Recipe Critique - APA

Hey everyone, I'm planning on brewing an american pale ale for my next brew. I've made a few batches recently, but haven't made a pale ale yet, so I'm a little uncertain as to how it will turn out. Here's what I'm planning for a 12 liter batch

Grains Used

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.00 kg Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 93.02 %
0.12 kg Caraamber (30.0 SRM) Grain 5.58 %
0.03 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)


15.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.4 IBU
10.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (12 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (12 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
10.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.9 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (1 min) Hops 0.6 IBU
10.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (1 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
10.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 6 days)
10.00 gm Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 6 days)
10.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 6 days)


Going with US-05 yeast.
Going for something pretty hoppy, but not over the top bitter. Does this hop schedule fit the bill for something like that? How about the specialty malts? Should I add a little more, or stay the same? I would like a little residual sweetness but overall try and keep the sweetness and bitterness somewhat balanced. Thanks again for all your help.

My immediate call would be to little speciality malt and to complex hopping, I'd suggest doubling (at least) the speciality malt and dropping at least one hop.

I like the late hop additions, but I agree with richc:

A. That's a fairly complex hop schedule. You could make it much more simple, and achieve near identical results. Also with 40+ IBUs and tons of late hop additions that looks more like an IPA. You might want to back down on the hops some, as that looks like a hop schedule I'd use for a 19L (5gal) recipe.

B. On the other hand, I think you're ok with your malt bill. It's only a 3 gallon batch, and I like to keep my pale ales less complex on the malt end. I use 7% specialty grains in my Pale.