Ambitious Noob

[Trub_Catt]

Hey all. After much lurkin I have signed up. I jumped right into AG off the bat (BIAB). Giving credit where credit is due... Charlie P,Revvy, Yooper, and Brian from NJ were the key players in seeing my ambitious attempts to fruition. Thank you for the advice. Bottled my Am Sim IPA the other day. Tasted nice going in:rockin:. At the moment I am putting together a DIPA inspired by Schweatys Hopslam clone. I live in the burbs of Chicago but my roots are in SW MI. So Bells holds a special place in my heart and a huge place in my belly So this is the recipe Ive come up with. Beersmith is givin me a diesel ABV but I am figuring Ill lose a bit to efficiency and I dig the BUZZ:cross: So here she is.
14.5# Maris Otter
2# Vienna
1# Cara 45
.5# Honey Malt
.5# Cara Pils
1# Honey last 10 of boil
10oz. Belgian Biscuit
6oz. Munich

1oz. Columbus (pellet) 60 min.
1oz. Simcoe (leaf)60 min.
.5oz. Citra (leaf)60 min.
1oz. Northern Brewer (leaf)45 min.
1oz. Cascade (pellet)30 min.
1oz. Citra (leaf) 15min.
1oz. Amarillo (pellet) 10min.
1oz. Amarillo (pellet) flameout
1oz. Cascade (pellet) flameout
2oz. Simcoe (leaf) flameout
3oz. Simcoe (leaf) dry hop seven days

The weird grain weight and hop diffs is just me comin up short and makin due.

I harvested some Bells yeast and will be brewin in a couple days.
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks


edit: thats Bobby from NJ. Sorry bud. Noob FAIL

 

[lester77]

Wow! Balls deep right off the bat! That IS a very ambitious first go! Congrats on joining the "dark side" ! Only concern is.. what is your final volume supposed to be? a 20 lb grain bill is huge for 5 gallons! As a relative noob ( 6 months , 150ish gallons ) , I would suggest dialing in some basic recipes to your particular system ,just to make your brew software more accurate! Hate to see that much material investment "go south",if it doesnt work out...

 

[Trub_Catt]

Lol Thats one way to put it! I thought it was a bit much as well. The batch size is 5.5. I slightly tweaked the original recipe but not too much. According to the feedback from the original it seemed to please. I figured I could do multiple SG readings and top off with some h2o if its too high for my liking. Maybe make it 6 gal. Still debating but Im stepping up the starter today so I ll probably brew Thursday. I've got some time. As far as dialing in... the only way I see doing that is by making beer. Yeah its a pricey experience but I want to brew beer I like to drink not beer that is the safest to brew. Hell if I wanted to do that I would've bought a can of coopers. Thanks for the cautionary advice but I believe good beer is made by holding back. You gotta go "balls deep" for greatness.

 

[Trub_Catt]

Any other pointers out there?

 

[Trub_Catt]

On the recipe that is not my youth in the scene.