Golden Ale

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dataz722

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My friend and I are about to make our first batch and he wants to do a Golden Ale. A local brewpub has one thats pretty good but they dont say what style it actually is and apparently there are ALOT of different ones. I found this recipe and wanted to get some opinions on it. Also if anyone has a good recipe they know of please let me know. Thank you.


OG: 1.041 – 1.045
FG: 1.008 – 1.012
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 22

INGREDIENTS FOR 5 GALLONS

5.0 lbs. Light DME
0.5 lbs. Crystal 15oL
1.0 oz. Cascade Hop Pellets (5% AA) – 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade Hop Pellets (5% AA) – 2 min.
1 vial Wyeast 1056 American Ale / WLP001
1 tablet Whirfloc
4.9 oz. Corn Sugar (priming) – bottling

1. Add 3 gal. H2O to kettle and raise to 150F.
2. Add 1/2 DME + grains (in nylon grain bag) and step for 30 min.
3. Rinse grains with 1 gal. H2O @ 170F and squeeze out excess H2O from grains.
4. Add 3 gal. H2O, remaining DME and bring to a boil.
5. Add boiling hops.
6. At 45 min. add whirfloc and wort chiller.
7. At 58 min. add aroma hops.
8. At 60 min. turn off flames and turn on chiller.
9. Rack to fermentor and pitch yeast starter.
10. Primary ferment until finished.
11. Secondary for 1 week.
12. Add corn sugar at bottleing and condition for 2 weeks at room temp.
13. Enjoy!!


I bill be doing a full boil and also I think I remember reading that you shouldnt squeeze out the grains so i wont do that. Thanks
 
That looks like a solid brew to me. It's my understanding that 'Golden Ale' can refer to a pretty wide variety of beers (it's not an 'official' style). This one looks tasty for the upcoming warm weather.

As an aside, I'd suggest waiting at least 3 weeks in the bottle before really getting into the stuff. It will only get better. In the meantime-brew another batch!
 
First off congratulations on finding this website. This is my first time posting, but at least my 100th visit.

A few pointers that I learned from all the good folks in this forum: There are four main steps in making beer: 1) Ingredients, 2) Sanitization, 3) Temperature consistency, and 4) relax don’t worry have a home brew!

1) You already have it listed.
2) Sanitize everything that will come in contact with your wert and beer during; brewing, transferring, and bottling. Keep the environment clean. I assume you will be brewing in your kitchen so some simple housekeeping such as, take out the trash and wipe down all surfaces with antibacterial/sanitizer etc. The kitchen is full of nasty little buggers!!
3.1) Cool it down as fast as possible to 70° before pitching the yeast.
3.2) Don’t ferment too high of a temperature (over 74°) or you will have some off flavors. The yeast will burn out, produce negative flavor, and will likely stop fermenting too early leaving a higher final gravity. [Note I live in Arizona and have experienced some brews that will never make it into my friend’s hands] If you ferment ale at too cool of a temperature, you will slow down the fermentation and it may stop too soon and lead to some bottle bombs if not careful.
4) RDWHAHB
 
Throw in a .5 lb of wheat for better head retention. Dry hop with the rest of the Cascade if desired. Maybe a 1/4 oz cascade dry hop. My two cents.
 
westbanger, I don't think yeast craps out at higher temps, its just the off flavors.. My understanding is that yeast loves to ferment at warm temperatures (80-90+), it just leaves a lot of crap behind that doesn't taste good...

Often when people have a 'stuck' fermentation, the advice will be to raise the temp a few degrees to kick start it again.
 
Sounds like a tasty session beer to me! I don't think I would change the recipe at all. But I second the opinion above to bottle condition for 3 weeks. 21 days at 70 degrees is the mantra around here.:mug:
 
Bobby_M said:
My only suggestion is to steep the grain BEFORE adding any extract. You don't want any sugar getting caught up in the grain since it's so expensive.


Good catch Bobby, I didn't even notice that part. I agree 100%. Steep the grains in plain ole water, then add the extract.
 
Add the DME at the last possible moment, if you have it in there longer it can get a bit caramelized and make the beer darker than you want.

10. Primary ferment until finished.
Also, I'd recommend keeping the beer on the yeast cake a bit longer than that, you want to let the yeast break down some of the waste products not just let them eat the sugars and then immediately rack the beer off of it. I'd leave it in primary for at least a few days after fermentation stops.

And you're making a starter, not just pitching the liquid yeast right? Even if those things say pitchable you get looooong lag times if you don't have a starter. Also if you're using a pretty common kind of yeast, it's probably easier to just use dried yeast.

Overall, looks like you have a good solid beer that's good for a beginner.
 
Thanks for everyones advise. Can I add the DME after I have taken it off the burner or does that need to boil as well?

Nimrod3388 said:
Throw in a .5 lb of wheat for better head retention. Dry hop with the rest of the Cascade if desired. Maybe a 1/4 oz cascade dry hop. My two cents.

What rest of the cascade? The recipe uses all of it. Should I get more to use for dry hopping? And if I add .5lb of wheat should I take .5 lb of the light out or just add the wheat to what it already asks.
 
Are you really using Crystal 150? Or is that a misprint and you mean 15? I ran it through a calculator and the srms with 150l comes out at 12srm's...which puts it into the copper range....I ran it even with extralight dme and it still comes out copper....

Crystal 10 will give you 6 srm which will be yellow to gold....

It does look like a tasty session beer though. Cheers!!!!
 
I just copied and pasted the recipe so I really dont know what it was intended as. Other than color what difference would it make?
 
I'd guess the recipe says 15 (degree symbol) L, not 150 L.
 
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