1st all grain brew- could I get some feedback on recipe??

[gorobrew]

Going for a fruity IPA, any feedback would be much appreciated! First time with a grainfather…

This will be a 5 Gal batch...

Grainbill:

12 lbs of 2-row pale malt
1 lbs, 2oz of light Munich

Hops:

2oz of Cascade (boil 45min)
2oz of Citra (Whirlpool)
2oz of Centennial (dry hop)

Yeast (Dry):

2 packs Safale US-05

Using a grainfather/conical fermentor:

Mash in at 150F, for 75 mins
Remove grain basket, Sparge
Boil for 90mins with cascade addition at 45min and Citra at Whirlpool/flameout

Cool wort, oxygenate using aeration system, pitch 2 packets of dry yeast and then dry hop the centennial once I hit the correct gravity and I drop the trub. After another week or so, will transfer to Keg.

1:Anything glaringly wrong with the recipe/process?

2: Should I mash out?

3: Should I toss some (1 or 2 oz) of hops in the keg?

4: Is 2 packets of Yeast an overkill, will 1 suffice?

Any input would be useful. These are the ingredients I will use, I live in Japan so procuring ingredients takes time and cash.

Thanks in advance…
Gorobrew

 

[porterpounder]

75 minute mash is OK, but not necessary. You can get proper conversion and flavor development in under an hour. Mash out isn't necessary and doesn't help much with that kind of system as you're going right to a boil after removing the basket. You didn't provide AA% for the hops, but it is unlikely that you're going to get enough bitterness for an IPA out of 2 oz of Cascade at average AA%. You'd want to either add more, boil it longer (even 90 minutes) or use a different bittering hop.
One packet of properly rehydrated dry yeast is sufficient for this strength of beer.

 

[McKnuckle]

The 75 minute mash will get a bit more action from the enzymes at the low-ish 150F mash temp. And it's not a big deal either way, so go for it.

Mash out is also not a big deal either way; you can try it for practice but it's not needed.

The hops, though, I agree... Cascades are generally fairly low alpha acid, and your schedule yields only about 36 IBU on my calculator given an average AA% figure for that hop.

There is a measurement called BU/GU (bittering units to gravity units ratio). For an IPA it should be pretty close to 1.0; in this case it's more like 0.6, which is just a hair over "balanced." Get a higher acid hop in at 60 minutes. You could swap the Centennial with the Cascades if you don't want to buy more hops, or do a blend to mix up the AA% contributions. Shoot for at least 0.8 BU/GU, 55-60 IBU. The calculation is just IBU/OG (use the digits after the 1 in the OG, which are gravity points e.g. for 1.062 it would be 62).

 

[Redlantern]

Have gone to 75 min mash for 150 - 148°F mash. Using iodine test (not the best I suppose but functional) my mash seems to take right at an hour. The extra 15 minutes does not hurt and my yield and ABV seem more consistent.

Would recommend getting an ounce of magnum hops for bittering at 60 (probably only need .75) then save the rest of those hops for late and after boil additions

Also used to Munich not adding much in terms of body. Maybe some Cara-Pils?

 

[madscientist451]

Going for a fruity IPA, any feedback would be much appreciated! First time with a grainfather…

This will be a 5 Gal batch...

Grainbill:

12 lbs of 2-row pale malt
1 lbs, 2oz of light Munich

Hops:

2oz of Cascade (boil 45min)
2oz of Citra (Whirlpool)
2oz of Centennial (dry hop)



Any input would be useful. These are the ingredients I will use, I live in Japan so procuring ingredients takes time and cash.


Gorobrew

For the first crack at this I'd cut the Munich to about 5% which would be about 10 oz. An IPA is supposed to be more about the hops, a slight malt note is OK, you can always use more next time when you re-brew. If you can get some Warrior or Magnum, I'd use about 1 oz of that for a 60 minute bittering charge, save your cascade for the last 15 minutes of the boil or less. You can use your cascade for the bittering but I'd only use one OZ at 60 min, put the rest in at 30. I'd also consider adding 1 oz of the citra at 5 mins and one Oz at flameout.
A 60 min boil is good enough.

If hops are really hard to get, you can dry hop in a 2 or 3 small hop bags then use the dry hops for your next brew as a bittering hop. Store the used dry hops in a freezer until the next brew day.

Good Luck

 

[gorobrew]

Really good advice all around…

That was one concern, not quite enough bittering hops. I was also considering a little less munich…should I then add some more pale malt?

I have some extra citra, which could should be a great bittering hop, no? say an extra 1oz or so?

If you could choose, what would be the hopping schedule for the cascade/citra during the boil. I have a pound of cascade and 8oz of citra (pellet).

One of the reasons I'm using the centennial as a dry hop is that I have 2 oz of whole hops, the rest of what I have are in pellet form.

Thanks a ton!

Gorobrew...

 

[McKnuckle]

What are the alpha acid ratings for the Cascade and Citra?

...and try this calculator on for size: http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/

 

[Redlantern]

Do not waste Citra on bittering! If fruity citrusy is what you are after, add that late or at flameout.

 

[seabrew8]

While i haven't tested it myself. One of the grainfather vids on youtube the guy experienced higher efficiency when he included the mashout - of course it could of been another variable but he believed it was the mashout. I always mash out personally with the GF.

 

[Jimbodaman]

I would swap 1 oz cascade with 1 oz centennial.
ie 1 oz centennial 45 min
1 oz cascade 45 min
.
.
.
dry hop 1 oz centennial
1 oz cascade

 

[martyjhuebs]

Maybe I am way off on this or too concerned about head retention, but I would throw a little crystal in there to keep it light but give a nice head. Just dont overdue it on the crystal like most people tend to do.

 

[m00ps]

IMO, i would use some different hops if you want "fruity". That will be "citrusy" with citra being the only one that has a fruit thing going on in addition to its citrus character.

I'd look into hops like Azzaca, Belma, Huell Melon, Nelson Sauvin, Hallertau Blanc, Pacific Gem, Galaxy, Amarillo, Mosiac etc for more of a fruit geared hop profile. More hops will also get you a hop character that im guessing you will much much happier with too

 

[gorobrew]

Again, all good advice, thanks all! Will try it sans-crystal this time, little less munich and move the hops around a bit.

I think I will do a mash out, all the grainfather recipes I've found all include one. Seems to be the general consensus that it will up the efficiency a bit…

I also love the idea of freezing the dry hops to use for the bittering in my next batch.

Will let you all know how it turns out…

goro

 

[gorobrew]

Hello all, thought I would just follow up on how the recipe and the beer turned out.

So, I ended up not using the Centennial (whole hops) at all. Was going to use them for the dry hop, but seemed like they would have sucked up a bunch of the wort. Going to save them for my next batch (this Sunday) as the bittering hop (high alpha hops). I ended up using cascade for the bittering 2oz, citra and cascade for the flame out and dry hop (total of 5oz there)- all pellet.

There were a couple hiccups in the process, the dough-in and the sparge took FOREVER and could have cooled down the wort a bit quicker. But, I hit all of my numbers and collected the correct amount of wort in the fermenter.

I dropped trub 6 days into fermentation, dry hopped on the 7th day and cold crashed on the 13th day (for 3 days). After being in the keg for 5 days (10psi, 36F) I just poured my first beer and….goddamned delicious! Not overly hop forward, but definitely bitter enough for me. Can't wait to see what it tastes like in another week...

Going to use the exact same grain bill, different hops (both schedule and amounts) this Sunday…

Thanks again for all the input…

 

[kombat]

My only comment would be to strongly suggest that you rehydrate the yeast according to the manufacturer's instructions, rather than just sprinkling it in dry. You'll get up to twice as much yeast out of the process, meaning a shorter lag time, and a faster and healthier fermentation.

 

[gorobrew]

In the end, I ended up rehydrating the dry yeast and yeah, worked like a champ!