FEZPA (fekkin' EZ pale ale)

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Fekkin' EZPA
Brewer: Dan Banks
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: Extract


Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 4.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.75 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 54.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.6 %
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 3 5.6 %
1.75 oz Cascade [7.30 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 4 54.7 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 5 -
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 6 -
4.00 oz Goldings, B.C. [4.90 %] - Aroma Steep 30 Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
1.5 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 8 -
6 lbs LME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Extract 9 67.4 %
1 lbs 6.4 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 10 15.7 %


Steep grains for ~30 mins. Remove grains and add water to boil vol. Add dextrose and bring to a boil, adding bittering hops when boil begins. Boil for 30 mins. At knockout, remove from heat, begin whirlpool* and add 4 oz of hops and all the LME. Let stand covered for ~30 mins or until wort reaches ~180, whatever happens first. Chill, aerate and pitch yeast.

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* the whirlpool is not just to mix in the LME, it is to allow that knockout addition of hops to contribute as much flavor and aroma as possible while they steep. What I do is as soon as I kill the flame, I slowly swirl the wort into a good spin, throw in hops (and LME), get the whirlpool going again and cover. I check temp every 5-10 mins and get the whirlpool going again each time. After 30 mins (or before it gets below 180 F), I begin chilling the wort.

I find this to be a good "between big brew days" brew. Doesn't take long to put together, and it produces a good beer to keep the pipeline flowing.

Change the hops and yeast to suit your tastes, the recipe as posted is just the latest input into my BeerSmith. I've used Simcoe/amarillo, all cascade and all amarillo with great results. Go by IBU for the 30 min addition, and then by weight (4 ozs) for the knockout add. I usually dry hop this beer too, but it's plenty good w/o dry hops.

I'm going to try this sometime this week. Any suggestions for tweaks since you've tasted it?

More knockout hops, and definitely use your favorite hops. I used US Golding last time because I had a ton on hand, but I liked it best when I used the simcoe/amarillo combination. It's really good as is, US golding gives it a nice floral/fruit character.
The 1 lb, 6 oz of pale LME was Alexander's Sun Country Pale, if you can't source that (MidwestSupplies.com sells 1.4 # cans of it), any light/pale LME will be fine, but I'd then change the caramel 10 to caramel 20. Sun Country has a bit more caramel character than some of the others, IME.
I've done this beer a few times, using different hops and yeast, and each time it's surprisingly good.

Next time you try this, post a pic of a finished beer. The batch I brewed turned out surprisingly malty and much darker than I anticipated.

goo-gone said:

Next time you try this, post a pic of a finished beer. The batch I brewed turned out surprisingly malty and much darker than I anticipated.

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Did you boil the extract? I will post a pic of this beer later today.

Yes, and now that I reread your recipe I am guessing that made the difference. Interested to see the difference between the resulting beers.

goo-gone said:

Yes, and now that I reread your recipe I am guessing that made the difference. Interested to see the difference between the resulting beers.

Click to expand...

Yeah, boiling LME even for a few mins will darken it a good deal. Anytime I use liquid extract, I add it all at knockout. As for hops, what variety(s) did you use? If you could post a pic too, that'd be great, just to see the color differences. I'll get one up later today.

It was so good, it was consumed in short order.
Hop schedule consisted of 1.75 oz cascade @ 60; and 0.5 oz fuggle, 0.75 challenger, 2.75 c-type @ 0.
I would call mine a brown even, more so than amber. It was fairly dark. The head was a nice and light, off-white.

That's the best I can do with my camera. It's a bit more orange in person. My batch is a little faded, hops wise, but the bitterness is solid and there's still some hop on the nose.

Mine wasn't that much darker than that!

How much malt flavor do you get? Any other tasting notes?

NordeastBrewer77 said:

View attachment 88526

View attachment 88527

That's the best I can do with my camera. It's a bit more orange in person. My batch is a little faded, hops wise, but the bitterness is solid and there's still some hop on the nose.

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Honestly, to me, it tastes like you'd expect. Very little caramel sweetness, crisp bread like malt in the background. There is a hint of sweetness that comes from the LME. LME isn't as fermentable as DME or a all grain wort, and always leaves a sweetness to my palate. If you boil it, it's even less fermentable, and can taste downright caramelly. I'm guessing that's what you're getting. I always get overly sweet/malt flavored beer from boiling liquid extract. As for the hops, fresh, this beer is hoppy on the nose and in the flavor, for an American pale. The bitterness is medium to medium/firm, but not overly so. I gotta ask, did you let the hops steep in the hot wort for ~30 mins before cooling? With all the late hops going in at flameout, it needs that rest to contribute flavors and more aroma. Without that, you'll just get the aroma of a "0" min addition. The whirlpool helps with this too. What I do is as soon as I kill the flame, I slowly swirl the wort into a good spin, throw in hops, get the whirlpool going again and cover. I check temp every 5-10 mins and get the whirlpool going again. After 30 mins (or before it gets below 180 F), I begin chilling the wort.

Definitely did not let the hops steep before chilling to pitch, more than say 5-10 mins. It did give a fair amount of hop bite in the end though. I will try this again, follow your recipe closer and post back results.

Cool. Yeah, that hop steep, or "hop stand" is important if the only flavor/aroma addition is at knockout. All of the hops character aside from bitterness will come from that, and the steep pretty much just makes a hop flavored tea out of the wort. It's a good technique if you like alot of flavor and aroma from hops.

What about hot and cold break? Without boiling your LME there will be more proteins in suspension. How would that affect the beer?

Clifton said:

What about hot and cold break? Without boiling your LME there will be more proteins in suspension. How would that affect the beer?

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Not really much of a hot and cold break with extract. The hot break happens when the boil the wort to make extract. There's no ill effects from adding extract at knockout. You can see the beer above, clear as a bell.

I use dme and I get quite a bit of hot break. I don't doubt the clarity of your brew. I'm just curious if there is any ill effects from not boiling. The proteins are still in suspension. What does that mean for the final product?

I just thought of a reason why I get hot break with dme and you don't with lme. The dme is spray dried not boiled down like the lme.

Clifton said:

I just thought of a reason why I get hot break with dme and you don't with lme. The dme is spray dried not boiled down like the lme.

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DME is boiled some, then dry sprayed. But yes, you get more break w/DME. Either way, the KO LME or DME add isn't a new idea, and it's a good technique to limit the caramelization of extract in the kettle (malliard reactions). I actually got the idea from reading threads here and recipes in books/mags. I decided to start doing it when I was brewing mainly extract, and I noticed an improvement in several aspects of my extract beers; color, fermentability/attenuation (no 1.02 "extract stall"), and mainly in flavor. None of that "twang" that undoubtedly comes from Malliard reactions either in kettle or due to old extract.

To answer your question simply; I don't believe so. I've done dozens of batches where there was zero extract in boil, and have had no issues with suspended proteins in the final product. Many brewers do the same, add some or all of the extract at knockout and report the same findings. There's quite a bit of mention of this on threads here and in brewing publications.

Thanks for the reply. I'm familiar with the late extract method. I've never done it, because I have always used a full boil. I've just never heard of having no extract in the boil. I'll have to give this a try.