Noble Hop Pale Ale

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gometz

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Hey everyone, I have been working on a recipe for a pale ale using noble hops. The idea behind this beer is that I will take it along on my girlfriend's family's summer camp out, where we will be spending lots of time in the sun and in the water. Not everyone likes hops as much as me, so I figured this would be a good time to try out a noble pale ale.

5.5 Gal Batch
OG: 1.050
FG:1.012
4.90% ABV
IBU: 36.88
6.44 SRM

Grain:
8 lbs Pale 2-Row
1 lb Vienna
1 lb Victory

Dough in at 130F and hold for 30 minutes
Raise temperature to 152F and hold until conversion is complete.
Mash out at 170F for 10 minutes
Sparge with 2 gallons 170F water

Hop Schedule:
1 oz Halltertau 60 minutes
0.5 oz Halltertau 45 minutes
0.5 oz Halltertau 30 minutes
1 oz Halltertau 15 minutes
1 oz Halltertau 5 minutes

1 oz Halltertau Dry hop 7 days

(All Hallertau is MittelFruh)

Yeast: WLP002 English Ale

7 days primary at 65F
7 days secondary at 65F
Bottle and prime
Condition 3 weeks at 65F

Things I am unsure about:
1. The Vienna malt (I would like the malty flavor and color, but kind of feel like it might be out of character for the style).
2. WLP002 Yeast. Never used it before. The recipe is designed as an American Pale Ale, but I think WLP001 would give me too many fruity flavors.

Any input is appreciated (not planning on brewing until end of the month due to fermenter capacity being fully in use).

EDIT: Forgot the dry hops
EDIT AGAIN: and the fermentation schedule

UPDATED:
New grain bill:
8 lb Pale 2-Row 82.1%
1 lb Golden Promise 10.3%
6 oz Victory 3.8%
6 oz Crystal 30L 3.8%

OG: 1.049
FG 1.012
4.8% ABV

Yeast Options: WLP001, WLP008 or WLP060.
Of course I am looking at White Labs because that's what I normally use, Wyeast 1272 also looks like a good candidate.
 
Your grist is 10% Victory. That's a powerful lot of biscuit. 8% would be generous. 5% would be noticeable. 3% would be subtle.

Vienna is probably a little outside style, but it's your beer and if you like it then who's to say you can't do it?

If you're concerned about the California ale yeast giving you too much fruit, then you shouldn't head to the British ale yeast. That'll give you even more fruity flavors. You might try the Australian, Koelsch, Alt, Pacific, or California 5.
 
Your grist is 10% Victory. That's a powerful lot of biscuit. 8% would be generous. 5% would be noticeable. 3% would be subtle.

Vienna is probably a little outside style, but it's your beer and if you like it then who's to say you can't do it?

If you're concerned about the California ale yeast giving you too much fruit, then you shouldn't head to the British ale yeast. That'll give you even more fruity flavors. You might try the Australian, Koelsch, Alt, Pacific, or California 5.

Hmmm I thought I had read that the British was cleaner. Thanks for the notes.
 
After your input here is my revised grain bill:

8 lb Pale 2-Row 82.1%
1 lb Golden Promise 10.3%
6 oz Victory 3.8%
6 oz Crystal 30L 3.8%

OG: 1.049
FG 1.012
4.8% ABV
 
I've been drinking a lot of british beer lately - especially Epic mid mountain mild ale. It seems to use Marris otter as the base along with (I'm guessing) some c50 or c60 to get it to about 12 srm. Really good easy to drink stuff and at 3%, you can have several! My next pale is going to have marris otter as a base. I know your not supposed to taste the malt in an american pale or ipa, but as the previous poster mentioned - it's your beer.

If you want to drink a lot out in the sun all day, I vote for lower gravity = I can drink more of it.
 
I made a similar beer in march, but used WLP036 Dusseldorf alt yeast fermented at 64ºF it was a big hit. good noble hop character but the yeast gave the beer a nice round flavor, some what sweet (not sugary sweet) with a moderate mouth feel much like a kolsh yeast, and a good clean fermentation. It was my first time using that yeast but I used in three more times after that and was very happy with it.
 
I made a similar beer in march, but used WLP036 Dusseldorf alt yeast fermented at 64ºF it was a big hit. good noble hop character but the yeast gave the beer a nice round flavor, some what sweet (not sugary sweet) with a moderate mouth feel much like a kolsh yeast, and a good clean fermentation. It was my first time using that yeast but I used in three more times after that and was very happy with it.

I was looking at that strain last night but wasn't 100% sure about it. Would I basically be making pale Alt then?

I don't have much experience drinking Alt's (despite having been to Germany 15+ times), so I wasn't sure if that would be the way to go.
 
Yes it will be more like an alt bier. If you where looking to enter it in to a contest it would probably be entered in to 7A or even 6B depending on the color.

One thing too, WLP002 will give you a lot more fruity esters than 001, 001 is a very neutral clean yeast. Fermenting 036 at lower temps I feel it was more in line with 001 as a clean yeast, but the soft sweetness accents the noble hop profile well, as 001 accents an american hop profile better.
 
Yes it will be more like an alt bier. If you where looking to enter it in to a contest it would probably be entered in to 7A or even 6B depending on the color.

One thing too, WLP002 will give you a lot more fruity esters than 001, 001 is a very neutral clean yeast. Fermenting 036 at lower temps I feel it was more in line with 001 as a clean yeast, but the soft sweetness accents the noble hop profile well, as 001 accents an american hop profile better.

sptaylor70 mentioned I was looking at the wrong yeast as well, I haven't really decided on what to do on that front yet. From what I have read WLP0036 would require a long secondary, so I am thinking WLP001, WLP008 (East Coast) or maybe WLP060 (American Blend).
 
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