NZ Lager recipe - Feedback please

[Tone boy]

Hey brewers. For my next brew I’m going to be doing something a little bit different. I’m using unhopped liquid malt and a partial mash. I usually use a kit with a partial mash, but this time I’ll getting all my bitterness from the hops I add. 
I’ll be doing a lager with NZ hops so looking for any feedback. Here are some screenshots from Brewfather (the software seems to think I’ll be boiling everything but in fact I will only be boiling the wort from the1.2 kg of grain in about 5 litres…maybe I should do a bigger boil for hop utilisation??

Just for clarity the dry ingredients are a box of BE3 that I want to use up

 

What do you reckon??

Edited August 23, 2021 by Tone boy

[iBooz2]

G'Day TB,  nothing wrong with moving away from hopped extract tins as it opens up a whole new world for extract brewing.

So you are going to mash the grains in say 6 L of water (to say get 5 L of water for your boil) at your chosen temp then boil for a max of 45".  I too wonder if that is enough water for the process and if 45" is enough of a boil for the Pilsner malt wort as you need to get rid of the DMS out of that stuff.  I might be talking out of my Rrrss here so just kicking thoughts up for discussion.  Wait for more experience partial mash brewers to comment.

What boil off rate have you got plugged into the software?  Have you boiled 5 L before for 45" and know how much volume you have left.  Might pay to up the water to grain ration a tad so you have some play room left and give something for those hops in the boil to sink their teeth into.   JMO

Edited August 23, 2021 by iBooz2

[Shamus O'Sean]

Bit of a coincidence @Tone boy.  I am planning something similar this weekend.  Calling it Leftovers Munich Pale Amber Wheat.  Gives you a clue of what's in it.

I reckon increase the boil volume.  Add some of the BE3 to bring the SG of the boil volume of around 12-14 litres up to about 1.040.  That's something like my plan anyway.

[Tone boy]

Thanks guys. Good advice in upping the water volume.

@iBooz2 boozer I usually partial mash at around 3 litres per kg of grain, and batch sparge with about 2 litres. My max capacity of grain is about 1.6 kg so I usually end up with about 5-6 litres in the boil. I only boil for half an hour. Usually have a decent amount of wort left at the end. Never had a problem with DMS from Pilsner malt because, being a partial mash, it doesn’t make up the main % of fermentables. My pot is about 10 litres, but could probably top that up to the 7 litre mark if I keep an eye on it…I have no idea about boil off rates on the software. Every time I try to set it up as a partial mash it thinks I’m boiling the full volume so I’m really just using the software to get an idea of SG and IBU’s…

@Shamus O'Sean Shamus yours sounds pretty interesting and look forward to seeing you post up how you get on.
I can add some BE3 to the boil and increase water as I mentioned above, however I have read that a lower SG gives better hop utilisation. So maybe just more water for the hops to play in? I’ll try and find that article about SG and hops utilisation and post it up. 
 

Thanks both for your replies. Much appreciated. 

[Tone boy]

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/hop-bittering-calculations
 

The above link talks about hop utilisation and how higher sugar concentration makes it harder for alpha acids to dissolve.  It seems a reputable source. 
 

I hope I’m not covering topics you already know. I just discovered this recently and thought I would share. 
 

Cheers

[iBooz2]

17 minutes ago, Tone boy said:

I hope I’m not covering topics you already know. I just discovered this recently and thought I would share. 

All good TB,  that's what this forum is all about and that is why I love it.

Yep I have John Palmer book and have read it several times.  Only problem with the book is that it is too damn heavy to read in bed.  Arms fall to sleep before the eyes do. ha ha.

Anything you or anyone else can bring to the forum is good IMO.

Edited August 23, 2021 by iBooz2