I try to only write, on BIABrewer, in the evening because that means I can multi-task (drink at the same time)
. I suppose it's good to do an occasional sober post though?*
That
is bloody good of the Brew Dog brewers to do that .pdf rickoles, and it's very nicely presented.
rickoles, I'll just clear a few things up, so as you can get the best from the book. Above you wrote, "the recipes aren't for BIAB so volumes will differ." This is a bit of a mis-nomer. Even if we used a three-vessel system, our volumes still would not be the same. No matter what type of all-grain recipe you get, and no matter what type of equipment you use, you always need to
convert recipes to suit your equipment.
The second thing is that most home brewers have no idea that there are at least five different ways of measuring IBU's, and they all give different results. For example, IBU's can be estimated using one of three formulas (Garetz, Rager and Tinseth), or they can be measured in the laboratory, or they can even be perceived (estimated by tasting). On top of all this, a lot of software uses faulty estimation formulas so things quickly become a mess.
This post has a pic and more info.
Also, read the below to get more info on the colour.
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Getting the Most Out of Brew Dog's Recipes
Recipe #1 Punk IPA[/center]
As some of the guys above mentioned, there are, as in most recipes you find, critical bits of information missing. Sometimes, some things can be guessed at and at other times, there can be so much info missing, that you need to contact the brewer directly to get the missing pieces or just give up. I'll go through the first recipe in the .pdf and we'll see how we go...
Missing Malt Name and Colour
There are several "extra pale" malts around. I'm guessing, and I do mean guessing, it is
this one which has a degree Lovibond of 1.5. The only colour info we get in the recipe is 8.5 SRM / 17 EBC. [EDIT: I am going to change this malt later - see way below.]
Missing AA%
The only thing we can do here (without contacting the brewer directly), is to work on the average AA% for the given hops. It's important though that you, the brewer, are aware that AA% can vary dramatically from year to year, and even from place to place in the same year! (A few years ago, there was a 6% difference in Hallertau grown in one part of Germany compared to another).
We'll use
hoplist as our source of AA% info for the Ahtanum, Chinook, Crystal and Motueka hops used in the recipe. We get 5.1, 13, 3.5 and 6.9% respectively.
Missing Boil Time / Hop Addition Times
It's missing from the recipe but earlier in the .pdf they say, "We recommend 60 minute boil time for ales," so I'll use that. Boil time is important to know, in this recipe, as they do not give minute times for the hop additions; all they say is beginning middle and end.
I'll use 60, 30 and 0.
Chilling Info
This critical info is missing from most recipes but, in the Brew Dog IPA, they say they chill after flame-out as quickly as possible. That's great they provide that info.
Missing Volume of Ambient Wort (VAW)
This is missing in almost every recipe you come across, even though it is the most important volume number of all. In the Brew Dog recipe, we aren't getting too many clues to volume, but I'm going to start by assuming that, when they say, Volume 20L, that they mean VAW. In other words, the volume at flame-out once chilled to ambient is 20L.
Now, I'm going to put those numbers into the BIABacus and see what we come up with.
BIABacus PR1.3T - American IPA - Brew Dog Punk IPA 2007 to 2010 Clone Attempt - Batch A0.xls
There're a few things I did, that I won't go into, that tell me that interpreting the Boil Volume' as being the same as VAW is the best assumption to make, however, the colour is way off.
No base malt would allow you to attain a colour of 8.5 SRM / 17 EBC, so I have no idea what's going on there - typo; a missing crystal malt, a missing decimal point? That's a major discrepancy and, if my memory is correct, Punk IPA is golden, so, what to do in such a case?
Often there is nothing you can do, besides accepting that there is something definitely not right with the recipe, and then making a guess, or abandoning it to look for another.
In this case, as a matter of interest, I scrolled down to see what the next recipe is, and behold, it's another Punk IPA recipe! And, yep, that does have a crystal malt in it - caramalt. Like so many things in brewing, caramalt, is often used incorrectly. I'm just going for Baird's caramalt at 15 degrees Lovibond. I'll also change to the extra pale ale malt to Crisp, and here's what we end up with...
BIABacus PR1.3T - American IPA - Brew Dog Punk IPA 2007 to 2010 Clone Attempt 2 - Batch A0.xls
The colour still isn't close to the 8.5 SRM or 17 EBC. This could be due to an incorrect colour estimation formula, a different type of colour estimation formula being used, or, us simply guessing the malts incorrectly. There's no way of telling unless you speak to Brew Dog directly.
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All you have to do now...[/center]
The attached file is set up for a 50L (19 Gal) stock pot aiming to get 19 L or 5 gallons into a keg or bottles. All you need to do is change Section B to suit your kettle, and the Desired Volume into Fermentor, to whatever you want.
You can also change the boil time to 90 or 75 mins if you want, which never does any harm.
Remember, though, that there is a lot of critical info missing from the .pdf, so don't let your brain tell you that you have the 'exact' recipe!
But, even if we were able to get all the critical info, individual batches from all craft breweries change, usually only slightly, but sometimes dramatically, from batch to batch, let alone from year to year.
While there definitely is critical info missing, it's also important to remember the info that isn't missing. Try cloning a beer, and the first thing you have to do is guess the malts and hops used!!! So, while I'm still unsure of the malts on this recipe, hopefully, the .pdf will, at least, save you guessing the hops and malts used in the other recipes**.
PP
* The above is proof I can write as much sober as while 'multi-tasking'
. 3.0 hours to write the above. I think this explains why I do the occasional rant on poor terminology - lol.
** Later, I'll quickly whack some other recipes in, just to make sure that 20L is the best number to use for VAW.
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, so, the question starts at 
. I've had a look at the new file (had to provide an email address to get it which I can't remember having to do before?), and haven't found anything that will help us 
