First attempt at a recipe, assistance/feedback appreciated.

This is my first attempt at a somewhat original recipe. I pulled bits and pieces from other recipes then messed with it in Brewtarget until it looked ok to me. I'm not sure about the hops though.

Kilroy's Honey Rye Ale
Batch Size 5 gal
OG 1.058
FG 1.014
ABV 5.8%
Color 15.8 srm
Calories (per 12 oz.) 193

Fermentables
Total grain: 9.850 lb

Muntons LME - Amber Extract 6.600 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain 1.750 lb
Rye Malt Grain 1.000 lb
Honey Extract 8.000 oz

Hops (pellets)

To be determined. This is where I need the most help I think.


Yeast
WLP060 - American Ale Yeast Blend Ale

I am making something similar with citra and cascade hops. Have you thought about using honey malt instead of extract.

I suggest using light or extra light DME or LME, and not "amber", as it's got crystal malt in it already so you're doubling (or maybe more) up on the crystal malt.

Use no more than about 15% crystal malt, total. You've got way too much, with nearly two pounds in the recipe plus whatever is in the extract. 1 pound is ok, and I'd mix it up a bit- use .75 pound of 40L and .25 pound of 80L. Or .25 pound of 120L, as an example. That gives a depth of flavor without too much cloying sweetness.

What's "honey extract"? Just honey? Or something else? I've never heard of "honey extract".

Colorowdy said:

I am making something similar with citra and cascade hops. Have you thought about using honey malt instead of extract.

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Well I wasn't going to use honey extract. The software just classifies honey as extract for some reason.

Yooper said:

I suggest using light or extra light DME or LME, and not "amber", as it's got crystal malt in it already so you're doubling (or maybe more) up on the crystal malt.

Use no more than about 15% crystal malt, total. You've got way too much, with nearly two pounds in the recipe plus whatever is in the extract. 1 pound is ok, and I'd mix it up a bit- use .75 pound of 40L and .25 pound of 80L. Or .25 pound of 120L, as an example. That gives a depth of flavor without too much cloying sweetness.

What's "honey extract"? Just honey? Or something else? I've never heard of "honey extract".

Click to expand...

So something more like this:

Batch Size 5 gal
OG 1.057
FG 1.014
ABV 5.6%
Color 11.0 srm

Fermentables

Total grain: 9.350 lb

Muntons LME - Light Extract 6.600 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L Grain 1.000 lb
Rye Malt Grain 1.000 lb
Honey 8.000 oz
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L Grain 4.000 oz

Hops
TBD

Yeast
Wyeast - American Ale Ale


If I did a half pound of 80L it would put my caramel at roughly 15% of the total grain bill. I'm guessing since I'll be steeping the grains instead of mashing that perhaps I want to be on the high side since the efficiency isn't as good.

Colorowdy said:

I am making something similar with citra and cascade hops.

Click to expand...

I've actually been thinking cascade and perle. Something like

Cascade 1 oz 60 min
Perle 0.5 oz 20 min
Perle 0.5 oz 5 min

Rye malt has to be mashed- I'd leave it out or use rye extract if you wanted to have some rye flavor in the beer. Otherwise, that looks good.

Cascade hops are great in an amber, but I've really come to like willamette in them as well. A nice combo would be cascade and willamette together. Perle is ok, but not great for flavor and aroma.

Yooper said:

Rye malt has to be mashed- I'd leave it out or use rye extract if you wanted to have some rye flavor in the beer. Otherwise, that looks good.

Cascade hops are great in an amber, but I've really come to like willamette in them as well. A nice combo would be cascade and willamette together. Perle is ok, but not great for flavor and aroma.

Click to expand...

Could I perhaps do a partial mash with the grains and add them back to the wort? Something like boil 2.5 gallons of water for wort and 1.5 gallons of strike water for the mash with no sparge?

I should also note that I'm brewing on an electric range top so my total boil volume is limited to about 4 gallons max. I position the pot across 2 burners.

If you want to do a partial mash you will need some base malt as well in order to get any conversion. If you want to do that, I would suggest using an amount of pale malt equal to or greater than your rye and caramel combined, then back off the LME until you hit the same OG. Or have stronger beer...

I did a partial mash Rye IPA for that reason and it came out really good.

bobmcstuff said:

If you want to do a partial mash you will need some base malt as well in order to get any conversion. If you want to do that, I would suggest using an amount of pale malt equal to or greater than your rye and caramel combined, then back off the LME until you hit the same OG. Or have stronger beer...

I did a partial mash Rye IPA for that reason and it came out really good.

Click to expand...

Cool, I'll have to play with the recipe a bit this week. I would just go all grain but I don't have a cooler big enough to convert into a mash tun. And since I live in an apartment I don't really have room to have multiple coolers hanging around. lol

When it comes to the hops the more I read the more hops I want to try. At this rate I'll be walking into the HBS and asking for 1oz of everything they have in stock.