Caramalt advice please

[Martybhoy]

I'm planning my next two brews, one of which is an imperial red ale from brew dogs published recipes. The blurb makes it sound great but when I look at the recipe there is shed loads of caramalt. Can anyone tell me if this an acceptable amount of caramalt or not?

4.82kg Maris Otter Extra Pale
2.5kg caramalt
0.92kg crystal 150

It also has about 340g of hops, with a target IBU of 70.

 

[chub1]

I'm planning my next two brews, one of which is an imperial red ale from brew dogs published recipes. The blurb makes it sound great but when I look at the recipe there is shed loads of caramalt. Can anyone tell me if this an acceptable amount of caramalt or not?

4.82kg Maris Otter Extra Pale
2.5kg caramalt
0.92kg crystal 150

It also has about 340g of hops, with a target IBU of 70.

Would have thought a max of around 20%,more like 10% however.Just my thoughts.

 

[Martybhoy]

That's what I thought. Plus I've already found an error in their recipes, so I'm worried this might also be an error

 

[GerritT]

Never more than 10% of the grain bill, according to James Mortons 'Brew'. So 900 grams would be too much already.

 

[Zephyr259]

Running those number through some software comes out at OG of 1.090. Going with the obvious typo of 0.25 kg of caramalt gives 1.070 which is essentially on target for the recipe and a more reasonable 4%. Still have 15% crystal 150 in there though but I guess the hops will balance it.

There's a fair few errors in malt bills, sometime they get the ratio between kg and lb the wrong way round then you have to figure out which is correct.

 

[Martybhoy]

Aha! Target gravity is 1.073. That makes a lot more sense

Much appreciated

 

[Sadfield]

I'd say the recipe is correct for three reasons. 1) the metric and imperial values tally (2.5 Kg = 5.5Lbs) so it isn't a typo. 2) In the blurb for Hops Kill Nazis it says that it is the big brother of 5am Saint, the percentage of Caramalt in 5am is 19-20%, this is 30% but more than double the bitterness of 5am. 3) Plugging this recipe into Beersmith, at 70IBUs it gives an BU:GU (apparent bitterness) of 0.966 which is high but not off the chart, American Barley Wine territory. Without that Caramalt it would be really harsh.

 

[Martybhoy]

I'd say the recipe is correct for three reasons. 1) the metric and imperial values tally (2.5 Kg = 5.5Lbs) so it isn't a typo. 2) In the blurb for Hops Kill Nazis it says that it is the big brother of 5am Saint, the percentage of Caramalt in both these recipes is around 19-20%. 3) Plugging this recipe into Beersmith, at 70IBUs it gives an BU:GU (apparent bitterness) of 0.966 which is high but not off the chart, American Barley Wine territory. Without that Caramalt it would be really harsh.

Good point. And their recipe for 5am Saint has 0.88kg of caramalt, so it makes sense that it's big brother would have more. But 30% of the total grain bill?

The uncertainty puts me off a little. I might just try 5am Saint instead.

[emoji106]

 

[Zephyr259]

Brupaks list it as a max of 20%, but the slightly lighter carahell can go up to 40% or more. Omitting the caramalt, there is 12% crystal in HKN and 11% in 5am, folks have brewed 5am and say it's a good recipe. I'd guess that a lot of these percentages are likely based on historical usages so caramalt is probably based on British bitters not slightly daft 7%, 70 IBU brewdog beers. Could do a halfway house and scale up 5am and use ~20% caramalt in this one, then cut back the pale to adjust to 1.073 OG.

Good luck, it'll probably be super tasty either way. :-)

 

[Linalmeemow]

Those DIY Dog recipes are notoriously unreliable to the point that I've stopped using them altogether after a couple of poor outcomes.

 

[Braindead]

Which Recipes r u looking at?

 

[Zephyr259]

To me it looked like Hops Kill Nazis (only recipe which asks for 2.5 kg of caramalt) and 5am Saint.

 

[Martybhoy]

Sorry for late reply.

Zephyr is right, Hops Kills Nazis and 5am Saint.

I've abandoned both now due to worries that they may be unreliable. I've gone for Greg Hughes' Cornish Tin Miners Ale. Nothing like it HKN, but it sounds great.

I still plan a brew dog brew tho - Single Hop IPA - Vic Secret.

 

[chub1]

Sorry for late reply.

Zephyr is right, Hops Kills Nazis and 5am Saint.

I've abandoned both now due to worries that they may be unreliable. I've gone for Greg Hughes' Cornish Tin Miners Ale. Nothing like it HKN, but it sounds great.

I still plan a brew dog brew tho - Single Hop IPA - Vic Secret.

I have 'tinkered' with a few of the dog recipies and all have been pretty good.Ok,probably not much like the original due to my tinkering but well recieved by others.

 

[Zephyr259]

Their Jet Black Heart clone makes a great stout, pretty sure you'd tell them apart in a blind tasting but different isn't worse. 5am is on my list to try.

 

[Martybhoy]

I'm currently drinking my brew of their Brixton Porter. It's really good. Best porter/stout I've ever done.

I imagine if I stay away from their extreme recipes (like 2.5kg of caramalt for example), then their recipes would produce a good brew.