Display posts from previous
Sort by

First ever recipe!

Post #1 made 11 years ago
by rickoles
Hi all

I've brewed about 6 beers now and read a few books so I think I'm ready to create my own recipe. I have a bunch of ingredients I want to use up so decided to create a kitchen sink beer.

Can you please have a look over and let me know what you think? I'm mainly concerned I don't have enough base malt to other malts. I don't know if this will effect the amount of sugars I will get.

The top 3 grains are what I have laying around and wish to use up. I decided to go with Pale Malt and Biscuit because I love malts with bold flavour.

The hops I listed will be all used up so I can't increase the amounts. I am happy with the bitterness to gravity ratio however, should allow the malts to come through more. I do also have Saaz, Mt Hood and Magnum but I'm thinking of using them for another kitchen sink brew.

I should also mention it is my first time using biabicus so if you have any usage suggestions please let me know!

Thanks for your time
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Australia

Post #2 made 11 years ago
by joshua
Rickoles,

Your Recipe has plenty of Degree Lintner / Diastatic Power to Mash everything.

Good Luck with your Brew!!
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #3 made 11 years ago
by rickoles
joshua wrote:Rickoles,

Your Recipe has plenty of Degree Lintner / Diastatic Power to Mash everything.

Good Luck with your Brew!!
I had to look up what that meant haha, thanks Josh!

I'm considering increasing the 20min hop additions and lowing the amount of dry hopping to increase flavour but I'm not sure if it works that way.
Last edited by rickoles on 02 Sep 2015, 15:24, edited 1 time in total.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Australia

Post #4 made 11 years ago
by goulaigan
Hi rickoles, looks like it will be a good beer, always fun to do a kitchen sink recipe! Couple minor things on the BIABacus but great job if this is your first time with it. For your DH addition, put DH in the second little box beside the hop name in section D, then 0 for minutes. This will populate the 'what you will use' side. Also no need to put the AA% on the right side unless you are substituting hops with a different AA then was used in the original recipe. Since this IS the original recipe, its unnecessary.

Also, is there a reason you are holding water back to sparge? It looks like your kettle is more than big enough to do a full volume brew, which is more efficient then holding some water back to sparge, not to mention easier...

Other than that, good job on the file and interested to hear how the recipe turns out!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Canada

Post #5 made 11 years ago
by rickoles
Thanks for the feedback Goulaigan, I’ve made the adjustments on my file and now understand Biabicus a bit better :)

I was first taught by the guy at the brewshop to sparge with BIAB. After the mash I would raise the bag and put a colander underneath to allow the bag to drain. Then I pour water over the bag and squeeze it out. Another reason is because I use a basket type thing to attach my bag to inside the pot to allow for easier lifting out. At 20ish litres and 6kg of grain the water almost covers the basket. If the water level whet above the height of the basket I would get grain everywhere.

From your question I have a couple of my own. Does holding water back from the mash reduce efficiency? Could I just peg the bag around the main pot and not use the basket?

I have been having some trouble hitting targets and now I'm wondering if this is why.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Australia

Post #6 made 11 years ago
by joshua
Rick, Sparging with BIAB is Much More effort, than what you get.

Go with Full Volume Mash, and a 90 minute Mash. This will help you hit your Numbers.

I use a loop of Rope, and pull the open end of the bag Closed, and tie a Clove Style Knot around the end and Hang from a Hook in the rafters.

Then, Squeeze the #@%^ out of the Bag with Insulated PVC Covered Gloves.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7 made 11 years ago
by goulaigan
Hi again rickoles, you should be able to find many a thread regarding sparging with biab and efficiency, but the gist of it is that you are basically doing a passive sparge the entire mash. Meaning, all of your grain is in contact with all of the water for the entire mash at mash temp. If you hold water back and use to rinse the grain, that water only contacts the grain for a short time, so it is not going to get more sugar out than it would if it was in contact with the grain for the entire mash. And as Joshua says, its extra effort. As for pegging the bag, thats what I do, but I wonder does your bag fully line your kettle? It should.

There is another thread somewhere here on efficiency problems, so if you are having trouble hitting numbers maybe give it a read,: http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php ... ncy#p44397 ,
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Canada

Post #8 made 11 years ago
by rickoles
goulaigan wrote:Hi again rickoles...
I thought the sparge would help rinse the grains of sugars which are stuck to the husks.

I did try putting the bag over the kettle for this brew and it went very well! The bag does fit perfectly and it was much easier to control the temperature.

After reading that post relating to efficiency the only thing which stands out is the pH of the mash. I have never calculated this so I will look into it to see whether it solves my efficiency problems. I seem to constantly be ~10% lower than my target. My last two beers were 1.075 and 1.064 instead of the targets of 1.080 and 1.070. It's not that bad but I would like to hit the nail on the head.

The brew day for the above recipe went extremely well! Aside from missing my OG target by a few points I'm happy with how it went and am already formulating a new recipe :)

Thanks for all your help.
Last edited by rickoles on 07 Sep 2015, 11:13, edited 1 time in total.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Australia

Post #9 made 11 years ago
by mally
Rickoles - Have a read through this thread as well here.

Stick with it though as it starts out as a squeeze question but later on explains a lot about FVM vs Sparge.
I would definitely concentrate on #13, there may be some things there that make sense?
Last edited by mally on 07 Sep 2015, 15:01, edited 1 time in total.
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Great Britain
Post Reply

Return to “Creating Your Own Recipes”

Brewers Online

Brewers browsing this forum: No members and 6 guests