American Pale Ale A Tiny Beautiful Pale Ale

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bovineblitz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
2,411
Reaction score
145
Location
Binghamton, NY
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
S05
Yeast Starter
dry
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.052
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
40
Color
4.2
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
~3 weeks at 64*F
Tasting Notes
Light and crisp, orange candy El Dorado hop character with nice complementary flavors
This beer was inspired by Maine Beer Co.'s A Tiny Beautiful Something, which is a very simple light pale ale with El Dorado hops. I liked the general idea of the beer, but El Dorado on its own is pretty one-note and I thought an evolution of the idea was in order. Hence, this "Vermont-style" pale ale (Yes I know the brewery is in Maine, heh)! It's a great summery easy drinker, but I dig it anytime.

You want some very clean water that's relatively low in everything. My water is pretty variable, so I cut it with 60% distilled water and add a few grams of gypsum back in. Keep it pretty simple! The oats and wheat do a good job of preventing it from being watery and at this point I think that oats = cloudy simply isn't true, this beer comes out very clear after crashing with gelatin. Honey malt makes it feel like it's a bigger beer than it is and works well with the hop characteristics of the Summit and Mosaic. 40 IBU lends a mild but firm bitterness, Summit works well with its rounded bittering feel but most hops will sub in just fine. The star is El Dorado hops with their orange candy-like and stone fruit flavor, and the tangerine notes of Summit along with the deeper Mosaic "Simcoe plus berry and a hint of tropical" hops work behind the El Dorado to make for a different hop-forward flavor than what we've become so accustomed to.

Grain:
9 lbs 8.0 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) - 85.4 %
1 lbs - Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) - 9.0 %
8.0 oz - Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) - 4.5 %
2.1 oz - Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) - 1.2 %

Hops:
0.60 oz - Summit [18.00 %] - 60.0 min - 39.8 IBUs (any relatively clean bittering hop will do)
1 oz - Summit [18.00 %] - flameout - 0.0 IBUs
1 oz - El Dorado [13.00 %] - flameout - 0.0 IBUs

Dry hop:
1 oz El Dorado, 1 oz Summit, 1 oz Mosaic

Mash at 150*F

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This pic doesn't really show it, but it's clear enough to read through! Sexy and delicious!
 
I've taken to adding a half oz of Mosaic at flameout along with the El Dorado and Summit, it contributes to a more rounded hop character. I believe I'm calling this my house pale ale.
 
Brewed this up according to the posted recipe. Used Vermont Ale yeast from The Yeast Bay. Nice beer - thanks for the inspiration!

tinyPale.JPG
 
I was looking for something different and found this so I grabbed the recipe and brewed it this weekend. Well ... except that my LHBS didn't have El Dorado. Did you know that there isn't a known alternate for El Dorado? I know that now. I ended up just grabbing Citra and I'm a bit bummed about that. Note to self - next time don't pick a recipe with really hard to find hops. Oh well, in a few weeks we shall see.

FWIW, I went to see what Maine Beer Co had for this brew since it had been a while since I had it. The description they list is very confusing. They call it a Smash but then say the used Warrior with El Dorado. The also list AMERICAN 2-ROW, CARAPILS, CARAMEL 40L, FLAKED OATS for the grains.
 
I was looking for something different and found this so I grabbed the recipe and brewed it this weekend. Well ... except that my LHBS didn't have El Dorado. Did you know that there isn't a known alternate for El Dorado? I know that now. I ended up just grabbing Citra and I'm a bit bummed about that. Note to self - next time don't pick a recipe with really hard to find hops. Oh well, in a few weeks we shall see.

FWIW, I went to see what Maine Beer Co had for this brew since it had been a while since I had it. The description they list is very confusing. They call it a Smash but then say the used Warrior with El Dorado. The also list AMERICAN 2-ROW, CARAPILS, CARAMEL 40L, FLAKED OATS for the grains.

That's too bad, but it should still be good. I don't see that they call A Tiny Beautiful Something a SMaSH, but they do call it single hop. Honestly I do the same thing a lot of the time, I don't count the bittering hop since it contributes minimal flavor.
 
I'm sure it will be fine. I'm just a bit worn out on Citra. But now I'm eager to see El Dorado reach my local shelves. It sounds very unique. I wonder if listing the Warrior hops was a typo on the site. Next time I'm there I will ask.
 
I'm sure it will be fine. I'm just a bit worn out on Citra. But now I'm eager to see El Dorado reach my local shelves. It sounds very unique. I wonder if listing the Warrior hops was a typo on the site. Next time I'm there I will ask.

I haven't seen El Dorado in any brick and mortar stores, I ordered a bunch through Farmhouse.

I doubt the bittering hop was a typo.
 
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