Crystal malt in a Stone Pale Ale

I believe that the grain bill for a Stone Pale Ale clone from BYO magazine is like 10 pounds two row, 1.5 pounds Crystal 60, and 6 ounces Crystal 75. Is it just me or does that seem like a sh!tload of crystal? Wouldn't that be way too sweet? I love the beer and would like to brew a clone, but I'm a little wary of throwing so much crystal in there, as I've had bad experiences as a noob with using too much of it. Anybody brew this recipe before?

I just ordered the ingredients for that recipe yesterday. I'll let you know.

DavyMark said:

I just ordered the ingredients for that recipe yesterday. I'll let you know.

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Thanks brother.

That is a little high but overall around 16% of the grist is crystal malt. That is on the high end but not that high. Most people recommend a max use of crystal around 15-20%. Nothing to be too worried about.

AnOldUR said:

Curious, what’s the mash schedule / temperatures?

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Mash in 45 minutes at 156 degrees, mash out 10 minutes at 168 degrees. Then personally I fly sparge at my mash out temp.

a word of advice for this recipe....don't use wlp002. Does not taste at all like stone pale. A good beer, but definitely not a clone. I would use wlp051 or 001. the english ale yeast makes this beer a bit to sweet IMO.

I brewed it also and it was not even close. I thought it was so far off that I don't even know what to change to get it close!

Just finished pitching the yeast.

10# breiss 2 row pale
1.5# caramel 40
0.66# caramel 60
0.33oz fwh magnum 12.2aa
0.33oz magnum 12.2aa 90min
1oz ahtenum 15min
1tbsp irish moss
45 min. mash in @156*
10 min. mash out @168*
45 min. fly sparge @168*
cooled to 70* pitched 1 tube of white english ale yeast
sitting in a closet @74* until fermentation starts then ferm chamber @67*
o.g. 1.064

From my experience your instinct is correct.

I've brewed an IPA with a pound of crystal 60 (American ale yeast) and it tasted to me on the verge of what I would consider an amber. I didn't care all that much for it.

I would not use 1.5 lbs. myself. (If I were to do an amber I would use a more complex crystal bill, split low and high.)

This was actually supposed to be a Stone Pale clone. The recipe is from a magazine. I'm just pumped b/c it's the first time I ever hit my og target in an ag brew!