First attempt at a partial brew in a bag

[allanmb]

Since the start of the year I have moved away from kit beers to made a few extract brews which have been a huge leap beyond the kits. I now want to try a partial grain brew and was hoping to get some feedback on my recipe below. I am intending to make a fruity-hoppy session ale. I don't want floral and I don't want piney/grassy hops for this particular brew.

Other than the general feedback, I have two specific questions:

1) What consistency of grain should I be going for? I have bought a basic mill for my first attempt (http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... _TDe_ldU6g)
2) I bring the mash up to 70-75C and then put the lid on to steep for 46-60 mins. Should I turn the flame out and hope the temp remains steady enough? I have a 19L pot so there is a good amount of liquid in there.

Ingredients:
2 x 1.5Kg Coopers Light LME
1kg of Extra Light Crystal Malt
100g of Brewers Sugar for bottle conditioning
11.5g packet of Safale US-05 yeast

20g Apollo hop leaves
40g Summit hop leaves (plus extra for dry-hopping)
40g Galaxy hop leaves (plus extra for dry-hopping)
40g Nelson Sauvin hop leaves (plus extra for dry-hopping)
Whirlfloc tablet and/or beer finings

15 mins:
20g Apollo

10 mins:
20g Summit
20g Galaxy
20g Nelson Sauvin

0 mins:
20g Summit
20g Galaxy
20g Nelson Sauvin

Dry Hops:
20-40g Galaxy
20-40g Nelson Sauvin

Target IBU: 53
Target ABV: 4.6%
Estimated OG: 1048
Estimated FG: 1012
Estimated Colour: EBC 19

- Mill grain to desired consistency
- Start with pan of cold of water (3/4 full) with a lid/plate on the bottom to save the grain touching the bottom
- Add grain to a bag and place inside pan (Dont add any of the dust that may spill from the bag)
- Bring the temp of the pan and contents up to 75C
- Put lid on and leave to steep for 45-60 mins (flame out should be fine, but ensure it doesnt dip below 70C)
- Sparge the grains, do not squeeze!
- Remove the plate/lid before proceeding to bring the temp up to a boil
- Add approx 1/2 a tin of LME bring to boil and let froth clear (hot break) making sure not to let anything stick to the bottom of the pot
- Add the hops in bags in stages as listed above
- Do not squeeze the hops out
- Sparge the hop bags by pouring additional boiling water over the bags and then add the rest of the LME
- Cool quickly in a sink of very cold water or use immersion chiller
- Add a whirlfloc tablet if using one
- Top up to 23L with cold tap water
- Once temp is below 22C, pitch the yeast
- Leave to ferment at 18C with an airlock for 10-14 days or until fermentation is very slow
- Transfer to secondary fermentation vessel add dry-hops
- Leave for 7-10 days with airlock
- Syphon into another fermentation vessel and add 100g of brewers sugar. Gently stir then bottle.
- Leave in a warm dark place to carbonate for 14 days
- Refrigerate to settle and clear for 21-28 days

[daf]

Doesn't matter about squeezing the grains or hops important sugars and flavours in there, get them out. The dust in the bag is malt by the way - the good stuff!

I do all grain in the bag so dunno about tins of extract.

I would have thought you needed to boil your bittering hops for longer to get the crucial oils out?

[allanmb]

Thanks for the feedback. My previous experience has been boil a medium amount of hops for a long time or boil a lot of hops for a short time and I prefer the latter. I find I get the bitterness this way but also a lot more aroma from the hops too.

What temp do you boil your grain at? And do you keep the heat on during the steep? Or flame out?

Cheers
Allan

[Clibit]

When I soak the grains I keep the temp below 70. Between 65 and 70. No heat, just cover with towels, fleece or sleeping bag.

I put whirlfoc in the boil, ten mins before the end. Boil at 100C! You can't boil at any other temp.

I would use much less crystal. Maybe 300g.

[allanmb]

Thanks Clibit. Why would you only put in 300g of crystal? That will reduce my ABV to just 4.1% but will it be beneficial for flavour?

[Clibit]

I find too much crystal is, well too much. Too sweet. I rarely go above 5% of the total grain weight in an all grain brew. I think 1kg would overpower things. Others may differ, but most pale ale and IPA recipes that use crystal are in the region of 5% crystal.

3kg Liquid malt = 3.7kg pale malt grain
5% of 3.7kg = 185g

So if it was me I wouldn't go more than 250g in that brew. Probably go 150-200g.

If you want to keep the ABV up, add some dry malt extract.

[allanmb]

I find too much crystal is, well too much. Too sweet. I rarely go above 5% of the total grain weight in an all grain brew. I think 1kg would overpower things. Others may differ, but most pale ale and IPA recipes that use crystal are in the region of 5% crystal.

3kg Liquid malt = 3.7kg pale malt grain
5% of 3.7kg = 185g

So if it was me I wouldn't go more than 250g in that brew. Probably go 150-200g.

If you want to keep the ABV up, add some dry malt extract.

That's great, thanks for the info! That is exactly the type of oversight I wanted to catch before starting the brew off. I have some extra light DME so I will add some of that to bring the ABV up.

[Clibit]

What AV do you want? And how many litres are you making? Are you using any software? If not, do, it's easy and means you can work everything out in advance. I use Brewmate, it's free and simple.

[allanmb]

I tend to drink 5% and above so am aiming for that. And yeah, I use Beer Engine for my calculations. Havent tried brew mate but I'll give it a look too to see if it offers anything more than Beer Engine

[Clibit]

If you are making 23 litres:

LME 3kg
DME 750g
Crystal 200 - 250g

This gives ABV of about 5.3%.

I think I have decided I prefer to use light crystal malts. Caramalt has worked well.

Check out this link, a description of American Pale ales and a recipe with simple instructions, which uses half a pound (227g) of light crystal (20L/40EBC) in 19 litres.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011 ... tract.html

And here is their American IPA recipe:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011 ... nners.html

This uses 0.75 pounds/340g crystal, the greater amount to help offset the increased bitterness.

Remember that American ales usually use American pale malt, which is less malty than English pale malt. We probably don't need as much crystal to match the effect. You can make great ales like this with just pale malt, you don't even need the crystal. It's all about personal taste. I would start with around the 5% mark though, and adjust from there. I think anywhere between 0% and 7% of the total grain works for me.

[Nexia333]

You definitely don't want to go over 5% crystal in your grain bill, and, if used, it is suggested to be closer to 2% as the sweet notes should sit in the background. I recently did a quick partial to get a batch in the FV to restore my depleted beer stocks. I used: 250g of Caramunich I: adds the sweetness but also the biscuit/nuttiness character - steeped for 60min at 70 C, used a Cooper's IPA kit base, 750g Light DME, 500g Amber DME, with Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade, and Summit Hops. Nottingham Ale Yeast. Final ABV should come in around 5.5%. Was going for a sessionable, West Coast American IPA.