Okay, so I have all of my equipment ready. I will be doing my first all grain batch this weekend. I am trying to decide what to brew. I love English Pale Ales but would like to make them a bit stronger (6-7%). I want to have a great hop aroma, finish (i.e. floral). I am thinking Maris Otter, Crystal, Roasted (?) and someone suggested Flaked maize. For hops, Fuggle and Golding:
Assuming (first time and batch sparging) a 70% efficiency:
13 gallon initial boil
90 min boil
11 finish volume
25lb Maris Otter
2lb Crystal 40
.125 oz Roasted Barley
4.lb Flaked Maize
2 oz Goldings (60 mins)
2 0z Fuggle (15 mins)
Wyeast—?
I would appreciate all responses as I am completely unsure what the heck I am doing.
Equipment:
converted 15 gallon keg as brewpot
blichmann burner
secondary burner 65
10 gallon igloo cooler with false bottom
70 qt coleman extreme with coper manifold
That’s pretty low on the hopping rates for beefed up ESB. Assuming those are 4.5% AA hops something like 5 oz of bittering and 3 oz of flavor would get you more in the ballpark at around 42 IBUs. If it were me though I’d bump that up even higher to say, 6 oz bittering and 4 oz flavor.
Also, I’d swap the Fuggles and EKG and use the Fuggles for bittering.
I would leave out the flaked maize. Without it you still have a 6% beer. If you want to add more alcohol, add some brown sugar, that will also give it more character and keep it more “English”. If you want it darker, use 1oz of a chocolate malt. That will make it browner, roasted barley will make it redder, but 1/8oz won’t really do anything. Do you have a higher AA% hop available (Northdown, Northern Brewer, Target, Challenger) for bittering (90 min)? Although I got some 2009 EKG that is 7%. I would also flip the fuggle and EKG. Use the EKG for aroma.
Yeast :
Wyeast 1968
White labs WLP002
White Labs WLP005 (my house yeast) but use a big stater (3L for each carboy, decant and pitch slurry). Ferment at 68-70 for more fruitiness.
So how much brown sugar should I use? The basis of the recipe came from a buddy so I am not sure what the purpose or effect of adding the flaked maize.
For hops, I can buy additional but I also have Amarillo, Magnum and Cascade.
In regards to the 3L for each 5 gallons, I have one stir plate and a 2L flask. I guess I could do a starter and buy additional packs…
Without any adjuncts you have 11 gals. of 6% beer
Each lb of flaked maize adds .25%
Each lb of sugar (brown or otherwise) adds .5%
For ESB I would use light brown sugar.
For Brown Ale - dark brown.
If you are going with 7%, you probably need about 50-55 IBU to cover the alcohol warmth!
What kind of stir plate do you have? Will it turn your stirbar in a 1 gallon jug or growler?
I agree with Tygo and I have used Magnum as a bittering hop with great success in Saisons, Stouts, and Pale Ales.
Magnum is a high AA (13%, I think) yet clean bittering hop.
I’d do two starters in two gallon milk jugs. Split the yeast between the two and and use intermittent shaking. Don’t put an airlock on since you want O2 to be able to get to the wort. Just loosely cover the jugs with sanitized foil.
Okay-in each gallon jug; how many mls should I add and should I keep the starter wort at about 1.040? How many days prior to a Saturday brew session should I start them?
Finally, in regards to the Magnum hops (I just purchased them from hops direct), how many ounces should I add to my recipe above?
KEEP IT SIMPLE! Follow the “10 to 1 rule.” Use 10 times the water for each unit of DME.
For example, use “1000 ml of water for 100 grams of DME.” or
use “60 fl oz for 6 oz of DME.”
Just make sure you’re using the correct units (i.e., mls water and gms of DME, or fl oz water and oz DME)
The following website may be helpful: http://hbd.org/uchima/yeaststart/yeaststart.html
Magnum hops have high AA %, use a program like BeerSmith or an online calculator to determine your additions and amounts (it all depends on the IBU’s you want to have for the beer style you’re shooting for). Consequently, the amounts added and the boil times play a role in the final IBU number (bitterness from hops). You need to decide what beer style you’re shooting for (is it a pale ale or an IPA?)
IMO:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2oz Magnum [10.50 %] (90 min) Hops 31.5 IBU
1oz Fuggles [4.00 %] (60 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
1oz Fuggles [4.00 %] (30 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
1oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (30 min) Hops 5.4 IBU
1oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
total 51.3 IBU (That’s a lot but will be very smooth with the magnum, but make sure you do the Magnum full boil)
Also 350 g DME in 3.5 quart for each starter (you need some shakin’ room)
Make one starter with the whole vial, then make the other, while it’s cooling, pour half the first starter into the second jug, then top off both to 3.5 quarts!
Great advice Dave. I know that this beer does not fit any specific category but I was interested in something similar to an English IPA but did not want to dry hop or make it too bitter (so I can test it out on some neighbors).
Regarding the starters-how many days before brew day should I start this process?