I can't figure this out. I'm think I figured out the grain bill or whatever. I've only brewed two batches so I'm still pretty new at this and want to try for all grain. It doesn't seem that much harder. At all. I'm going to go for a small 2.5 gallon batch. Going for a ratio of 1.25 quarts of water to lb of grain so 8 pounds of grain and 10 quarts of water so 2.5 gallons. Right? If I'm right I'm proud of myself haha. I've read a lot but I learn more by doing so I gotta go for this. What I'm unsure of is the hops. How much and when do I throw em in? Do I throw them in when I start the boil? Here's the recipe. http://www.drinkrangercreek.com/homebrew-recipe-opa/
Might want to check your maths...8# of grain with those percentages in a 2.5 gallon batch, assuming 70% efficiency, would be way over the 1.054-1.057 OG that the recipe calls for. I'd go for something more like: 4.25# oz 2-row 1# malted oats 6oz Crystal 60 .25oz of Centennial at 60, 15, and 5 minutes .25oz of Citra at 10 and 5 minutes .5oz of Citra at flameout Wyeast 1968, ferment @ 68* for two weeks Then add .5oz each of Centennial and Citra dry-hop for 5-7 days Do you have a plan for your mash? What are you mashing in? If you're not sure how to add hops, you might want to do some more reading: http://howtobrew.com/intro.html
OP's recipe is for 5.5 gallons. His 2.5 gallons of water are for the mash, which he correctly computed based on 1.25 qts per pound, with 8 lbs of grain. OP: You don't need less grain, you need more. You'd need roughly 100% mash efficiency to get 1.054 OG in 5.5 gallons with only 8 lbs of grain. Assuming a mash efficiency of 70%, you'd need around 11.5 lbs of grain. Assuming 37 points per pound per gallon (PPG) for your grain bill... ((11.5 x 37) x 70%) / 5.5 = 54 Edit: Whoops. Now I see OP says it is for a 2.5 gallon batch. (The recipe linked says 5.5 gallons) After all that work, I'm not going to delete it though. OP: Read what JebediahScooter wrote.
lol thanks. I plan on doing some more reading and probably ask the guy at my homebrew store a ton of questions before I get started. Thanks a lot though. Seeing it helps me understand it a lot better. I'm bad at math too though so it doesn't help. haha I'm glad I don't need college algebra for my major.
I'll definitely be getting everything i need before I start. I've never really seen anything about hops while reading though. How to you come to that amount and those times?
Well, that combination of amounts and times was just my first crack in Beersmith at coming to something that would provide close to the stated IBUs in the recipe you linked (35). The recipe stated that centennial were used for bittering, flavor, aroma, and dry-hop additions with Citra being used for flavor, aroma, and dry-hop additions. So I came up with something based on that information. Bittering additions are generally used at 60 minutes (you extract more of the compounds that bitter with a longer boil time), and you get more aroma/flavor from the hops with less bitterness from the later additions since they aren't being boiled as long. Keep reading man, this is some pretty basic info that you need to get down in order to successfully brew, and using some sort of software for calculations would be helpful (you can use stuff like the brewing calculus on hopville.com for free). http://howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5.html
