Hey guys. Looking for a little feedback on this recipe that I plan to do on Saturday. Mainly need a little help with the hops schedule. This is the basic recipe from my memory so it isn’t completely accurate. As far as the hops go, I am using what I already have otherwise I may have made some different choices.
70% Vienna
15% Rye
10% Crystal
5% Wheat
Magnum FWH 60 min
Magnum 60 min
Centennial 20 min
Citra 10 min
Centennial 5 min
Citra 2 min
Centennial 0 min
OG ~ 1.053
IBUs ~ 37
I’m not sure you would want to use a high alpha hop like magnum as FWH. I’ve only done it once, but I believe it is best to use lower AAU’s. Move them to your bittering addition to get the IBU’s where you want them.
Otherwise, I think the rest looks good.
Good point that I had not really considered. I have only done FWH a few times mysefl What about FWH with Centennial or Citra? I know that they are high alpha too but are used for flavor/aroma too.
If I was to FWH with Centennial should I remove my 20 minutes addition since many say they are similar?
That’s what I’d do. I’d add the Centennial as FWH (I’ve done this a few times and it’s been good) and then skip the 20.
Anyone else wondering how sweet this beer will be with all Vienna and 10% Crystal? I have no experience to question this, just a feeling. I’ve done all Munich before and it’s been good but would all Vienna be sweeter? If that’s what you’re after, go for it.
Alpha doesn’t matter for FWH, but flavor does. IME, Magnum is not a good flavor or aroma hop.
Thanks for the input…I will remove the Magnum FWH and replace it with Centennial while also removing the 20 min addition.
I have done this grain bill before and it wasn’t too sweet for me although it is pretty malty. The other main pale that I brew is pretty dry so I like the change every once in a while
I find Vienna to be pretty dry. I don’t think it would be too sweet. It’s how you use it. You can get malty without sweetness.
will the vienna be able to convert the rye, crystal and wheat adequately?
Assuming the rye and wheat are malt and not flaked, they should convert themselves.
I don’t know if it will make a huge difference, but I’d move the 2 minute Citra addition to flameout if it were me. I don’t know how much you’ll gain from boiling it for 2 minutes and you may end up blowing off a bunch of the volatile hop oils unnecessarily.
ok…adjusted hop schedule. Does this look better? I originally had the last two additions at 7 g but bumped them up to 14. My main brewing weakness is finding the right hop balance. For this beer I am hoping to get the good balance between hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma without doing too much or not enough. I am usually too conservative because I am afraid to overhop something according to my liking.
16 g Centennial FWH 60
9 g Magnum 60
14 g Citra 10
14 g Centennial 5
14 g Citra 0
14 g Centennial 0
~35 IBUs
35 IBU’s for a 1.053 APA is well within the right range for an APA. That works out to a 0.66 BU:GU ratio, and the rule of thumb I go by for an APA is in the 0.6-0.8 range. Since you’re using a lot of late and FWH you will get a lot of hop character without overdoing the bitterness.
One other thing I’d consider is dry-hopping with 1-2 ounces of hops, but you should still get some nice hops character even if you don’t.
Looks good. I’d also consider some Citra/Cent blend for dry hop. Have fun with your brewday. I hope it’s not going to be as hot as its going to be here. Suppose to hit 102F today.
Thanks all. Brew day went very well and it has finally cooled down in Colorado and we actually have been getting tons of rain which is awesome. The airlock is bubbling away at about 69F
I ended up swapping the Citra for Amarillo that I didn’t know I had. I have been using Citra a lot lately so it was good to do something a bit different.
Here is the final hop schedule which calculates to 35.7 IBUs with an OG 0f 1.053
16.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 11.3 IBU
9.00 gm Magnum [13.50 %] (60 min) Hops 12.7 IBU
25.00 gm Amarillo [8.20 %] (10 min) Hops 8.6 IBU
14.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
14.00 gm Amarillo [8.20 %] (0 min) Hops -
14.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
Should be yummy. Would suggest doing another one right away because I think this one will disappear very quickly.