American Pale Ale Recipe - Opinions & Suggestions Required

Fellow brewers. I am crafting my first recipe and it is going to be a Pale Ale.
My goal is to stay close to the standards. I want a prominent floral/citrus aroma, Hops flavors to match but not too bitter, and smooth over all.

Here is the recipe I am thinking about trying. My issue is what grains to steep as this is EXTRACT.

Color

Stats
OG 1.058
FG 1.015
IBU 37
ABV 5.5 %
SRM 9
Specifics
Boil Volume 7.5 gallons
Batch Size 5 gallons
Yeast 75% AA

% Weight Weight (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
84.2 % 8.00 Amber Malt Extract Syrup 57.6 14.4
10.5 % 1.00 American Crystal 10L 2.3 2.0
5.3 % 0.50 Crystal 20L 1.0 2.0
9.50 60.9

Hops
% Wt Weight (oz) Hop Form AA% AAU Boil Time Utilization IBU
30.8 % 1.00 East Kent Goldings Whole/Plug 5.0 5.0 60 0.255 19.1
30.8 % 1.00 Cascade Whole/Plug 6.6 6.6 15 0.127 12.5
15.4 % 0.50 Cascade Whole/Plug 6.6 3.3 5 0.051 2.5
23.1 % 0.75 East Kent Goldings Whole/Plug 5.0 3.8 5 0.051 2.9
3.25 37.0

Wyeast 1056 or similar yeast.

Thoughts on steeping grains - Hops Schedule - Dry Hopping -

A big cheers in advance. Ben

I'd get rid of the amber extract, and use light or extra light. Amber extract has other "stuff" in it, like crystal malt, so the color will be too sweet and too dark for a pale ale. 1.5 pounds of crystal is a lot of crystal as it is, and that with the amber malt will be cloyingly sweet and dark. I'd even cut the steeping crystal to 1 pound, and add perhaps some victory malt if you wanted a depth of flavor.

As far as the hops, mixing English hops and US hops is kind of strange to me. The English hops are going to be covered up by the citrusy cascade hops. I'd probably use centennial and cascade for a citrusy flavor, or use willamette/cascade if you want some woodsy/spicy notes.

How much victory?

speedy2782 said:

How much victory?

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.25 pound would be enough. A little goes a long way.

Any suggestions on dry hopping?
What are the major differences in the L of the crystal?
I have seen some people use 10L all the way through 40L

L designates lovibond or how dark the grain is

10L is light end of crystal - 120L is very dark end of crystal

some of the dark roasted/chocolate malts get up too 300L

So for a pale what would 40 or 60 be too dark?

speedy2782 said:

So for a pale what would 40 or 60 be too dark?

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No, either are very good in pale ales. For a little more complexity, I like to do .5 pound of 10L or 20L and .5 pound of 40L or 60L. It adds a bit more depth to the beer without being overly sweet.

REMAKE WITH SUGGESTIONS

Stats
OG 1.057
FG 1.014
IBU 46
ABV 5.5 %
SRM 7
Specifics
Boil Volume 7.5 gallons
Batch Size 5 gallons
Yeast 75% AA
Style Comparison
Low High
OG 1.045 1.057 1.056
FG 1.010 1.014 1.015
IBU 20 46 40
SRM 4 7 11
ABV 4.5 5.5 5.7
Fermentables
% Weight Weight (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
86.5 % 8.00 Light Malt Extract Syrup 54.4 3.2
5.4 % 0.50 American Crystal 40L 1.1 4.0
5.4 % 0.50 American Crystal 10L 1.2 1.0
2.7 % 0.25 Victory Malt 0.5 0.4
9.25 57.2
Hops
% Wt Weight (oz) Hop Form AA% AAU Boil Time Utilization IBU
50.0 % 1.00 Centennial Whole/Plug 10.5 10.5 45 0.236 37.1
25.0 % 0.50 Cascade Whole/Plug 6.6 3.3 15 0.127 6.3
25.0 % 0.50 Cascade Whole/Plug 6.6 3.3 5 0.051 2.5
2.00 45.9

Maybe dry hop with East Kent Golding to add a nice aroma?

Thoughts?

The brew was last night and there was a few changes. Mainly we added .75oz cascade at 15 and 5 and our boil last 70 minutes because we had a little too much volume for the fermentation bucket.
We also used the 60L instead of the 40L crystal.

Will the East Kent Golding be ok for Dry Hopping or will it not impart enough flavor. I was thinking of using 1.5 - 2 oz of dry hopping for 5 days.

speedy2782 said:

Will the East Kent Golding be ok for Dry Hopping or will it not impart enough flavor. I was thinking of using 1.5 - 2 oz of dry hopping for 5 days.

Click to expand...

I would dry hop with cascade.