I could use some feedback

[GunNut76]

Hello all. I am fairly new to homebrewing and fairly well hooked on it. So far I have been using kit beers and was thinking about exploring into new territory. I have come up with a recipe of my own (I think) and was wondering what kind of feedback, comments or suggestions you might have. This will be my fourth batch and I am brewing very small batches untill I get the hang of it.

2 US gal.

Grains/Extracts
4 lb Amber or Dark DME
1/4 lb Crystal (60,80 or 120)
1/4 lb Caramunich

Hops
1/2 oz Northern Brewer (boil)
1/2 oz Fuggles (20 min)
1/2 oz Fuggles (5 min)

Yeast <---sticky point for me
Irish Ale (Wyeast #1084)
Belgian Abbey (Wyeast #1214)
California Ale (White Labs 001)
Nottingham
Munton & Fison Ale

As you can see I am still a little undecided about my yeast choice and maybe the hops are a little more than I need, but I want to brew a beer that I can say "I came up with this by myself!" and be proud of it. AIS any feedback, comments, suggestions or tweeks will be welcome.

[mmmBeer...]

Looks like a nice recipe to me! Just as a quick look, it looks like you will have a fairly dark beer, with some good mouth feel from the grains. At first look, that might be a lot of hops. When I first looked at it, I was thinking “I use a lot more than that!” but then remembered that this was a half batch. I still don’t think it will be too hoppy. For boiling I usually use about 1.5 oz of cascade or saaz for 5 gallons boiling then another 1 to .5 oz for aroma…so your numbers are pretty close to what I would use. Although that will depend on the AA content of the northern brewer hops, fuggles is pretty mild.

Yeast wise, I would lean towards the California ale yeast for this recipe, or the Irish ale either one will fit the flavours of your recipe very nicely. I am just guessing but the hop level might be a little too strong for an abbey ale (if you are brewing to style).

Just my 2 cents :)

[b3s]

well, that's a pretty high gravity beer (using dark dme and crystal 80 i came up with an OG of 1.093 or so on recipator), so you're gonna want a yeast strain with a high attenuation.

sounds like a stout to me (although pretty hoppy -- even with the low bitternes hops -- for one, about 32 IBUs)...so the irish ale yeast would do you well there...by far my favorite yeast.

the abbey yeast also might be intriguing...i liked the fruity overtones of that yeast the one time i used it and it, too, would be a good choice.

in any case, looks like a good recipe...definitely a good, dark beer with lots of maltiness and nice hops overtone.

[YamahaXS]

I am sure this will be a great beer.

It will be strong in alcohol, and should have good bitter and hoppiness that are in proportion with maltiness.

If it was up to me, I would use the Amber DME, the 60 or 80 L Crystal, and one of the ale yeasts. BUT then again, its a small batch, so I might just try something a little different like th Abbey

[croc4]

be careful with the DME, I found that the amber and dark DME I get at the LHBS ferments very differently.
The amber ferments very poorly , leading to higher FG than I wanted and poor tasting (worty). The dark seems to ferment much better.

If I were you I would go with a pale DME as the base ,and then add colour using spec grains, maybe 4oz of 500L roast or choc malt.

But maybe your DME is far different from my source.
________
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[S.F.B.]

I plugged your ingredients into the Recipator. This is what it came up with.

The finished volume is: 5 gallons
The original gravity is: 1.037
The alcohol is: 3.5%
The color is: 27 HCU (~14 SRM)
The bitterness is: 25 IBU

I plugged it in using No. Brewer hops for 60 min.
Fuggles at 30 and 5 min.

[BucksBrew]

Originally posted by S.F.B.
I plugged your ingredients into the Recipator. This is what it came up with.

The finished volume is: 5 gallons
The original gravity is: 1.037
The alcohol is: 3.5%
The color is: 27 HCU (~14 SRM)
The bitterness is: 25 IBU

I plugged it in using No. Brewer hops for 60 min.
Fuggles at 30 and 5 min.

SFB, Up top he says he is making 2 US Gallons. FYI

[S.F.B.]

Oops! I missed the volume part. I put it through at 2 gal and came up with this.

The finished volume is: 2 gallons
The original gravity is: 1.093
The alcohol is: 10.8%
The color is: 67 HCU (~27 SRM)
The bitterness is: 47 IBU

[Fast_Eddy]

I vote for the Abbey yeast. It's a high ester yeast that does well in high gravity beers. If it's your recipe try for something a little different - at worst it'll be good - at best it'll be a little different and fantastic.

[GunNut76]

Thanks guys! I'll probably go with the Irish or the Abbey as they are more alchohol tolorant. My LHBS has Laaglander DME and it worked great in my last Amber Ale which was a DME/SG wort.

[GunNut76]

Just looked at the beer I posted above using ProMash (trial version)...WOW the color is D-A-R-K! Gonna call it "Black Dragon"!