My first attempt customizing a recipe - input would be appreciated

[Tal Orbach]

Hi all.
So, after brewing one batch from extract+steeping, according to a recipe I had no influence on, and then a couple of double-batches of SMaSH with different hops, I want to brew something that's a bit more aimed at my own taste. I've done some reading on different malts and hops, and I looked at some recipes.
I'm aiming toward a drinkable, light to medium-light body beer, not sweet but with malt character and not very bitter. I want it to be my end-of-summer beer - so it's gotta be light and summery but not plain, and it's gotta be done in a month, tops.
I found this page: https://byo.com/article/15-summertime-recipes/ I want to do something similar to the Rye Pale Ale (I'll paste the recipe in the second comment), but with a few basic changes:
I think I'll ditch the honey malt for more Victory malt, and I want to use all grain (I'll do BIAB) instead of extract (what malt would you recommend as the base?)

Any thoughts on this or any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Tal

 

[Tal Orbach]

Rye Pale Ale
Bader Beer & Wine Supply & Bader Winery
Vancouver, Washington
www.baderbrewing.com
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.013
IBU = 58 SRM = 10 ABV = 4.9%
The dry, crisp flavor of rye malt and relatively high IBUs make this beer that quite refreshing.

Ingredients

3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Coopers Light liquid malt extract
2.0 lbs. (0.9 kg) Coopers Light dried malt extract
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) rye malt
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Munich malt (10 °L)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Victory malt
6.0 oz. (170 g) honey malt
10.5 AAU Magnum hops (60 mins)
(0.75 oz./21 g of 14% alpha acids)
3.75 AAU Fuggle hops (30 mins)
(0.75 oz./21 g of 5% alpha acids)
2.5 AAU Kent Golding hops (20 mins)
(0.5 oz./14 g of 5% alpha acids)
2.5 AAU Kent Golding hops (10 mins)
(0.5 oz./14 g of 5% alpha acids)
1.0 oz. (28 g) Fuggle hops (0 mins)
2.0 oz. (57 g) Amarillo hops (dry hop)
1.0 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or
Wyeast 1332 (Northwest Ale) yeast
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Steep crushed malted grain in 2 gallons (7.6 L) of 150 °F (66 °C) water for 30 minutes. Remove the grains, then bring water to a boil. When boiling starts, stir in the malt syrup. Return to a boil, adding hops at times specified in ingredient list. Fill your sanitized carboy with 2 gallons (7.6 L) of cold water. Strain the hot wort into the carboy and top off to the 5.25-gallon (20-L) mark. Add yeast when beer is less than 78 °F (26 °C) and ferment. Add the dry hops when the beer is done fermenting. Remove the dry hops after about four days. Bottle your beer, age for 2–3 weeks and enjoy!

 

[jmcnamara]

Can't go wrong with pale ale malt as a base

 

[KC]

Your simplest update to that recipe is to replace the extract with pale malt. You can drop the honey malt altogether if you don't want it.

I'm aiming toward ... not very bitter

Then you probably don't want 58 IBU

To make it more malty than hoppy, delete the dry hop and replace Magnum with a lower acid. Perhaps changing the .75oz fuggle at 30m to 1oz at 60. The recipe leaves an extra .25oz as it is

Set it up in the BF recipe editor to better tune details like gravity, color, and IBU

 

[J A]

light to medium-light body beer, not sweet but with malt character and not very bitter.

That's not the description I would use with the recipe you posted. Malt profile might be fine, but at nearly 60 IBU, you'll experience some bitterness. I've brewed Pale Ales in the 40 IBU range that seemed crisp but not bitter. I'd definitely streamline the hop additions if I was brewing the kind of beer you describe.
And, yes, use the BF calculator and post the shared recipe link. Much easier to see what's going on with the details of the brew.

 

[White Haus Brews]

Definitely drop the IBU down to the 30-40 range, especially if you don't want butter and you plan on dropping the honey malt.

If you're going BIAB then you'll need to convert the extract to grain. A mash at 150 would still be good but bump it up to 60min since it's no longer a steep.

When you build it in BF you may wish to assume a fairlyflow efficiency (something like 60-65%) since it's your first time brewing with grain. You could always dilute if needed.

Good luck!

 

[Hawkbox]

I aim most of my pale ales in the 40 IBU range. If you're doing all grain modify the recipe to match the OG for the base malts and you're likely laughing.

I've honestly never used honey malt, I've never seen it at the LHBS so I'm not entire sure what it does.

This is a Rye IPA I've made a couple times, similar profile though you'd likely drop the hops down to reduce the bitterness. https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/591161/rye-ipa

I was quite happy with it.