APA recipe critique?

basically what I'm going for here in an inexpensive pale ale. all of this should cost <$20 (I'm reusing yeast). I'd like to keep this inexpensive because I'm new to all-grain (and brewing in general) and would like to make sure that I've got everything down, and it'd be nice to have an inexpensive homebrew to keep in stock and remake in the future

I'm not sure which temp would be best to mash at. perhaps 155 so it doesn't finish too low?


Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.00
Anticipated OG: 1.045 Plato: 11.18
Anticipated SRM: 10.5
Anticipated IBU: 35.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
88.9 8.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
6.9 0.63 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
2.8 0.25 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120
1.4 0.13 lbs. Melanoidin Malt 1.033 35

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Warrior Pellet 15.40 19.0 60 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Pellet 9.00 11.3 30 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 6.00 3.9 15 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade Pellet 6.00 1.2 5 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Depends what you're aiming for. If you want an APA that's true to style, I'd probably drop the melanoidin and special b. If you choose to leave those grains in, it will have more malt character than usual for the style. Not necessarily a bad thing, maybe just a little different.

I usually shoot for 152-154 - APAs shouldn't be too malty/sweet.

Up the C60 a little, maybe .75lbs, and listen to honey badger. Drop the melanoidin and special b. Just not needed in an APA. Also spend the extra $2 for an extra ounce of cascade. Add at least .5 ounces at 0min, and dry hop with whatever is left.

In addition to removing some of the malt (probably the special B and melanoidin malt), I'd change the 30 minute hop addition to 15 minutes.

I have to agree with all above. If you want some maltyness up the C60 to a pound. I would move the 30 min cent. addition to dry hop or maybe 5 minutes and get an oz of Amarillo for dryhop.

also Consider adding the centennials later. say at 15, 10 or 5. sounds tasty to me!

with the the melanoidin and special B, I was aiming for something similar to Three Floyd's Alpha King. but that beer has almost twice the IBUs, so it does sound like a good idea to be a little more conservative on that. but I'd like to add a touch of something else to give it just a little bit more than the crystal 60 (I always thought that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale could use a hint of something else when it came to the malt). I definitely don't want to make it too sweet though

maybe I'll just switch out the melanoidin with something else if it would be too strong, like just .25 lbs of munich

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.00
Anticipated OG: 1.045 Plato: 11.22
Anticipated SRM: 8.6
Anticipated IBU: 35.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
90.3 8.13 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
8.3 0.75 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
1.4 0.13 lbs. Melanoidin Malt 1.033 35

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.35 oz. Warrior Pellet 15.40 26.5 60 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Pellet 9.00 5.9 15 min.
0.65 oz. Cascade Pellet 6.00 3.2 5 min.

and mash at 154, but I won't beat myself up if it drops a little below that

thanks everyone

Looks good now. I'd adovocate more late hops, but I like everything hoppy =)

how did this turn out?

Turned out well, but I had to use different crystal since my brewshop didn't have crystal 60. I went with caramunich (since it was around 60l) but it turned out too malty. Learned my lesson there. So I went with a mix of crystal ~40 and 80 the second time and it came out better.

I'm not getting too much from the meladoidin malt though. I may just put some Vienna instead for a little bit of a different character

The warrior hops made a good bittering hop. Clean. Mashing at around 152 did the trick.