I’m planning my first mango wheat brew and wandering if the recipe calculator I’m using is leading me astray.
Fermentables are as follows for a 7 gallon batch:
6 lbs. American Pilsner 38.9%
5 lbs. Sugar Creek Pale Wheat Malt 32.4%
0.60 lbs.American Vienna 3.9%
3 lb. Mango Puree late addition in fermenter 19.9% I wanted about 33%-35% wheat malt, but I think the addition of the mango puree distorts the percentages since it is going in the fermenter late and according to calculator only adds about 5 ppg to the brew.[/i] I’m considering omitting the mango puree from the calculations and now the fermentables in the mash would be: 6 lbs. American Pilsner 60% 3.5 lbs. Wheat Malt 34% 0.60 lbs American Vienna 6% The late addition of the mango puree in the fermenter would add a few gravity points, which I’m not sure how to calculate in advance, but could determine by gravity readings later. This would be my first wheat beer so I would add about 1 lb. of rice hulls to the mash. Is 1 lb. enough? Advice please and thanks in advance for your comments. Sorry for all the bold face and italics; I can’t seem to get rid of them. I only wanted to emphasize the late addition of the mango puree after the mash.
I calculate recipes prior to adding any adjunct that contributes sugar to get the percentages right and then add the adjuncts. Depending on your software, you can also set the recipe percentages you want and also add rice hulls to get the right water volumes. (I know beersmith calculates absorption for the hulls.) Once you have the grist percentages set as you want them, you can disregard the percentages modified by the mango and rice hulls.
A pound of rice hulls is probably more than you need. 1-2 handfulls is usually enough for that batch size. If you have problems with stuck mashes/sparges with all barley mashes, I would use more. If that’s not typically a problem then you should be ok using less. It won’t hurt to use more if you want that peace of mind.
I would look at the sugar content of the puree label rather than whatever the software or calculator uses as a default. Some fruit purees have sugar or other fruit added which can affect your final ABV. Even all mango purees can vary in sugar content based on fruit ripeness and water content.
Regarding the contribution the puree would make, I thought I’d brew in the 4% ABV range from the malted grains alone and let the gravity and ABV finish a bit higher.
I will, however, recalculate when I have the puree label to look at. This is my first attempt at a wheat beer and I’m using a recipe I concocted from the style guide for wheat beers in Randy Mosher’s Mastering Homebrew.