I mentioned these back in post #17.
Caramalt is something that I can easily get in the UK, and would presume it is like a Munich II or thereabouts.

onkeltuka wrote:Ok, sorry for missing out that previous post. But now, with all the malts right, how do I calculate how much to use for a given size batch? I notice that if I change the VIF, then the "What you will use"- column changes; is that how much I should really use? Because if that's so, then I used 500g's too much grain for the APA. What's the difference between the "original grain bill" and "what you will use"- bits? How does the spreadsheet know the EBC's to calculate what's needed for the OG?

Is it... magic?

Original grain bill is exactly that, a brewer used that for a specific volume of beer on their system. For instance, if you change the volume to be brewed, you have to adjust accordingly. If your boil off rate is significantly different than the original brewer due to kettle size, things need to change. If you are using a hop sock, and less beer is lost to hop soakage, you don't need to make as much beer to get the same final volume. Hence, less grain is needed to produce a smaller volume.

If you boil longer than the original brewer, you need more water to start and this increases efficiency resulting in less grain being needed to make the beer.

The BIABacus calculates this for you, and these are examples of what the numbers reflect on the "what you will use section".

EBC has very little to do with your OG, it is a color rating.

onkeltuka, I noticed that your file is missing the value in Section D on the first line, "26.84". This is what PistolPatch said to do in post #15.

Also, I am just asking, if you are using a kettle that is not flat bottomed. You have settings in Section X that indicates otherwise. Just curious.

Thought my last post was my last post for today but I see you have been waiting a while onke so...

Keep asking questions until everything is clear for you. Think of the left hand side of Section C (*even though it often has weights) as being the mixture and the right hand side being the quantities. (I think by now, a search on the word "car" hear might bring up some posts on explaining Section C and efficiency. Try that.)

The 26.84 L in Section D tells us that the original brewer was able to make 26.84 L of "hop tea". This "VAW - Volume of Ambient Wort" is critical For example, the original brewer made 26.84 L of tea in her teapot (kettle) using the ingredients and weights on the left hand side of Section D. After that she may have poured the tea immediately or used a tea strainer or stirred the pot and let it rest before she poured the cups of tea. How many cups she was able to pour is irrelevant to you.

The second line of Section D (desired IBU's) is only used in certain situations. Basically, it is less accurate that using the first line. It's a bit like me telling you to make a medium to strong tea - it l;eaves a lot of room for inaccuraccy. (Search site for early postsw on "Rager".)

Rest-assured though, you need the cells on the right hand side of Section D to populate. For example, if you were brewing twice as much as the orignal brewre, you would not want to be only using 45 grams of Hallertau. Filling in the first or second line of Section D will ensure the right hand side of D will populate for you. Give that a go and make sure it works for you.


PP

P.S. As for the yeast, if you are brewing this as an ale, go the US-05 and ferment it low. No point spending money on a liquid yeast that probably won't do as good a job on this beer. Liquid yeasts are not better than dry yeasts, it's more that some liquid yeasts cannot be made into dried yeasts.

Still low on time onke but this is a very robust recipe so unless your water is crap, just brew with your water as is.

I only first explored/studied and then employed RO water and adjustments last year before the Royal Perth Beer Show. I usually just enter a couple of brews and do quite well (even though lazy). Last year, I thought I would be a bit diligent and enter a heap of brews, all carefully water chemistry sculpted. I think I got one bronze or maybe a bronze and a silver - can't remember! (I, and a few others, really enjoyed many of those beers and I noticed a big difference in some of those beers. I'll brew them again but won't enter them in a comp - just like NRB's All Amarillo APA is my house beer but will never win a comp.)

Anyway, what I am trying to say is don't worry about your water, if there is nothing obviously wrong with it.


PP

Welcome to the forum f00b4r (I will call you Fred I think though - please change that name!!! ),

Firstly, apologies for the slow reply. I'm usually a lot more diligent/faster here.

As for the difference between brewing it as a lager and an ale, on one very limited taster tests, a few of us found the ale version slightly better but you must ferment it with the US-05 at about 15 or 16 C as far as we know/did.

If you brew with a lager yeast, on any lager, I prefer to pitch a degree or so below the bottom range of that lager yeast and then let the temp naturally rise to the low end of the fermentation scale. Once active fermentation has finished, then you can just let it ride and there is no need for a diacetyl rest. (There are lots of provisos on this but most apply to specific yeasts such as some kolschs or wheats where fermentation temps can make a massive difference.)

With this recipe, just choose to ferment it depending on your environment and circumstances. For example, if you live in the North Pole, a lager yeast will be more practical and just as good (or better) as using an ale yeast in different circumstances.


PP