first non kit beer. thoughts appreciated

[jstull]

hello. i am a fairly new brewer so don't beat me up to bad. I have lurked here for a bit but this is my first post. I have brewed a few extract batches and 1 partial grain kit so far. I am not a hopps head and tend to lean toward sweeter beers. I have decided to try something new and did not want copy a recipe from a book some where. kind of wanted to brew something of my own. I stopped off at the local home brew shop tonight and had a good chat with the owner. We talked our way through what kind of beer I might be looking to brew, walked around the shop sniffing and chewing up some things and came up with this recipe.


grain bill
1.0 lb Vienna
1.0 lb crystal 10
1.0 lb white wheat
1.0 lb pilsen

4.5 lb marris otter liquid malt extract

1.0 oz dried sweet orange peel 1/2 at 15min and 30min
2 tbs crushed coriander 1/2 at 15min and 30min

1.5 oz glacier hopps 1/3 at 15min, 30min, 60min

safe brew s-33 yeast

4 gal strike water and 3 gal sparge water

mash in at 162°F and mash for 45min to 1 hour at 152°F
I plan on doing a 6 gal batch. " 5 gal in my keg and bottle the rest"

fermenting in a bucket. the basement is at about 62°F right now and the upstairs is at 66°F. I can ferment either place. In the past have only done primary fermentation .

please tell me your thoughts on this recipe and and what you think this beer might be like once it is finished. I am very new to this so if any of this seems off to you all please tell me.
Thanks for your time.

 

[Culbetron]

If you're going to listen to what everyone on this forum suggests about your recipe then you are better off following someone else's tried and true recipe. In fact I would suggest that you do that for your first few brews until you get a feel for how everything comes together in a final beer. You should know with each ingredient what it will contribute to the final product.

Your recipe will definitely make beer. I assume the Pilsen is there to provide diastatic power, the Vienna for maltiness, the crystal for sweetness, and the wheat for head retention. I'm not sure about adding spices along with all the hops. Usually a beer contains one or another. But, hey, it's your beer.

 

[srob18]

My advice to you is try to gradually step up your beers as you brew. Start with beers you like but are easier to brew (porters/ales ETC) before jumping to something to intense.

1) your recipe looks pretty good and plan of attack looks about right

2) as you grow you'll begin to change some things as far as hope and grain selection for beers

3) who are you brewing for? Ideally make sure you brew beer unless your doing it for a group you'd like to drink. It only takes brewing a beer type you might not like and screwing it up once before you realize this.

Overall you have a good plan of attack, and this is like anything else in life trial by error! More brewing will make you better and better

Cheers!

 

[RonPopeil]

if you're using soda kegs they'll take your full 6g batch. i actually do 6g batches and keg.

 

[jstull]

Thanks for the thoughts. They are appreciated. I really just want to make sure nothing pops out at you veterans as a bad idea from your experience. Now I am wondering about the hopps. Should I leave them out of the boil then dry hopp later if I feel it needs it? i realy don't want a lot of bittering hopps in the beer. We were shooting for 15 ibu or a tad less.

 

[RonPopeil]

If you want the low IBU then I think you're going to over shoot. Glacier should be around 6% AA. I don't have software in front of me but I think you would want something like .5oz @ 60 and another .25 at 20. You want those spices to come through so don't add hops too late in the boil or the flavors will compete.

 

[badlee]

Glacier will give you a very soft understated bitterness.
Saying that, if you want the spices to come through,leave out the last addition.
I love Glacier.

 

[jstull]

thanks so much.