Would This Work Ok?

[troublebrewing]

Alright, I'm extremely n00bish, but I think I'm starting to get a handle on things. So time to start getting crazy, and move on to extract brewing. I don't really know the process, but I think I've come up with something that can use these Nelson Sauvin hops I've got sitting around. So let's see!

After having a bit of a play with beer calculus, I've come up with:

2 kg light dry malt extract
0.1kg Wyermann Caraaroma
20gm Nelson Sauvin (12.6%AA) @ 30 min
20gm Nelson Sauvin (12.6%AA) @ 15 min
10gm Nelson Sauvin (12.6%AA) @ flameout, steeped for 15 min

And the process I was planning was to add 1kg LDME to 5L water, heat to a simmer, add the Caraaroma and simmer for 20min. Strain the Caraaroma, heat to boil, add first hop addition, wait 15 min, 2nd hops, 15 min, flameout @ 3rd hop addition, let sit for 15 min, strain the hops, add the other 1kg LDME, stir well, pour into fermenter containing 15L of water, and pitch at appropriate temps.

Have I completely missed something? Or is this roughly the process? And what changes should I make to the recipe? And what yeast should I use?! I was thinking of going to liquid yeast just to get some different flavours going, but what would complement this mixture? Any help would be very welcome!

 

[buttersd70]

I take it you are going for a 20L batch...
firstly, don't boil the grain. Add it to a couple of litres of water at about 70C for half an hour, strain the liquid into the pot, then rinse the grain with another couple of litres of water at about 76-78C. Collect all that liquid, and use this for your boil. Add 500g of the ldm, adn top up to 5L. This will give you a boil with a reasonable gravity for effecient hopping (1040). Then bring this to the boil, and add your first addition of hops and continue from there as you said.

There are only 2 other things. Firstly, the gravity....I make it to be only 1038...did you want it that low? If so, the beer will be too bitter...40ibu in a 1038OG is too much imo. reduce the 30min addition to 10g, and you will end up with 28IBU, (which will have a BU:GU of 0.73, which should work well).

If you want the gravity higher, up the malt to 2.5kg instead. Still use 500g for the boil itself. This will give 1046, and with the hopping as you have written it, will give BU:GU of 0.86, so if you reduce the 30min to 15g, it will give you 34IBU, a nice 0.75 BU:GU for an APA.

As for yeast, just go with us05 imo.

Hope this helps.

 

[razE]

Butters is on the money :icon_cheers:

 

[troublebrewing]

Thanks butters, that's a huge help!

 

[troublebrewing]

Sorry to bump my own thread, but I've been pondering over the last couple of days, and wondering, will this recipe actually be any good? Is there any way it can be tweaked to taste better than it will?

Other than Butters' info on quantities of course, I don't treat that as suggestion, I treat it as gospel.

 

[Spartan 117]

Sorry to bump my own thread, but I've been pondering over the last couple of days, and wondering, will this recipe actually be any good? Is there any way it can be tweaked to taste better than it will?

Other than Butters' info on quantities of course, I don't treat that as suggestion, I treat it as gospel.

Wether a beer is good or not, i always say, is up to the person drinking it. Nelson Sauvin add a fruitiness flavour from what ive read it's like a white wine fruitiness. If thats how you like your beer great. Take notes, when you drink it analyze the flavour and aroma, is it to bitter, to malty, to fruity etc then look at your notes and then tweek the recipe.
hope this helps

Aaron

 

[muckey]

Wether a beer is good or not, i always say, is up to the person drinking it. Nelson Sauvin add a fruitiness flavour from what ive read it's like a white wine fruitiness. If thats how you like your beer great. Take notes, when you drink it analyze the flavour and aroma, is it to bitter, to malty, to fruity etc then look at your notes and then tweek the recipe.
hope this helps

Aaron

+1
Just try it and see how it comes out then adjust the next batch.

 

[Gavo]

+1
Just try it and see how it comes out then adjust the next batch.

+2
Have to agree with Muckey there.
I have use NS for bittering and late hop additions along with Cascade and was very pleased with the result. Don't forget what Butters stated, steep the grain and strain and boil the resultant liquid. Do Not boil the grain.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[buttersd70]

With a recipe thats basically sound, other possible tweaks are heavily dependent on personal preference, as others have said. I can think of a few thinks to do, but they are purely in the realms of my personal taste. So my advice would be to go for it as is, to establish a baseline for youself, that can then be worked on....
want a bit of a roast dry note? add 30g ish of a dark malt, like carafa. Want more caramel? up the caraaroma slightly. Too bitter? decrease the BUGU. Not bitter enough? increase the BUGU, or add a roast note, or both. Bitterness OK but want more complexity in the malt? Use a combination of caramel grains instead of just carafa....lots of options, the list goes on. But only so much can be visualised from the recipe itself....the rest needs to be determined from taste, and adjusted to your personal preference.

 

[troublebrewing]

Well, this should be interesting. I brewed exactly as per Butters' suggestions, and halfway through the boil I notice that the alpha on my hops is 10.8, not 12.6. Disaster! Remembering RDWHAHB, I went through the checklist. Homebrew? Check, in my hand. Relax? Hmm, that'd need a solution. Solution? Make the volume a little less? Ahah! So it's at about 20L. Beersmith gives that as 28.9 IBU.

We'll see how it turns out in about a month! :beer: For now though, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment, and with beer. :chug:

Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread, and especially thanks to Butters! You rock dude!

 

[Gavo]

Good to see you got it done. 28.9 IBU in the recipe you have described should work out well. It will all be good.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[Brewtus]

I know it is too late but the best thing to do is listen to Butters, but only a bit and be unsure of which bit, then keep asking and asking everyone on the forum until many people have given you all sorts of different comments and ideas. Now go back and check with everyone what they think of everyone else's ideas until everyone agrees with exactly the same recipe. Then and only then, make the recipe. If you get the result I think you would get if you follow this process, you will have no beer and no friends on the forum.

Really, just go with what you think is best, drink it and enjoy it for what it is and next time tweak the recipe to suit yourself.