"An American Ale" Brewsmith recipe?

Has anyone tried brewing the "An American Ale" found in the Brewsmith program? I'm replacing the Belgian 2-row with Maris Otter 2-row.

I'd love to hear any feedback.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: An American Ale
Brewer: Steve Gruver
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0) A great tasting and simple to brew American Ale in the traditional style.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 11.994 Plato
Estimated Color: 8.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 86.49 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 10.81 %
0.25 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2.70 %
0.75 oz Centennial [9.10 %] (60 min) Hops 25.3 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [6.30 %] (10 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 11.56 qt of water at 174.9 F 158.0 F

I would take the mash temp down to somewhere around 153°F - 155°F, 158°F would leave a whole lot of residule sweetness. As with most APAs it's about the hops, too much sweetness would make the beer a bit out of balance IMHO.
I would also cut back on the crystal malt to around 1/2 - 3/4 LB, again it would be a little bit on the sweet side with 1 lb of it in a 5 gallon recipe. If you could, up the Centennial hops to at least an ounce.

It looks like a pretty standard APA recipe to me. You could brew it as you say and I bet it would turn out good.

That said, if I were brewing it I would use domestic 2-row instead of Maris Otter and cut the crystal to 0.5# or 0.75#. Maybe even increase the Munich to 1#. I'd also add a hop addition at flameout (0 mins) and/or dry hop it. Like Otis, I'd mash at 153º. Finally, I'd use dry yeast (SafAle US-05) as its less expensive than WLP001 and performs wonderfully.

Looks like a good base APA.

Dry hop the batch with 1/2 ounce each of centennial and cascade and drop the mash down to 153 for 90 minutes.

The lower/longer mash will make it a bit dryer which is good this time of year.

Wow! So I should change the boil time from 60 minutes to 90 minutes? Do you all agree?

If I do a 90 boil, what times should I do my hop additions?

gruversm said:

Wow! So I should change the boil time from 60 minutes to 90 minutes? Do you all agree?

Click to expand...

I think he was saying do a 90 minute mash, not the boil.


BMW-LDB

Geesh...you're right!