Simcoe/Citra/Centennial Pale Ale

I would love some input on this recipe. I am fairly new to all grain brewing and recipe building.

Batch size: 5 gallons
OG: 1.053
SRM: 9.3
Boil time: 90 mins
Mash temp: 152

Fermentables:
6lb 8oz Pale Malt (2row)
2lb Munich Malt 20L
8oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L

Hops:
.25 oz Simcoe - 60min
.25 oz Centennial - 20 min
.5 oz Citra - 15 min
1 oz Citra - 5 min
1 oz Simcoe 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1056
(I might be tempted to do 1968 with this though)

What are your thoughts?
How is the grain bill?
I was originally planning on doing 6lb 2row, and 2lb of toasted malt instead of using Munich Malt.

I was also planning on dry hopping with 2 oz of Citra for 5 days.

Maybe a little first wort hop....citra...? Recipe sounds great.

Running it through TastyBrew, I get OG = 1049, FG = 1012, ABV = 4.8, IBU = 54, SRM = 10. This is on the border between an APA and an American IPA. My local brewpub has something like this, hopped with Cascade. They sell it as an APA, but when they enter it into competitions, the judges put it in the AIPA category. It's delicious.

If you are looking for a true APA, you would need to get the IBU down to 20-40. For a better (my opinion) IPA with that hop schedule, you might want to get the OG up to maybe 1060-1070.

Wyeast 1056 is pretty standard for both categories, although there are those who prefer Denny's Favorite Fifty (1450) or Northwest Ale (1332). The ESB yeast puts you on track for an English IPA, and your hops are a little at odds with that. Not that that's necessarily a real sticking point - It's your beer and you can do what you like.

Post what you do and how it turns out.

sptaylor70 said:

Running it through TastyBrew, I get OG = 1049, FG = 1012, ABV = 4.8, IBU = 54, SRM = 10. This is on the border between an APA and an American IPA. My local brewpub has something like this, hopped with Cascade. They sell it as an APA, but when they enter it into competitions, the judges put it in the AIPA category. It's delicious.

Click to expand...

in beersmith 2 it shows 1.053, ABV 5.4, IBU 44.4, SRM 9.3

I have my Tot efficiency set at 82%. I'm really not sure where I should be setting this. My last beer I did was at 41 IBUs with 70% efficiency and the beer came out maltier with a little hint of hop flavor.

I generally set my brewhouse efficiency to 75% for everything under OG = 1060, and take off 5% for every 10-15 points above that.

If I recall correctly, Beersmith has several options for mashing profiles, body profiles - lots of dials that let you really nail down what you're doing so that you really know what you're going to get. TastyBrew is "dumb" but free. If you're experienced with Beersmith, trust your numbers.

Looks good. I'd go with 1968...ferments fast, drops clear quickly and tastes awesome. I actually just did a Simcoe/Citra/Centennial IPA with 1968 and am loving it.

I would scale back the Citra on the DH...it can be overpowering. My favorite use of Citra is late boil / hopstand. Then DH with Simcoe. And if you have any more Centennial add to DH.

So, I am boiling the wort right now. I had some problems with Mashing. My thermometers did not seem to be working properly. I had to reheat some wort and water to get the temperature back up to 154. Then I set a digital thermometer inside my coleman cooler and it got stuck on 153 degrees, so I have no clue if that was the actual temperature or if I was mashing way too low. I just ordered a new kettle because of this, and I will probably turn it into a HLT to better regulate the temperature during the mash.

If you wanted some hop flavor, I hope you upped the amounts.

2.5 #'s of crystal malt in there is a boatload considering you've only got 6.5 #'s of base..

FATC1TY said:

If you wanted some hop flavor, I hope you upped the amounts.

2.5 #'s of crystal malt in there is a boatload considering you've only got 6.5 #'s of base..

Click to expand...

I may be missing something, but I see 6% crystal (8 oz) and 94% base malt (22% dark Munich and 72% 2-row). I've seen beers as high as 50% Munich, although that could be high for this style recipe.

To OP - the ferment temps look a little high to me, although I prefer lighter bodied APA/IPA and mash around 146. The hop bill should be reasonable - you can always jack it up on round 2 if you want more punch.

brewguyver said:

I may be missing something, but I see 6% crystal (8 oz) and 94% base malt (22% dark Munich and 72% 2-row). I've seen beers as high as 50% Munich, although that could be high for this style recipe.

To OP - the ferment temps look a little high to me, although I prefer lighter bodied APA/IPA and mash around 146. The hop bill should be reasonable - you can always jack it up on round 2 if you want more punch.

Click to expand...

Correct. I guess that what I get for reading early in the AM, after being up since 2AM with an over night smoke and brew!

I just saw 2 # 20L and then the crystal!

Recipe is sound in my book.. I would have mashed about 149-150 myself, and added a bit more hops in there late in a hopstand versus the 5 min additions.