Partial mash - partial boil

[GDubs]

I wasnt sure whether I should post this here or in the beginners forum; They are probably getting sick of all my questions over there so here I am.....
I took the advice of some of the folks on the beginners board and abandoned my scatter-shot approach to learning in favor of developing and refining my own base recipe that I could experiment with down the road.... ultimately leading to a better understanding of cause-effect of brewing decisions.
For my Base Ale v1 I wanted a simple hoppy pale ale (not quite and IPA) that was lighter in color than I had been able to make using 100% extracts. Im still working with my original brew set up so I am limited to partial boils. I brewed this Saturday, fully expecting to make some tweaks before brewing it again..... I welcome your suggestions

BIAB (165 strike/153 mash/60m..... 60% yield after dealing with some sparge overflow issues)
3.5# rahr 2 row
.5# crystal 20

Increased the total volume to 3.5g
Started boil.....and added 1lb Golden Light DME
40min added 3# Golden Light DME
60min total boil

Hops
1oz Chinook (13.3) -60min
.5oz Chinook - 15min
.5oz Chinook - flame out

Ice bath + cold water addition (5g total volume)
1pk SafAle US05
OG 1.052


Thanks for the feedback....

GW

 

[Megary]

Other than your pitch temp issue (other thread), this all looks fine to me.

Curious as to why you staggered the DME additions. I don't use it very often, but I've always added DME to the boil (usually towards the end of the boil), not before the boil. Not saying what you did was wrong, I've just never seen it done that way before.

 

[GDubs]

Other than your pitch temp issue (other thread), this all looks fine to me.

Curious as to why you staggered the DME additions. I don't use it very often, but I've always added DME to the boil (usually towards the end of the boil), not before the boil. Not saying what you did was wrong, I've just never seen it done that way before.

Megary... I perhaps didnt do a good job explaining my process (corrected above). I used my remaining heated water to increase my volume to 3.5g and the initial DME was added right as it began to boil.... not before the boil. I wasnt sure how the bittering hops would play out in a low gravity wort so I wanted to get it up into the "beer" range. Had I not spilled a considerable amount of my sparge-wort, I probably would have skipped the early DME addition.
My extract brews (mostly LME) have turned out much darker than planned. I have been very careful not to scorch the bottom of my brew kettle so I attribute this to my limited boil volume resulting in a caramelization of my super concentrated wort. My goal was to simply have a less concentrated wort for most of the boil with the hops.... then get my gravity up only long enough to make sure everything was sterile.

 

[Megary]

OK, I got you.

I still think LME, especially LME that might have been sitting around for a bit, will definitely give you a darker color than it is supposed to. Just the nature of the beast. DME, as far as I know, does not have that problem.

 

[Minbari]

My only comment would be the strike temp. It will go down quickly if you add all the grain quickly. But that is close to denaturing the beta-amalyse that converts the starches.

Other than that, it looks like a good basic ale. Experiment with different hops and yeasts and see what happens. Switch up the late addition hops for Cascade

 

[GDubs]

My only comment would be the strike temp. It will go down quickly if you add all the grain quickly. But that is close to denaturing the beta-amalyse that converts the starches.

Other than that, it looks like a good basic ale. Experiment with different hops and yeasts and see what happens. Switch up the late addition hops for Cascade

Thank you for the feedback.
Cascade is high on my list of things to try.

 

[miaamelia]

I wasnt sure whether I should post this here or in the beginners forum; They are probably getting sick of all my questions over there so here I am.....
I took the advice of some of the folks on the beginners board and abandoned my scatter-shot approach to learning in favor of developing and refining my own base recipe that I could experiment with down the road.... ultimately leading to a better understanding of cause-effect of brewing decisions.
For my Base Ale v1 I wanted a simple hoppy pale ale (not quite and IPA) that was lighter in color than I had been able to make using 100% extracts. Im still working with my original brew set up so I am limited to partial boils. I brewed this Saturday, fully expecting to make some tweaks before brewing it again..... I welcome your suggestions

BIAB (165 strike/153 mash/60m..... 60% yield after dealing with some sparge overflow issues)
3.5# rahr 2 row
.5# crystal 20

Increased the total volume to 3.5g
Started boil.....and added 1lb Golden Light DME
40min added 3# Golden Light DME
60min total boil

Hops
1oz Chinook (13.3) -60min
.5oz Chinook - 15min
.5oz Chinook - flame out

Ice bath + cold water addition (5g total volume)
1pk SafAle US05
OG 1.052


Thanks for the feedback....

GW
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I want to do a partial mash. It willl be my first,but can only do 3-4 gallon boil. Is it ok to do a partial mash with a 3-4 gallon boil? Seems like all i have read is to do a full boil. Thanks

 

[Donoroto]

I want to do a partial mash. It willl be my first,but can only do 3-4 gallon boil. Is it ok to do a partial mash with a 3-4 gallon boil? Seems like all i have read is to do a full boil. Thanks

Yes, if you mean using less water than "usual", and adding water* later for fermenting. No worries on that, even pro brewers do that.

*sterilized, such as perviously boiled then cooled. You do not want to introduce anything alive other than yeast to the fermenter.