Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:20 am
A couple of things to think about:
1.Jamil's recipe calls for 350L Roasted Barley, which is lower than what I usually see stocked. I know that my LHBS only carries 450L Roasted Barley.
2. Jamil's recipe is for a 6 gallon batch, with 5 gallon in the keg (leaving .5 gallon in kettle and .5 in fermenter). I dont know about in his book, but on the show he doesnt always say that, though all his recipes are formulated that way. So if you only made a 5 gallon batch you are basically too concentrated (and you OG should have been higher than expected too).
3. Jamil said that his recipe is a little bolder than say Smithwicks, and if you wanted something closer to Smithwicks you should use 5 oz., of the C40,C120 and RB instead of 6 oz. of each.
I have this same recipe in the fermenter right now, and I used the 450L RB because that was all I could get, knowing it might be a little dark. It was actually my first AG batch, and somehow my OG came out almost perfect to what I expected, aiming for a 70% efficiency (which is what Jamil calculates all of his recipes for, as he has said anything too much higher and he finds it can affect the flavors in subtle ways). It has only been fermenting for a week, so I am not sure how it looks.