I buy it. So I can easily switch to Golden promise over marris otter easily enough. Reading through that thread now thanks

 

[Gormand]

Having looked and thought about it, Im just going to go wit ha SMASH to start off. Simpsons Ale - Maris Otter or Simpsons Ale - Golden Promise (Havnt decided which yet) and I think Ill go with the EK Goldings first up.
I can already see my first dozen+ recipes based around this, finding the better base malt, trying out the hop flavours, determining the exact bitterness I like, trying the spec malts and determining the best volumes.

Seriously, how do you guys drink this much beer? Thats like 2 years worth for me and thats only 1 recipe.
Although so I will do the split batch for. May even still do it with this one, but trying to keep it simple.