Can you Brew It recipe for Epic Pale Ale

samoir-nz said:

And.... how does it compare to the real thing? Interested to hear your thoughts.

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I'll have to do a taste test. Life got in the way so haven't managed it yet. I'll get a couple of bottles and do a photo compare as well. I got told by some that mine was better, but I can't be sure if they were being nice or actually serious.

Well, did the taste test.
First thing to note is I used NZ Cascade only, Epic uses US Cascade only.

Second, please excuse the nasty bottle of wine in the background, player of the day prize for SWMBO.

Third sorry for the pics, camera ran outta juice so used the cell instead. If you want I can out some better pics up tomorrow.

My brew, the All American American is on the left and the Epic Pale Ale is on the right.

Initial thoughts are.
The nose on the AAA is stronger than the EPA.
The bitterness on the AAA is more pronounced than the EPA.
SWMBO liked the AAA more than the EPA.
The EPA is not a cloudy as the AAA.
The AAA doesn't seem to have hop sweetness if that makes any sense.

I think the NZ Cascade fit better than the US Cascade. Personal choice I suppose, but I love hops and for me, the AAA is the better beer of the two. If I could get the clearness of the EPA I'd be onto a winner.

I'll try and answer any questions if anyone has any

I wouldn't worry about the haze, mine took a while to clear up. I actually thought it tasted better younger than when it did clear (something dropped out)...duh. But hey, thanks for the comparison, looks tasty! What differences do you pick up from the NZ Cascade from the American-grown version?

14thstreet said:

I wouldn't worry about the haze, mine took a while to clear up. I actually thought it tasted better younger than when it did clear (something dropped out)...duh. But hey, thanks for the comparison, looks tasty! What differences do you pick up from the NZ Cascade from the American-grown version?

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Sure is tasty!!

Differences between the hops:
NZ Cascade seemed to pack more of a pine and resin nose and taste whereas the US seemed to be more passion/tropical fruit borderline wine smell ant just not as much punch in taste. Might have been the batch of hops Epic used, but I remember the first time I had the EPA and it blew my socks off....this time, not so much.

I will brew it again, think it'll make a great house ale. I think the base beer is good to use as a showcase for any hop. I've thought about using it as a base for some other NZ types, Motueka, Riwaka etc. If I do I'll throw some results up

Planning on brewing this again, with some slight changes:

American Pale Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 6.200
Total Hops (g): 254.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.059
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.80 %
Colour (SRM): 8.4
Bitterness (IBU): 34.2
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
5.000 kg Golden Promise Malt (80.65%)
0.600 kg Caramalt (9.68%)
0.400 kg Crystal 10 (6.45%)
0.200 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (3.23%)

Hop Bill
----------------
7.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 75 Minutes
14.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes
34.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes
42.5 g Cascade Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes
42.5 g Motueka Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes
57.0 g Motueka Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 5 Days (Dry Hop)
57.0 g Motueka Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop)

Misc Bill
----------------
Fermented at 21°C with Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

I know this is an older thread now, but I just bottled up my batch of this.
It smelled fantastic after the first dry hop addition, but after the cold crash addition the aroma was pretty muted (may have been due to the fact it was 43 degrees.)
My question is, did anyone have a low FG? I ended up at 1.004 using the American Ale 2. Took a bit to get started, but apparantly eveything in my home brewery attenuates VERY well.

I'm bringing this inthe bottle to an interclub competition with my homebrew club. we are all making APA's, hopefully mine does well!