Beer Forum

Alright everybody, I got the first brew fermenting and I am planning on #2! Thanks to all by the way that contributed to my other post....I kept track of all the input, but didnt want to keep interupting the good input.

So, planning on brewing another batch after i get the first all bottled up. I wanted to do something close to a sierra nevada pale ale. What is everybody's fav extract recipe/kit for this type beer? I love a good strong pale with a balanced hop...I am not a fan of IPA's as I find the hop overwhelming.

Werd,

grebe

There are a zillion recipes for this all over the web.
However:

(5 Gallon Batch)

6 lbs pale dry malt extract or 7 1/4 pale liquid malt extract
3/4 lb Crystal 40

1 oz Perle @ 60 mins
1 oz Casdade @ 15 mins
1 oz Cascade @ 5 mins
1 oz Cascade dry hops
1 tsp irish moss or 1 whirlfloc tab at 10 mins
Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WL001 or Saf-Ale US-5

Steep the crystal malt in 2 gals of water at 150F for 30 mins.
Top water up to boil volume
Follow your normal boil procedures for a 60 min boil, adding the hops and kettle finings at the above times.
Chill to 65F and pitch. Ferment cool 65-68F for minimum 2 weeks
Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar
let them carbonate for a few weeks, then cool and enjoy

thanks for the recipe....seems very doable. Gotta wait at least a couple weeks to give it a go until I get my fermenter freed up.

My only input is to not necessarily go with the standard 3/4 cup corn sugar for bottle conditioning. Check out the link below and calculate what it should be. I used the 3/4 cup for my first few brews and everyone was overcarbed. Not saying that it won't end up being 3/4 cup for you and the style, but at least you'll have calculated it.

http://byo.com/resources/carbonation

12stones wrote:My only input is to not necessarily go with the standard 3/4 cup corn sugar for bottle conditioning. Check out the link below and calculate what it should be. I used the 3/4 cup for my first few brews and everyone was overcarbed. Not saying that it won't end up being 3/4 cup for you and the style, but at least you'll have calculated it.

http://byo.com/resources/carbonation

I agree. It's also good to weigh it instead of go by cups. I use the rule of thumb of 1 oz sugar per gallon. It helps to measure the final amount you are bottling, so if you have 4.5 gal in the bottling bucket, you want to use 4.5 oz of sugar for bottling. I was having either under or over carved bottles until I figured this out.

+1 to what both 12stones & BrewerAdam both said about calculating & weighing the amounts of priming sugars either to volume & style (preferably) or just by basic volume. The sooner you get this included in your process the more you will enjoy not having flatties or gushies & the closer your batch will be to the style you've brewed.

I'll also add a couple sites that I've used with good results & they do the calculation for ya

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

Keep on brewin'!

Thanks all,

Was planning on brewing to the posted recipe above today after emptying the fermenter last night...ended up waking up sick this morning and spent the day on the sofa. Also, got a temp controller and heater yesterday so that I can control my fermenting temp better than just sticking it in the closet and hoping for the best.

Sooo, if I can get moving and set up my fridge in the morning, maybe I can get to brewing tomorrow. Definitely going to brew the posted recipe though.

grebe

I finally got around to brewing this recipe Saturday....the wort tasted great, I am very excited about this beer. I am struggling with one issue though..my fermentation. I am using a small fridge (which fits two fermenter buckets perfectly) and a Ranco controller with a fermwrap. The issue is the temp is not getting above 64. The fermwrap might not be working....or maybe it is and it doesnt have enough heat to get it warm enough....easy enough to check. Ranco is working, I have voltage at the plug.

So, my question is if I ferment this beer out at 63-64, what effects or problems could arise from this? Side question, I could bring the fermenter inside in a closet to get a room temp of 70...should I do this at some point?

Some details that may be relevent:
-garage temp is high 40's right now.
-I used Wyeast 1056 and followed the recipe as stated in this thread.
-visible fermentation started within 18 hours and is still going (almost 48 hours)

What else?

thanks,

grebe