beer ASK WHEEBZ

Is it worth it? If santa brings me a glass carboy for xmas then that is what I will do... otherwise, Ima dump that shit and work on a stout recipe.
 
Yo yo... I'm tryin to come up with an extract w/specialty grain Irish Red ale that I can brew in time for st pattys day.

Most of the Irish ale recipes have a low starting gravity resulting in only 4- 4.5% abv. Id like mine to be around 5.5 - 6% with out compromising too much flavor.

I do like a big malty profile on red ales

I was lookin at an exisiting recipe and tweakin it to make it more of my own, plus get a slight higher SG.

Recipe calls for :
6lbs light LME

SPECIALTY GRAINS
8oz caramel 120L
1oz chocolate

HOPS
2 oz Willamette. (1 oz for 60 mins, and 1oz last 5 minutes)

but to bump up the gravity a touch, could I change that to 6lbs DME or even more, rather than the liquid and achieve similiar results?
 
7.5lbs DME

specialty grains are OK

this is almost the exact same recipe my dad just used for his first beer
 
Aight, so 7.5lbs DME extra light.

I am trying to get the hang of coming up with recipes rather than just strictly following one.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention my yeast. Wyeast Irish Ale 1084. It was between that or the WLP004. Still may change.

So that should give me an OG somewhere around 1.066 or about 6.5%ABV I think.

Thanks!
 
If I added 1/2 a tsp of irish moss to the above recipe, would anything else need to be changed as a result of the addition?

I want to try for a clearer beer.
 
a teaspoon of irish moss will help some yes, at 15 minutes until end of boil

your best way to clarify your beer is conditioning

2 weeks of secondary fermentation at 32 degrees should do you pretty good
 
Question for Wheebz: My favorite beers are lagers (light or otherwise) and I want to start brewing beer but I don't want to invest in the equipment for a lager. Are their ale style bears that have the drinkability that light lagers do? Most of the craft beer that I have had is very heavy and not what I am looking for.

I would think starting from a premade kit would be the easiest if they made such a thing.
 
And I don't want any of that chewy crap in my beer. Does that mean I have to put it all in teh secondary glass bottle or can I achieve that clarity with the plastic bucket?
 
Not to impose on Wheebz' thread, so until he gets a chance to respond, let me just say, and keep in mind I'm a noob as f**k myself when it comes to brewing, but not drinking craft beer.

As for the ale-like lagers, there are some you can start off brewing that seem fairly easy like a cream ale, or kolsch. Those are similar to a light lager, Chances are you will learn to like the "heavy" beers once you start brewing and grow an appreciate for the styles. There are so many light bodied, yet full flavored beers out there. A great tasting beer does not have to be heavy.

If you could brew a beer like your favorite beer ever, what would it be?
 
You could also search some iPod the Homebrew forums for recipes for What's called Lawnmower beers. They're exactly that type if beer. Homebrew Talk is a good one to look on.
 
Jeff H said:
And I don't want any of that chewy crap in my beer. Does that mean I have to put it all in teh secondary glass bottle or can I achieve that clarity with the plastic bucket?
Click to expand...

there are a couple of options you have

You can make whats called a steam beer

Basically use lager yeast yet ferment at room temps

Anchor Steam is a good example of this style

So you are going to put together an american lager recipe, which I can do for you if you want, and ferment it around 65-68 degrees using this hybrid lager/ale yeast, that way you dont have to use a chest freezer or any sort of cooling

as far as the clarity issue, its going to be difficult to clear your beer without some sort of secondary cooling

best way I have found from homebrewing, is primary in a bucket, secondary in a 5 gallon class carboy (reduce as much headspace as possible), and then keep that second one in a fridge for 2 weeks to help the yeast settle out

you wont get it CLEAR CLEAR, but it will be pretty good

if you want to get it crystal clear, the best way to do it is the above mentioned activities, only use a product called Biofine. I dont know if you can get it in homebrew stores or not, but its a silicon dioxide product that binds to your haze forming particles, and forces them to settle out of the beer

easiest way to do this is add it to a secondary fermenter right as you are transferring from your primary, and let it sit for 7 days or so, and your beer will look like a miller lite if thats what you want

but to answer your question, no, you will not be able to have a crystal clear beer from just a single primary fermentation, unless you have the ability to dump yeast via a conical fermenter, and reduce the temperature
 
Thanks Wheebz, appreciate the comments. Now to figure out if I really want to invest in this hobby vs. just buying it already made. Decisions decisions.
 
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