Hi All.
A question regarding extract brewing, and my recipe. My housemates and i are grabbing a keg setup very soon, so i'm going to put down a basic 'australian' ale. Any recipe and procedure advice would be excellent and much needed!!!
Aussie Ale – 11.5L – 27.4 IBUs
1425g LDME
75g Wheat
11g Dark Crystal (steeped)
12.65g Por at 60 (8.3%AA)
Recultured Coopers Pale Yeast (2 stubbies, 1L starter)
NOTES:
- will steep the dark crystal grain in about 70* water (1L) for 30 mins (is this correct?), then strain, add to fermenter
- mix LDME and wheat with crystal in fermenter, top up to 11.5L
- pour about 5L of wort into pot for boil
- start boil, once rolling at POR at 60 mins
- after boil, put lid on pot and chill in sink of water and ice
- once chilled, add to wort
- pitch starter at about 24*C (approx), cool wort outside to about 16-18*C - ferment at this
Questions
- How does the recipe look? any suggestions?
- How is my procedure above?
- i have read in recent post that i can simply do a hop boil without malt - in plain water - does anyone recommend this?
- As some liquid will evaporate in the boil, should i add sanitary water to replace the evaporated water after returning the boiled wort to the primary wort?
Cheers
first extract and recipe advice
-
BierMeister
- Posts: 255
- Joined: Tuesday Jun 13, 2006 1:53 pm
- Location: Adelaide
Re: first extract and recipe advice
Hi and welcome,
Brew doesn't look too bad to begin with, but....
- I would personally not use dark crystal and use about 50-100 gms of a paler Crystal to get a bit more caramel flavours etc and not just the colour.
- If your boiling 5 Litres of the wort firstly boil the run off from the Crystal as this should be boiled for sanitation purposes.
- 60 - 70 C is perfect for steeping. 30 mins is good too.
- As far as evaparation I would recommend this
1- steep and strain crystal into boiling kettle/pot
2- If your pot size is limited to only boiling 5L then fine, but boil as much as possible as it helps in many ways, such as extracting more efficiency from the hops I.e. boiling the entire 11.5L is best.
3- Add as much to boiling kettle as possible and boil 60 mins adding POR as you have planned.
4- when cooled. pour into fermenter and top up to 11.5L with water then.
- I would recommend that with the size of your batch and the size of your starter that you wait for the yeast to settle in the starter and then pour off most of the starter liquid and only put the yeast slurry from the bottom into your brew. It stops the off flavours in the starter from getting into the brew.
Otherwise I think your onto a good one for an Aussie Ale
Brew doesn't look too bad to begin with, but....
- I would personally not use dark crystal and use about 50-100 gms of a paler Crystal to get a bit more caramel flavours etc and not just the colour.
- If your boiling 5 Litres of the wort firstly boil the run off from the Crystal as this should be boiled for sanitation purposes.
- 60 - 70 C is perfect for steeping. 30 mins is good too.
- As far as evaparation I would recommend this
1- steep and strain crystal into boiling kettle/pot
2- If your pot size is limited to only boiling 5L then fine, but boil as much as possible as it helps in many ways, such as extracting more efficiency from the hops I.e. boiling the entire 11.5L is best.
3- Add as much to boiling kettle as possible and boil 60 mins adding POR as you have planned.
4- when cooled. pour into fermenter and top up to 11.5L with water then.
- I would recommend that with the size of your batch and the size of your starter that you wait for the yeast to settle in the starter and then pour off most of the starter liquid and only put the yeast slurry from the bottom into your brew. It stops the off flavours in the starter from getting into the brew.
Otherwise I think your onto a good one for an Aussie Ale
Sounds like Beer O'clock.
Re: first extract and recipe advice
That recipe is a bit backwards...
The 75g of wheat- is it unmalted, wheat malt?
And why 11g of crystal? It's not really enough to affect the character of the brew.
What are you putting into your fermenter? Wheat and crystal, or the resulting liquid from the boil? I'll assume the liquid. Why not skip putting it into your fermenter, and just leave it in your brewpot for the boil?
I'd also skip topping up your brew and the boiling only a portion. I'd not add the water, and boil the whole lot with your hops, otherwise part of your wort will be sitting around for over a hour without yeast in it, which is asking for infection.
The 75g of wheat- is it unmalted, wheat malt?
And why 11g of crystal? It's not really enough to affect the character of the brew.
What are you putting into your fermenter? Wheat and crystal, or the resulting liquid from the boil? I'll assume the liquid. Why not skip putting it into your fermenter, and just leave it in your brewpot for the boil?
I'd also skip topping up your brew and the boiling only a portion. I'd not add the water, and boil the whole lot with your hops, otherwise part of your wort will be sitting around for over a hour without yeast in it, which is asking for infection.
A beer in the hand is worth two in George Bush...
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
"They say beer will make me dumb. It are go good with pizza"
Psychostick
Re: first extract and recipe advice
Just a note. All the water from the steeped grain needs to be boiled to kill any nasties. I use the steeping water plus some extra in the boil for at least 50min with the bittering hops.
Re: first extract and recipe advice
I put your recipe into BeerSmith, and this is what it projects:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 01 Test Batch Recipe
Brewer: Robert
Style: American Pale Ale (Australian, really, but the seppos are yet to figure we have a domestic style of Pale Ale)
TYPE: Extract
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 11.50 L
Boil Size: 16.45 L ???? I don't know how big your pot is, so this is speculation.
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 19.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 23.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1425.00 gm Light Dry Extract (15.8 EBC) Dry Extract 90.48 %
75.00 gm Crystal Dark (260.0 EBC) Grain 4.76 %
75.00 gm Wheat (4.0 EBC) Grain 4.76 %
12.70 gm Pride of Ringwood '06 [8.33 %] (60 min) Hops 23.6 IBU
I have to say you will make beer with this recipe, probably with somewhere between 4.5 to 5% ABV.
However, the POR hops will give you only bittering at a 60 minute boil, and absolutely no hop taste or aroma. You need to think about adding some hops in the last 10 minutes and at flameout. Maybe some Northern Brewer would be good, or something like Cascade, or more of the dreaded POR. Even one each of the ubiquitous (spelling) teabags at 10 minutes and flameout would be OK.
The other thing is that if you are using wheat grains, they will need mashing, rather than just steeping. Can you use dry wheat extract instead?
The projected colour of 19.3 EBC is darker than your standard Coopers ales, but if you don't mind that, I think you otherwise look OK to go.
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 01 Test Batch Recipe
Brewer: Robert
Style: American Pale Ale (Australian, really, but the seppos are yet to figure we have a domestic style of Pale Ale)
TYPE: Extract
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 11.50 L
Boil Size: 16.45 L ???? I don't know how big your pot is, so this is speculation.
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 19.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 23.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1425.00 gm Light Dry Extract (15.8 EBC) Dry Extract 90.48 %
75.00 gm Crystal Dark (260.0 EBC) Grain 4.76 %
75.00 gm Wheat (4.0 EBC) Grain 4.76 %
12.70 gm Pride of Ringwood '06 [8.33 %] (60 min) Hops 23.6 IBU
I have to say you will make beer with this recipe, probably with somewhere between 4.5 to 5% ABV.
However, the POR hops will give you only bittering at a 60 minute boil, and absolutely no hop taste or aroma. You need to think about adding some hops in the last 10 minutes and at flameout. Maybe some Northern Brewer would be good, or something like Cascade, or more of the dreaded POR. Even one each of the ubiquitous (spelling) teabags at 10 minutes and flameout would be OK.
The other thing is that if you are using wheat grains, they will need mashing, rather than just steeping. Can you use dry wheat extract instead?
The projected colour of 19.3 EBC is darker than your standard Coopers ales, but if you don't mind that, I think you otherwise look OK to go.