Critique my double pale ale recipe

Hamartiatock · 01-12-2011, 04:14 AM

This is my "double pale ale recipe" I guess. I am very new to brewing and this is my first "made up" recipe.

Size: 5gal
7 pounds light LME
7 pounds amber LME
2oz Nugget at 60 min
2oz Cascade at 15min
Use a dry yeast: American dry ale yeast. also used yeast nutrient at the end of boil

OG: 1.082 ~

What do you think? How messed up will this be? I'm looking for an overall critique.

syblue · 01-12-2011, 08:38 AM

I would add some crystal malt and keep the extract all light instead of half amber. Also be ready with a blowoff tube 14lb. of LME is a lot.

dcp27 · 01-12-2011, 09:26 PM

your estimated OG is way off. 14lbs LME is an OG of 1.101, unless you have some weird kind that doesnt have a ppg around 36. 11.5lbs LME would give you an OG around 1.082 if thats what you want.

definitely ditch the amber lme for light lme and 0.5-1lb of crystal. amber extract uses C60, but you can choose whatever tastes best to you or mix it up. whatever way you go, id consider adding half the extract at the end of the boil. it reduces caramelization, keeps the brew lighter, ups hops utilization, and supposedly reduce the 'twang' thats sometimes associated with extract recipes

as for the hops, how big is your boil? 2oz of nugget could put you into IPA territory for IBUs depending on the size. regardless, I'd do half the cascade at flameout or dry hopped to get some aroma in this

Hamartiatock · 01-12-2011, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcp27

your estimated OG is way off. 14lbs LME is an OG of 1.101, unless you have some weird kind that doesnt have a ppg around 36. 11.5lbs LME would give you an OG around 1.082 if thats what you want.

definitely ditch the amber lme for light lme and 0.5-1lb of crystal. amber extract uses C60, but you can choose whatever tastes best to you or mix it up. whatever way you go, id consider adding half the extract at the end of the boil. it reduces caramelization, keeps the brew lighter, ups hops utilization, and supposedly reduce the 'twang' thats sometimes associated with extract recipes

as for the hops, how big is your boil? 2oz of nugget could put you into IPA territory for IBUs depending on the size. regardless, I'd do half the cascade at flameout or dry hopped to get some aroma in this

My boil is three gallons. The whole batch ended up a little less than five gallons. I took a reading with my hydrometer and got 1.082 but I'm inexperienced and could have done it wrong. Right now I'm stoked to have something high gravity......

dcp27 · 01-13-2011, 03:03 AM

I'm guessing you took your hydrometer reading after you topped off? Your real OG should be 1.101, the 1.082 was read due to a poor mix. Not your fault, its just really tough to mix wort and water well enough to get an accurate reading. In the future I'd recommend taking readings before topping off and just calculating for the final volume:
Final OG = post-boil OG * post-boil volume / final volume.

You definitely got a big one on your hands, hopefully you used 2 packs of yeast. Be sure to keep your temps <70F and give it plenty of time (at least 3 weeks in the primary). Good luck!