American Pale Ale Russian River Row 2 Hill 56 Clone

60% of the malt bill is pilsner. It's common practice to boil 90 minutes with pilsner. Some people do 60 but I never have

Alright so I've purchased all ingredients needed for this lovely looking recipe (thanks a TON for this by the way). As an east coaster I've only been to RR once ever, and spent the whole time downing sours. Never tried this guy. Anyway, a pretty newb question:

I've only got 4 all grain batches under my belt thus far, and am pretty unfamiliar with my current systems efficiency, so I'm wondering what a standard or safe water:grain ratio would be for mash in. I've read that a thinner mash (1.5-2qts/lb) is better for higher efficiency but I'd like to not go too high. Another related question might be what pre boil volume should I be looking for in order to hit 6 gallons of 1.055 wort in the fermenter? I've checked calculators and get confused by stuff I'm not quite experienced enough to be comfortable trusting.

You'll notice in the OP I left off variables like mash water volume and boil off simply because it's different for everyone based upon their setup, efficiency and how they scale the recipe. In general I'd expect to lose somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2gal per lb due to grain absorption. Again with pre-boil volume that's determined by things like volume of loss when transferring from the brew kettle to the fermenter, boil off rates etc. I'd say it's safe to bet on about 10% boil off rate per hour, which of course can vary depending on a lot of variables like diameter of the boil kettle, how vigorous the boil is etc.

Since you don't know you're efficiency my guess is you won't be hitting the 75% that the recipe is based on, which means you'll want to scale to probably somewhere around 65-68% to be safe. If you need help scaling the recipe let me know.

I'd recommend starting with someplace like http://www.brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php for your volume calculations.

Awesome, thanks! I actually rounded up everything when buying ingredients just to be sure I had enough, so that should help. Also I plugged in the info I knew into the calculator and used average where I was unsure. Looks like it call for roughly 8 gallons of pre boil wort, so I'll probably mash a little thinner than the 1.3 or so its telling me, prepare enough sparge water, and then check gravity as I approach 8 gallons. Most calculators I've checked tell me the pre boil grav should be about 1.045 or so.

Here's what I get when I scale it down to 68% efficiency. You should be shooting for a pre boil gravity of around 1.041 though I wouldn't worry if both your pre and post boil were off by a few points.

Ah I see. I don't have the exact numbers on the grain bill in your scaled model. A little less, actually, but it looks like I've got some wiggle room for this style. Should end up tasty nonetheless! Thanks for the info! I'll brew this up on Sunday.

Welp my efficiency turned out higher than expected lol, OG hit 1.060. I'll probably dry hop a little more for the hell of it, but I'm excited to try this in a few weeks!

I moved this into a keg tonight. Made the OP's recipe except I used galaxy instead of simcoe all the way through. Man did it look and taste great. Can't wait to have this carbed.
This might be my new base recipe for a single-hop pale.
Thanks!

Jukas,

Do you have a water profile you use for this recipe?

leesmith said:

Jukas,

Do you have a water profile you use for this recipe?

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I live in SR, so I use SR City Water, the same (i believe ) as Russian River. Take a look at post 34 . You can also find the RR Pliny Water profile various places on the web.

The only addition I normally do to this beer is Campden for the Chloramine and a bit of gypsum.

Jukas said:

I live in SR, so I use SR City Water, the same (i believe ) as Russian River. Take a look at post 34 . You can also find the RR Pliny Water profile various places on the web.

The only addition I normally do to this beer is Campden for the Chloramine and a bit of gypsum.

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So a normal light and hoppy water profile with decent chloride/sulfide level of 75/150 should be fine. No other additions.
I'd assume this beer isn't too harsh on the bittering?

I brewed 12 gallons of this 2 weeks ago and have cold crashed it and plan on kegging in the next couple days. I have a question regarding dry-hopping in the keg. Would it be beneficial to weigh down the hop bags and suspend them above the dip tube with fishing line to encourage better hop steeping? Looking forward to trying this beer. It looked amazing when I took a gravity reading earlier this week (finished at 1.009)

this looks great, can wait to try this for my next brew, thanks for sharing!

Just kegged this last night...tasted after the dry hops were in there for an hour and it was great...can't wait.

Finished carbing this bad boy. A little malty as expected when I hit a higher grav, but its like a juicy malty that works amazingly with the Simcoe. Beyond pleased with this!

Cheers

LambicPentameter said:

Finished carbing this bad boy. A little malty as expected when I hit a higher grav, but its like a juicy malty that works amazingly with the Simcoe. Beyond pleased with this!



Cheers

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Looks great. I'm kegging tomorrow, can't wait to sample from my hydro jar.

Question, how many OZs did you dry hop with?

BrianMac said:

Looks great. I'm kegging tomorrow, can't wait to sample from my hydro jar.

Question, how many OZs did you dry hop with?

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I just did the 2oz that the OP called for. Tossed them in primary for 4 days and racked off to the keg.

Brewed last night with 1272 instead of 1056/001/05

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425146954.481402.jpg

Subscribing.

Jukas,

Good recipe...the beer turned out to be easy drinking. Reminds me of some of the session IPAs that are popular right now.

Thanks again! It's one to keep in rotation.

Kegged about 10/12 days ago with a little gelatin and this is one of the better beers I've brewed. Taste is all Simcoe with a malty back. My recipe was a little different, I went for a higher OG (1.064) and finished at 1.016 and I adjusted my hop bill accordingly.
After a good crash and time to gas, this has been a favorite of mine and everyone I let try it. I brought a 64oz growler to a party and poured some small glasses, word got out and it was gone in a flash. Not that 64oz is a lot, but when you got 15 people lined up, it's gone before you start. Everyone wanted more, some wanted to pay (at one point, I thought they were going to force me to get the keg), other want to help me brew, and I was smiling big time.
Thanks for the recipe.
Anyone thinking of brewing this should definitely give it a go.

-B

So I said I brewed this and would report back. Even with all the complications from a less-than-ideal brewday, this beer was a huge success and I killed the keg by myself in about 2.5 wks. That being said, I noticed over that period that the beer really transformed, and I enjoyed the different phases. The Maris Otter is pretty prominent for a while, then gives way to the hops a for a good while, then finally both hops and MO fade a bit into a very nice subtle blend of both. Was dangerously drinkable and is going to be feeding our livers for BBQ competition this May.

I did all-Amarillo for my recipe. This time I'm going to go all-Cascade, and I'm subbing in Rahr 2-Row instead of Pilsner since I don't have any Pils at the moment. I expect it'll turn out great as usual, there's simply no way it couldn't.

Just milled the grain for this to brew tomorrow. After a consultation with the butter compartment in my fridge, I saw I was out of US-05, so going with Notty. Will report back in 6 weeks.

Rebrewed this using all Columbus and US-05. Nailed the OG but the US-05 crushed it down to 1.008 so it finished nice and dry! The Columbus makes it an absolute grapefruit bomb so I highly recommend using Columbus if that's your thing. I think I've found my full time single hop recipe! Cheers again!

Can't wait to try this! I have 2 lbs of Simcoe in the freezer that was just waiting for the perfect recipe, and I think I found it. The only difference I will make is the yeast. I have 2 packs of Gigayeast Vermont Ale, aka Conan, that I need to use up. I wonder how well it will play with the rest of the ingredients? Any thoughts from anybody out there?

sdenue57 said:

Can't wait to try this! I have 2 lbs of Simcoe in the freezer that was just waiting for the perfect recipe, and I think I found it. The only difference I will make is the yeast. I have 2 packs of Gigayeast Vermont Ale, aka Conan, that I need to use up. I wonder how well it will play with the rest of the ingredients? Any thoughts from anybody out there?

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Conan is a notoriously low attenuator so expect your beer to finish more sweet and less dry than the recipe intends. In my experience, the peachy aroma which conan is famous for is kind of hard to coerce out of the yeast. Try underpitching by 10-15% and fermenting around 67ish.

If you ask me, Conan is better suited for slightly maltier, east-coast, IPA styles. For a west coast style like this recipe, you really want something that attenuates high without adding much yeast character so that the hops steal the show, like a US-05 of a San Diego Super Yeast. That said, Conan will work fine here, just probably not as mind-blowing as most people expect from the yeast.

sdenue57 said:

Can't wait to try this! I have 2 lbs of Simcoe in the freezer that was just waiting for the perfect recipe, and I think I found it. The only difference I will make is the yeast. I have 2 packs of Gigayeast Vermont Ale, aka Conan, that I need to use up. I wonder how well it will play with the rest of the ingredients? Any thoughts from anybody out there?

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I'll 2nd what makubex said regarding the attenuation of Conan. I've never had it attenuate under 1.016 from any yeast supplier, even when over pitching an active slurry with plenty of pure O2 on a low gravity wort mashed at 148°F and fermented at 68-70°F. The attenuation numbers on the Gigayeast site are either wildly off, or this yeast doesn't like me.

While I actually do get that nice fruity character from it, I can't enjoy a hop forward beer with that much residual sugar left in it.

ocluke said:

I'll 2nd what makubex said regarding the attenuation of Conan. I've never had it attenuate under 1.016 from any yeast supplier, even when over pitching an active slurry with plenty of pure O2 on a low gravity wort mashed at 148°F and fermented at 68-70°F. The attenuation numbers on the Gigayeast site are either wildly off, or this yeast doesn't like me.

While I actually do get that nice fruity character from it, I can't enjoy a hop forward beer with that much residual sugar left in it.

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Currently dry hopping an extra pale ale that I pitched gigayeast Conan on. Sitting at 1.012 and was mashed at 150f. Second gen yeast. Fermented mid 60s and ramped to 70f

Conan is an awesome yeast, and so far I've had good luck with it. I think you just need to make a very healthy yeast starter, follow the fermentation schedule that The Yeast Bay mentions on their site, which is roughly pitch at 66 and then ramp up to 72 over the course of 4 days, and then hold at 72 for the duration of your primary. You should also do an extended cold crash if possible as it seems to want to stay in suspension a little longer.

That being said, I probably wouldn't use it in a Row 2 clone, as you're really trying to highlight the Simcoe flavors here, which I think you'd want a pretty neutral yeast for. I made just a few minor changes to this recipe to work for my system, used WLP001, and am bottling it this weekend. So far I've been quite pleased with the sample.

moreb33rplz said:

Just milled the grain for this to brew tomorrow. After a consultation with the butter compartment in my fridge, I saw I was out of US-05, so going with Notty. Will report back in 6 weeks.

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I think it's a little past 6 weeks, but I just finished off the first bottle. It was great, one of my best beers to date. Did 4 weeks in primary at 62 with Nottingham, another week dryhop in primary at 62-65, and bottled two weeks ago with a half cup cane sugar.

It tastes very 'juicy'. I used whole leaf. Now to crack the second one...

Thanks for the recipe! I think this will be my first repeat brew.

makubex said:

Conan is a notoriously low attenuator so expect your beer to finish more sweet and less dry than the recipe intends. In my experience, the peachy aroma which conan is famous for is kind of hard to coerce out of the yeast. Try underpitching by 10-15% and fermenting around 67ish.

If you ask me, Conan is better suited for slightly maltier, east-coast, IPA styles. For a west coast style like this recipe, you really want something that attenuates high without adding much yeast character so that the hops steal the show, like a US-05 of a San Diego Super Yeast. That said, Conan will work fine here, just probably not as mind-blowing as most people expect from the yeast.

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kchomebrew said:

Currently dry hopping an extra pale ale that I pitched gigayeast Conan on. Sitting at 1.012 and was mashed at 150f. Second gen yeast. Fermented mid 60s and ramped to 70f

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Conan works great... the second time around. You wont get the attenuation you want if its your first run with the yeast. Though after i harvest and repitch i get great attenuation. kchomebrew you are correct with the temp schedule though. Thats exactly what i do as well

Rebrewed this one. Did a batch of it back in August, my brewday #11, did again in April, brewday #21.

Loved the Simcoe the first time, difference this time is I threw some rye malt in to the grainbill and reused some AmAle 1273( about the 6th generation of this stuff)

Bottles just got carbed up and this beer is awesome. I love the way the rye comes through and oh how does the Simcoe shine. Ill try to post a pic if I can keep some in the glass long enough.

Thanks again for the recipe.

Curious. What does the 90 min boil do the beer that a 60 min boil can't?

The longer boil drives off the DMS (dimethyl sulfide) that comes from the pilsner malt. It causes an off flavor similar to creamed corn.

fj605 said:

The longer boil drives off the DMS (dimethyl sulfide) that comes from the pilsner malt. It causes an off flavor similar to creamed corn.

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Ah. Thank you.

However, I believe these days with the pilsner malt more modified than it once was, a lot of people go with a 60 min boil without issue...

MerlinWerks said:

However, I believe these days with the pilsner malt more modified than it once was, a lot of people go with a 60 min boil without issue...

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Been reading other forums on the internet as well, there are some folks who say they do 60 min boils with Pilsner malts with no issue as well. Also found it interesting that there are also a lot of folks who do 90 min boils for all their recipes (Pilsner or not).

I suppose the longer brewing time means more beer drinking time

Jukas, thank you for posting this recipe. I just pulled a sample from a batch I kegged a week ago and it is absolutely delicious. The Simcoe certainly does shine, but the malt is very balanced.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly but close enough. I added 4 oz of left over Carafoam (Dextrin Malt / CaraPils), mashed at 152 instead of 154, finished at 1.011 (6.2 ABV), and targeted 48 IBUs instead of 40. I did dry hop 2 oz Simcoe in primary for 5 days and then added 1 oz to the keg when I racked. I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

Great base recipe for any single hop APA. I see this one going quick.

As for 90 min vs 60 min boils. I also am in the camp that today's modified malts are safe at 60 min boil as far as DMS is concerned. That said, aside from DMS I do think longer boils do help develop a more well rounded malt flavor for certain base malts and styles. Just like decoction isn't necessary for a Marzen/Oktoberfest but somehow color and flavor are better (at least for me) when done.

I visited Sierra Nevada a few months ago (see my Adventures at Beer Camp article) and they still do 90 min boils on their beers. I'm sure there's a significant cost to add 50% more boil time to their product in energy cost and the 500 gallons in evaporation the extra 30 minutes costs them, but that's the way they roll.

Update.

Kegged beer 5 days ago after 3 weeks in primary. Dry hopped five days prior to kegging with 2 oz simcoe. Great taste...though, not getting much aroma...if any at all.

Still a very good tasting pale ale.

Thinking I might drop .5 oz in keg...

Love this recipe for single hopped beers. I've done the Simcoe twice which I love.
Did it w Mosaic but added a 10 min addition and a 2oz flame out. Almost came out more like a session IPA w the extra hops. Still took second in the pale ale category in a local comp with a 37.
Also did an El Dorado version with the original hop schedule which has been my favorite so far. Almost gummy bear like in flavor. Took first in pale ale category in another comp with a 42.
Good recipe I must say.