Taking suggestions

[FedoraDave]

I need to come up with a recipe for my next 2.5 gallon batch. I'll be using DME, specialty grains, and probably whatever hops I have on hand. I'm not sure what style (if any) I want to put into the pipeline, though. If you look at my sig, you'll see what I've already got in the works, so maybe that will give you some ideas for suggestions.

I'm looking for ease of preparation, mostly, since I'm not interested in a prolonged brew day. I'm kind of leaning toward an easy amber or red, but I'm open to other ideas.

If anyone wants to suggest a style, that's fine. Recipes would be welcome, too. Anything to stimulate my imagination and point me in some kind of direction. I won't be brewing this for another ten days or so, so I've got plenty of time to decide what I'm going to do and what ingredients I may need.

Thanks!

[Brewbirds]

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to try some hop bursting for a shortened brew day ala Mashani.


Que Mashani

[FedoraDave]

I'm not quite up to speed on the hop-bursting technique. Enlighten me?

[Beer-lord]

Dave, I keep hearing so much about the 2 White House beers, Honey Ale and Honey Porter. Perhaps you can something similar and give it a current events name such as 'Sebelius Honey the Website won't work' ale or a 'Affordable Honey Porter'.
Perhaps something seasonal like pumpkin ale. Also, could be a good idea to so something SMaSH like.
Or, how about adding just a bit of rye in a partial mash. The unique rye flavor and aroma is refreshing to many especially if you're not use to drinking it alot.

Personally, I like Brewbirds idea about hopbursting. But I've already ruined my taste buds for life so it's not for me to suggest others do the same.

[Beer-lord]

I'm not quite up to speed on the hop-bursting technique. Enlighten me?

http://byo.com/stories/wizard/item/2519 ... -technique

http://www.thebeerfiles.com/understandi ... -bursting/

http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php

[Brewbirds]

I'm sure Mashani will jump in when he gets a chance but from what I understand he uses extra hops for under twenty minutes on his shorter extract brew days and gets good bittering.

If I understand your post the main theme was a quick and easy brew day to fill the pipeline on your schedule and I doubt anyone will say that Mashani doesn't know how to make a good beer.

I see you prefer DME to LME which I have difficulties with, I guess because it is so humid here, I can barely get the stuff out of the bag.

BB2 has managed to work out some of our latest recipes to get a full 24 - 12 ounce bottles from an LBK size batch BTW so for the same amount of time it has taken us to brew a batch we have gained a few bottles depending on the ABV of the style.

[FrozenInTime]

Perhaps list your hops on hand and any other ingredients ya have. Or are you wanting to go from scratch?

[JimH]

Dave, I believe I posted my amber ale recipe here a while back. It got great reviews from my friends and our own philm00x. Search for it, and you might like it. I don't have my recipe at work, so I can post it later. The recipe had columbus, but its not necessary. I just did that to use up three pellets I had left over.

[FedoraDave]

Jim, I didn't see anything that looked like an amber ale recipe from you, so if you wouldn't mind posting it in the next day or two, I'd be grateful. I do like a nice amber ale.

Also, since FiT suggested I list my hops and other ingredients on hand, I'll do so now. Keep in mind, though, that I'll be making a trip to the LHBS to buy the DME anyway. Still, if I don't have to buy more hops, that would be nice.

I don't have much in the way of specialty grains; maybe some carapils and melanoidin and crystal 150. Again, if I have to buy some, it's no biggie.

I have a lot of hops, though.

Chinook
Fuggle
Nugget
German Tradition
Willamette
Palisades
Saaz
Liberty
Citra
Northern Brewer
Cluster
Perle
Hallertau
Simcoe (But I'm brewing a fiver of FedoraDave's American Ale this weekend, and using the Simcoe for that)

Some of these are partial packages, left over from previous recipes, but could be used in dry-hopping or in conjunction with some other strain. Also, this is a smaller batch, so less hops would be necessary anyway.

I'm wondering if a Liberty Amber would be good....

[Rebel_B]

Dave, I keep hearing so much about the 2 White House beers, Honey Ale and Honey Porter. Perhaps you can something similar and give it a current events name such as 'Sebelius Honey the Website won't work' ale or a 'Affordable Honey Porter'.

image.jpg (176.91 KiB) Viewed 954 times

[JimH]

Sorry Dave, I thought it was posted, and I tried to find it on my mobile phone, but that was too hard, so I will just post it anyway.

Silver City Sunset Amber Ale

3lb amber DME
1/2 lb Crystal 40 steeped
0.5 oz Centennial @ 25min
0.25 oz Falconer's Flight @ 25 min
0.25 oz Mt. Hood @ 5
0.25 oz Falconer's Flight @ 5

1 unit Safale S05
OG: 1.056 FG: 1.010 ABV 6%
Qbrew gives a 31 IBU.

This beer came in really nice. Even at 6% it isn't overly strong, and it balances the hops nicely. The 25 minute boil will keep the brew day short and easy peasy. I went with this to get a nice amount of hop flavor and aroma, without being overly bitter. It took a while for it to condition, but it is very smooth and easily drinkable. The Falconer's and Centennial give a real nice citrus flavor and complexity, and the Mt Hood lends a bit of balance to the aroma, so it's not all citrus. I really liked it, and my of the 4 beers I had my friends taste, it was the unanimous favorite. Maybe Phil can give you an independent assessment as well.

[FedoraDave]

Thanks for the recipe, Jim!

I'm using it as a jumping-off point for my own recipe, using the hops I already have. I ran it through QBrew, and I think it'll produce an interesting take on an Amber.

3 lb. Amber DME
1/4 lb. Crystal 40

Chinook - 1/2 oz. - 25 minutes
Hallertau - 2 oz. - 20 minutes

At first, that seems like a lot of Hallertau for a 2.5 gallon batch, but QBrew says the IBU falls within the style range for an American Amber.

I'm hoping to get a good blend of floral and spice/pine from this hops bill.

[JimH]

Glad I could help, even just a little bit, Dave. I think you will like how it turns out. Early in brewing I didn't like hoppy beers, but now that I appreciate them more, I really like the late hop additions. It really lends everything the hops have to a complex flavor profile that I really like. Good luck on this, Dave!

[FedoraDave]

I decided to call this recipe HopSLAMber Ale.

Because the name of the beer is the most important thing.

[FedoraDave]

Checked the SG when I got home from work today. 0.002 to go to the projected FG, so by the weekend, it should be ready to bottle. Tasted the sample, too. This is quite a nice beer! A good malt backbone, but the hops is still pretty aggressive. I'll be making this again, and may even ramp it up to a five-gallon recipe. It's that good!