Dear brewers,
Yesterday, I bought my first beer brewing kit. Now, I would like to brew my first batch of beer with a friend. He is hosting a small festival on the weekend of July 7-9, and what could be better than bringing a few crates of my own bottled beer? :beersmiley:
To ensure that this beer is truly enjoyable, I thought of sharing my recipe here so that more experienced brewers can offer some tips and tricks. After conducting research all day yesterday on brewing processes and the best hops, yeast, malt, and other flavorings to use, I decided to make a light blond beer with a possible fruity aftertaste. For this, I have purchased the following ingredients:
The recipe I will follow using these ingredients to make 20 liters of beer is as follows:
Do you think this will indeed result in a refreshing, fruity, light blond beer that will be perfect for a summer festival? If not, do you have any suggestions for adjustments? I'm also curious about the best way to add fruit to beer. Many websites mention adding fruit after the initial fermentation, but time-wise, it might not be possible for me.
After hours of research, I have also created a brewing schedule for myself, which I believe is a compilation of the best methods I came across. I will include it below in case anyone is interested in taking a look.
Brewing Schedule
Phase 1: Milling
Yesterday, I bought my first beer brewing kit. Now, I would like to brew my first batch of beer with a friend. He is hosting a small festival on the weekend of July 7-9, and what could be better than bringing a few crates of my own bottled beer? :beersmiley:
To ensure that this beer is truly enjoyable, I thought of sharing my recipe here so that more experienced brewers can offer some tips and tricks. After conducting research all day yesterday on brewing processes and the best hops, yeast, malt, and other flavorings to use, I decided to make a light blond beer with a possible fruity aftertaste. For this, I have purchased the following ingredients:
- 5 kilograms: Weyermann Pale Ale Malt
- 1 kilogram: Dingemans Aroma 50 MD Malt
- 100 grams: Hallertau Tradition Hop Pellets
- 11.5 grams: Fermentis Saflager S-23 Dry Beer Yeast
- 5 kilograms: Dingemans Organic Pilsen MD Malt
The recipe I will follow using these ingredients to make 20 liters of beer is as follows:
- 4 kilograms of Weyermann Pale Ale malt
- 1 kilogram of Dingemans Organic Pilsen MD malt
- 500 grams of Dingemans Aroma 50 MD malt (to add a fuller flavor and beautiful red color)
- 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 60 minutes
- 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 15 minutes
- 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - add when boiling is finished
- 11.5 grams of Fermentis Saflager W-34/70 yeast
- 5 minutes at 66 degrees Celsius (mashing in)
- 40 minutes at 62 degrees Celsius (Beta-amylase)
- 20 minutes at 72 degrees Celsius (Alpha-amylase)
- 5 minutes at 78 degrees Celsius (mash out)
- 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 60 minutes
- 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - boil for 15 minutes
- possibly 20 grams of orange peel - boil for 15 minutes (I'm still unsure about this)
- possibly add coriander seeds - boil for 15 minutes (I'm also unsure about this; I'm afraid it might become too overpowering, and I'm not sure how much to add)
- 300 grams of granulated sugar - boil for 5 minutes
- 22 grams of Hallertau Tradition hops (6.2% AA) - add when boiling is finished
Do you think this will indeed result in a refreshing, fruity, light blond beer that will be perfect for a summer festival? If not, do you have any suggestions for adjustments? I'm also curious about the best way to add fruit to beer. Many websites mention adding fruit after the initial fermentation, but time-wise, it might not be possible for me.
After hours of research, I have also created a brewing schedule for myself, which I believe is a compilation of the best methods I came across. I will include it below in case anyone is interested in taking a look.
Brewing Schedule
Phase 1: Milling
- Add 10ml of water per kilogram of malt to your malt mixture while stirring.
- Continue stirring for 5-10 minutes until your malt mixture feels almost dry.
- Let the malt mixture rest for 10 minutes.
- Set the mill to 1-1.1mm (you can use a credit card as a reference, which is approximately 0.78mm), and crush the malt.
- Bring the water to the desired mashing temperature.
- Hang a cheesecloth in the pot using clamps. Ensure that the cheesecloth does not touch the bottom of the pot (to prevent tearing).
- Add the malt at a rate of 1 kilogram per minute during the mashing phase:
- 5 minutes at 66 degrees Celsius (mashing in)
- 40 minutes at 62 degrees Celsius (Beta-amylase)
- 20 minutes at 72 degrees Celsius (Alpha-amylase)
- 5 minutes at 78 degrees Celsius (mash out)
- Heat sparge water to 80 degrees Celsius.
- Remove the cheesecloth from the pot, squeeze out excess liquid, and place the malt mixture in a sieve.
- Pour the sparge water over the malt mixture using a colander while holding it above the pot with wort.
- Bring the wort mixture to a rolling boil.
- Add bittering hops and boil for 60 minutes.
- After 40 minutes, add aroma hops and boil for 20 minutes.
- After 40-55 minutes, add spices/dried fruit and boil for 5-20 minutes, depending on the type of spice/fruit.
- After 55 minutes, add granulated sugar and boil for 5 minutes.
- Fill the sink with water and ice.
- Remove the pot from the heat and place it in the sink with ice water. Allow the wort to cool to 20 degrees Celsius.
- Once the wort reaches 20 degrees Celsius, remove the pot from the sink and take a specific gravity (SG) reading.
- Sanitize the fermentation vessel.
- Pour the wort into the clean fermentation vessel through a sieve or colander (pour it from a height to introduce more oxygen).
- Vigorously stir the wort mixture with a whisk.
- Follow the instructions on the yeast packet to dissolve the yeast and add it to the wort.
- Check if you have the correct amount of wort. If not, top it up with water from the tap and stir thoroughly.
- Ensure you have enough bottles for bottling.
- Clean the bottles with boiling water and sanitize them afterward.
- Carefully transfer the beer to another sanitized fermenting vessel (to avoid sediment in your beer).
- Boil sugar in 200ml of water for 5 minutes. Gently stir it into the beer until dissolved.
- Use the spigot of the fermentation vessel to fill the bottles up to about 2 centimeters below the rim.
- Store the beer in a dark place outside the refrigerator. Wait at least two weeks (preferably one month) before enjoying.