First Recipe design help.

[Morgz]

G-Day!

Long time reader, first time poster. Have been brewing for a bit over a year, all grain for 9 months and now use the Brewzilla 35L. I still bottle.
Have been working on creating my own recipe for months, and every time I have a crack at it, I change it. I enjoy all styles, but find myself coming back to PA, APA, XPA, IPA.

I am a father of 1.5, (Pregnant wife) and like to have a couple of beers after work. I enjoy running around wearing the little one out.
The recipe I am trying to design is going to be an APA around 4%, light to drink, medium hop forward, but still with a little body to not make it feel like a low ABV beer. Can anyone look at my recipe and give any pointers. Feel free to tear it to shreds or pat me on the back. I'm all ears.
Im happy to just give it a crack and report back, I just wanted to avoid disappointment.
Amarilla Pale
37% Traditional pale Joe White
37% Pilsner Joe White
15% Flaked wheat
5% Carahell Weyermann
5% Carapils Weyermann
1% Acidulated Malt Weyermann

3.5%ABV then bottle condition

BU:GU 0.88
Ph-5.4
Water Profile ppm
CA-110
MG-18
NA-17
CL-50
S04-350
CAC03-57
HC03-69.5

Hop schedule
First wort nugget 5.3IBU
10min Amarillo 6.9IBU
Citra 2.5IBU
Yeast nutrient and whirfloc
5min Amarillo 7.7IBU
Citra 2.5IBU
Hopstand 80°C for 10min
Amarillo 4.4IBU
Citra 2.4IBU

Mash was thinking 70°C for 60mins
Mashout 75°C 10mins

Am open to suggestions of yeast
Ferment US-05 @ 18°C for 14-21 days.
I have been doing secondary lately to help with clarity. Usually 3-7 days.

 

[Sammy86]

Hello from a fellow Dad and Brewer! I have an almost four year old and twin 9 month olds!

as far a recipe goes I don't believe there is a need for both the Caras in there...one or the other would probably get the job done. The 50/50 split on the base malt is fine as well...personally I would choose one or the other, you aren't going to get much flavor difference from the split.

I'm personally a big fan of FWH...I like how smooth the initial bitterness is in the beer so kudos to you for that!

Good luck

 

[Morgz]

Cheers for the feedback Sammy86. Twins with a toddler, I bet that keeps you occupied.

Base malt, I wasn't sure on the split, I will change that to straight pale. If the beer turns out alright, I may try the 50/50 split just to see the difference.

And the 2 caras, will just change to 10% carahell. The descriptions on both sounded similar, just the pils doesn't give flavour and the hell does. That makes the recipe a little more simple like I know you are meant to do.

 

[Sammy86]

Cheers for the feedback Sammy86. Twins with a toddler, I bet that keeps you occupied.

Base malt, I wasn't sure on the split, I will change that to straight pale. If the beer turns out alright, I may try the 50/50 split just to see the difference.

And the 2 caras, will just change to 10% carahell. The descriptions on both sounded similar, just the pils doesn't give flavour and the hell does. That makes the recipe a little more simple like I know you are meant to do.

Busy doesn't even begin to describe my life LoL I mashed in at 7 AM did the first feeding with the wife, fed the four year old, did the sparge put the twins down for a nap...did the boil and chilled. Got everyone lunch, settled and then had the four year old pitch yeast.

All done and cleaned before afternoon nap at 2 PM. It was hectic but 10 gallons went into two kornys and are carbing to be ready by Saturday.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

IMO, that grain bill looks ideal for an APA around the 5% mark. For my tastes, it'd be a bit light-on (thin) for a sub 4%er. Dropping the carapils for extra carahell is a start - I'd go further and up the carahell to a darker crystal in the 40 to 60L range. 10% crystal at 40 to 60L should give the body/sweetness/flavour needed to boost a 3.5% beer. I'm a big fan of blending base malts and Trad ale + JW pils works well. Basically (for non-Aussies) JW pils is neutral (it has a very mild pils taste - nothing like bestmalz or weyermann), so cutting other base malts with it makes beers lighter tasting. In this case (4% beer) I wouldn't use it - go with straight trad ale. Hop choice looks good but it's hard to comment on quantities - we really need to know g/L hop-rate for late hops/hop stand - IBU contributions don't tell us much and are only crude estimates.

 

[brew703]

You could drop both Cara's and go with Munich, 10L or 20L depending on color. I usually go with 10-15% or so Munich.
I also like to add flaked rye especially when brewing session ales.
Last session I brewed was below:
50% Pils
20% Maris Otter
10% Munich
10% Golden Naked Oats
10% Flaked Rye
S04
Amarillo/Simcoe

 

[Morgz]

I think your right Gnomebrewer, now that you have said it, i where I have seen split base malt like that is in higher abv beers, will have to try that one day, but for now am looking for session. I agree it would probably be a little thin, thats what I was afraid of. I think it was really worth asking this question.
I was thinking about playing with a little munich and crystal. I will go back to drawing board and mess around again.

 

[Morgz]

Brew703, the munich would definitely give it more colour and flavour a lighter beer needs. Will mess around with that for sure. I liked the last time I used munich, I think it have a hint of honey at 30% of grist.
Does the rye make it spicy at all in your recipe?

 

[brew703]

I don't find it adds any spice at 10% of the grain bill. I like what it brings to low ABV beers. Munich IMO also helps.
Good thing about home brew is you get to experiment.

 

[Morgz]

Hey Cheers guys. If you have a chance, can you look at my updated version and let me know what you think. Screenshots of brewfather attached.

 

[Morgz]

I'm gna give this one a crack, I will report back on brew day and again after carbonation. May tweak the water first, will see.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Recipe looks good. I'm not sure about the 23% AA on the citra - I can't see that being correct! Also, the 2 and 3g additions of citra are a bit pointless - maybe just add them to the hop stand?

 

[Morgz]

They are cryogenic hops. That's the only citra I had access to when I bought em. They are labelled 23.40%AA on the packet. I wanted the amarillo to shine through in this beer. I think I'm gna brew it as is, ive procrastinated for too long. I will probably see what you mean about them being pointless additions.

 

[Morgz]

Alright lads,
I finally got around to brewing this. The final recipe was as follows.
21L
2.2kg JW Traditional pale 64%
.5kg Gambrinus dark munich ( made a mistake, was meant to get light) 14.5%
.5kg flaked wheat 14.5%
.18kg Weyermann Carahell 5.2%
.06kg Weyermann Acidulated 1.7%

FWH 3g nugget
10min 15g Amarillo
2g citra cryo
5min 25g Amarillo
3g citra cryo
Hopstand 80°C 15min 50g Amarillo
10g citra cryo
Water
Ca 127
Mg 20
Na 24
Cl 52
S04 350
HCO 62

PH 5.3
BU:GU 0.87
IBU 32
67°C mash
13.8 EBC

So, I won't lie, I had a shocker with the efficiency, target was 1.036, I got 1.030. I didn't want a 2%er, so I added some coopers BE 1, that's all I had on hand.
So the beer will turn out differently than it was meant to, i will have to use light munich next time and brew again. Think my eff is down from the fast sparge, not sure how to slow it down on Brewzilla.
On a positive note, the flavour was great, looking forward to the final result. Will report back.