My First Simple BIAB Recipe - Feedback

Having done a few kits I'm now moving onto doing a small BIAB brew in a 15ltr pot.

I've had a look at a fair few AG and BIAB recipes recently but would appreciate some comments on the following recipe... tried to keep it simple and be realistic with the efficiency, but might have missed something obvious??? Only slight complication is I've thrown in some flaked barley as I've read it's good for head retention; not sure if it fits in with the style but no harm eh?!

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/124326/biab-pale-ale-1


HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: BIAB Pale Ale #1

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Special/Best/Premium Bitter
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 8 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 15.5 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.023
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 4.26%
IBU (tinseth): 39.35
SRM (morey): 5.22

FERMENTABLES:
1.5 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (90.9%)
150 g - Flaked Barley (9.1%)

HOPS:
10 g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 31.53
5 g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 7.82
30 g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Dry Hop for 0 days

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 72%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 15 - 23.89 C

Anyone please?

Don't want to make a mess of my first BIAB!

It's going to be very pale with your current recipe. I would add some crystal 20 or 40 myself to add a bit of colour... Maybe 10% of the overall grain bill would do nicely. 5% wheat is good for head retention.

But I'm not that experienced, so the experts will be along shortly I'm sure.

If you are not using any crystal, which is fine, I would mash on the warm side 67-68 to build body. As for the hops I would definitely recommend some in at flame out / turn off, 20g should be good. Other than that, relax and enjoy it, it really is a doddle!

Thanks guys that's useful info.

I'll do more research on mash temps as I think I knew a bit about what happens with different temperatures but not really accounted for it in this recipe.

I'll also add hops at the end of the boil too.

Cheers :)

I shall help where I can, recently had my first go at a pale ale and it had a decent result, I would ditch the flaked barley as it is an adjunct and requires higher mash temps to fully extract the potential sugars, replace that with wheat malt, I did 10%, gave it a better colour and the head retention will be good.

You can mash at 68 deg/c to get a better body but 66 will do fine, it's personal taste, 9/10 I always mash at 68. The hops are fine for the boil but I personally wouldn't use 30g for dry hopping, at most you need a few decent sized cones, 3-5g roughly and you dry hop it for 1 - 2 weeks in secondary. Bitterness is also personal taste, 20 - 30 is a good average number so I tent to balance mine on those lines, under 20 for a malty brew, over 30 for a bitter/hoppy brew.

I am slightly confused however as your name on it is Pale Ale but the Style is Bitter, A bitter typically has a copper colour and sweeter finish, of which you will want to add some medium crystal malt and a touch of black malt to adjust the colour, what you have there is something more like a Blonde Ale.

Cheers,

Kyle

Kyle_T said:

The hops are fine for the boil but I personally wouldn't use 30g for dry hopping, at most you need a few decent sized cones, 3-5g roughly and you dry hop it for 1 - 2 weeks in secondary.

Click to expand...

Sorry but I could not disagree more, 30g is not even a large amount! I dry hop at 6g/l for 4-5 days as do some of the best craft breweries around.
I would suggest that anything over a week would introduce grassy / vegetal flavours but with 5g that's not going to much of an issue!

Also, don't get caught up trying to brew to style, brew to your taste, you're the one who has got to drink it...

Awolphotography said:

Sorry but I could not disagree more, 30g is not even a large amount! I dry hop at 6g/l for 4-5 days as do some of the best craft breweries around.
I would suggest that anything over a week would introduce grassy / vegetal flavours but with 5g that's not going to much of an issue!

Also, don't get caught up trying to brew to style, brew to your taste, you're the one who has got to drink it...

Click to expand...

It's personal taste mate and he is not a craft brewery, he said he wanted to keep it simple and it is, baby steps. Also it's his first BIAB brew, start small and alter to taste later on. But the decision is entirely up to him, I just offered some advice.

On the time length, I have dry hopped at much larger amounts for 2 weeks and not had the grass notes. Maybe it's just luck.

Kyle_T said:

I shall help where I can, recently had my first go at a pale ale and it had a decent result, I would ditch the flaked barley as it is an adjunct and requires higher mash temps to fully extract the potential sugars, replace that with wheat malt, I did 10%, gave it a better colour and the head retention will be good.

You can mash at 68 deg/c to get a better body but 66 will do fine, it's personal taste, 9/10 I always mash at 68. The hops are fine for the boil but I personally wouldn't use 30g for dry hopping, at most you need a few decent sized cones, 3-5g roughly and you dry hop it for 1 - 2 weeks in secondary. Bitterness is also personal taste, 20 - 30 is a good average number so I tent to balance mine on those lines, under 20 for a malty brew, over 30 for a bitter/hoppy brew.

I am slightly confused however as your name on it is Pale Ale but the Style is Bitter, A bitter typically has a copper colour and sweeter finish, of which you will want to add some medium crystal malt and a touch of black malt to adjust the colour, what you have there is something more like a Blonde Ale.

Cheers,

Kyle

Click to expand...

66℃ will be fine for a beer of this gravity especially if you're doing a no sparge BIAB.

30 grams dry hop will be a nice amount for a batch this size.

Bitter is a type of English Pale Ale and this recipe fits into the BJCP style guidelines for a bitter, it's just at the lighter end.

I already mentioned that 66 will do fine for the mash but the option of 68 is there and if you noticed it says "typically" bitter is copper coloured and a sweeter finish. Again just another option as the name and choice of ingredients to me suggests a summer pale ale but the style he listed is bitter.

Advice is only advice after all. Ultimately it's his beer and his style.

One thing that isn't to style is the hop choice. If you want the Amarillo to really shine consider using a more neutral yeast and make it more of an American Pale Ale.

Hey all.

To be honest I started wanting to do some sort of pale ale but only had specific hops and maris pale and the barley. This is a completely made up recipe with no real thought other than the abv and a very rough sense of wanting a pale ale type beer.

Advice and comments are great though!

I have double the quantities of all the stuff I'm going to use on this brew and various other hops so was going to do another brew not long after where more thought may go into it.

This brew is all about getting temps and quantitys correct!

If you have a few pennies to hand you could do something along the lines of an American Wheat Beer by buying a small pack of wheat malt and switching it out with the flaked barley, 150g will give you your 10% but you can use upto 25% I believe. Add a flameout addition for your hops for extra aroma and bobs your uncle, a pale ale.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: BIAB Pale Ale #1

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: American Wheat
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 8 litres
Boil Size: 10 litres
Boil Gravity: 1.024
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)
Total Liquor: 11.52 litres

72 deg/c Strike Temp
66 deg/c 90 minute mash.

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV: 4.3%
IBU: 29
SRM: 5.7

FERMENTABLES:
1.5 kg - Maris Otter Pale (90.9%)
150 g - Wheat Malt (9.1%)

HOPS:
10 g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 23
5 g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 6
10g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Flameout, IBU: 0
30 g - Amarillo, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.6, Use: Dry Hop for 7 Days, IBU: 0

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 72%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 15 - 23.89 C

Something like that will see you a tasty pale ale, not quite American by using Maris Otter but tasty none the less. It may come out differently on your software but that's the figures I see on mine. Not much different to your original I know, but little changes can make a nice difference.

Best of luck.

This is kind of how I started AG a year ago. You have lots of obsessive fun ahead of you!

Just go ahead and make the beer. If it was me I would use wheat malt instead of the flaked barley, and US05 instead of the S04. But you will get good beer. Amarillo is great.

To make larger batches you could add dried malt extract at the end of the boil and cold water in the FV. Partial mash, makes excellent beer. You'd need to adjust the hops up of course.

I bought another 15 litre pot and then made another bag and made about 20 litres at a time. Two boils, two different beers. Then I got a mash tun and now split the wort into the two pans. I still tend to use different hops in each pan, and sometimes steep some grains to add to one batch. I like trying different things, learning more, and getting a greater variety of beers to choose from!