So I’ve got some family visiting here in Chicago this summer. I just started brewing and this will be my fourth batch I’ll be on. I thinking of my first creation for when they arrive in July. Something that will be light, sweet citrusy nose on a sunny day on the lake.
I’ve created a base recipe based off a couple other NB recipes. I’m looking for any obvious newcomer advice on this recipe. Like if I should only use 1oz of Summit hops instead of 2 due to overpowering, etc etc.
Let me know your thoughts!
(5gal batch)
Ingredients:
6 gallons of Gold Malt Extract
1LB Briess Caramel 20L Malts
2oz Summit Hops
2oz Citra Hops
1oz Columbus Hops
Brew Day:
Steep 1 lb Briess Caramel Malts @ 150F for 25 minutes, then remove from pot.
Bring pot to a boil
Remove from heat and stir in 6 gallons of malt extract, once mixed well, return to heat.
The hop schedule is subjective and often depends on how bitter or how much aroma you want. Do you have a brewing program that you can enter this into to see where it comes out in IBUs? I do like that you are dry hopping it. I went ahead and entered your hops into Beersmith and summit has an average of 17% AA. With your hopping schedule the summit alone with provide 120 IBUs… something you want to check out.
I see the 6 gallons of LME and figure you mean 6 lbs.
One thing I would caution you is the amount of Caramel malts you are using. C20 is pretty light but crystal malts go a long way with sweetness and if you add too much it will be overly sweet and finish with a high FG. This certainly is a concern as extract batches typically finish higher anyway. At 1lb that equates to close to 15% of the total grain bill. I usually try to keep my crystal malts at no more than 7%, 8% tops. I guess you will need a full pound if you keep your bittering hops though.
My advice would be that you get a brewing program and tinker with your recipe there and figure this stuff out. It will really come in handy.
With this approach do you think it would be best to lower the amount of LME going in? The LME portion I based off the Dead Ringer recipe http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/DeadRingerIPA.pdf
which came with 9.151lbs of Caramel 40! Pretty intense. My thought process was to go with a lighter malt extract and less of it. I’ll definitely look into a brew program and do some tinkering.
As for hop choices, is there anything I should be cautious of? All three choices seem to go well together based off descriptions. So far I’ve only brewed with Chinook, Cascade & Centennial.
With this approach do you think it would be best to lower the amount of LME going in? The LME portion I based off the Dead Ringer recipe http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/DeadRingerIPA.pdf
which came with 9.151lbs of Caramel 40! Pretty intense. My thought process was to go with a lighter malt extract and less of it. I’ll definitely look into a brew program and do some tinkering.
As for hop choices, is there anything I should be cautious of? All three choices seem to go well together based off descriptions. So far I’ve only brewed with Chinook, Cascade & Centennial.
With this approach do you think it would be best to lower the amount of LME going in? The LME portion I based off the Dead Ringer recipe http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/DeadRingerIPA.pdf
which came with 9.151lbs of Caramel 40! Pretty intense. My thought process was to go with a lighter malt extract and less of it. I’ll definitely look into a brew program and do some tinkering.
As for hop choices, is there anything I should be cautious of? All three choices seem to go well together based off descriptions. So far I’ve only brewed with Chinook, Cascade & Centennial.
With this approach do you think it would be best to lower the amount of LME going in? The LME portion I based off the Dead Ringer recipe http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/DeadRingerIPA.pdf
which came with 9.151lbs of Caramel 40! Pretty intense. My thought process was to go with a lighter malt extract and less of it. I’ll definitely look into a brew program and do some tinkering.
As for hop choices, is there anything I should be cautious of? All three choices seem to go well together based off descriptions. So far I’ve only brewed with Chinook, Cascade & Centennial.
With this approach do you think it would be best to lower the amount of LME going in? The LME portion I based off the Dead Ringer recipe which came with 9.15lbs of Caramel 40! Pretty intense. My thought process was to go with a lighter malt extract and less of it. I’ll definitely look into a brew program and do some tinkering.
As for hop choices, is there anything I should be cautious of? All three choices seem to go well together based off descriptions. So far I’ve only brewed with Chinook, Cascade & Centennial.
When formulating recipes you need to start by figuring out what O.G. you want. For a regular IPA I would think you want about a 1.065 O.G… Once you have that you can calculate how much in the way of fermentables you need. Any recipe calculator can help you figure out the IBU’s (bitterness) given the analaysis of the hops you plan to use. For a beer like that I would try for about 60-75 IBUs then late hop and dry hop the hell out of it. Your hopping efficiency will be very low if you are not doing a full wort boil so take that into consideration when adding the hops. I also agree with the previous poster; you will not be a happy boy if you use to much crystal malt, I much prefer mine with none at all (but that is simply a personal preference). I also like my beers fairly dry so after you do this the first time if the beer drinks too big you might consider throwing in a bit of simple sugar to dry it out (as noted above, extract beers can come out on the high side and especially so with alot of crystal malt).
Oh and one other thing, if you need this beer for a function in July consider the first iteration just a test because it will be long gone by then. You should be able to turn around a beer like this in as little as three weeks assuming a fairly floculent yeast and a kegging system. Anyhow have fun and enjoy.
I’m thinking your hopping level may be a bit intense for a light summer IPA. Summit hops have a pretty high AA% level if I’m not too mistaken, as well as just having a somewhat intense character overall, so adding as much as you’re planning to might not work out too well for you. I’d run the calculations (if you haven’t already) on your bittering contributions from the hops and see if you’re not overdoing it, which I think you most likely are. Apart from that, I don’t see any obvious flaws with the recipe.
I changed my LME to 3.15lbs instead of 6, everything else stayed the same.
Primary: 9 days
Secondary: 12 days (Dry hopped for 7)
These carbonated nicely in only about 3-4 days. So far this is the best batch I’ve brewed, which is kind of cool since it’s my own recipe. I actually preferred it over anything else for a while. It was fruity, bitter and crisp. Exactly what I was going for on a nice summer day.
I did notice however the longer is sat in the bottles the more bitter it became, still not overwhelming just a bit outside of the sweet spot.
For this should I adjust my bittering hops? Maybe alter how much hops I’m adding in the start of the boil and more towards flameout?
I intend on brewing this one before the summer is out for sure.
Its hard to tell without knowing your BU:GU ratio and where it falls on the “balance” scale. I will tell you thst aroma hops are first to age out followed by flavor hops. When this happens one can perceive it as more bitter since there is nothing to alter it.
What did the FG drop to?
