recipe please

[pansub]

Hi everyone

I really would like to brew a bitter that tastes good and has a high ABV

the ingredients i have are

3.6 Kilo amber malt extract
1 Kilo amber DME
500g Crytal Malt crushed

Styrian Goldings
Fuggles
Kent Goldings
Irish Moss
Burton Water Salts

Safale S-04 yeast
Muntons Gold Premium yeast

any suggestions welcomed, thanks :

 

[BrewStew]

i had to work that out as i've never brewed extract... here's what i got so correct me if i'm wrong:

Beersmith makes that a gravity of 1.064 (at 23 litres) with an estimated FG of 1.016. it should reach an ABV of 6.27% (assuming you reach that attenuation level)

it'll come out about 38 EBC's but thats a guess as i dont know the EBCs of your extract and malt. which is a nice dark colour. a bit darker than a London Pride.

with that sort of gravity i'd aim for 45 to 50 IBUs. higher if you like very bitter beers, but not over 64 IBUs of course

look like it will be a nice winter warmer to me :thumb:

 

[MEB]

None at all. I've never used dme or extract. Sorry.

If you had 3.6kg Pale malt you could easily knock up an 18L batch of a 'strong' ish bitter. 150G crystal will give you some sweetness and help with head and body. Fuggles for the bittering and goldings for flavour/aroma is a classic hop combo. Try getting the free trial of beersmith and running your ingredients through it till you have a recipe your happy with. Use 2 tsp of Irish moss-one is a bit hit and miss IMO. 2 tends to do a good job most of the time. I'd go for S04 for the yeast as i hate that muntons *****. I've never used burton salts so no advice there. I use a tsp of salt added to the boil and i find it brings out the flavours of the malts quite nicely.
I class 5% as a session beer, 6-7% as medium and 8-9% as strong. I don't drink a lot of volume as i'm a skinny wretch but i do like strong Ale.

Not over 64 IBU's of course? Why? You have not brewed a DP recipe BS have you? My 1837 IPA was 160IBU's. And the best beer i've ever tasted in my life.

 

[BrewStew]

because he stated "bitter" as a style.

i assumed he meant premium bitter as he's going for high ABV, so this would put his style guide at between 30 and 55 IBU with a 1.045 to 1.065 gravity guide you can of course push the IBU's higher and go slightly out of style, but going over the IBU/SG ratio would put it WAAAAAAY out, and then you'd have more an IPA/DP style which would need a looooong maturation, and be unbalanced until mature

 

[pansub]

so you wouldn't recommend throwing the lot in and keeping my fingers crossed??? :pray:

 

[BrewStew]

how many grams of each have you got and what are their AA%'s ?

 

[MEB]

because he stated "bitter" as a style.

i assumed he meant premium bitter as he's going for high ABV, so this would put his style guide at between 30 and 55 IBU with a 1.045 to 1.065 gravity guide you can of course push the IBU's higher and go slightly out of style, but going over the IBU/SG ratio would put it WAAAAAAY out, and then you'd have more an IPA/DP style which would need a looooong maturation, and be unbalanced until mature

Very good point there BS.

 

[pansub]

I have

40 gms Styrian
70 gms Fuggles
75 gms Goldings

The packages do not have the AA%'s

 

[BrewStew]

ok you can get close if you find out the average AA% for the last 5-10 years for the hops. but the hops will still vary depending on how they are packaged and stored. ideally they should have been stored in the freezer.

if you get the Beersmith trial, you can use that to work out your hop AA%'s from their age and storage conditions... unless eskimobob is kind enough to stick one on the calculators section

once you've worked out your hop AA%'s you can then figure out how many grams you need. as for the mix, i reckon any of those or a mixture of them all or some will make a very nice pint they all work well with eachother :thumb:

 

[pansub]

thanks BS its all so complicated, managed to download a copy of Brewsmith and after 6 pints of Speckled Hen i just sat there looking at Brewsmith, could not make head or tail of it.

Feeling a bit down, my first ever brew has been in the keg for 2 weeks, it was clear when it went into the keg, tasted a drop last night, no longer clear, i think its contaminated :cry:

 

[BrewStew]

dont be discouraged.

how did it taste? if it tasted fine it could be a couple of things.. one, the keg got disturbed, or two, the remaining yeast has multiplied and started working again.

 

[Vossy1]

Feeling a bit down, my first ever brew has been in the keg for 2 weeks, it was clear when it went into the keg, tasted a drop last night, no longer clear, i think its contaminated

or 3) The first drawing from a keg are always cloudy, as the beer is usually drawn from the bottom of the container and that's where dormant yeast and particulate drop to.
How much did you pour?

 

[BrewStew]

or that too :lol:

 

[pansub]

well i must say that after the replies, i drew off a glass, from the king keg, it has now cleared again, lovely amber colour, tastes ok, sherry like quality, :thumb: i can live with that, pouring very slow though, no gas, will add some gas at the weekend.

Thanks all not a bad first atempt :

 

[Aleman]

sherry like quality

That is a classic sign of post fermentation oxidation . . .drink it quick

 

[pansub]

i have invited a couple of friends round to watch football and we will atempt to drink all 5 gallons on staturday :

 

[EskiBrew]

unless eskimobob is kind enough to stick one on the calculators section

Sounds reasonable - :thumb: