SMaSH receipe advice

[Leonard_Leonard]

Hi all!

I'm new to homebrewing, and new to the website. I'm interested in doing a SMaSH brew soon (keeping it simple) however having looked around the internet at recepies I'm slightly confused. I'm also just doing a gallon batch, so I'm assuming it is OK to simply divide everything by 5 to get from 5 gallons to 1 gallon?

So far I've got:

1152 grams of Maris Otter
Mash for 50mins at 65C and 10 mins at 75C
Boil one hour, adding Mosaic hops in these quantities at these times (pellet hops):
60mins - 5g
30mins - 0g
15mins - 15g
0mins (whirlpool) - 15g
Pitching Safale US 05

I'm trying to make a very light coloured ale that is as hoppy as possible while sitting about the 5% alcohol mark. My questions are:

- Is is hop to malt ratio looking OK? I don't want the beer to be too bitter to drink (is it too much hops?)
- Does the amount of gain for a 1 gallon batch seem ok?
- What can I do to ensure great head retention? I like a big head that lasts a long time
- I don't own a hydrometer, can I get by without one?

If you think I've got too little or too much, please suggest amendments!

Thanks a lot, looking forward to reading your opinions on this.

Cheers

L

 

[NPi]

Hi @Leonard_Leonard

Have a play about with the below link, it should tell you your expected ABV. This will be dependant on your boil off and how much liquid you are left with.

Without a hydrometer you can't measure your ABV, which means you will have to work on the basis of your estimations being correct.

A hydrometer also gives you the benefit of accurately monitoring your brews fermentation. It might be worth the investment?

Regarding head retention, without adjuncts carbonation and conditioning will serve you best.

It may be best to read "have a go at simple AG" thread, lots of useful information on there and other posts.

I'm sure others will be over with further advice shortly.

Cheers, Nick

 

[Hanglow]

If I were to brew 5G of than on my system it would come in at over 6% and be fairly bitter, although not enamel strippingly so.. I've not brewed small batches so I don't know what sort of efficiency etc you get. As you are new to it, I'd brew it then adjust any later recipes on experience gained. One thing you could do is move the 15 min addition to 5 mins perhaps.

For head retention a step mash can be great, but I wouldn't recommend that for newbie either :) If you can easily raise the temperature of the mash and want to try it then try something like 63c for 40 minutes then ramp up to 72C for 30 mins. If you want to do a mashout do so at about 77c

 

[Leonard_Leonard]

Thanks both, I think I'll take your advice - I'll just give it a whirl as is and see what I get. As long as it is drinkable, I'll be happy :)

 

[Leonard_Leonard]

Sorry just on that - I've found in my freezer that I already have quite a lot of Columbus, Centennial and Hallertau hops. Would there be any harm is switching Mosaic to one of those?

 

[Clint]

Stick with your plan...then do another batch with another hop...etc...then mix them up a bit..

 

[Leonard_Leonard]

Hi all, thanks so much for the feedback. I used Columbus in the end, and it came out incredibly bitter! Which I quite enjoyed, but it was hard to have two beers in a row

I finally acquiesce and got some recipe software (not sure why I was so reluctant) and see that it has a 70 IBU.

Next idea is to scale it right back to:

772 grams of Maris Otter
Mash 75mins at 62C
Boil one hour, adding Columbus at these times (pellet hops):
60mins - 2.3g
30mins - 2g
Dry hop for 7 days 37.5g
Pitching Safale US 05

This is giving me 31 IBU and a 3.8% beer (assuming I hit everything). Feels weird adding so little hops during the boil. Any feedback on this? Should I cut that 30min addition and throw it in at 0mins instead? Again - I'm after the hoppiest beer I can get while having the lowest percentage.

Cheers :)