re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

New recipe for a lemon cream ale (BIAB one gallon)

Fermentables
1.0 lb 2-row
1.0 lb flaked rice
12 oz (0.75 lb) flakes corn
1.0 lb dextrose (corn sugar) (add w/ 10 minutes left in boil)

Hops
0.25 oz lemon drop pellet (30 mins)
0.10 cluster pellet (10 minutes)

Other
0.25 tsp Irish moss
1.5 oz lemon zest

Yeast
US-05 (1/2 pack)

Brewsmith has it at 7.56% ABV and 13.1 IBUs.

Will this be too sweet?

Starting: 1.058
Final: 1.000

Mash:
Steep grains at about 150 degrees in about .67 gallons of water for an hour

Lauter:
Self explanatory (let the bag drain)

Sparge:
Pour about 1.33 gallons of 160 degree water over the grain bag

More boiling:
Post-sparse, let the wort boil for one more hour before I add the first set of hops

Let boil for 20 more minutes before I add the second set of hops

Let boil for 5 more minutes before adding the 1 lb dextrose

At flameout, add the Irish Moss

Chill:
Chill the wort to about 65 degrees

Ferment:
Siphon wort into fermenter and add yeast (1/2 of a packet)


Am I doing this wrong?

Don't take this the wrong way, because it's not meant to be condescending, but that recipe is hooch with all those simple sugars. Up more grain and lower the simple sugars.

You won't get to 1.000 with S05, even with all those simple sugars. 1.010 is more realistic.

Up the IBUs if you're going boozy. 13 IBUs is very low for such a high ABV beer.

That said, maybe give your recipe a go and see what happens. You never know unless you try. You're not out much if it doesn't work out. Plus you'll have learned something along the way. Lord knows I've made enough bad beer over the years.

I am not going to take offense to anything y’all recommend. I appreciate all of your input.

Do you think the dextrose will put out a bad flavor in the beer?

I’m going for an easy drinking cream ale with a hint of lemon, but I want it to be higher ABV.

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Do you think the dextrose will put out a bad flavor in the beer?

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No dextrose is very neutral. All it's really going to do is increase the alcohol and dry the beer out.

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I’ll be brewing next Saturday. Hopefully the Lemondrop hops aren’t too “Lysol” tasting, and the Lemon peel comes in well too.

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I've never really gotten a lot of lemon from Lemon Drop hops. Now Sorachi Ace on the other hand...

Also a word of caution on the lemon zest. Don't get any (or as little as you can) of the bitter rind (the white part) when you zest the lemon. I like to use a potato peeler and remove a thin layer of peel from the outside without digging too deep into the rind.

Now I’m getting (with 3 lb 2-row, 1 lb flakes oats, and 1 lb flaked rice):

SG 1.057
FG 1.009
ABV: 6.35%

quote:

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SG 1.057
FG 1.009
ABV: 6.35%

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That looks about right. Be aware that with a small-scale mash like that you probably won't get great efficiency. So you may be a few points low. Also, never believe a FG estimate. There are too many variables that go into that for any brewing software to accurately predict it.

Finally, since this is a cream ale, I'd recommend flaked corn, not oats.

I meant flaked corn, not flaked oats