APA critique needed

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Scroto

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
55
Reaction score
1
Location
Petaluma
I'm trying to come up with a fairly simple hop forward APA recipe for spring.

OG - 1.055
IBU - 37 (Rager)
ABV - 5.5%

Grain bill is :
65% - Marris Otter
35% - Munich 10L

My hope here is to have just enough malt background to support the hops; no specialty malts as I don't want any distinct malt flavor.

Hops are :
.5oz Columbus @ FWH
1.5oz cascade @ 10
.5oz columbus @ 10
1oz cascade @ 0
1oz columbus @ 0

My hopes here are to still have a citrusy quality to the hop profile but add a little something more pungent and danky to the mix as well.

Any comments on either the grain bill or the hop schedule would be much appreciated.
 
What is your mash temp going to be? I would go at a medium-high temp with no crystal malts to retain some body.
 
Ah yes, I suppose I forgot some pertinent information about the brew.

I would be using pacman yeast with a mash temp of perhaps 156-7F.

Would this be an appropriate choice?
 
I would have said around 154.....but close enough!!!

Good choice on the yeast. I not I would use WLP001 or WY1056.
 
Just some thoughts.

Pacman will dry that beer out a lot. It is a heavy attenuating yeast and you have no crystal malt in the recipe to leave any residual sugars. I like pacman for beers over 1.065 in original gravity to help ensure they dry out enough. Even with your higher mash temp Pacman may surprise you with it's attenuation.

I would consider going with Cal Ale yeast and adding 3-5% of a crystal 10 or 20 for mouth feel and a bit of residual sweetness for the bitterness to play off of. If you move to cal ale you will want to mash around 152-154
 
Perhaps it would be reaching out of style guideline (although I don't really care, it's for me) but would the addition of either flaked wheat or just a normal malted wheat be sufficient enough to keep some body without changing yeasts?


Also, any thoughts on the hop bill?

Thanks again folks, I really appreciate it!
 
Adding the wheat would increase the body, but not the residual sweetness. If you like a crisp dry beer, give it a go and see where it gets you. Definitely stick with the higher mash temps though.

You said you were looking for some citrus and some dank from your hops, and I'd say that looks like a good choice to get those qualities.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top