Trying to make up a recipe, how's this sound?

I'm trying to learn how to use the Beersmith program and come up with my own recipe. I've looked at several and tried to incorporate a little of my own twist in trying to come up with an English Ale. How's it sound so far?

Hi NorEaster

Looking at your recipe (Bald Top), By the numbers, it fits the style of an Ordinary Bitter. I like the fact that you are keeping it simple. Sometimes the simplest of recipes make the best beer...

If I were brewing this one I would change the mash profile and drop the cara. A Full Bodied mash would give more of a mouth feel to the beer. The WLP005 has a pretty high Attenuation and may dry it out to much.

Im not a hop head, and the bitterness ratio on this one is way to high for me. So I would change the Williamette Hops addition to .5oz @60, .25oz@30, and then blend both the Fuggles and whats left of the Williamette @10 (Total of 2oz hops). This would make it fall out of the numbers for an ordinary bitter, however I'm ok with that. Not everything in life fits into a nice neat little box. You should also note that both of these are aroma hops, that's not to say they cant be used for bittering. They just work better as aroma hops. If you want more spicy notes, then you should look at changing your bittering hops additions. Maybe target or some East Kent Goldings (EKG) would be good choices.

Brew it up the way it is, and let us know what your take is. How bad can it be? It's beer, and that a good thing!

Cheers
Preston

Preston,

Thanks for your input. To be honest I'm not sure I can tell the difference in body between beers, or I don't know how but I'll take your suggestion and look at it. I guess I also need to find a place that tells me what hops are bittering and which ones are aroma. I'll look at this one a bit more and maybe tweek it some. Thanks again.

If you look at the hops selection in BeerSmith you will see the "type" column. If its not there Right Click on the bar and select Customize column's to add it to the view. Or in your recipe if you double click on the hops, it will tell you what type it is under the Hops Type, along with notes and examples.

I'd also drop the carapils and use Caravienne and the med crystal in some mix to hit your color.  Keep total caramels under 12% so it's not too sweet.

WLP002 or Wye 1968 would attenuate less and leave the body you want to offset the bittering impression needed in a "bitter" style.  Maybe mash a tad lower so it finishes out.  I'd move the very late hops to 30 to 20 minutes for more English hops flavor as opposed to aroma. 

Rager tends to be the highest hops "forecast" so you may have room to push the IBUs a tad.  Tinseth says 34. 

Thanks for the input guys. I guess I still have alot to learn as I don't understand the different subtleties the grains and mash profiles have. How do you folks learn all this?

www.howtobrew.com, also in print, for brewing techniques.

Brewing Classic Styles for good core recipes of all styles.  JZ touches on the right ingredients and mash/ferm temps suited for the styles.

noreaster said:

Thanks for the input guys. I guess I still have alot to learn as I don't understand the different subtleties the grains and mash profiles have. How do you folks learn all this?

Click to expand...

Agreed! Lots of reading along with a good dose of Trial and error. Both of the resources mentioned by ML are great. I think I'm up to around 20 books now and starting to look for Classroom texts for more info. It has been a fun journey!

Cheers

Preston