AG#7 - Is this nuts?

[NickW]

Well....! Here she is...

 

[NickW]

Just realised. 150EBC is approximately 75SRM (if my calculations are correct). So the colour would be lighter than in the screenshot.

 

[marksa222]

The crystal seems really high. Normally i thought it would be around 5% or less of the grist. As you're on AG#7 though, you're more experienced than me. I used about 225g (4.1%) of crystal in a 20 litre (or so) batch.

Could you perhaps replace about half of the crystal for some torrified wheat to give it a bit of head retention? Shouldn't impact the flavour too much, but less risk of burnt tastes and should have a head that lasts. Personally, I'd move the 10 min fuggles to 5 mins, or maybe have more at 15. I'm not sure the 10 and 15 min additions will give too much of a different characteristic.

As I say though, I'm a newbie myself to AG (3 batches made) so take my views with a pinch of salt.

Good luck! I'm sure it will be delish

 

[dennisking]

Personally if it's a caramel taste your after I would use caramalt or caramalize a couple of litres at the start of the boil.

 

[graysalchemy]

I agree with Dennis Caramalising the first runnings would do the trick, that is what traditionally was done with scottish heavies. :thumb: . CAramalt or carapils would be an alternative as they don't have the cloying sweetness, thats what i used in a barley wine to avoid overly sweet beer even using 5% crystal.

 

[NickW]

OK gotcha. I will reevaluate.

This is what I have, it's labelled as 150EBC

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... oductId=26

Where would it be on this table? The amazing amount of versions are confusing me!

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... oductId=26

 

[graysalchemy]

It can vary from batch to batch the colour. The carapils and caramalt deinnis and I mentioned are dingeman malts available from MM. :thumb:

 

[NickW]

OK I get it :lol:

Back to the drawing board. I want to get another 2 brews on before I make another order next month you see, cash is tight. So I'm trying to come up with something from what I already have - but something that is of a different style from what I've brewed already (see sig )

 

[graysalchemy]

If you want something caramel like what about a heavy?

90% palemalt
5% roasted barley or black malt or choc malt
5% wheat malt

Mash at 67-68

to 1060-70

30-35 IBU's of whatever hop you fancy (preferably a traditional english hop and not a harsh hop like target) 50% at 90 minute 50% at 45 minute.

Take the first runnings or the first 20% out of the mash and reduce it down 75% so it is dark and caramelly. this will take about 1 hr on a stove. add back into the boil at the end.

Yeast either an english ale hop windors or notty or if you have it an edinburgh ale yeast.

:thumb: :thumb:

Sorry No crystal in this one.

 

[NickW]

If you want something caramel like what about a heavy?

90% palemalt
5% roasted barley or black malt or choc malt
5% wheat malt

Mash at 67-68

to 1060-70

30-35 IBU's of whatever hop you fancy (preferably a traditional english hop and not a harsh hop like target) 50% at 90 minute 50% at 45 minute.

Take the first runnings or the first 20% out of the mash and reduce it down 75% so it is dark and caramelly. this will take about 1 hr on a stove. add back into the boil at the end.

Yeast either an english ale hop windors or notty or if you have it an edinburgh ale yeast.

:thumb: :thumb:

Sorry No crystal in this one.

Thanks for this, I may well do this. Do I have to have such a high OG? I'd prefer to hit a Max of 1.050 really, or is this not advisable with this type of beer?

Also - why no crystal?

Edit - the main reason being the size of my mashtun

 

[graysalchemy]

No it could be 1050 ish just reduce the hops down to about 25 IBU.

No crystal because the caramelization of the wort does the job of crystal. It tastes really good trust me.

 

[NickW]

Fantastic

You guys are God sends.

So, take 20% of the first runnings off (this would be around 2.8litres for me)... but will this not be cloudy and bitty ? Normally I reciculate the first 4 litres or so back into the mash?

Boil down to 25% original volume... leaving approximately 800ml of wort. This should take an hour, then add it back to the boil. At the end? Does it matter if its at the start or middle?

Is there any specific technique to "caramelize"? Or is it just a case of reducing it down?

Sorry for all the questions... this is new to me

 

[graysalchemy]

you want clear runnings obviously. :thumb:

Just vigorously boil it down it will darken quite a bit and go treacly.But you don't want to burn it just caramalise. :thumb:

 

[NickW]

Cheers GA, and everyone.

You may very well have steered me away from making terrible beer

 

[dennisking]

No crystal because the caramelization of the wort does the job of crystal. It tastes really good trust me.

Trust him it works.

 

[Dr Mike]

[quote="Dr Mike":uvrkewo0]Which edition of the GW book is that in ? Looks like he has adjusted the recipe as my 1993 edition says 25% (1.65Kg!)

It's the 2010 reprint, for 23L, 5110g pale and 900g crystal. How did your version with 20% turn out?[/quote:uvrkewo0]

It was OK. Others seemed to like it more than I did. It certainly wasn't too sweet (it finished up at 1014 from 1057 so I'd beg to differ that a beer with >10% Crystal is always going to be cloyingly sweet). It had noticeable toffee flavour but not much in the way of caramel or fruit. Had a slightly astringent bitterness in the finish - more tannic than hoppy - and sometimes a slight tartness in the flavour which did not really go with the rest of the flavour.

It was only my 3rd AG so I might have made some process errors (got a feeling I might have sparged too hot). If I was going to try it again I'd go for something other than Notty. What yeast did you use for yours Ed ?

 

[Good Ed]

What yeast did you use for yours Ed ?

Used the Brewlab Thames Valley 2 and it got down to 1016 from 1063, it was my fist AG and haven't done it again, but flavours were fruity, caramel, raisins and liquorice :thumb:

 

[Dr Mike]

That sounds more like the commercial version that I remember :thumb: (altough it is quite a few years since I tried it!)

 

[Good Ed]

sadly I've never tried it, I should just take myself over to Sedgley and treat myself

however I think that when brewing a beer with crystal or darker malts, as per the above discussion, yeast selection will be more important than say with a pale ale. Like with SHDR, you will get a completely different beer with Nottingham than say TV2. People post on here about adding this and that to beers, liquorice for example, but you can get these flavours from the yeast with the right malts. I suppose you just need to experiment a lot and try different yeasts, sounds like a lifetimes work :lol:

 

[Steve]

Looks like I'm a bit late here but my AG#2 was a traditional mild (low IBU not ABV) with 17% crystal and doesn't taste sweet at all to me. My IBU to OG ratio was off too as I adjusted the recipe to 60% efficiency but actually achieved about 70%.