Pale/Amber Ale recipe look ok?

I'm looking to make a Pale ale or amber ale here tomorrow, and this is what i have come up wth for a recipe..wonder if it looks ok or what you all would recommend changing.. I'm not concerned with guidelines etc, just want a nice, easy drinking beer with good hops and malt balance.

My main questions would be: do you recommend changing up the hops instead of using just cascade? and if so, what? I have quite a few different varieties sitting around that i could use. WIll going w/ all cascade give it too much of a citrisy characteristic? should i finish at 5 and 15 w/ cascade and use something else to bitter?

Too much/too little specialty grain? Plan on doing approx a 6 gallon partial mash, full boil.

6 lbs Amber liquid extract
3 lbs 2-row
8 oz crystal 40L
8 oz cara-pils

1.25 oz cascade 60 min
.5 oz cascade 15 mins
.5 oz cascade 5 mins

Safale US-05

this will be my first pale/amber american style beer, so what should i shoot for for fermentation? Or do i not really have to worry too much since using 05? 68 is room temp and i put fermenter in water bath to help steady actual fermentation temps which generally are around 70.

Let me know what you think or what i should change.

beersmith tells me the following::

Est Og Grav 1.051
Est Final 1.012
ABV: 5.2%
color 9.9 SRM
26.9 IBU

Thanks,
Cody

The grain bill looks good, I would use .5oz cascade for the 60 minute addition, leave the others be and take the balance and throw it in at flame out. Pale ales are gentle in bitterness and provide good flavor/aroma so this adjustment will get you there.

So you think
.5 60 mins
.5 15 mins
.5 5 mins
and the remaining .75 oz at flameout? just not quite sure what you meant by take the balanced and throw it in...

sagec1001 said:

So you think
.5 60 mins
.5 15 mins
.5 5 mins
and the remaining .75 oz at flameout? just not quite sure what you meant by take the balanced and throw it in...

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Yup, that's what I meant, you can even combine the 15 min and 5 min both at 5 min mark

perfect i'll give that a shot then. That'll put me around 17 IBU so that should be good to let the flavor through I would say. Thanks, Appreciate it.

sagec1001 said:

perfect i'll give that a shot then. That'll put me around 17 IBU so that should be good to let the flavor through I would say. Thanks, Appreciate it.

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That sure is low for a pale ale. I would NOT go that low for the bittering hops. I'd go with 30 IBUs give or take as a minimum. 17 IBUs would be a very sweet and unbalanced beer.

If it was my beer, I'd hop like this:


1 oz cascade 60 min
.75 oz cascade 15 mins
.75 oz cascade 5 mins

I'd shoot for 30-40 IBUs or so, with an OG of 1.051.

Yooper said:

That sure is low for a pale ale. I would NOT go that low for the bittering hops. I'd go with 30 IBUs give or take as a minimum. 17 IBUs would be a very sweet and unbalanced beer.

If it was my beer, I'd hop like this:

1 oz cascade 60 min
.75 oz cascade 15 mins
.75 oz cascade 5 mins

I'd shoot for 30-40 IBUs or so, with an OG of 1.051.

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Sorry to the OP, Yooper is correct and I'm not didn't calculate the IBUs, my bad......

so original recipe put me at 27ish.. so maybe 1.5 oz for full boil to get right around 30ibu? leaving the rest the same as original post?? or do u recommend switching it up a bit yooper?

no worries on calculations

sagec1001 said:

so original recipe put me at 27ish.. so maybe 1.5 oz for full boil to get right around 30ibu? leaving the rest the same as original post?? or do u recommend switching it up a bit yooper?

no worries on calculations

Click to expand...

If you have more cascades, I like a bit more for flavor/aroma additions than .5 ounce but that will do.

i have about 5 oz of cascade so i can bump them up too if ya think.. you know way better than i would . sorry also didnt see your recommendation about how you would hop it in your first post.. i think ill go with your recommended hops schedule

cascade pretty good in a pale ale?

sagec1001 said:

i have about 5 oz of cascade so i can bump them up too if ya think.. you know way better than i would . sorry also didnt see your recommendation about how you would hop it in your first post.. i think ill go with your recommended hops schedule

cascade pretty good in a pale ale?

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Cascades are THE classic flavor in American pale ales.

perfect. thanks again! appreciate it