My first Recipe - Super Simple Pale Ale

So, after having brewed a couple beers now, all of which have been way darker than i expected, I want to try and brew something light in color and wonderful in taste.

thinking: 8lbs 2 row, 3 lbs 15 crystal, 2 oz cascade, 2 oz centennial. Have some Northwest 1332 yeast i washed from a previous batch.

mash @ 154 for an hour?

I love hops, and think i might add some more cascade, and was also wondering if adding some priming sugar to up the OG would be a good idea? or more grain?

My MLT has been giving good efficiency, and i order my grain crushed. (fantasize about having a mill. some day.)

would love some feedback. cheers

I think a half pound or so of crystal would be enough. I wouldn't add sugar.

3lbs of crystal is WAY to much. A half pound should be good, and i personally wouldn't go any higher than a full pound tops.

Agreed.

I would use about a pound of the crystal.

Like other said, go with 1/2 to 1 Lb of the crystal. Use a darker version to get the color what you want.

What hop schedule do you plan on using?

+10 less crystal. 1/2 - 1 pound. I like more malt in my pale ales so I would add a pound of munich or a half pound of victory too but you said simple so stick with the crystal. 1332 Northwest is a great yeast, it will underattenuate a little too so you should have some residual sweetness left either way.

If I added anything to it it would be Vienna and maybe some wheat but the defeats the "super simple" idea.

I would mix the hops together and add them at 60,20,10 and the last at flame out or as a dry hop.

Thanks so much guys. ended up ordering 10lbs 2 row, 1 lbs crystal 15. 4 oz cascade, 2 oz centennial. I was going to add them at roughly the same schedule conroe mentioned (thanks for that by the way). how come you suggest mixing them together?

anyway, trying out morebeer.com, since free shipping has lots of appeal, and i don't have a mill yet.

cheers

avibayer said:

how come you suggest mixing them together?

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Just to keep it simple. Honestly 4 oz is more than you need for five gallons of APA.

If I had the AA of your hops I'd plug it in at hopville and figure it out more precisely.

I plugged it in with the base AA and I figure 1/2 oz Cascade at 60, then mixing 1.5 oz of Cascade and 1.5 oz Centennial for additions at 20, 10, and dry hop.


I'd still be afraid of using 9% of Crystal 15L. I perceive is as fairly sweet. If I used that much crystal I want at least some of it darker.

So, i checked out hopville. And your right as far as the style goes.

however, i have a lot of baggage going into this brew. I recently visited friends out in oakland CA, and gave them a six pack of an IPA i made. we tried it after drinking racer 5, a super hoppy beer. they didn't think it was hoppy at all. then a few days later, my sister's mother -in-law starts ranting about how hops cause men to lose their virility.

all that being said, and my own fondness of hops, I plan to add 6 oz in total. hopville is real neat. it says the IBU will be around 70. Hmmm, so my super simple pale ale might turn out to be a super simple, light color IPA? I'll brew it up, and let you know.

if you don't want it to be that bitter, you can cut down on the 60 minutes addition (or omit it completely) and add all the hops in the last 30 minutes. That should get you a less bitter beer with more hop flavor and aroma.

My life has been getting in the way of my brewing. Have yet to brew this tasty sounding batch, messed up my Northwest yeast i think with a botched starter. Set up a new starter with yeast i got from the dogfish head squal. hoping to brew today.

I brewed this up, and four weeks later, because of a pinch in schedule, and other obligations had to bottle it. It went from primary to bottling bucket, with no conditioning. Is that why its so cloudy?

In ended up scaling back on the crystal 15, and adding some 60. Tasted some of it, and it seems real malty and still very green. i'll see in two weeks how it is, but think it will be much better in another month or so. if only i had the patience. sigh.

Two weeks later, it is super cloudy and has not settled. oh well. The taste is super hoppy, which is kinda what i was going for after some friends said my previous ipa was not hoppy enough. this one though is not balanced. it just tastes hoppy. i think thats cause it was mainly base malt, a bit of 15 and a pinch of 60. i love learning from each brew though, and this was my first stab at a recipe. the head is marvelous and the color is just what i was going for (minus the cloudy ness)