Critique my APA recipe: Red Dirt Pale Ale

This is my first "from scratch" recipe, so feel free to offer any suggestions or thoughts. My goal for this recipe is for it to have lots of hop aroma and flavor, but still be a well balanced APA.

5.25 lb. Pale Liquid Extract
2 lb. 2 Row Pale Malt
.8 lb. 40L Crystal Malt
.5 lb. Munich Malt
.25 lb. Cara-Pils
1.33 oz. Centennial [7.7%] (60 Min.)
.33 oz. Amarillo [8.2%] (20 Min.)
.67 oz. Amarillo [8.2%] (Flameout)
1 pkg. White Labs California Ale WLP#001
1 oz. Amarillo [8.2%] (dry hop - 7 days)

OG Estimate: 1.057
FG Estimate: 1.013
Est. Color: 10.2
IBUs: 41.1
ABV Est.: 5.73

Thoughts? Thanks all!

I would up the dry hop addition for a bigger hop aroma, but the boil hops ought to get you in the upper range of IBUs for the style. Also, I ran your recpie through BeerSmith and you're going to be pretty low in the range the style on OG, so you might want to add some more malt somewhere to balance out the hops. You could probably add about another pound or so of the extract or the base malt and get where you want to be for gravity. Hope that helps.

-AJ

Thanks for the dry hop advice, I was flying blind on that part. How much, like another 1 or 2 ounces?

I used BeerSmith as well, and it lists the OG range for an APA at 1.045-1.060, so my 1.057 appears to come in on the high side. Am I reading this wrong (still learning)?

I usually dry hop with 1-2 ounces. I would also suggest moving the 20 min addition to 10 or 15, you will get more flavor from it within 15 minutes, at 20 you are losing more than you are gaining in terms of flavor.

I ran it through Beer Smith, and I get 1.057 also, so I think your fine there.

It's APA, at the high range of gravity and IBU (ProMash is telling me 48 IBU) and midrange in color.

Mashing your grains hot - I presume you're mini-mashing? - will provide higher dextrin content for body. That's good, depending on which brand of extract you choose.

I think your hops rate is fine as-is, though I concur you're better off moving the 20-minute addition to 15 minutes. One ounce of a hops variety as strong as Amarillo is sufficient for dry-hopping.

I think AJ was under the impression you were seeking feedback on India pale ale, not American pale ale. It happens, with these hop-headed kids today.

Cheers!

Bob

Yes, I will be mini-mashing. I was planning to mash @ 155*, is this too low? What is considered "hot"? Oh, and the extract is Breiss I believe...

I will make the change on the timing and amount of the aroma hops addition, I want to keep the same bitterness. I'm thinking .5 oz at 10 or 15 minutes sounds right.

Also, I have about .75 oz of Columbus [12.2%] still good in the freezer, any use for this in the recipe that I don't see? Sub it for Centennial and then dry hop with that?

A lot of people actually like to dry hop with Columbus. While it is a high AA variety, is has a very nice, very "American" citrusy flavor and aroma profile, so it makes for a very nice dry hop. Maybe dry hop w/ the Columbus and a little (1/2oz) Amarillo, should be a nice combo.

155 should yield a good balance of fermentability and body. Read up on mashing science to understand why diferent temperature ranges are important. Start here.

Pale Briess extracts - Gold and Pils - contain a proportion of CaraPils already, and generally ferment full-bodied when compared to Muntons, which ferments quite dry. Thus, a mid-range mash temperature is appropriate with Briess extracts, to continue the balance, and a high-range mash temperature is desirable with Muntons, to provide some body-enhancing dextrins.

Cheers,

Bob