Northern Brewer's Extra Pale Ale

I'm thinking about trying this as my next brew and was wondering if anybody had used this all grain kit before and if they were pleased with the results.

I'm also considering dry hopping with an ounce of Cascades but I'm concerned that I would "take away" from the kit. I haven't tried to it yet but I have a habit of tinkering with things that doesn't usually turn out too well.

Here is a link to the kit: A ProMash Recipe - Extra Pale Ale - AG

I was my first brew ever. It was good, and pretty cheap too! It def got better w/age, so give it a bit of time in secondary, and let it sit in the bottles 3/4 weeks for the best results.

I always enter NB's ingredients into a calculator and check things like OG and IBUs. I don't know what calculations they use, but if just follow their recipes you'll likely end up with a beer that is way to bitter and lower in gravity.

Their extra pale ale was my second all-grain and I didn't check their recipe before brewing it. I still can't drink this beer, a year later because it has a B:G of like 1.7. I probably won't ever drink it. I think that if you adjust the hop additions based on their actual AA% and the efficiency of your system, it would be a pretty standard APA.

I've made this kit twice (although both times it was extract) and it disappeared quickly. Both times I dry hopped it with 1 oz of Cascade, in addition to what the kit called for. I was quite pleased.

Brian

I entered their recipe into beersmith and got an OG of 1.046 and 42.3 IBU's which is in line with the standards for an APA.

I made this too. Actually am about to kick the second keg of this. Probably today. :cross:

Pretty plain Jane beer but very refreshing. I got one kit and then doubled the recipe by adding more grain and I used some Vanguard hops instead of more Cascades. Next time I make this I am going to dry hop and might experiment with a little bit of bitter orange peel. Gotta do it soon so I can drink it while it is still hot out.

I brewed it once, it was very bitter for an APA. I'd probably cut the the amount of hops added if i was to brew it again.

Going from 2 oz to 1.5 oz with the 60min addition definitely might me an option with my next batch of this one.

All I'm saying, is just to check the values. That doesn't necessarily mean that they will be way off. It just means they may be way off. I think the actual AA% on the cascades they included with my kit was around 7%. It just depends...

Your promash has both hop additions at 60 minutes. Is that correct? If not, I would change the 1 oz addition to 30 minutes for some flavor.

EdWort said:

Your promash has both hop additions at 60 minutes. Is that correct? If not, I would change the 1 oz addition to 30 minutes for some flavor.

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I believe that is a typo. One should be 15 minutes, I think.

Last time I brewed it, I dumped 3 ounces of centennial in at about 10 minutes and another as a dry hop. Yum!

Thanks for all your opinions guys, I appreciate the help. The kit comes with three ounces of Cascades and calls for 2 ounces at 60 minutes and 1 ounce at 1 minute. This yields 42.3 IBU's according to Beersmith.

After tinkering with recipe in Beersmith, I've decided to do the following hop additions: 1 ounce at 60 minutes, 1 ounce at 30 minutes, and 1 ounce at 1 minute. I'm also going to purchase an additional ounce of Cascades for dry hopping. This will yield 37.5 IBU's.

I'm hoping to get something similar to Sierra Nevada pale ale. Is there enough of a difference between 42.3 IBU's and 37.5 IBU's to make it more palatable?

I think I accidentally did 1 oz 60, 2 oz 1 min... something like that. Anyway it was good

Feel free to substitute a packet of US-05 for the 1056, it will work beautifully with this recipe. Cheaper and more convenient as well.

+1 on spacing the hop additions out.

I found when I first started with all grain that I was having trouble meeting my target OG, and I also always came short on my volume. This resulted in my beer always being extra hoppy. So until I got more comfortable with my process I would add less hops than the recipe called for to make sure my beer wasn't excessively hoppy. One time I made an IPA which called for lots of hops and lots of gravity.... ended up having like 50% efficency but didn't compensate the hops and man that beer was bitter!

I've brewed this one. VERY BITTER for a plain 'ol pale. I would recommend moving some the 60 min hops to either dry hop or 1 to 5 minute additions. It's a good starting recipe - just too bitter and not enough hop aroma and taste as is.

I've made many other pale ales that I prefer to this one using only 1 oz cascade at 60 minutes and I much prefer it. If I had to compare it to another recipe on here, it would be to EdWort's Haud Pale Ale. EdWort's is better, but not as crisp. EdWort's recipe has a bit darker grain bill, with more Vienna if I'm not mistaken.

Darwin18 said:

Thanks for all your opinions guys, I appreciate the help. The kit comes with three ounces of Cascades and calls for 2 ounces at 60 minutes and 1 ounce at 1 minute. This yields 42.3 IBU's according to Beersmith.

After tinkering with recipe in Beersmith, I've decided to do the following hop additions: 1 ounce at 60 minutes, 1 ounce at 30 minutes, and 1 ounce at 1 minute. I'm also going to purchase an additional ounce of Cascades for dry hopping. This will yield 37.5 IBU's.

I'm hoping to get something similar to Sierra Nevada pale ale. Is there enough of a difference between 42.3 IBU's and 37.5 IBU's to make it more palatable?

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Sorry to resurrect this thread from the dead but I just brewed the extract version of this yesterday. It's only my third batch total so I'm still wrapping my head around some of the basics (while trying to absorb at least a pinch of some of the more advanced stuff).

I noticed the hops schedule is the same for your all-grain kit as it is for the extract kit. Shouldn't the all-grain kit have a lighter hops schedule than the extract kit?