Pale Ale Feedback

I am going to do my first Pale Ale this week. Any feedback would be great.

Grain 2-Row (10 lbs 0 oz)
Grain Carapils (1 lbs 0 oz)
Grain Vienna (1 lbs 0 oz)
Grain Caramel 40 (1 lbs 0 oz)
Hops Williamette Pellets (2 oz) 60 min
Hops Cascade Pellets (.5 oz) 20 min
Hops Cascade Pellets (.5 oz) 5 min
Yeast SAFALE US-05 American Ale

Min Max Yours
OG 1.045 1.060 1.059
FG 1.010 1.015 1.015
IBUs 30.0 45.0 30.1
SRM 5.0 14.0 8.2
ABV % 4.5 6.2 5.8

(note: thanks to Brewmasters Warehouse for the calculations)

I'd hop just a little more aggressively. I realize that it's intended to be a Pale Ale and not an IPA, but you're at the very high end of the scale for OG, and the very low end for IBU's. For a 1.059 Pale Ale, 30.1 just strikes me as a little light. I'd bump it to at least 40 for that gravity. But that's just me.

Looks fine to me otherwise.

looks good!

I'd brew it, I'd drink it.

I do an almost identical recipe all the time for pales.
my latest couple of batches have been budget specials, I skip the carapils.

Must be different calculators, in beersmith this recipe is showing 40 IBU (tinseth) switched to rager and it was showing 49.5.

Yeah I'd agree on the 40 range most of mine are 40 to 50

edit: had the batch size set for 5.5, at 5G it's 42IBU

DanVader said:

Must be different calculators, in beersmith this recipe is showing 40 IBU (tinseth) switched to rager and it was showing 49.5.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I tried this in Beer Tools Pro and I get 47.5 (Rager, I think). Of course, this all depends on the actual AA of the hops, which the OP didn't provide.

Nevertheless, I think the recipe he laid out will indeed be closer to the 40's than the 30's, unless he's getting some oddly low AA examples of the hops. And the low 40's would be about right for that recipe IMO.

Interesting. I'm getting totally different numbers, here. According to ProMash - which I have set to numbers I've observed in my brewhouse - this grist will yield a wort of 1.069 OG, and the hops schedule IBU of 51.

In other words, as written it's a fairly balanced IPA that could use a decent shot of dry hops to get into real IPA hops flavor/aroma.

This wouldn't be the first time online calculators went a bit batty...

Bob

A ProMash Recipe Report

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

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.00
Anticipated OG: 1.069 Plato: 16.89
Anticipated SRM: 8.6
Anticipated IBU: 51.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
76.9 10.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
7.7 1.00 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
7.7 1.00 lbs. Vienna Malt America 1.035 4
7.7 1.00 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.00 oz. Willamette Pellet 5.00 44.9 60 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.75 4.3 20 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.75 2.2 5 min.


NB: That's a high proportion of Crystal/Caramel malts, at 15.4% of the grist. I'd ditch the CaraPils altogether - swap in more 2-row if you like - then mash low and slow to get good attenuation from it. You want IPA to finish dry. The Vienna will enhance the malt and the Crystal will provide a certain amount of residual sweetness and body; but you want the drink to end with a dry slam of hops.

Cheers,

Bob