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Author Topic: Please critique this pale ale recipe  (Read 4646 times)

Offline ccfoo242

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Please critique this pale ale recipe
« on: March 19, 2012, 07:42:41 pm »
Starting with an SNPA clone then straying far away from it I'm up to this. I'm trying to get something that has a malt sweetness with a floral/fruity hop flavor and just enough bitterness to be called an American Pale Ale. The numbers are all in the middle of the BJCP styles, but since I'm very new to this I have no idea if this will be close to what I think it should be. Any comments welcome.


BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: My Pale Ale 1
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.25 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal   
Bottling Volume: 5.10 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 8.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
10 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        90.9 %       
8.0 oz                Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)    Grain         2        4.5 %         
8.0 oz                Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SR Grain         3        4.5 %         
0.750 oz              Magnum [13.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           4        31.2 IBUs     
1.00 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)              Fining        5        -             
0.500 oz              Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min     Hop           6        5.8 IBUs     
1.000 oz              Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 1.0 min          Hop           7        0.8 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast         8        -             
1.000 oz              Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days       Hop           9        0.0 IBUs     


Mash Schedule: My Mash/Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 3.91 gal of water at 170.2 F        155.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun, , 2.40gal, 2.40gal) of 168.0 F water

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated OG 1.052
Estimated IBU 37.7 (Tinseth)
Estimated Color 8.1 SRM
Estimated ABV 5.2%
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline roguejim

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2012, 09:47:53 pm »
You may get more citrusy flavor than fruity.  That's a darker crystal than I typically see for an APA. Might be a tad heavy on the victory.

Offline Poobah58

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2012, 05:54:54 am »
Looks good to me. I might go 60/15/5/DH to maximize flavor and aroma however...
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Offline Pawtucket Patriot

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2012, 06:54:05 am »
Looks good to me. I might go 60/15/5/DH to maximize flavor and aroma however...

+1  Or maybe even 60/20/5/DH.  Also, I've brewed plenty of APA's with ~5% victory; in that quantity, it's a great specialty grain for the style, IMO.
Matt Schwandt | Minneapolis, MN
AHA Member

Partial-Mash Pictorial
All-Grain Pictorial

Offline ccfoo242

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2012, 12:09:41 pm »
You may get more citrusy flavor than fruity.  That's a darker crystal than I typically see for an APA. Might be a tad heavy on the victory.

Perhaps swap out the Centennial with something else like Citra?

Looks good to me. I might go 60/15/5/DH to maximize flavor and aroma however...

Sure, I could do that.
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline richardt

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2012, 12:43:08 pm »
 You should expect a darker beer than you've calculated.
Most pale malt ranges from 1.8L to 3.5L (or even 4.1L); most are around 3 to 3.5L.  I'd redo the calcs with the actual L for the grain you're using.
I thought the C80 addition might also make it a little too dark, but the est SRM of 8 is within the 5-14 for APAs (again assuming your pale malt is truly 2L).
Expect the C80 contribution to be less candy sweet/caramelly and more dark caramel/toffee/dark sugar-ish.

Keep the Magnum 0.75 oz at 60 min.
For more hop complexity, I'd spread the Centennial (0.5 oz), Cascade (1 oz), and Citra (1 oz) amongst your 10 min, 1 min, and DH additions; and favor the DH addition.  For example:
10 min:  Centennial (0.1 oz), Cascade (0.2 oz), Citra (0.2 oz) = 0.5 oz hops total
1 min:  Centennial (0.1 oz), Cascade (0.2 oz), Citra (0.2 oz) = 0.5 oz hops total
DH:  Centennial (0.3 oz), Cascade (0.6 oz), Citra (0.6 oz) = 1.5 oz hops total

Water:  Have enough Calcium (>50 ppm) in the water to encourage good fermentation and clarity, but keep the sulfate levels below 50 ppm.  Use CaCl2, not gypsum, if needed.

Offline ccfoo242

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2012, 12:57:48 pm »
Setting the pale malt to 4.1 brings the SRM up to 9.6.

I thought about maybe simplifying the hops until I understand how each will effect things. Maybe leave it at citra and cascade near the end, then dry hop with both.
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline ccfoo242

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2012, 05:55:48 pm »
OK, if I go with .25oz Citra, .25 oz Cascade @ 15 mins, then the same at 5 minutes, that gives me 40.8 IBU. I'll throw in a dash of cascade with the citra for dry hops, but it will be mostly citra.
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline edvinjonsson

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2012, 06:22:11 pm »
If you want "just enough bitterness to be called an American Pale Ale" I'd go for less IBU's.

Offline ccfoo242

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2012, 08:38:01 am »
I brewed this last night with just a few more changes to the hops. The local shop didn't have cascade in stock so I used centennial. I adjusted the amounts based on the alpha listed on the bags to be about 37 IBUs (this is what SNPA is so I figured that would be a good number).

Ended up with .5 ounce magnum at 60
.25 ounce centennial @ 15
.25 ounce citra @ 15
.25 ounce centennial @ 5
.5 ounce citra @ 5
Plan to dry hop with 1 ounce citra and .5 ounce centennial.

Repitched yeast from an SNPA clone from 2 weeks ago, at about 60/61F and just let it rise naturally to 68 (it was at 66 this morning). I know some people do this in increments but I'm being lazy here.

The beer gods really didn't want me brewing last night, spent forever looking for the false bottom to my mash tun...then looking for my lighter...jeez...but at least I was rewarded when I checked my mash temp and it was dead on at 155F...thank you Brewsmith!

Still not able to dial in the mash pH. I've resisted taking everyone's advice and ditching Jacksonville's tap water but I think next time I will just do like richardt told me from the start and get my water from Publix's RO machine, and no more mixing 50% distilled just to get the hardness down.

It smells and tastes great! Thanks to all for the tips/suggestions. Hopefully this will turn out well, I'm hoping it will be ready by April 14th for a local club contest, but I'll have to bottle after only 11 or 12 days for it to be carbonated enough...
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline richardt

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2012, 11:09:00 am »
I'm sure it will be a great beer--and will want to try it in April at the meeting.

Jax water is just too high in sulfates and bicarbonates (high alkalinity)--it will work for some styles (stouts and ESB's come to mind) but if you're trying to brew different styles (especially lighter colored beers), accentuate malt profiles, or even create a more "balanced" beer, this water won't work for you.  The levels are just too high that significant dilution (closer to 70-80% RO) needs to occur just to get the sulfate levels low enough to be "tolerable".  You're better off with building your profile with Bru'nwater and BeerSmith.  It takes more effort beforehand to have all the ingredients in place prior to starting the brew day, but it is definitely worth it.

Offline ccfoo242

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #11 on: March 28, 2012, 11:44:35 am »
I'm sure it will be a great beer--and will want to try it in April at the meeting.

Jax water is just too high in sulfates and bicarbonates (high alkalinity)--it will work for some styles (stouts and ESB's come to mind) but if you're trying to brew different styles (especially lighter colored beers), accentuate malt profiles, or even create a more "balanced" beer, this water won't work for you.  The levels are just too high that significant dilution (closer to 70-80% RO) needs to occur just to get the sulfate levels low enough to be "tolerable".  You're better off with building your profile with Bru'nwater and BeerSmith.  It takes more effort beforehand to have all the ingredients in place prior to starting the brew day, but it is definitely worth it.

Makes me wonder about local breweries like Bold City...he told me he uses filtered Jax water and 5.2 in the mash...admittedly I haven't tried much from them but I wonder how much its effecting his beer.
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline DrewG

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2012, 10:10:58 am »
Quote
but at least I was rewarded when I checked my mash temp and it was dead on at 155F...thank you Brewsmith!

How are you setting up your mash profile inputs with Beersmith, in regards to mash tun temp and grain temp I mean? Just using ambient room temp?
"Well, the Mexicans got a saying - what cannot be remedied must be endured."

-Barbarosa

Offline ccfoo242

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2012, 11:56:02 am »
How are you setting up your mash profile inputs with Beersmith, in regards to mash tun temp and grain temp I mean? Just using ambient room temp?

Just ambient. I think they are both set to 72. At first I used the defaults but later I actually weighed my mash tun and it was twice as heavy as the default I was using. The only time my mash temp has been extremely off was when I put my grain in after taking it out of the fridge and not letting it warm up or adjusting that parameter in beersmith.

I have a feeling that during the summer I'll have to bring my mash tun inside the house the night before I brew since my garage gets quite hot. 
Intra cervisiam est deus.

Offline DrewG

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Re: Please critique this pale ale recipe
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2012, 01:23:37 pm »
Thanks, I'll give it a try that way. Weigh my tun too.
"Well, the Mexicans got a saying - what cannot be remedied must be endured."

-Barbarosa