Summer Pale Ale Recipe, how's this look?

IBUs: 34.8
SG: 1.052
SRM: 8.0
ABV: 5.5%

All Grain Bill:

8lbs Pale 2-row
1lbs Munich
1lbs Crystal 40

Hops:

1oz Centennial@60
1oz Citra@5
1oz Citra dry hop 7 days

Misc:
Whirfloc Tablet 15min
.75oz Orange peel 5min

Debating weather I want to add 1lbs of Honey malt to the grain bill or not. Or maybe even priming with honey? Trying to make a summer time ale. Does this look ok or should I change something up? Any tips are much appreciated! Thanks!

I associate summer with crisp and refreshing tastes...use rice as an adjuct? and as for honey I would add it as an adjunct at the end so you dont risk scoulding or anything like that, but keep it low so it is a very slight hint. I hate that sickly sweet taste of some very potent ales.

st_brewer said:

I associate summer with crisp and refreshing tastes...use rice as an adjuct? and as for honey I would add it as an adjunct at the end so you dont risk scoulding or anything like that, but keep it low so it is a very slight hint. I hate that sickly sweet taste of some very potent ales.

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How much rice and when should I add it? Never used rice before and this is only my second all grain lol.

Ha! That's my go-to base grain bill for my IPAs and they always come out great. It's amazing what a pound of C40 and Munich can do w/ the right hops. Cheers and enjoy, I think you'll be happy w/ your results. A pound of honey wouldn't hurt anything added w/ 10 minutes left in the boil. It would boost up your ABV a little though, which might not be what you're looking for in a summer quaffer.

HawksBrewer said:

Ha! That's my go-to base grain bill for my IPAs and they always come out great. It's amazing what a pound of C40 and Munich can do w/ the right hops. Cheers and enjoy, I think you'll be happy w/ your results. A pound of honey wouldn't hurt anything added w/ 10 minutes left in the boil. It would boost up your ABV a little though, which might not be what you're looking for in a summer quaffer.

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Yeah I don't want to ABV to be too high. I want something flavorful and something you can drink a couple of without getting too tipsy . Thats why I thought using 5oz at bottling would be a good idea. Get some sweet honey flavor but not overwhelmingly so.

Looks like a good recipe to me. I think the grain bill is set. Adding honey doesn't really contribute much flavor if you add it in the boil. It's highly ferment able and will end up making your beer drier. I know people add honey at bottling but its too difficult IMO to accurately predict the CO2 volumes you will acheive from the honey. My suggestion is to skip the honey, if you really want to add some sweetness to the beer add a small charge of honey malt. That would make it a bit more summer like, i suppose.

I would mash this beer at 150 if it were mine because I like to get my hoppy beers like pale ales down to 1.010 if possible.

My only other observation is that you don't have any flavor additions for your hops. While you'll certainly have hop flavor from your current schedule, you might want to add a small charge of hops at the 20 minute mark. Maybe 50/50 centennial and cascade as those two work well layered together. Just keep the addition small so you don't cross over into IPA territory.

With the orange peel and Citra you are going to have quite the citrusy pale ale. Should be good. Especially if the orange peel is fresh orange zest.!

I think the recipe is solid though I would cut the C40 in half. I think a full pound will keep your fg a bit higher than you want. Like Holter said, mash at 150-152.