American Pale Ale Cascades / Orange Pale Ale

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.
Also - I don't believe that crystal/caramel malts have any impact on the head of a beer, but I could be wrong. Regarding the opacity of the beer - did you use whirlfloc or any other clarifiers? They help big time.

Crystal malts are often used to improve body and head retention. My only gripe about my first pass at this recipe was that the head retention was a bit on the poor side for my taste. I was thinking about making a slight modification by adding some carapils or upping the mash temp slightly (I mashed at 150F). Otherwise the beer is absolutely delicious....even given the fact that I actually used 2oz of coriander instead of the 1oz called for in your recipe.

Edit: Oh, and +1 on finings FTW. Whirfloc clears this beer beautifully.
 
This is a fantastic beer! It's become a house beer and one I've brewed more often than any other. Having said that, I've tweaked the recipe quite a bit from the original for my own personal tastes. Hope the OP isn't offended. My version:

5 gallons:

SG 1.053
FG 1.010
Eff 73%
SRM 12
IBU 42
ABV 5.75

10lbs 8oz 2-Row
12oz Victory
8oz C120
8oz Carapils

Mash (BIAB):
4gal @ 150F for 60min
2.25gal @168F for 10min batch sparge
60min boil

1oz Cascade pellet FWH
1oz Cascade pellet 15min
1oz Cascade pellet 10min
1oz Cascade pellet 5min
1oz Cascade pellet 1min
2oz Cascade Leaf dry hop 14 days.

1tsp nutrient 10min
fresh zest from 3 medium sized organic oranges 5min

Wyeast American Ale II 1272 with 1L starter
 
I am brewing this again tomorrow. I am making a few slight changes this time, though. Instead of 9 pounds of maris otter, I am going to use 8 pounds of two row and 1 pound of belgian biscuit malt. I am dropping the carmel malt and adding an extra pound of vienna. How does this sound?
 
I am brewing this again tomorrow. I am making a few slight changes this time, though. Instead of 9 pounds of maris otter, I am going to use 8 pounds of two row and 1 pound of belgian biscuit malt. I am dropping the carmel malt and adding an extra pound of vienna. How does this sound?

Sounds good to me. That's the beauty of making your own beer, tweak something and see if you like it.
 
Has any one in this thread tried using orange peel in secondary instead of boil? Why I ask is because I was going to brew this beer with out the orange and coriander in the boil then when I secondary siphon off a gallon to do just the orange to to make sure it is what I want before making 5 gallons of it. I can tell the base beer is defiantly something i want a whole lot of! Also I have read up on adding to the secondary so I know some use zest some use fresh or dried peel some soak in vodka some use peeled whole oranges. It is just this is my first adding anything to secondary besides hops and coffee so I would like to know a few preferences before I do it. Thanks.
 
@ blacklab, I made this beer as my first partial mash ever. I hit all my target temperatures and was very happy with my result. I went with an additional 15 minutes on the boil because I started with 6.5 gallons pre-boil and I needed extra time to reach 5 gallons. I was able to adjust my final hop additions. My OG was 1.052 a little low but I'm not worried. 24 hours later and primary is going crazy. Thankfully I put a blow off tube because the Krausen would have been everywhere. Thanks for the recipe and all the tips and suggestions. I am definitely moving to AG for the next brew day.
 
I just brewed this and toasted 2# of the MO for 30 min @ 350f, came out a little darker than beersmith estimated. But looking real good.
 
Hey all,

Fairly new member and first post here. I recently started brewing a few months ago and have a few batches under my belt. I already made the decision to go AG and just finished getting all y equipment together and think I wanna do this as my first AG. Quick question, I already purchased a 50lb bag of American Pale Ale grains. Would this be ok to use for this brew. I am pretty sure that it is very similar to the two row but just wanted to make sure or see if I should use more or less of the American pale ale vs the two row. Any help is much appreciated and I am really loving this site. Got all my idea for my equipment off here and I think it turned out pretty good.
 
Welcome to the club! That's exactly the base grain you want to use. Most domestic grains are 2-row, unless otherwise marked like "6-row". There are just different varieties of 2-row and "pale" is one of them.
The crush is very crucial, so if you have a local HB store, it might be a good idea to try to have them crush your first batch. If you already have your own equipment, then I'm jealous!
It sounds like you're well on your way to your first AG batch, and you picked a good recipe to try. Be sure to be patient and give yourself a plenty of room for error. It's a learning process, but you won't regret making the switch. In the meantime, you know where to turn for your questions.

Cheers-

Guinnessface
 
Yes, I am definitely going to have the LHBS crush my grains for me and thanks for the explanation on that. I guess I was just confused because I have seen some labeled as 2 row pale ale and mine was just labeled as American pale ale. Thanks again and I will update how everything goes.
 
Got this one sitting in the primary right now and it smells delicious. I put 2 oz of orange peels and in the boil and I still have 1 oz leftover and was thinking of throwing it in the secondary. Do you think that would be too much orange or is it all on personal preference. Has anyone else tried this at all?? Any feedback is helpful.
 
I could've used a little more orange flavor when I brewed this. I would caution you however not to just toss the orange peel in secondary as it might contaminate the beer. If you want added orange flavor, I suggest you boil the zest only in a cup of water for 5 minutes ( the remaining pith of the peel could cause some bitterness). Let the "tea" cool a bit, then add it to your secondary.
 
Put this in fermenter 4 hours ago can not wait to drink this first time using fruit! I sub the dryer orange for fresh!!!
 
I would caution you however not to just toss the orange peel in secondary as it might contaminate the beer.

Is this something we should be all that worried about? I'm fixin' to do a batch of this, and considering a little more zest in the secondary as well. I'm not sure why I'd have contamination problems with orange zest and not with dry hopping... :confused:
 
Jubilee said:
Is this something we should be all that worried about? I'm fixin' to do a batch of this, and considering a little more zest in the secondary as well. I'm not sure why I'd have contamination problems with orange zest and not with dry hopping... :confused:

Hops are known as persavatives. Orange peels harbor nasties.
Something on those lines.
 
Hops are known as persavatives. Orange peels harbor nasties.
Something on those lines.

Hmmm. While I'm a true believer in cleanliness in brewing this strikes me as a little over-protective. I'd not throw bird-crapped orange zest in a brew (I'd wash it first) but methinks the alcohol would probably take care of the typical nasties that might be present.

But hey, to each their own and RDWHAHB! :mug:
 
Jubilee said:
Hmmm. While I'm a true believer in cleanliness in brewing this strikes me as a little over-protective. I'd not throw bird-crapped orange zest in a brew (I'd wash it first) but methinks the alcohol would probably take care of the typical nasties that might be present.

But hey, to each their own and RDWHAHB! :mug:

Soak the orange in vodka, hey extra alcohol isn't bad. ;)
 
So I brewed this up today for the first time. Also first time using a pump to recirculate and whirlpool. Resirc went fine but I learned a lesson. Don't freeball dried orange peel if using a pump. Whirlpooled for about a minute till it clogged. Next project is building a hop spider. Whole house smells great tho. Even swmbo likes it.
 
I actually had a bottle of this sitting downstairs from alst April/May when I brewed it. I popped it open tonight. Smells and tastes awesome. Some of the cascade flavor definitely died down but still a great brew. I look forward to doing it again!
 
Just pitched yeast on a batch of this last night. I used Centennial instead of Cascades, since that is what I had. Also, I used a vegetable peeler to carefully peel off just to orange part of the orange peel from some organic oranges. It took quite a lot to get 2 oz dried. I am looking forward to tasting it.
 
Brewed a batch of this a few weeks ago. I subbed the late addition cascades with centennials, and fermented with US-05. I just racked it to the secondary and I'm dry-hopping with some more centennials. The sample I took was super clean and tasted awesome! Can't wait to keg this!
 
So I have made this recipe a couple times and really love it which made me think of trying a IIPA based on blacklabs original. Here it is what I came up with so far and I'm hoping to brew this weekend.

Pale Ale 38ppg, 3°L 13 pounds 81.2%
Vienna 35ppg, 4°L 1 pound 6.2%
Crystal 60L 34ppg, 60°L 1 pound 6.2%
Dry Sugar - Corn 42ppg, °L 1 pound 6.2%
Yeast - White Labs California Ale

Mash
60 minutes, Target 151°F
Batch Sparge

Hops
Cascade 6.9%, Pellet 1 ounce FWH
Columbus hops 14.6%, Pellet 2 ounce 60 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 1 ounce 10 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 1 ounce 5 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 2 ounces 1 minutes
Columbus hops 14.6%, Pellet 1 ounce 1 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 2 ounce Dry Hop 7 days
Columbus hops 14.6%, Pellet 2 ounce Dry Hop 7 days

Additions

Crushed Coriander 1 ounce 10 minutes
Orange peel 2 ounces 10 minutes
Orange peel 1 ounce Added to fermenter for 7 days
 
I had tasted the brew when transferring to secondary prior to dry hopping and almost left it as is. The flavor and aroma were great. This recipe had so many good reviews that I opted to go with the dry hop step. I just tried the first bottle. Whoa! Hopefully the hop flavor will mellow a bit over time. It's a bit stronger than I had expected. Strong aroma, strong taste. A hop-lovers beer for certain. I will be making this again but scaling the dry hops way back to about 25%.
 
tbright0223 said:
So I have made this recipe a couple times and really love it which made me think of trying a IIPA based on blacklabs original. Here it is what I came up with so far and I'm hoping to brew this weekend.

Pale Ale 38ppg, 3°L 13 pounds 81.2%
Vienna 35ppg, 4°L 1 pound 6.2%
Crystal 60L 34ppg, 60°L 1 pound 6.2%
Dry Sugar - Corn 42ppg, °L 1 pound 6.2%
Yeast - White Labs California Ale

Mash
60 minutes, Target 151°F
Batch Sparge

Hops
Cascade 6.9%, Pellet 1 ounce FWH
Columbus hops 14.6%, Pellet 2 ounce 60 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 1 ounce 10 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 1 ounce 5 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 2 ounces 1 minutes
Columbus hops 14.6%, Pellet 1 ounce 1 minutes
Cascade hops 5.6%, Pellet 2 ounce Dry Hop 7 days
Columbus hops 14.6%, Pellet 2 ounce Dry Hop 7 days

Additions

Crushed Coriander 1 ounce 10 minutes
Orange peel 2 ounces 10 minutes
Orange peel 1 ounce Added to fermenter for 7 days

So I just bottled this version on Sunday and let me tell you it is delicious. Came in at a nice 8% abv but still has the great orange and cascade flavors and aroma. Gonna be hard to let this one sit for a few weeks especially with the 4th coming up. Gotta thank blacklabs once again for a great recipe.
 
Just pitched my yeast a few minutes ago on this. My first all-grain batch. Nailed all my gravity readings:rockin:
I only had 1 oz of coriander and put it in the hop bag with the orange zest. Will it hurt the flavor/aroma to remove them for fermentation?
Cant wait for this one to finish!
 
I brewed this for my first all grain several weeks ago. I didn't use hop bags for the orange zest or corriander. Big mistake. Broke my siphon when racking to secondary. It kept getting clogged and I would have to clear it out and eventually the little clip popped out on the bottom of the siphon cane. Lesson learned. Anyway, even with all the mistakes I made the beer still tastes great. The orange flavor is pretty potent. I did 1oz bitter orange zest and 1oz sweet orange zest as that's all they had left at my LHBS. It's not fully carbed yet. Hoping that the orange flavor will mellow out a bit as it sits in the keg. Thanks for the recipe.
 
I did a beer view to this recipe on youtube. I followed the recipe exactly. What an awesome brew!!

[ame]http://youtu.be/k2ia2faRnTQ[/ame]
 
Tasted my hydrometer sample today. Even with just under 1oz of crushed coriander its pretty powerful. Its not bad but definitely there. The sample also had a nice bite to it. Maybe once its carbed up and dry-hopped the coriander will drop out some. It smells awesome. Going to be hard to wait a couple more weeks!
 
After a week and a half in the keg it's mellowed and tasty. Also, if I pour a glass and let it warm the spice of the corriander is more prevalent on the back end. Muy bueno!
 
I'm debating brewing this because I already did a Wit this year. How close is this in flavor to a Wit? Maybe I should drop the coriander.
 
sivdrinks said:
I'm debating brewing this because I already did a Wit this year. How close is this in flavor to a Wit? Maybe I should drop the coriander.

It's more of a pale ale with bite. Doesn't really resemble a wit to me.
 
This is a fantastic beer.

I thought I should mention, the second time I brewed it I replaced the bittering hops with Nugget (had a bunch in the freezer I needed to get rid of). If you're ever thinking about doing this, DON'T. The flavor profile is way off. It is much more "orangey" and enjoyable if you just stick with the recipe.

I'll be brewing another batch soon.
 
Having the first taste of this now. The coriander could have been 0.5oz. It has more bitterness than I thought 38.4 IBUs would have. It's not a bad thing but did surprise me. It's a great hot weather beer. Mine is slightly dry considering I mashed pretty high but I'm sure that adds to the perceived bitterness. I'm sure this leg will float soon:) Have a BTH clone on deck but I may brew this one again before summer is totally over. I'll back off on the coriander though.
Great beer!
 
Back
Top