Thoughts On This Extract Recipe

[Mantis]

Trying for a pale ale style but am not sure if this is on the mark


4kg light LME
300g Crystal

40g Northen Brewer 45min
20g Hallertau 15 min
15g Hallertau 1min

Amber ale yeast (aka 1056)

Method:

1kg malt extract in 5lt water bring to boil, NB 30min
Add rest of malt extract and steeped grain, bring back to boil, Hallertau 15 min, Hallertau 1min
Cool in sink , add to fermenter and top up to 23lt
Pitch yeast
Try for 18c fermentation

Am I on the right track or way off???

 

[agraham]

You might want to see what beer tools thinks of this recipe, its a free online beer calculator.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Looks great!
Can I get an invite for when you crack this open?

As for method... Im assume yours would work, but this is the process I have been following with good results.

Pop the grains in grain bag and steep at 77deg c for 20 minutes
Remove grains.
Add liquid malt
Raise temp to boil
Add Hops 60 minutes
Add hops 15 minutes
Add hops 1 minute
Cool in sterilised cube overnight
Pitch yeast into sterilised fermenter
Chuck the cooled wort on top of the yeast, splashing all over the shop to aerate the wort.

Let me know how it goes.
Looks like a classic American Pale ALe with around 40IBU and 6.5% abv

 

[Mantis]

Thanks for the replies.
I tried beertools and it didnt allow for the low boil volume and gave me a low IBU rating.
I only have a 12 litre pot so cant boil the whole volume. Hence the 1kg of LME in 5lts for the bittering hop boil for better extraction. I would steep the crystal overnight starting it off in 70 deg water.
I will give Brewsta a try and see what it thinks , thanks

And you are welcome SB, but Horsham might be a bit of a drive

 

[buttersd70]

Love the overnight steeping, lets you get into the goodies straight away in the morning.

With Brewsta, the only prob you will ahve is that it assumes all fermentables are going in the boil to work out the grav, but there are a few ways around it.
One way is to get 2 recipes going, one for the grain/malt at full volume, to give me my gravs, and from the grav I work out how many IBU I want. The second recipe is for my hopping, where I maniplate the boil grav to get correct extraction....hard to explain it, it makes it sound more complicated than it is.

But by far the easiest way is to just leave all the volumes set for the full batch, and just make sure that what you boil has the same OG as the final batch will. As long as the boil grav = OG in fermenter, the volume of the boil itself is irrelevant. I did all my extract brewing this way, spot on for the IBU.

EDIT: If you can fit another 600ml into your boil kettle, then your boil grav will be the same as your predicted OG if boiling 1kg of the malt. Or if not, 0.9kg to 5L will give 1055, same as predicted OG.

You might want to knock the NB down slightly, depending on the AA. Mine is 9.9%, and when I put that in, with your weights, it's pretty bitter.

 

[bconnery]

If you are doing partial boils and extract then beersmith is your friend.
It allows for any boil volume and you can also set how long of the total boil the extract is going in for...

 

[buttersd70]

EDIT. or download Brewsta, its pretty bare bones, and not as good as beersmith or promash, but its hopping calculations are exactly bang on using Tinseths formulations.

If you are doing partial boils and extract then beersmith is your friend.
It allows for any boil volume and you can also set how long of the total boil the extract is going in for...

True, beersmith is much better in this regard. However, its formulation is wrong for the bittering, at least when it's set to Tenseth. A lot of people complain that it comes out more bitter than expected, and that's cos the numbers don't match up. Its predicts an IBU, supposedly using tinseth,25% under what you get if you put the same figures into Tinseths own calculator. I use pellets, but in beersmith I enter it as as a plug with +25% in the plug hop adjustment. Comes outwithin a decimal place of Tinseths calculator.

 

[Mantis]

Love the overnight steeping, lets you get into the goodies straight away in the morning.

With Brewsta, the only prob you will ahve is that it assumes all fermentables are going in the boil to work out the grav, but there are a few ways around it.
One way is to get 2 recipes going, one for the grain/malt at full volume, to give me my gravs, and from the grav I work out how many IBU I want. The second recipe is for my hopping, where I maniplate the boil grav to get correct extraction....hard to explain it, it makes it sound more complicated than it is.

But by far the easiest way is to just leave all the volumes set for the full batch, and just make sure that what you boil has the same OG as the final batch will. As long as the boil grav = OG in fermenter, the volume of the boil itself is irrelevant. I did all my extract brewing this way, spot on for the IBU.

EDIT: If you can fit another 600ml into your boil kettle, then your boil grav will be the same as your predicted OG if boiling 1kg of the malt. Or if not, 0.9kg to 5L will give 1055, same as predicted OG.

You might want to knock the NB down slightly, depending on the AA. Mine is 9.9%, and when I put that in, with your weights, it's pretty bitter.

My NB says 6.6% on the labels.
I can add the extra water to the boil so thanks for pointing that out

 

[buttersd70]

My NB says 6.6% on the labels.
I can add the extra water to the boil so thanks for pointing that out

Should work out damn near perfic as is, then. 30IBU from the bittering addition, and about another 5 or so from the halertaur...64% BUGU, smack where I do my best bitters.

Hmmm, its only what, 4 hours or so to Horsham????

 

[Mantis]

Should work out damn near perfic as is, then. 30IBU from the bittering addition, and about another 5 or so from the halertaur...64% BUGU, smack where I do my best bitters.

Hmmm, its only what, 4 hours or so to Horsham????

I'll let you know when its kegged and I have the barby ready :beer:

 

[Mantis]

Done and in the fermenter after a boil over after adding the last of the extract.
OG came in at 1054 so its not going to be a swill fest.

 

[buttersd70]

So I was only 1 grav point off....not bad :lol:

 

[Mantis]

Second brew for the weekend yesterday is an attempt at a red ale
I had a tin of coopers amber extract I needed to use

1.5kg light LME
1.5kg amber LME
300g crystal
200g Weyermann Caraaroma
50g chocolate

30g Nothern Brewer 35min
15g Cascade 2 min

Safale US-05 yeast

OG came in at 1042
Colour looks pretty right
Now to wait and see

 

[buttersd70]

caraaroma :icon_drool2: mmmmmmm.........
My all time favourite addition. I never even bother with the crystal, myself, just caraaroma and choc.......yum.

 

[Mantis]

caraaroma :icon_drool2: mmmmmmm.........
My all time favourite addition. I never even bother with the crystal, myself, just caraaroma and choc.......yum.

Yeah, it sure smells good :beer:

 

[Mantis]

Just an update on the pale ale recipe. It finished fermenting completely after 8 days with an SG of 1014 over 3 days so in the keg it went with some geletine. That was 4 days ago and I gassed it up overnight and pulled the first tonight. Well a pale ale it isnt and more like a strong amber ale. Nice nutty flavour and the hops seemed to have worked well with a good malt/bitterness balance.
After two pints I am feeling more nutty and a bit less balanced hic

I really have to concentrate on taking this baby slowly :blink: :icon_drunk: