Citra Simcoe Pale Ale

[Moose_MI]

I’m breaking my own rule when it comes to posting “hey, here’s my recipe is it going to be good?” Posts...i apologize in advance....but...it’s my daughters grad party and my back has been out so I’m suddenly scrambling.....with this preface...

Hey, here’s my recipe...Is it going to be good?


Method: All Grain
Style: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 15.75 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 17.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.053 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
33 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 84.1%
3 lb American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) 33 1.8 7.6%
2 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 40L 34 40 5.1%
1.25 lb Canadian - Honey Malt 37 25 3.2%
39.25 lb Total

Hops

Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
2 oz Citra Pellet 11 Boil 60 min 25.78
3 oz Citra Pellet 11 Boil. 10 min 14.02
2 oz Simcoe Pellet 11.6 Boil 10 min 9.86
3.25 oz Citra Pellet 11 Boil 1 min 1.81
3 oz Simcoe Pellet 11.6 Boil. 1 min 1.76
6 oz Simcoe Pellet 11.6 Dry Hop 5 days

 

[AzOr]

Looks good. A bit high on the hops for me but only a bit.

Maybe that’ll balance the honey malt but I usually use less than 4 oz per 5 gallons.

Good luck!

 

[zlimfur]

50 ibu is not really for girls..

Maybe to switch 60 min citra to fwh to get more smooth bitterness..

 

[ong]

I wouldn’t bitter with Citra (a lot of people really dislike that flavor). And that seems like a lot of dextrin malt (16% crystal malts altogether).

 

[schematix]

I second too much CaraPils. Anything over 0% is too much in an IPA.

I've been playing around with american IPA recipes lately and i'm finding that the simpler the grain bill and less crystal, the better the IPA.

IMHO 96% cheap and dirty briess 2-row topped up with C20 or C40 will do the deed.

 

[thehaze]

You are using enough hops to get a really nice beer. The grainbill is maybe a tad too busy. I would drop the Caramel malt and the CaraPils and only keep a bit of Honey malt ( max. 5% )

I believe that a cleaner malt profile, will let the hops pop a bit more and make it more drinkable. If you are bold enough, you could skip all specialty malts and go 100% base malt. For the batch size you are brewing, the base malt will provide enough body to sustain the hop profile.

16% Crystal/Caramel malt is kinda pushing it for a Pale Ale, and even for a maltier one. I think you'll be pleseantly surprised how the beer would turn out with only base malt.

Cheers!

 

[Moose_MI]

Thanks team! Several of these posts came in after I had milled my grain to brew today . BUT! .... as I was preparing to mill I also started to feel to much crystal here so I did back the carapills up to 2 lbs. That got me to 13
% crystal which is still high by many standards but a step in the right direction relative to feedback above.

Not to late to tweak the hops. I’m thinking about cutting the 60min to 1.5 or maybe swapping/blending with Centennial ?

 

[thehaze]

If you insist for bittering at 60 minutes, I would definitely use a cheap, high AA% hop like Magnum, Warrior, Polaris, Bravo, etc.

Save Citra and other similar hops for late additions ( 15 minutes and less ) and whirlpool. You will get much more our of these hops, when you only boil them a few minutes and steep them in a cooler wort.

 

[Moose_MI]

If you insist for bittering at 60 minutes, I would definitely use a cheap, high AA% hop like Magnum, Warrior, Polaris, Bravo, etc.

Save Citra and other similar hops for late additions ( 15 minutes and less ) and whirlpool. You will get much more our of these hops, when you only boil them a few minutes and steep them in a cooler wort.

OK...ya talked me into it!

I’ve got some Apollo ....I’ll do 1oz at 60 and move the 2oz of Citra to 1min

Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
1 oz Apollo Pellet 18.3 Boil 60 min 21.68
2.5 oz Citra Pellet 11 Boil 10 min 11.81
2 oz Simcoe Pellet 11.6 Boil 10 min 9.96
6 oz Citra Pellet 11 Boil 1 min 3.37
3 oz Simcoe Pellet 11.6 Boil 1 min 1.78
6 oz Simcoe Pellet 11.6 Dry Hop 5 days


Thanks for the suggestion....boil just started!

 

[ncbrewer]

I wouldn’t bitter with Citra (a lot of people really dislike that flavor).

I've never heard that. Can you describe what kind of unpleasant flavor it gives?

 

[zlimfur]

I've never heard that. Can you describe what kind of unpleasant flavor it gives?

I've brewed zombie dust clone for 7 times. It is single hop citra and very tasty. There is nothing unpleasant in citra, no matter when do you use it..

 

[Moose_MI]

HOLY CRAP!!!

There’s a difference of opinion on the internet ?!?!?!?

DANGER..DANGER, Will Robinson!

Houston, we have a problem.......

We don’t need know eduation....we don’t need no thought control....

It is useless to resist us...

Look Mommy there’s an airplane in the sky....

Ground control to Major Tom...

Hells Bells...

...and if your friends can’t dance then they’re no friends of mine...

....but I’ve got the biggest balls of them all!

15g of a pale ale that might be an ipa is in my fermenter...OG of 1.069 si it might be a double...thanks to all that played .....


Good Night!

 

[ong]

I've never heard that. Can you describe what kind of unpleasant flavor it gives?

I’ve never really had a problem with it, but a lot of people seem to feel 60 minute Citra additions give an almost undrinkable cat pee bitterness. To me, it’s just a waste of Citra!

 

[eetu]

I have never bittered with Citra but I have with Simcoe and it came out great.

IBU/OG ratio is right in the APA range, should be just perfect.

Carapils is pretty flavorless, but with such a high gravity it might be a slightly heavy drinker. Personally I would have cut all the Carapils and maybe even add some sugar to dry it out.

Some like their pale ales with a medium/sweetish body but I'm not one of them.

Hop schedule looks really nice. I'm sure it'll turn out great!

 

[Moose_MI]

Was actually 1.065...sorry for incorrect info above..that’s 74% eff which may be the best I’ve ever had with my breweasy system. . It was my first 15G batch making it even more surprising as i thought eff tended to go down with larger batches...

All 3 buckets bubbling nicely this AM.... fingers crossed.

Will update in a week when I dry hop....cheers!

 

[schematix]

It was my first 15G batch making it even more surprising as i thought eff tended to go down with larger batches...

Efficiency isn't a function of batch size. It has more to do with the OG, how much conversion you get (100% is easily achieved but not for a 60 minute single infusion mash), how much dead space you have in your MLT and whether or not you sparge.

Will update in a week when I dry hop....cheers!

You may want to consider dry hopping sooner. You'll probably be at final gravity in about 3 days.

 

[Moose_MI]

Dry hops just added....1.013....tasted really good. Tropical and juicy. On the edge of bitterness I wanted but absolutely within range. Looking forward to gettin this one legged up!

 

[Moose_MI]

This beer was a success. Remained on the edge of bitterness that i wanted. I will skip 60 min next time. No worries about the amount of crystal in this one. Definitely not sweat Cheers!

 

[Eucrid]

I wouldn’t bitter with Citra (a lot of people really dislike that flavor). And that seems like a lot of dextrin malt (16% crystal malts altogether).

I agree. I'd swap the citra bittering with some of the simcoe dry hop. It'll give a more complex dry hop aroma and Simcoe is a cleaner bittering hop IMO.

EDIT, And I just realised the beers already made, doh

 

[Moose_MI]

Actually ended up bettering with a little Apollo I had

 

[Moose_MI]

I know ipa’s are supposed to be enjoyed fresh but this mellows a little with a couple weeks on it and is really gettin good. 1st keg gone..half way through #2.....and my buddy wants keg #3....not sure i like him that much...

 

[couchsending]

Depends on what you define as fresh... beers with lots of hops need time come together. The best examples of the style are generally a minimum of 18 days grain to packaging and then probably round into form almost two to three weeks after that.

I see so many people saying they made a double dry hopped beer and were drinking it in 7 days. I can’t even imagine what that would taste like. Sure maybe a nice 4% blonde ale with no dry hops but anything else just needs time. The conditioning time is almost as important as the fermentation time.

 

[SEndorf]

If you insist for bittering at 60 minutes, I would definitely use a cheap, high AA% hop like Magnum, Warrior, Polaris, Bravo, etc.

Save Citra and other similar hops for late additions ( 15 minutes and less ) and whirlpool. You will get much more our of these hops, when you only boil them a few minutes and steep them in a cooler wort.

Agreed.
Citra is.. well.. as the name implies, a citrus bomb. I would never use it as a bittering hop. Palates may vary...….

 

[Moose_MI]

I also used wlp001 which i find takes forever to clear. Slow but very clean fermentation which i like but man it just clears so slow. Doesn’t help i forgot to add the whirfloc.
Deffinite yeast bite first couple weeks that faded and let the beer get juicy

Anyway..on to the next brew.. Two Hearted..fires lit and coming up to strike!

 

[Moose_MI]

Brewed this a 2nd time and added 3oz of Citra to the dry hop.

It’s official..this beer is really good. Really juicy like I wanted. Bitterness is right where I wanted it. I’m drinking the 1st of 3 kegs from this batch....4 days since I kegged it.