Is this a good pale ale extract recipe?

I am putting together my first extract recipe and was wondering if someone could chime in and let me know if this is going to taste any good or not. I am going for simple, but with some steeping grains. I am kegging, so I have no reason to buy a "kit" with caps and priming sugar, which is why I am trying to put together a recipe. The Brew Builder at brewmasterswarehouse.com says it falls into the American Pale Ale category. Let me know your thoughts, don't hold back. Thanks.

5 lbs Light DME
1 lb Caramel 60
1 oz. Magnum Pellets @ 60 min
1 oz. Cascade Pellets @ 10 min
Nottingham Ale Dry Yeast

I'm a rather new brewer myself, but personally I'd start with 6 lbs DME. I'd also go with extra light if you're concerned at all about color, and add 3 lbs as a late addition. That should give you a nice ABV for a sessionable beer.

that recipe should give you a fine beer with right IBU range, but I'd add more Cascade if I were you for your flavoring addition as well as dry hop.

not sure how close you want to stick to APA range so adding more cascade may or may not put you out of APA IBU range...either way, cascade is a good flavoring hops that having more of can't hurt.

kyleobie said:

I'm a rather new brewer myself, but personally I'd start with 6 lbs DME. I'd also go with extra light if you're concerned at all about color, and add 3 lbs as a late addition. That should give you a nice ABV for a sessionable beer.

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What do you mean if I'm concerned about color? I would prefer a little darker color, so would I go with Light or Extra Light? I'm assuming Light.

AJ_in_HD said:

that recipe should give you a fine beer with right IBU range, but I'd add more Cascade if I were you for your flavoring addition as well as dry hop.

not sure how close you want to stick to APA range so adding more cascade may or may not put you out of APA IBU range...either way, cascade is a good flavoring hops that having more of can't hurt.

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I've never dry hopped before, and I want to keep this recipe simple since I am still pretty new to extract brewing, but I will definitely try that in the future.

Yes, absolutely...IMHO that recipe looks fine and will produce a nice brew.

Your recipe sounds decent enough.I would change the magnum for warrior,and cenntenial instead of cascade.But then again i hate cascade hops.

Looks fine to me. I too would dry hop it after primary fermentation has finished with another ounce of hops. Cascade would be fine, but we all have our own favorites.

Dry hop for sure.

i would dry hop just add your dry hops to your fermenter after the Final Gravity is where you want it and also, DME tends to make your brews a little darker in color than an all grain brew would, as far as a pale ale body ide definately go with the light dme

I don't want this beer to be too bitter, and be pretty easy to drink in the warm weather. So I'm thinking of doing this instead...

.5 oz Magnum @ 60
.5 oz Magnum @ 30
1 oz Cascade @ 10
And then maybe .5 oz dry hopping (haven't decided yet)

I am trying for the style of SNPA, but not quite as much of a kick at the end, if that makes sense. Does this sound more like what I am going for?

FrFtr28 said:

I don't want this beer to be too bitter, and be pretty easy to drink in the warm weather. So I'm thinking of doing this instead...

.5 oz Magnum @ 60
.5 oz Magnum @ 30
1 oz Cascade @ 10
And then maybe .5 oz dry hopping (haven't decided yet)

I am trying for the style of SNPA, but not quite as much of a kick at the end, if that makes sense. Does this sound more like what I am going for?

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looks good to me... if you dont want the kick ide opt not to dry hop....

shinerfanok said:

looks good to me... if you dont want the kick ide opt not to dry hop....

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Then I'll probably not dry hop this batch. Maybe I'll use the same recipe later on and dry hop to see the difference.

One more question. If I am doing a late extract addition, when should I do that? From what I understand it is added with 30 minutes left in the boil. And would be it alright to start with 3 lbs of DME in the beginning and then add 2 lbs at the 30 minute mark?

FrFtr28 said:

One more question. If I am doing a late extract addition, when should I do that? From what I understand it is added with 30 minutes left in the boil. And would be it alright to start with 3 lbs of DME in the beginning and then add 2 lbs at the 30 minute mark?

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in short, yes it will be fine. you are doing late addition to tune in color or hop utilization?

your brew should taste like an SNPA-Lite so I think you're going in the right direction since that's your target profile. Good luck.

I just brewed a similar beer last night.
1 oz Magnum (14.4%) 60 min
1 oz Cascade (7.4% i think) 20 min
1 oz Cascade (7.4%) 10 min

My OG was 1.053 but I'm not really sure what my IBUs will be since I added possibly 4 lbs LME at 60 min with 2 lbs LME at 30 mins along with 1 lb DME (My LHBS only had LME in 6# units and i had 1# of DME in my cupboard, hence the weird amounts). Also added 10 oz of C60

oh and my reason for not adding all LME at once was that I was worried about overtopping my pot! lol So I waited until some volume boiled off before adding the rest so I'm curious to see how, if at all, this affects the taste.

AJ_in_HD said:

in short, yes it will be fine. you are doing late addition to tune in color or hop utilization?

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That seems to be what everyone recommends, I'm not sure why it's done, though.

FrFtr28 said:

That seems to be what everyone recommends, I'm not sure why it's done, though.

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lol....

man I love brewing and one thing about brewing as with most hobbies is that we can be as complicated or simple as we want and have a great time.

This will be my first brew with some fermentables added late, but since I am only doing a partial boil I figure all that utilization is decreased already coupled with high gravity of that partial boil. To what extent that is offset by these late addition extracts is something I don't care to ponder. What i do care to ponder is how tasty my beer will be!

I'd say in your case to just relax and enjoy the process for what it is..making your own damn beer! It doesn't get better than that.

Cheers

Take your dry hops addition (if your dead set against it) and add it at flameout, preferably when the wort gets down to 180* and let steep for 20-30 minutes. This will give it some nice aroma without being to over the top.

So here's what I ended up doing. I started off with 3 lbs of DME, since that's all I could fit in the pot, took my eyes off it for literally two seconds and it boiled over. Added the rest of the extract from 35 to 15 minutes left in the boil, with a couple more boil overs. I did 1/2 ounce of Magnum at 60, 1/2 ounce Magnum at 30 and 1 ounce Cascade at 10. I used Safale yeast on the recommendation of my LHBS.

After the boil, I was left with just shy of 2 gallons of wort. I know I would lose some volume to evaporation, but with the boil overs I must have lost quite a bit.

Does anyone have any good ideas for cleaning the caramelized wort off a stovetop? The only thing I could come up with was to remodel the whole kitchen.

FrFtr28 said:

Does anyone have any good ideas for cleaning the caramelized wort off a stovetop? The only thing I could come up with was to remodel the whole kitchen.

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hot soapy water will work just fine with a little elbow grease.

that or remodel!

Green pads or scouring pads

SWMBO wasn't too happy when she saw the mess. I told her it looks like I need to buy some new equipment and start brewing outside.

If you're going for SNPA style, go all cascade with:

1 oz @ 60 min.
1 oz @ 10 min.
2 oz @ 1 min.

That'll keep the bitterness in check but give you a huge Cascade aroma! You might want to do 6 lb. of DME like the first suggestion. Light DME is perfect for a pale ale. 6 lb. of DME is pretty standard for a normal strength brew and the extra ABV and residual sweetness will help balance hop bitterness, as well.

Late extract additions are for the purpose of keeping color lighter. One thing to keep in mind is that when adding late extract to control color, don't work against yourself and leave the burner on. Malt will sink to the bottom and caramelize or possibly scorch and definitely boil over. Turn the burner off with 15 min. to go, add extracts (and hops/kettle finings if applicable), pause your boil timer, bring back to a boil, start your boil countdown again, and proceed as scheduled.

Cheers!

Just wanted to give an update to this recipe. I kegged after 14 days in primary. The hop flavor was perfect after a couple days in the keg, but then mellowed way out after about a week. I will definitely try this recipe again in the future but will dry hop to see the difference.