Help formulating a citrus-forward pale recipe

Hey guys. First of all, please excuse my lack of full knowledge here. I know this may seem a bit undetailed...hence my asking for help though!

Anyway, have a cool opportunity to go brew at the Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta next week for winning a contest.

We are set to brew an aggressively hopped citrus-forward pale ale with a honey/honeysuckle element as well.

This is what I have to play with below. Please help me come up with a more specific recipe, any and all insight would be very appreciated!

We are going to a refreshing pale with a nice citrus profile....grapefruit/orange specifically but flexible there based on the ingredients below. We are kind of at the mercy of these onhand here but I could always swing by a homebrew store.

Grains:
Two Row
Munich
Wheat
medium dark Crystal mal

Hops:
Centennial - 2 oz
Amarillo - 2 oz
Glacier - 3 oz
Citra - 2 oz

Adjuncts available:
Grapefruit peel
orange peel
lime peel (1/2 oz each)

Fermentables:
Honey
priming sugar

Yeast:
Ameican Ale
American Ale II
Northwest Ale


Was thinking of dryhopping with some citra and glacier and also some fresh honeysuckle petals.


Please let me know, thanks again!

Is this a commercial sized batch? I assume not with the small amount of hops.

Personally I would pull most of the citrus from the hops; Citra, Centennial and Amarillo.
No high alpha bittering hops at your disposal? Seems a shame to use those great aroma hops for the bittering.

Maybe Centennial at 30, Citra at 15 and Amarillo at 5 Orange peel at 10 min

75% 2-row
10% Wheat
10% Munich
5% Crystal

American Ale II

I'd need more info about batch size to help much more.

Good Luck!

Here's my attempt:

EDIT: for a 5 lb batch

For Grains
10# 2-row
2# munich
1# wheat
(i say skip the crystal, unless you need color adjustments)

Mash @ 150-152

For Hops:
1oz Centennial - First Wort
.5 oz EACH of Amarillo AND Citra @ 20, 10, 5, and 0
Dryhop with Honeysuckle and vodka-soaked zests, and Coriander.

Per Beersmith, thats 1.068 OG, 76 IBUs, and 6.2 SRM

I'd pitch the American Ale yeast as well.

As far as the honey goes, i dont know it'd do much to impart any flavors against all those intensely flavorful hops. You shouldnt need it to dry out the beer, either, since there's no Crystal malts.

Thanks guys, great stuff.


It's for a 5 gallon cask batch recipe btw. Will be available at a local beer fest coming up.

Hey Timbrewz,


How much of the 3 hops and orange peel?

1 oz per?

If you can, I would get some Simcoe and Cascade to throw in there as well. Sorachi Ace would also be a nice aroma and dryhop twist with the lemon peel quality it has.

I don't think Centennial has a good citrus quality to it, so i would use it to bitter this recipe, which it does very well (good, smooth bittering quality). I like Simcoe at 20-30 minutes left and in dryhop to get a pine sap and grapefruit note. Citra can be anywhere, but has a really good post-boil and dryhop presence to me. The amarillo has one of the best aromas to me that is best utilized at 8 minutes left in the boil - sweet with a little bit of honey to it that should go well with the honeysuckle. I wouldn't use more than 1oz at 8 minutes left or it may overpower the honeysuckle though.

I would use a little bit of dextrine malt (or light crystal malt - 20L) so there is some residual sweetness. I would want to finish about 1.013-1.015 on the high side to have a little body, especially with 76 IBU.

good luck and let us know how the test batch turns out.

Gambrinius honey for sweetness? Maybe 1/4#?

PittATL said:

Hey Timbrewz,


How much of the 3 hops and orange peel?

1 oz per?

Click to expand...

Untitled Recipe
10-A American Pale Ale

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 190.7 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.057 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.015)
Color: 8.17 (5.0 - 14.0)
Alcohol: 5.63% (4.5% - 6.0%)
Bitterness: 47.1 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
7.5 lb Premium 2-Row Malt
1.0 lb Munich 10L Malt
1.0 lb Midwest Wheat Malt
0.25 lb Medium Crystal Malt
.5 oz Citra™ (12.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 lb Honey
1.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Amarillo® (8.9%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
2.0 tsp Orange Peel (dried) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 oz Citra™ (12.0%) - steeped after boil

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m


Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

TimBrewz said:

Untitled Recipe
10-A American Pale Ale

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 190.7 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.057 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.015)
Color: 8.17 (5.0 - 14.0)
Alcohol: 5.63% (4.5% - 6.0%)
Bitterness: 47.1 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
7.5 lb Premium 2-Row Malt
1.0 lb Munich 10L Malt
1.0 lb Midwest Wheat Malt
0.25 lb Medium Crystal Malt
.5 oz Citra™ (12.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 lb Honey
1.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Amarillo® (8.9%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
2.0 tsp Orange Peel (dried) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 oz Citra™ (12.0%) - steeped after boil

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

Click to expand...

Looks like a good recipe to me. if you want it more bitter, add some citra in the 20-30 minute range. Also, dry hop to your liking.

Nice guys, I like this a lot!