Vertical Epic clone. Good start but...

[hbrookie]

I got into brewing about 4 months ago not so much because of things that I liked, but more because of things I couldn't get. Largely, this was cider oriented. We drink a lot of ciders during the summer and wanted a wider selection. I've got 5 cider batches under my belt now, and I'm proud of 4 of them and the other isn't bad.

Originally I didn't start brewing beer because there's plenty of brews on the market that I thoroughly enjoy and I'm not one to hassle myself when someone else does it just as well for the same price as I can do it myself. But then I stumbled across this:

http://blog.stonebrew.com/index.php/121212-vertical-epic-recipe

3 of the beers in that Vertical Epic series rank in my top 5 all time and - of course - you can't get them anymore. So I sat down this morning and started re-engineering for a 5 gallon extract/mini mash. I don't have the room or equipment for AG at this time.

This is what I came up with for grain/extract bill prior to converting some of the dme to 2-row for the mini mash.
pale/light dme 5.67 lbs
crystal 15L 2.4 lbs
crystal 60L 2.0 lbs
Vienna Malt 1.6 lbs
Midnight Wheat Malt 1.76 lbs
Dark Candi Sugar 0.33 lbs

If I cut my DME back to 4.5 lbs and throw in 2 lbs of two row, will there be enough enzyme to convert the Vienna and wheat?

At this point, I'm up to almost 10 lbs of grain. At 2qts of water per pound, I'm stretching my mini mash capacity. Does the crystal have to go in the mash? or can this be steeped separately?

I've only got a 20qt kettle so I'm probably starting with 3.5 gallons. 90 minute boil is probably going to reduce me too far. I'm thinking 45 would probably be as far as I should stretch. I'm still researching how to modify my hop/spice additions for this part. Any suggestions would be a great help.

I mathed at 75% efficiency btw. Sufficient? or too high for a mini-mash?

 

[sptaylor70]

Two pounds of pale 2-row will get you to about 37 degL, so that will convert. And you can first mash the two-row and Vienna, then the wheat and Crystal. It will make your brew day pretty long, and you'll need to keep an eye on your wort temperature to make certain that you don't get out of the mashing range.

However

You could make your life easier by cutting down your target final volume. I brew 2.5-3 gallon batches and ferment in a 3 gallon water jug (a shorter version of the 5 gallon variety). That would let you get everything into a single mash tun and you could get in a 90-minute boil.

75% brewhouse efficiency is a reasonable target.

 

[hbrookie]

Two pounds of pale 2-row will get you to about 37 degL, so that will convert. And you can first mash the two-row and Vienna, then the wheat and Crystal. It will make your brew day pretty long, and you'll need to keep an eye on your wort temperature to make certain that you don't get out of the mashing range.

However

You could make your life easier by cutting down your target final volume. I brew 2.5-3 gallon batches and ferment in a 3 gallon water jug (a shorter version of the 5 gallon variety). That would let you get everything into a single mash tun and you could get in a 90-minute boil.

75% brewhouse efficiency is a reasonable target.

I knew I could steep the crystal separate as it's already converted. Does the wheat not require mashing either?

 

[sptaylor70]

The wheat requires mashing. But, as I said, you can mash them sequentially. Once the enzymes are in the wort, they stay there and stay active until you are out of the mashing range (too low, they stop working; too high, they denature). Doing it that way would take a long time, relatively speaking, and would prevent a mash-out step (at least one immediately following the mash). You can do it that way, but I think that cutting down your target volume is the better way to go.