My first AG recipe

[Istanbilly]

Hi, I am going to retire to the Greek Island of Skopelos in the next couple of months (when Covid-19 restrictions allow the wife and I to travel from our current home in Istanbul). Part of my retirement plan is brewing my own beer (along with all the maintenance requirements of a very old house!). I will buy a Grainfather and use that for my mash and boil. This is the first recipe I intend making, it is entirely my own recipe (I will call it GIB - Greek Island Bitter) and I would appreciate any comments:

Water

60 minute mash at 65 C With approximately 15 litres of Avra Greek mineral water
Sparge with approximately 16 litres of Avra Greek mineral water at 75 C

For those of you who are interested in the water, this is the chemical analysis

Na	8.5	mg/l	Cl	10.2	mg/l
K	1.2	mg/l	HCO3	286.86	mg/l
Ca	102.6	mg/l	NO3	29.6	mg/l
Mg	7.5	mg/l	SO4	28.3	mg/l
Fe		mg/l	F		mg/l

SiO2		mg/l
Residue	470.7	mg/l
pH	7.3

Grain bill

Maris Otter 3.8 kg
Caramel 100 0.3 kg

Hops

Wye Challenger 28.35 g in the boil @ 60 mins
East Kent Golding’s 14.2 g in the boil @ 15 mins
East Kent Goulding’s 14.2 g in the boil @ 0 mins

Yeast

Safale English Ale 1 packet

Other

Hoped for OG 1.041
Hoped for FG 1.009
Hoped for ABV 4.3%

Fermenting time approximately 10 days
Bottle condition and leave for at least 30 days

Put some in the fridge on Brew day +40
Try on Brew day +41

It seems simple enough to me and hopefully will be a tasty ‘British style’ Bitter

Thanks in advance for any comments

 

[strange-steve]

A nice simple recipe, should be good. I will say though, that water isn't ideal as is. It would benefit from reducing the bicarbonate with an acid addition and bumping up the sulphate with gypsum.

 

[trueblue]

Good luck with your first brew. As Steve said nice simple recipe but personally I would use a better yeast maybe Nottingham.

 

[Istanbilly]

A nice simple recipe, should be good. I will say though, that water isn't ideal as is. It would benefit from reducing the bicarbonate with an acid addition and bumping up the sulphate with gypsum.

Thanks for the comment Steve, I will definitely give that a try - what would you suggest for acid though? Something like lemon juice perhaps and if so, how much?

 

[Istanbilly]

Good luck with your first brew. As Steve said nice simple recipe but personally I would use a better yeast maybe Nottingham.

Thanks for the comment trueblue, I did think about using Nottingham and I am fairly sure I can get it at the home brew shop in Athens. If I can, I will give it a go.

 

[strange-steve]

Thanks for the comment Steve, I will definitely give that a try - what would you suggest for acid though? Something like lemon juice perhaps and if so, how much?

Nah lemon juice isn't ideal, with the amount you'd need to add you'd end up with hard lemonade rather than beer. Most people use CRS which is a blend of food grade hydrochloric and sulphuric acids. However being your first AG brew you'll have plenty enough to think about, so it might be worth sourcing water which is more suitable without any treatment.

What you'd be looking for is bicarbonate as low as possible, less than 60 mg/l preferably, and calcium somewhere around 100 mg/l (although between 50 and 200 mg/l would be OK).

 

[cushyno]

You may have trouble with this in Greece in the middle of summer, however if you could collect 15L of rainwater that could be mixed with the Arla bottled water, you'd get the bicarbonate down to acceptable levels. A little extra darker malt such as 10% Munich may help counteract the bicarbonate and lower the pH levels of the mash (if my understanding is correct). Your Ca would still be just about acceptable around the 50mg/l mark.