How will this English Pale Ale be?? when to add what hops?

pcrawford · 02-06-2008, 04:48 PM

So I wanted to make a pale ale that isn't crazy crazy hopy but has a nice drinkable flavor. I got a English Pale Ale kit from my LHBS and what thinking about tweeking it a bit. Here is what I have:

1lb of steeping grains (.50 Crystal 60L and .25 Torrefied Wheat and .25 of somehting or maybe its just .75 lbs of steeping grains)

3.3 lb Briess Gold Light Liquid Malt Extract
2 lbs of Bries DME Brewers Gold

1 oz of fuggle pellets
1 oz of Kent GLDGS pelleets
2 oz of Fuggle Leaf (not with kit)

either nottingham or muntons ale yeast.

So when should I add the hops. I was thinking 2 oz of fuggles total maybe .5 for 60 , .5 for 30, .5 for 15, .5 for 5.

But what about the Kent Gldgs? Are those better finishing or bittering hops?

I want to keep the beer very drinkable and tasty - something of which you could drink 5.

1. So what is a good hops schedule?
2. Should I add all the malt extract at the beginning of the boil?

THANK!

**Lil' Sparky** · 02-06-2008, 05:18 PM

You see all kinds of different variations - fuggles early/EKG late, EKG early/Fuggles late, Fuggles/EKG/Fuggles, etc. Which ones do you think smell the best? Use those late. I think your fuggles look good. Depending on the AA% of the hops, you probably want to use those EKG to increase your IBUs (so maybe at 60 or 45). And based on your description of what you want, I'd try to keep the IBUs around 25 or so.

I can't answer the 2nd Q. I've only done AG batches.

pcrawford · 02-06-2008, 10:08 PM

thanks for the info. I'll play around and aim for 25 IBU. for my reference what IBUs is Siera Nevada?

**Lil' Sparky** · 02-06-2008, 11:13 PM

I don't know but it's probably quite a bit higher. American pale ales are usually much hoppier than English pale ales. If SN is what you're aiming for, you're going to need to add a lot of hops and swap out the fuggles/EKG for Cascades.

SRFeldman79 · 02-06-2008, 11:59 PM

i would add all the malt at the beginning. i didnt throw this into a calculator, but i think you'd want the full boiled effect of those malts for a fuller bodier, full tasting beer - and my understanding about adding some of them later is it makes the beer sweeter.

Kai · 02-07-2008, 01:26 AM

No - look up late extract addition. You're going to get lower hop utilisation if you boil it the whole time, and caramelisation could give you a sweeter, heavier flavour and a much darker colour. Especially with low alpha hops like it looks like you probably have, if you're going for a crisp balance like SNPA, (I'd say SNPA is about 35 IBU), I'd add the extract late.

**DeathBrewer** · 02-07-2008, 04:07 AM

well, not a big fan of SNPA, so i don't know about that...but i've used fuggle and EKG in a lot of english ale recipes and IMO fuggle works better for bittering and EKG for flavour when used together.