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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

15 Minute Brew Recipe Conversion


The 15 minute brew processes works on three principles:
1. The same bitterness of hops boiled in open air for 60 minutes can be achieved in a pressure cooker in 11 minutes.
2. Use of extract where appropriate
3. Use of a 4 burner stove in place of the traditional 3 tier system.
For more information see the articles I wrote for home brew talk:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/four-tips-making-great-beer-15-minutes.html
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/bittering-hops-in-15-minutes.html
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/15-minute-brew-process.html
The Briess website has a nice table of all grain to extract conversions at the bottom of this page:
http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Extracts.htm
To convert a standard 60 minute recipe to a 15 minute brew, first change the 60 minute additions to 11 minute cooking in a pressure cooker.  Additions between 15 minutes and 60 minutes can be added per the original recipe, if you don’t mind the additional brew time, or they can be scaled to fit the 15 minute time line.
Scaling the hops can most easily be done with a recipe calculator, such as the one found at Brewers Friend.  To accomplish this, start by entering the original recipe, then note the IBU’s from each addition.  The additions from 50-70 minute can be added unchanged to the pressure cooker.  Hop additions less than 15 minutes can remain unchanged.  For the hop additions between 15 and 30 minutes, change the time to 15 minutes and increase the weight to achieve the original IBU contribution.  For the hop additions between 30 and 50 minutes, change the time to 60 minutes and reduce the weight to achieve the correct IBU contribution.
Next the grain bill can often be reduced by understanding what malt extract is composed of.  The table at the top of this post shows the composition of Briess malts.

To convert grain to extract, start by entering the original grain bill into a recipe calculator.  Note the original gravity (OG) and color (typically measured in SRM).
 
As an example, here is a recipe for a Dark and Malty Citra Ale.  (Thanks Josh!)
Batch Size: 5g
Boil Volume: 3g

6.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract 70.6 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 11.8 %
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (60 min) Hops 25.1 IBU
0.75 oz Citra [12.40%] (First Wort Hop) Hops 12.5 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (15 min) Hops 12.4 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (10 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (5 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (1 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
3.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
SafAle English Ale (S-04)
or
Wyeast 1968

Ferment at 65F for 7-10 days

Using Brewer’s Friend Recipe calculator, this beer has an original gravity of 1.056, a bitterness of 84 IBUs and a color of 9 SRM.  Amber Malt contains Base Malt, Carapils and Crystal, making it a good substitution for those steeping grains in this recipe.  Four pounds of Amber and Two pounds of Extra Light Produces the correct color, indicating that the amount of crystal malt will be correct with this combination of extract.
The resulting converted recipe is as follows:

4.00 lb Amber Dry Extract 53.3 %
2.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract 26.7 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 13.3 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 6.7 %
1.75 oz Citra [12.40%] (Pressure Cooker, 11 min) Hops 57.6 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (15 min) Hops 12.4 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (10 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (5 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (1 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
3.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
SafAle English Ale (S-04)
or
Wyeast 1968

Ferment at 65F for 7-10 days

To make this an all extract recipe, the Munich and Melanoiden can be replaced with Traditional Dark Dry Malt Extract.  The grain portion of this all extract conversion would be as follows:

3.00 lb Amber Dry Extract 42.9 %
3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract 42.9 %
1.00 lb Traditional Dark Dry Extract 14.3 %

The dry malt extract can be added directly to the fermenter.  By combining 1 gallon of near boiling water used for the hops and grains with 4 gallons of refrigerated water the fermentation temperature of 65°F can be achieved without chilling.  2 package of S-04 sprinkled directly on top of the wort will provide approximately 200 billion cells which would be adequate for fermentation.  1 packet could be considered “under pitching” but should still make a fine beer.

1 comment:

  1. Nice, I'm going to have to try this. I've been stuck on my single tier "Brutus 10" for so long, I don't know how to go back to simple.

    ReplyDelete