First ever AG - Maris Otter Pale Ale

Haha JA, I know what you mean I'm desperate to get mine on the go aswell! That's my 19 litre pot ordered and should be here next week!

I've found a Maris otter recipe that I'm going to go with. Jahnke's SMash Maris Otter Columbus IPA - The only thing is the recipe doesn't mean too much to me. It's a 60 min boil time, which makes sense, a ten litre batch size and 12 litre boil size. Which make sense, I'm guessing I mash in 12 litres which give me a ten litre wort. It's 2.5 kg of Maris otter but the hops don't make much sense to me, I was hoping for more self explanatory instructions as to when to add them, it's says 20g first wort and 30g hop back at 100c.

Can anyone help. I think I can work out a brew from this.
 
I wouldn't try that with the hop configuration on a beginning beer maker, it means put the first hops in the kettle cold before it even worms up then the hop back is a device you have to buy that hold hops while whirl pooling, not sure that would be for you
 
Just use the same hops, one at 60 minutes (beginning of the boil) and another hop addition at 5 or 10 minutes. Shoot for the same IBU as the original recipe.
 
Right ok guys this is starting to blow my mind here...

So the recipe I mentioned in my earlier post used 2.5kg of grain. It said that the boil size was 12 litres and the batch size was 10 litres. This is not what I'm understanding---

As Ozarks said that recipe I mentioned was a bit complicated so I thought I'd try something very basic myself. Still using the 2.5kg of Maris otter as the recipe suggest I done some maths using the rule of 1.25qts per lb of grain...

Please stick with me...so using 2.5 kg of grain (5.51lbs), that should be 1.25qts X 5.51lbs = 6.8875qts. As I work in litres, 1.25qts is 0.95litres. So 0.95ltrs X 5.51lbs = 5.23ltrs.

So I hope you see what my issue is here, the recipe said it should be 12litres of boil water. That obviously isn't 5.23ltrs as the rule suggest I should use...

Please please help explain this...I basically want to make a batch that will fit into my 19ltr pot. Where the bloomin eck do I start and why doesn't that rule match the recipe?

Thanks in advance!
 
instead of figuring out your self put it in the recipe editor, thats what its for
 
The difference is probably the sparge water that you'd use to rinse the grains.

And account for a little bit of boil off too, mine is about 3 qts per hour. This depends on the size of your pot and howe vigorous a boil, but it should work as a start for you. And about .5 qt per lb of grain is absorbed too.

Lots of math, but you should be good at about 2/3 of your mash water as sparge water. I'm just ballparking here though
 
Talltwits said:
Please please help explain this...I basically want to make a batch that will fit into my 19ltr pot. Where the bloomin eck do I start and why doesn't that rule match the recipe?
Click to expand...
You have to make the recipe match your equipment, not the other way around. You have to start with the recipe editor. Make a simple new recipe or copy a simple one that closely matches what you're trying to do. Then manipulate the variables until you understand what changes what.
As far as your wort volume and mash process, you'll have to do some research on BIAB to understand what you can expect . The simple BIAB calculator I referenced earlier will give you exactly the information you need. You start with the amount of grain, batch size, boil off rate (estimate or, better, do a boil test before you mash) and a few other variables (that you will have to make educated guess about until you understand you equipment better). You'll get to exactly the amount and temperature of water you need to mash, amount of water to sparge with and how much wort you'll have when you start to boil.
Personally, I wouldn't even worry about hitting numbers the first time out. Mash a wort, check the volume and SG, boil it down with generic hop additions (.5 oz at 60, .5 oz at 10, 1 oz at flameout, maybe) check the volume and gravity when you get done boiling. That's your beer.
Go back to the editor and make adjustments to the inputs so that it matches your readings. That will give you a very accurate prediction about your FG, ABV, color, IBU's etc. Then you'll know whether you've made an IPA, Pale Ale, Blonde, etc. Unless something goes dreadfully wrong, you'll have a good beer at the end of the process and you'll have learned how to proceed with your next mash.
 
I set all of my recipes to be 6.5 gallons post boil. I also set all of my recipes to be 7.25 gallons at the start of the boil, assuming a 60 minute boil. I don't worry too much about mash water volume. I shoot for 6-7 gallons. After I pull the grains out after the mash and store them in the bag in a bucket with an upside down colander in the bottom, I start going for the boil. That gets me up over 170° to stop the enzymatic activity. I put the drained water from the grains and sparge water in the boil kettle until I have my 7.25 gallons in there. After that, it's just like an extract batch.
 
Here's something that should work for your 19 liter pot.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... mple-smash

It assumes that you can safely boil approximately 16 liters. If you want smaller to start, just copy and scale the recipe in the editor. These are numbers I've used for my smaller set up and I know they work. It should get you very close to your volumes and numbers. If you find you don't have your pre-boil volume, you can sparge through the bag to get more (up to a point) or just squeeze the bag.

Good luck!
It's less complicated than it seems (translation: If I can figure it out, it ain't rocket science). :)
 
you guys are being way to technical, he has a 5 gallon pot and has never brewed an all grain before ??
put the bag in your pot take the crushed grains, put it in till it reaches at least 2/3rds, fill with water to the top, heat how ever you heat, get your bucket ready fill with 3 gallons of water, pull the bag out when mashing is done let it drain as much as you can stand then dunk it in the bucket of water, stir the grain or keep dunking then pull out and drain again, pour the water back into the pot and boil, when done cool and pour into your fer mentor, add any water needed to fill up to 5.5 gallons, stir and pitch your yeast
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
you guys are being way to technical, he has a 5 gallon pot and has never brewed an all grain before ??
put the bag in your pot take the crushed grains, put it in till it reaches at least 2/3rds, fill with water to the top, heat how ever you heat, get your bucket ready fill with 3 gallons of water, pull the bag out when mashing is done let it drain as much as you can stand then dunk it in the bucket of water, stir the grain or keep dunking then pull out and drain again, pour the water back into the pot and boil, when done cool and pour into your fer mentor, add any water needed to fill up to 5.5 gallons, stir and pitch your yeast
Click to expand...

That's a simple and concise overview of the process and I bet it'll help the OP get a clear idea of how to do it. I think you're right to point out that it's a relatively simple process and doesn't have to be intimidating.
I think one of the problems he's having is in interpreting existing recipes and figuring out the editor and various calculators, so a little bit of "techincal" help seems good. It took me a while to find my way around the editor and adapt the various calculators to my own set up. Once the OP gets a handle on figuring out the basic ratios for BIAB and is a little more comfortable with the editor, he'll have an easy time of it.
:)
 
think about the mash like a big bowl of soupy oatmeal. it's going to be too watery for you to eat, but absolutely delicious for the yeast

and ultimately, this stuff really wants to be beer. as long as your sanitation is decent, you have to actively try to screw it up, like mashing at 37C or fermenting at 32C

and last bit of advice, RDWHAHB :cool:
 
once you do your first batch you'll know your limits and scale your recipe to the right size, and your set to pick any recipe and scale it down to that size or pounds of grain that will fit in your pot, then you can set up a profile using that method, if trying to go for a 5 gallon batch, since this is mildly the standard today, you can use this as a guideline then make smaller batches without doing a partial mash
 
Hi guys,

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my post. I understand the basics of the process. JA, your right when you say I can't interpret the exciting recipes in order to convert hem to suit my equipment. I don't even know if I'm using the correct tool on the website?
 
By Jove I Think he's done it!!!

So I'm just looking for some Clarification here. I searched for a recipe and found the Marris Otter Cascade SMaSH. Then I basically copied the basic information over to the "New Recipe" section. Then once all the info has been added I clicked the recipe tools button, then scale. And changed the batch size to 10 litres. Then as it turns out the recipe adapts itself and process me with the mash volume of water, how much grain I should use etc etc.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I take it I can rely on this for rough guidelines on how much water, grain etc to use if I want to use a recipe but get smaller batches?

Thanks
 
pretty much yes. beer is nicely scalable that way. just halve the recipes for a half batch for instance. you may want to round off the numbers slightly after scaling, i don't like having to measure out 7.3 g of hops and all

the one thing though, is that water/grain ratio for the mash is going to be the same regardless of size of the recipe (1.25 qt/lb, or thereabouts)

i haven't gotten into the intricacies of this software, but it's pretty intuitive for basic recipe building and such. a little trial and error, a little asking other folks here
 
Talltwits said:
So I'm just looking for some Clarification here. I searched for a recipe and found the Marris Otter Cascade SMaSH. Then I basically copied the basic information over to the "New Recipe" section. Then once all the info has been added I clicked the recipe tools button, then scale. And changed the batch size to 10 litres. Then as it turns out the recipe adapts itself and process me with the mash volume of water, how much grain I should use etc etc.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I take it I can rely on this for rough guidelines on how much water, grain etc to use if I want to use a recipe but get smaller batches?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Exactly the right approach. That recipe that I made up and shared should be very similar to the one you copied. There's only so many ways to do it and given similar target OG, kettle size and boil time, most recipes will be very close when scaled to the same size batch.

A word of warning...you'll run out of recipe space with the trial membership. ;) You can't delete recipes or brew sessions to make room for new ones. You can completely change and rename recipes as much as you want, but if you get more than 5 you want to keep, you'll have to spend the few bucks for the upgraded membership (totally worth it).
 
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