Need help with 2 recipes

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

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wedraper
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Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:43 pm

Need help with 2 recipes

Post by wedraper »

hey guys. i'm planning on making a stout and a slightly bitter belgian wit. take a look at the recipes below and give me some feedback please. these are recipes that I have cobbled together from multiple recipes I found here (and elsewhere). these are using extract and steeping grains.


chocolate stout:
OG: 1.054, FG: 1.011, ABV: 5.5%, IBU: 28
1lb crystal 60L
1lb choc malt
8.0oz roasted barley
4.0oz black patent malt
8.0oz caramunich
1lb dark DME 60min
4lb light DME 60min
1oz centennial 60min
0.25tsp irish moss 10min
8.0oz malto-dextrine 5min
irish ale yeast (WLP004)

for the chocolate i'm trying to decide on the following: bakers chocolate + lactose in boil OR chocloate extract in keg OR lactose in boil and cocoa nibs in secondary. i'm leaning towards the last one. i want this beer for an end of the day sipper.



bitter belgian wit:
OG: 1.047, FG 1.011, ABV: 4.7%, IBU: 30
2lb wheat, flaked
1lb oats, flaked
1lb extra light DME 60min
1lb wheat DME 60min
1oz cascade 30min
2lb extra light DME 15min
1lb wheat DME 15min
1oz cascade 5min
1oz centennial 5min
0.5oz crushed coriander seed
1oz bitter orange peel
belgian wit yeast (WLP400)
dry hop 5 days: 1oz each cascade, centennial, citra

looking for citrusy, floral hop aroma from late hop additions (any recommendations will be welcomed). this is designed to be a hot-day, yardwork, easy drinker.


thanks,
bill
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slothrob
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Re: Need help with 2 recipes

Post by slothrob »

I've never made a Belgian Wit as an extract + steeping grains recipe. The flaked grains probably won't add much to the beer other than some starch haze, since they require mashing to convert to sugar. You could probably add a pound of Pilsner malt, doing a mini-mash instead of a steep, and get some conversion.

Instead, I'd probably just use all Wheat extract (that is ~50% wheat malt, which would be appropriate for a Wit) and leave out the flaked grains. The hopping schedule will probably make this beer very much like a Pale Ale, but the yeast and spices might make it interesting.

The stout looks fine. it might be a little more complex than it needs to be, but there's nothing in particular that I would recommend leaving out, though. I'd go with your final choice for the lactose and chocolate. Be aware that this will probably finish with an FG of closer to 1.020 than 1.011. Many extract brewers prefer to get all their beer color from the roasted steeping grains, instead of the dark extract, to get the FG lower, but I think you are probably going for a sweet beer, here, so you can try it and see what you think.
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