Jamil's APA ?

sleepystevenson · 02-25-2009, 06:54 PM

Any body ever try Jamil's APA recipe from "Brewing Classic Styles"? He has two in there. I am considering the first one for my next brew. He says it is “a slightly drier beer with a gentle bready toasty, biscuity malt background and very little or no crystal malt flavor.”

However, I don't have the hops he uses, so I am looking for advise in the hop schedule.

I will be scaling everything up to a 25 gal. batch size. Basically, I am just making 4 times the recipe, as my bre-boil gravity is about 28 gals and Jamil’s is 7 gals.

Here's the recipe as printed, for anybody who is interested:

OG: 1.056
FG: 1.013
IBU: 40
Color: 6
ABV: 5.7%
60 min boil
7 gal. Pre-boil volume.
70% Efficiency

Mash at 152

Grains:
82.2% American 2 row (11.3#)
5.1 % Munich Malt
5.1% Wheat Malt
7.6% Victory (28L)

Hops:
60 min. Horizon 13% aa, 34.2 IBU (.66 oz.)
10 min. Cascade 6% aa, 2.4 IBU (.25 oz)
10 min. Centennial 9% 3.6 IBU (.25 oz)
0 min. Cascade 6% 0 IBU (.5 oz)
0 min. Centennial 9% 0 IBU (.5 oz)

Wyeast American Ale, 1056 (will pitch on existing cake in fermentor)

Ferment @ 67

OK -so, here's the question...don't have the Horizon or Centennials...

I have new Cascades (5.6% AA, 1 lb. – Thanks Niko!) If I go with ONLY cascades, it will take the whole pound (to get IBU’s in the same range for each addition). I am thinking I will just buy an ounce or two of a high AA hop (could be horizon or centennial if he has them) at my LHBS has when I go pick up the grain, and add these for the 60 min. bittering addition. This will allow me to save an ounce or so of the cascades for a mild dry hop (not in original recipe.)
I guess my question here is, when I scale up the 0 Minute hops to my batch size, do I simply mutiply the weight by four? (Since IBU’s are basically nil at this point ?)

Thanks, all. Looking forward to brewing on Saturday!

**Reverend JC** · 02-25-2009, 06:59 PM

I made it last November and am drinking it right now. It certainly has a biscuity/bready character to it. IIRC I used cascade and amarillo and it turned out ok. Im not sure if I enjoy the biscuityness of the beer though. Not something I would do again in an APA. Bready yes, bisuity no.

sleepystevenson · 02-25-2009, 08:16 PM

Hmmmm....Interesting. Appreciate the opinion. Is there any commercial APA's or Pale Ales that you could compare the grain (biscuity) flavor or general flavor to? I would think that would make it more British ESB like?

Must be the Victory providing the biscuity character? That and the wheat malt are the only differences between the first and his second APA recipe. Everything's the same except the second has only the 2-row, munich, and Crystal 40 for grains. (No wheat malt)

snailsongs · 02-25-2009, 09:41 PM

Yes. The biscuit/bread comes from the victory. I made this about 6-7 brews ago and it's been three weeks in the bottle and already 1/3 gone. I also chose the first version, but went with a mix of centennial/cascade in place of the horizon at the beginning. I also added a .5 oz dryhop of same hop mix......

.......it's good! the biscuit does not make this like an english ESB because there are too many other things going on, but I think it provides a really nice malt counterpoint to the citrus of the hops......it's really that hop flavor that makes this like a west coast APA.....If I brew this again, and it is likely that i will, I might even up the biscuit some to provide more depth of flavor.....I want to be able to break away from the rigid confines of traditional 'styles', but I feel I need to learn about those styles first, to be able to use them as touch-off points.....but I just don't see what is so taboo about mixing biscuit and citrus, and I'd bet there's some really delicious ways to do it....y'know?

that's my rant for the day......make this beer, it's tasty.

Evan · 02-26-2009, 12:36 AM

i would use some high AA hops for the bittering, save yourself some of those cascades!

INeedANewHobby · 02-26-2009, 12:52 AM

I made it and liked it pretty well. I appreciate the complexity of his hop schedule, as opposed to using all cascade for aroma or all centennial like many recipes I see floating around do. I mashed on the warm side (153-154º) to try and give it a bit more dextrinous wort that I always look for in an APA....while it's not always the best method to achieve the malt backbone required of the style, it was effective. Horizon has plenty of aa% to give it a nice bittering profile, I would (and did) leave it be.

Mazey · 02-26-2009, 01:37 AM

Just an FYI. The 10 min. 1/4 oz. hop additions are a misprint. Should be 1/2 oz. additions. Brewing Classic Styles

sleepystevenson · 02-26-2009, 03:06 PM

snailsongs - thanks for the input. I have always liked pale ales that don't have a lot of caramel flavor, which is why I was leaning toward this one in the first place. I agree with you about learning the different styles - which is why I have really liked every recipe I have made from Jamil's book. And like you said, it gives you a good starting point to take the recipe in any direction you choose.

Evan - I agree w/ you on the high AA hops for bittering. I don't know what the LHBS will have, but will find out tonight when I get the grain. Hopefully he's got some potent ones!

INeedANewHobby - Thanks for the input. I am hoping the LHBS has Horizon or Centennial so I can stick fairly close to the recipe.

Mazey - NICE FIND on that link! Very helpful. I am gonna make the appropriate corrections throughout the book!

sleepystevenson · 02-27-2009, 08:20 PM

Ok, so the LHBS had horizon hops with 14.6% AA, so...I am gonna use them! Will report back. brwing tomorrow