Recipe for a first dark ale brew

[Guest]

I'm sure there are others that can give you a better description/definition, but here goes:

Sparging is the process of pouring warm/hot (boiled) water through the goodies left behind in the strainer after you pour the wort through it (into the fermenter).

[Daron]

Ahhhh.... waste not, want not! Sounds effective and worth it if it means I get it in my beer.

Cheers

[stevem]

beermeister,
re your Belgian Ale recipe. Have you listed the amount of hops used correctly? The recipe seems very light on in the hops department?

regards
Steve

[Hrundi V Bakshi]

I'm sure there are others that can give you a better description/definition, but here goes:

Sparging is the process of pouring warm/hot (boiled) water through the goodies left behind in the strainer after you pour the wort through it (into the fermenter).

Sparging is a process in brewing with grains (step 6 below). It is not relevent to kit or extract brewing. Even in steeping specialty grains, the term is not applicable.

1. Dough-in - add crushed malted grain to hot water.
2. Mash - let the enzymes in the grain convert the starches into sugars
3. (optional) Decoct - remove part of the mash, heat it to a boil and return to the mash. This is used to step the mash through various temperatures and to add melanoidins to the brew and to partially caramelise the wort.
4. Vorlauf - run off some of the sweet wort and recycle it through the mash to compact the grain bed. This aids in obtaining a clear run-off.
5. Lauter - run the sweet wort into the boiler
6. Sparge - there are at least two ways to do this. "Batch sparging" is to add more hot water to the grains left after lautering and repeat. "Fly sparging" is to add water as the lauter occurs, preferably at the same rate as the run-off.

[Beer Krout]

3. (optional) Decoct - remove part of the mash, heat it to a boil and return to the mash. This is used to step the mash through various temperatures and to add melanoidins to the brew and to partially caramelise the wort.

Hi Mr Bakshi
Watched my mate do a mash session on the weekend. First time I've seen it done. I'm interested in the benefits of step 3. Melanoidins and such.

[Oliver]

I made a nice Belgian dark ale which to me tastes a lot like Leffe Dark:

1.5 kg Coopers dark liquid malt extract
1.5kg Coopers light liquid malt extract
1kg light dried malt extract
15 g Hallertauer hop pellets (boiling)

BM,

That's not much hops for so much malt. Is it very sweet?

Oliver

[Oliver]

Ah, I see Steve beat me to the question on hop quantity.

Oliver

[Daron]

I've just put 500g LME and 500g DME in a boil, with 500g honey.

i plan on doing this for an hour. Should i add the Coopers Dark Ale mix in the boil r wait till I pour it into the fermenter?

I'm also gonna add 40g Fggles, 20g in a boil then another 20g to sit for 2 mins wiht the lid on.

Any suggestions or alerts?

Cheers

Daron

[Oliver]

I've just put 500g LME and 500g DME in a boil, with 500g honey.

i plan on doing this for an hour. Should i add the Coopers Dark Ale mix in the boil r wait till I pour it into the fermenter?

I'm also gonna add 40g Fggles, 20g in a boil then another 20g to sit for 2 mins wiht the lid on.

Any suggestions or alerts?

Cheers

Daron

Daron,

Add the can of Dark Ale at the end, otherwise some of the hop character will be boiled off.

I'm thinking that 40g of Fuggles might be a bit much. Maybe start with 20 - 10g in the boil and 10g when you turn off the heat. As I always say, you can add more hops next time if you like, but it's pretty hard to remove them if you find the beer is overpowering.

Oliver

[Daron]

Thanks for quick response, Oliver.

The HBS (Grain and Grape) told me to use 40g, but i'd read all over this site that 20g would do it. I guess I'll boil 10g then add 10g at the end.

Do you have any suggestions on how many litres all up? I usually stick to about 20l but can I go to 23 wiht this batch? Seems like it will be fairly malty.

What about dextrose in the boil? SHould I add any as well? I was told 500g of honey will make 1% of alcohol, I want the brew to be about 5.5%

Thanks mate

[Hrundi V Bakshi]

Hi Mr Bakshi
Watched my mate do a mash session on the weekend. First time I've seen it done. I'm interested in the benefits of step 3. Melanoidins and such.

Mr Krout,

It's not such a big requirement with modern well modified malts. It is still done often with weizens to create some of the precursors for the clove flavours made by the wheat yeast strains.

I am not at all an expert in this field. I humbly suggest google will provide more useful answers than I.

[thehipone]

Responding to a couple of things,

Melanoidin is a compound that is responsible for the red color that you get in a lot of darker beers. Sugar + amino acid = melanoidin

Decoction destroys some of the amylase enzymes in the mash, leading to a maltier flavor. as an example, Pilsener Urquell uses (i believe) a triple decoction. For most beers it isnt necessary, bocks and pilseners are the best candidates.

I've recommended it before, but if you want to learn lots about the technical aspects of brewing read Designing Great Beers. It covers all of these techniques, hops and why certain hops are only good for bittering, beer color factors, yeast profiles, etc.

If you are an extract + specialty grain brewer a "mini-sparge" is quite useful to get the most out of your grains. Pour the initial liquid into the wort then rinse the leftover grains with a bit of hot (not boiling) water from the kettle.

To the dark ale question, what sort of dark ale are you after? Something roasty like coopers dark, malty like newcastle brown, hoppy like an american brown? I'm from the school of thought that you add color and character with specialty grains on top of a pale canvas. I havent found anything else that can really replicate that fresh, crystal malt flavor. If you want to use a kit as the basis for something like coopers dark maybe something like this for 23L:
Coopers real ale kit
1kg light DME
300g Crystal Malt
50g Roast Barley
150g chocolate malt
ProMash give me 1.044OG, so it wont be high in alcohol, but should have loads of flavor. Maybe some Willamette, Goldings or Fuggles hops for a little flavor.

[Oliver]

Do you have any suggestions on how many litres all up? I usually stick to about 20l but can I go to 23 wiht this batch? Seems like it will be fairly malty.

What about dextrose in the boil? SHould I add any as well? I was told 500g of honey will make 1% of alcohol, I want the brew to be about 5.5%

Volume depends on you. 23 litres will be fine, but 20 litres will give you a slightly maltier, more concentrated flavor.

Put some dextrose in if you like to boost the alcohol, although I reckon the ingredients you've got should be fine. If you do add some, you only need to dissolve it in at the end of the boil.

As an aside, I put on a Muntons Nut Brown Ale today, with 500g light dried malt and a pack of Brewcraft Brew Blend No.20 (dextrose, dried light malt and (ahem) corn syrup).

Oliver

[beermeister]

Oliver, Steve,

Yes that brown ale is fairly sweet and fruity, the actual recipe (one of Charlie Papazian's) asks for Styrian Goldings hops but I couldn't find those so I used Hallertauer. I think its meant to be a Leffe Brun copy.

I've given a few people some bottles and everyone loves it, though it is a bit sweet for me. I was thinking of making it again. What should I do, add more hops or just save a few for the last couple of minutes of the boil?

BM

[Oliver]

You can get Styrian Goldings from Grain and Grape (http://www.grainandgrape.com.au). They do mail order.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Dogger Dan]

Oliver,


Have you tried Styrian

Just put a batch down with them as an experiment. Are they much good?

Dogger

[beermeister]

Cheers Oliver, I'll give them a go.

That shop looks awesome...

[Hrundi V Bakshi]

Oliver,


Have you tried Styrian

Just put a batch down with them as an experiment. Are they much good?

Dogger

I have found them to be similar to fuggles, which makes sense since they are a fuggle cultivar grown in Slovenia. Interestingly "Styrian Goldings" are also grown in NZ, and sold as "Pacific Styrian Goldings". Fuggles growing in NZ via Slovenia. Mr Dan, you may find them similar to Willamette if you can get those - a North American cultivar of fuggles.

I Pacific Styrians a lot in dark beers, belgian ales and IPAs for flavour. I like "real" East Kent Goldings for aroma additions.

[Oliver]

Dogger,

The only beer I've tried Styrian Goldings in is the Millennium Ale

Given the ingredients that went into that beer, it's hard to tell what's what, so I really can't shed light on it.

However, Hrundi is right about Styrian Goldings being a Fuggles variety.

Cheers,

Oliver