Doing my first brew using my own recipe

[Empty bottle]

Hi folks just looking for some advice or suggestions as i am going to make my first beer that is my own recipe.
The grain bill that i intend to use to make around 23l is -
3.5 kg best ale malt
1 kg light Munich malt
750g Dingemans cara 20
200g Dark crystal malt
The pellet hops that i have are Centennial, mosaic, cascade and cascade leaf hops. I love the taste,aroma from cascade and one of my favourite clone beers i have brewed is the sierra nevada which uses cascade. I am also going to give the dry hopping a go for the first time with this one. I am hoping to get a nice red coloured beer around 5% abv.
Does the grain mix look ok ? What hops would be best or bittering ?
cheers

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Hi folks just looking for some advice or suggestions as i am going to make my first beer that is my own recipe.
The grain bill that i intend to use to make around 23l is -
3.5 kg best ale malt
1 kg light Munich malt
750g Dingemans cara 20
200g Dark crystal malt
The pellet hops that i have are Centennial, mosaic, cascade and cascade leaf hops. I love the taste,aroma from cascade and one of my favourite clone beers i have brewed is the sierra nevada which uses cascade. I am also going to give the dry hopping a go for the first time with this one. I am hoping to get a nice red coloured beer around 5% abv.
Does the grain mix look ok ? What hops would be best or bittering ?
cheers

Do you use brewfather.app (google it) - you can use it for free - this would work out the abv, colour and international bittering units for you - you can play about with the recipe until it suits

 

[Empty bottle]

Do you use brewfather.app (google it) - you can use it for free - this would work out the abv, colour and international bittering units for you - you can play about with the recipe until it suits

No i have never used the brewfather app or heard of it to be honest. Just had a wee look at it and it seems to be a pretty good tool so thanks for suggesting this. I put in my grains into it and it predicts i should have a beer with 5.4% abv so i would be happy with that. I will just need to play around with the hops and fingers crossed i have a nice beer to drink in a few weeks. Thanks again its much appreciated .

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

No i have never used the brewfather app or heard of it to be honest. Just had a wee look at it and it seems to be a pretty good tool so thanks for suggesting this. I put in my grains into it and it predicts i should have a beer with 5.4% abv so i would be happy with that. I will just need to play around with the hops and fingers crossed i have a nice beer to drink in a few weeks. Thanks again its much appreciated .

Good - at the moment it will have in your equipment profile some assumptions about your mash efficiency (basically how good are you at converting grain into fermentable sugar - here is mine

So check this is correct because this will impact the ABV you can expect - basically poorer mash efficiency, lower OG and hence lower ABV

It may be that you need to do several brews to calculate your mash efficiency - if so this tool will help
https://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

 

[Pennine]

Could be a touch to much crystal malt, SNPA would be about half that amount.

 

[Empty bottle]

Could be a touch to much crystal malt, SNPA would be about half that amount.

What is SNPA ? cheers

 

[Pennine]

What is SNPA ? cheers

Sierra Nevada pale ale

 

[Empty bottle]

Sierra Nevada pale ale

Cool im not trying to replicate the sierra nevada although it is very tasty. This should be a bit more red in colour hopefully and full of flavour with a bit of luck as i have never dry hoped before and never used mosaic hops either. I think from memory the sierra nevada only used cascade hops so i am going to mix the hops up a bit and see how it goes.

 

[Pennine]

Cool im not trying to replicate the sierra nevada although it is very tasty. This should be a bit more red in colour hopefully and full of flavour with a bit of luck as i have never dry hoped before and never used mosaic hops either. I think from memory the sierra nevada only used cascade hops so i am going to mix the hops up a bit and see how it goes.

I'd probably bitter with cascade and use the mosaic in a whirlpool or dry hop. I have never combined mosaic with cascade or centennial though. Mosaic is a very potent hop and tends to overpower other hops.

I usually stick with 10% max of crystal malt as a rule of You will probably get a sweeter malt bill with 17% as you have it. Give it a try you might enjoy it though.

If you just went with cascade and centennial I would imagine you would get something similar to celebration ale but lower alcohol.

https://sierranevada.com/beer/celebration-ipa/
The mosaic is going make it more fruity and dank though.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Empty bottle]

I'd probably bitter with cascade and use the mosaic in a whirlpool or dry hop. I have never combined mosaic with cascade or centennial though. Mosaic is a very potent hop and tends to overpower other hops.

I usually stick with 10% max of crystal malt as a rule of You will probably get a sweeter malt bill with 17% as you have it. Give it a try you might enjoy it though.

If you just went with cascade and centennial I would imagine you would get something similar to celebration ale but lower alcohol.

https://sierranevada.com/beer/celebration-ipa/
The mosaic is going make it more fruity and dank though.

Let us know how it turns out.

I might just leave out the mosaic and just use the centennial and cascade. Then use the mosaic in my next brew to see what it tastes like as i have never used it before. Decisions decisions haha one things for sure is that there is a brew going to happen in my kitchen tomorrow but god only knows what ingredients will eventually make it into the fermenter.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I might just leave out the mosaic and just use the centennial and cascade. Then use the mosaic in my next brew to see what it tastes like as i have never used it before. Decisions decisions haha one things for sure is that there is a brew going to happen in my kitchen tomorrow but god only knows what ingredients will eventually make it into the fermenter.

And it will be wonderful - if you need an independent judge of that I will happily send you my address - just as a favour to a mate

 

[Empty bottle]

And it will be wonderful - if you need an independent judge of that I will happily send you my address - just as a favour to a mate

Thanks for the very kind offer Obadiah but my next door neighbour already tells me how fantastic all these beers are and he is very enthusiastic about testing the latest creations. Sometimes it takes 5 or 6 bottles for him to decide as he is that thorough in his testing.

 

[ecirpian]

I might just leave out the mosaic and just use the centennial and cascade. Then use the mosaic in my next brew to see what it tastes like as i have never used it before. Decisions decisions haha one things for sure is that there is a brew going to happen in my kitchen tomorrow but god only knows what ingredients will eventually make it into the fermenter.

Mosaic is a fantastic hop, citra and mosaic work well together, particularly in a dry hop.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I usually stick with 10% max of crystal malt as a rule of You will probably get a sweeter malt bill with 17% as you have it. Give it a try you might enjoy it though.

Normally I'd agree with you (and it's a good rule of thumb), but the recipe uses cara 20, which is very lightly kilned (ebc 20). I think it'll probably be fine.

 

[Alan_Reginato]

@Empty bottle. Go for it! I'm always doing my own recipes. Of course, inspired in some style or a crossover. And it's too much crystal malt. 10% and it still tasting sweet, for me. But if you like the regular APA, should be ok. Just don't put more than that. Nowadays, I don't even use them at all.

 

[MrRook]

Hi folks just looking for some advice or suggestions as i am going to make my first beer that is my own recipe.
The grain bill that i intend to use to make around 23l is -
3.5 kg best ale malt
1 kg light Munich malt
750g Dingemans cara 20
200g Dark crystal malt
The pellet hops that i have are Centennial, mosaic, cascade and cascade leaf hops. I love the taste,aroma from cascade and one of my favourite clone beers i have brewed is the sierra nevada which uses cascade. I am also going to give the dry hopping a go for the first time with this one. I am hoping to get a nice red coloured beer around 5% abv.
Does the grain mix look ok ? What hops would be best or bittering ?
cheers

Centennial and cascade are a classic combination, I try to brew with them at least one batch a year.