Light American Pale Ale

I am looking to do a Pale Ale. This is one style I haven't gotten quite right yet. I am a little tired of drinking big malty beers, that's all I had this fall/winter. I want something with a decent malt backbone, but somewhat dry and a decent hop profile, but on the lighter side alcohol wise.

This is what I came up with .... what do you think??

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 5.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.33 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 24.5 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (2 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 11.25 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F

Would replacing a little bit of the pale malt with a pound of corn sugar lighten up the taste and still give you the backbone you want? If I wanted something lighter I might replace a bit of my grain bill with corn sugar to give me the alcohol that I want without the heavy malt flavor. Yeast do love easy sugars.

statseeker said:

Would replacing a little bit of the pale malt with a pound of corn sugar lighten up the taste and still give you the backbone you want? If I wanted something lighter I might replace a bit of my grain bill with corn sugar to give me the alcohol that I want without the heavy malt flavor. Yeast do love easy sugars.

Click to expand...

You could, or you could lower your mash temp to get more fermentable sugars. That was gonna be my suggestion just reading the recipe. Other than that I think the recipe looks solid. Happy brewing!

skeeordye11 said:

You could, or you could lower your mash temp to get more fermentable sugars. That was gonna be my suggestion just reading the recipe. Other than that I think the recipe looks solid. Happy brewing!

Click to expand...

I'd lower the mash temp to 152. Otherwise, it looks great!

OK, had to change this a bit. Was expecting to get another sack of MO, but didn't get it yet. I was getting the grist together last night and realized I only had 4.5# of MO last night. I realize the new recipe will have more malt character, but what do you think about this?

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 5.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.33 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
3.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.25 lb Victory Malt
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 24.5 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (2 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 11.25 qt of water at 166.2 F 152.0 F