I posted previously that I'd received a 5 gallon brewing system with a kit as a bachelor party present. The kit included ingredients for an English-style IPA and I wanted to turn it more American style. This is the recipe I'm planning on brewing tomorrow. The homebrew store is closed on Sundays, so I'd appreciate any advice you could give me as long as it doesn't involve another trip to the store. I realize the Fuggles/Hallertau and Ringwood yeast are all incongruous with the rest of the recipe, but they came with the kit and so I'm trying not to waste them. Malts: 2 lbs Muntons Plain Light DME 8 3/4 lbs Williams Brewing Blended LME (I entered it on Hopville as Gold Malt Syrup because it seemed most similar in terms of expected gravity/ABV, etc in the calculations.) Hops: 2 oz Fuggles 1 oz Hallertau 1 oz Simcoe @ 60 min 1 oz Simcoe @ 1 min dry hops: 1 oz Citra 1 oz Chinook 1 oz Sorachi Ace Yeast: Wyeast Ringwood Yeast Also, just realized - I have another oz of Citra that I forgot to figure into the recipe, so I'd be more than willing to get some advice on my hop schedule and what should be added when - throw the other oz of Citra in with the Simcoe at the end of the boil? http://hopville.com/recipe/1314916/american-ipa-recipes/kicked-up-starter-kit-ipa All hops are pellet hops Also - I seem to remember that once upon a time someone told me that you don't need to do a full 60-minute boil if you're doing extract, is that true?
hey man if this is your first brew i might keep it simple something like this: 1oz Chinook @60 1oz simco & citra @10 & 0 this way you get big hop flavour and aroma. i would save the others for another brew, get some wheat DME and make a hefe, those will be perfect for that. personally im not a fan of ringwood yeast, taste to much like burnt popcorn/rotten eggs for me, but if you have a steady temp and a load of late boil hops it should turn out good. also i would try to ferment on the lower side of the scale, 62-65 to mitigate any likelihood for off flavours. and yes, you should do a 60 min boil, and you should boil as much wort as you can.
I've done maybe 4 or 5 beers previously but all in a Mr Beer which really is just a smaller fermenter, but going to a 5 gallon batch seems like a big step since now I have a hydrometer and wort chiller which seem fancy and high-tech to me and if it sucks I'm stuck with way more beer.
Im personal of the "more is not always better" camp, and tend to use this approach to home brewing. i have been scaling down over the last few months, brewing 3 or 4 gallon batches just to make it a little easier, and to not get stuck with 5 gallons of something that stinks. i think the change in scale will not be to difficult. whatever pot you have that is the largest in volume should be good enough for now, and in the future think about getting a bigger pot. personally i think that a 5 gallon "canning" pot is a great investment, they are cheap and if you get it new, it will have all the stuff you would need to do some canning, nothing beats homemade pickles. anyway good luck!!
Ringwood yeast is an excellent yeast for english style ales. I do not recomend fermenting this yeast at cooler temps. This strain tends to sometimes fall out before it is finished. When using this strain I always rouse the yeast after 5-7 days by swirling the fermenter.
