Low ABV A/IPA help

[radpotato]

Hi all,
I want to brew a low ABV beer for my dad who loves ale, especially APAs, but for medical reasons cannot drink too much alcohol! I've been inspired by a couple of threads, in particular the mad fermentationist recipe here: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/01/vienna-malt-session-ipa-recipe.html and so have adjusted the malt profile and yeast significantly from a typical APA. Perhaps this is straying too far into the mini-IPA territory, but comments on the recipe (as in, any obvious bad ideas) welcome:

35L batch, all grain
2.2 kg (46.3%) Maris Otter
2.2 kg (46.3%) Vienna
0.25 kg (5.3%) Dark Crystal (90L)
0.1 kg (2.1%) Aromatic

Will add all hops late:
~8 AAU citra, ~4 AAU cascade (15g each) @ 15 mins
~8 AAU citra, ~4 AAU cascade (20g each) @ 10 mins
50g each citra / cascade whirlpool
50g each citra / cascade dry hop

S-04 yeast.

BrewToad (god, sometimes BrewToad is so frustrating - the OG/IBU change when I save the recipe vs editing) has me at around 1.03 OG and 24 IBU.

Does this sound like too many mixed up styles?

Cheers!

 

[didinho]

Does this sound like too many mixed up styles?

there are overlaps between session IPA and APA, it's normal to mix up similar styles...

 

[radpotato]

there are overlaps between session IPA and APA, it's normal to mix up similar styles...

I guess I meant too much going on not just with the APA / IPA crossover, but the low ABV, the aromatic and vienna malts, and the english yeast.

 

[PorterHoarder]

The nice thing about brewing is that styles are open to interpretation and fit loosely into their respective categories. I think your recipe looks great. I will say that you can never go wrong with carapils or oats (or a combination of the two) to bring out the malt character and mouth feel, coupled with a medium-meduim high mash temp. As far as crossing over, if by APA you mean an American Pale Ale then you are far from it. Definitely a traditional English Pale Ale is what you're brewing. But either way I think you're looking at a tasty and sessionable brew! Cheers!

 

[radpotato]

So I went ahead and brewed this yesterday. Missed my target 68C by a degree, mashed at 67 for an hour.

I brew at an open brewery and buy most my ingredients there; they had no citra in or many other citrus/tropical hops other than mosaic so I subbed that in (17.5g and 25g at 15/10 mins to account for the AA). I did the whirlpool (or is it a hopstand?) for 10 minutes at 89C and also did a shorter than normal boil.

As I expected, I wasn't very good at predicting my efficiency and/or chiller loss, so collected 33L of wort at 1.036. The wort tasted pretty good, if a touch darker and hazier than expected. Will come back with tasting results when it's finished and conditioned.

 

[kristiismean]

Those Mosiac hops should add a different, but welcome taste profile. as far as the others, way beyond my skill level.

(many of my home creation 1 gallon test batches are citra and/or mosiac hops)