My first all grain pale ale recipe

[aprichman]

My cooler mash tun is scheduled to arrive this Monday and I'm planning on doing my first all grain batch next weekend. I'm putting together a recipe for my 1st all grain batch, and thought a single hop pale ale would be easy and enjoyable.

Please take a look at my recipe and let me know if there's anything you would change.

All Grain Pale Ale #1

AG Pale Ale #1
Added By: alex.richman
Method: All Grain
Style: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 2.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3.2 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.040 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.051 Final Gravity: 1.012 ABV (standard): 5.19% IBU (tinseth): 42.12 SRM (morey): 9.25
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
4.5 lb American - Pale Ale 37 3.5 90%
0.5 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 40L 34 40 10%
5 lb Total
Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
0.33 oz Centennial Leaf/Whole 10 Boil 60 min 24.92
0.33 oz Centennial Leaf/Whole 10 Boil 20 min 15.09
0.33 oz Centennial Leaf/Whole 10 Boil 2 min 2.11
Mash Guidelines
Amount Description Type Temp Time
7.5 qt water @ 163F before dough in Infusion 152 F 60 min
10.5 qt Sparge 170 F 10 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb
Other Ingredients
Amount Name Type Use Time
0.5 tsp irish moss Fining Boil 15 min
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient Other Boil 5 min
0.25 ml fermcap Other Boil 60 min
Yeast
Fermentis / Safale - Safbrew - General/Belgian Yeast S-33
Attenuation (avg):
77%
Flocculation:
Medium
Optimum Temp:
59 - 75 °F
Starter:
No
Fermentation Temp:
64 °F
Pitch Rate:
0.75 (M cells / ml / ° P)
90 B cells required
Priming
Method: corn sugar Amount: 0.375 cups
Target Water Profile: Modified Balanced
Ca+2 Mg+2 Na+ Cl- SO4-2 HCO3-
81 0 34 77 89 87
1.5 grams baking soda
2 grams gypsum
2 grams calcium chloride

Cheers

 

[billl]

If you are adjusting the water chemistry, you might want to recheck those numbers.

The rest of the recipe looks fine to me.

You also might want to doublecheck those water calcs. You've got 4.5 gallons going in total. The grain will absorb about 0.6. Do you know your boiloff rate already? Is there a # in for dead space?

 

[aprichman]

The water I use is RO water from a self serve machine. I was assuming the #s would be 0 across the board, is this an incorrect assumption? Used a calculator to find the target chemistry for a "balanced" beer and then tried to adjust as closely as I could with gypsum, calcium chloride, and baking soda. I figured these would be pretty common additives I could find at my LHBS and I already have baking soda. What are the usual chemicals used for water adjustment?

For my water amounts I used the Brew 365 calculator and got this:

Variables
Batch Size (gal) 2.5
Grain Bill (lbs.) 5
Boil Time (hrs.) 1
Trub Loss (gal.) 0.25
Equipment Loss (gal.) 0.5
Mash Thickness (qts/lb.) 1.5
Grain Temperature (deg.) 70
Target Mash Temperature (deg.) 152

Constants
Wort Shrinkage (pct) 4
Grain Absorption Constant (gal/lb) 0.13
Percent Boiloff per Hour (pct/hr) 10

Results
Total Water Needed (gal.) 4.33
Mash Water Needed (gal.) 1.88
Sparge Water Needed (gal.) 2.46
Strike Temperature (deg.) 162.93
Pre-Boil Wort Produced (gal.) 3.18

Looks like I miscalculated and my sparge water should be @ ~10 qt. I'm just guessing for a lot of the variables because I've never run the system before. I'm using a 7.6 gallon cooler with a false bottom so I figured there would be ~0.5 gallons water that was left below the spigot. As far as trub loss, the default was 10 lbs grain & 0.5 gallon lost so I figured my "1/2" recipe would experience roughly half the trub loss. All other variables I left alone, like wort shrinkage, % boiloff, etc.

 

[MEPNew2Brew]

Grain bill looks fine. I love an all Centennial brew. Why the S-33 for yeast? Doesn't seem like a standard pale ale yeast to make an American pale.

Enjoy your first AG batch!

 

[aprichman]

Grain bill looks fine. I love an all Centennial brew. Why the S-33 for yeast? Doesn't seem like a standard pale ale yeast to make an American pale.

Enjoy your first AG batch!

Haha, yeah it's kind of a weird yeast to use. I picked it because S33 is fairly neutral at low temperatures and gets good attenuation.

Here's my current yeast selection:

Fermentis S33
Fermentis T58
Danstar Nottinghman

Right now I have an IPA going with Nottingham but I haven't tasted it, not sure if it would be more or less neutral compared to the S33.

I thought about picking up a pack of Fermentis US-05 but the one time I used it my beer had a lot of fruity esters. I've read that a lot of people encounter fruitiness with US-05 if it's too cold or too warm.

I've heard good things about Mangrove Jack's M44. It's not sold at my LHBS but I'm considering ordering some next time I need yeast

 

[kh54s10]

I also wonder about the yeast. A high gravity yeast (Belgian?) for a standard American Pale Ale. I suggest US-05, WLP001 or WY1056.

 

[aprichman]

I also wonder about the yeast. A high gravity yeast (Belgian?) for a standard American Pale Ale. I suggest US-05, WLP001 or WY1056.

Safale/Fermentis says they recommend S33 for Belgians but it's actually a British Isles strain. It is supposed to be the same strain as 'EDME' dry yeast, that is the company EDME that used to make dried yeast for brewing.

I've used it before for a dark ale fermented at ~64F and didn't pick up much ester (let alone anything remotely Belgian) but the malts may have been covering some of it up.

Maybe I should use Nottingham instead?

 

[kh54s10]

I have only used Nottingham once, a long time ago. I use US-05 a lot. I make a lot of pale ales with citrus flavor hops so fruity esters are not a concern to me.

I am not great at comparing differing tastes. To me it is more of how much I like it.

The Fermentis website says it is a low attenuating yeast so a lot of the malt flavor should dominate.

Using yeasts not normal for style is often the way you create a really good (different) beer.

 

[Yooper]

Definitely get rid of the baking soda- no way your mash pH will be low, and if anything it will be a bit high so you don't want to add any alkalinity. You also want to make sure to never add alkalinity to your sparge water, even if your mashing water needs it, so it just is better all around to leave it out unless you check your mash pH and are below 5.2. You won't be- so just leave it out.

I like the grainbill, but 10% crystal is a bit on the high side so make sure you mash at 151 or 152 at the highest so that you get fermentable wort.

I hate the flavors of Belgian yeast with American hops, but lots of people love them- and love Belgian IPAs for example, so if you like it, it looks fine!

 

[madscientist451]

I think your water volume may be a little off. You'll have to run it on your system and see what you get and then adjust accordingly.
I'm also wondering about the choice of yeast. I'd go for the 1056 or WL001 if you can get some before brew day.
Other than that, looks great, good luck, cheers!

 

[aprichman]

Definitely get rid of the baking soda- no way your mash pH will be low, and if anything it will be a bit high so you don't want to add any alkalinity. You also want to make sure to never add alkalinity to your sparge water, even if your mashing water needs it, so it just is better all around to leave it out unless you check your mash pH and are below 5.2. You won't be- so just leave it out.

I like the grainbill, but 10% crystal is a bit on the high side so make sure you mash at 151 or 152 at the highest so that you get fermentable wort.

I hate the flavors of Belgian yeast with American hops, but lots of people love them- and love Belgian IPAs for example, so if you like it, it looks fine!

That would mean 2g of gypsum and calcium chloride added to the mash water. Sounds about right for 2.5 gallons of RO water?

I've been thinking about changing the grain bill to 4.75lbs pale ale malt and 0.25 crystal 40. Since this is my first all grain I'm not sure how big of a crystal fan I am.

As far as the yeast, S33 is actually a British strain although Safale recommends the yeast for "specialty styles and trappist ales" but goes on to describe it as a "neutral yeast" I think of Belgian yeasts having a lot of clove, pepper, and bubblegum. When I brewed a darker ale with S33 I didn't taste any of those flavors. It seemed pretty neutral, possibly more so than US05 which gave me a lot of fruity esters. Hard to tell comparing a light beer to a dark one.

I could use liquid yeast but it costs $8 at my LHBS. Using dry yeast saves me around $4-5 a batch. Since I'm brewing 2.5 gallon batches and getting about 24 beers after losing liquid to the yeast, trub, etc. it's not an insignificant cost. Using extract + liquid yeast would push my cost per 6-pack up to $5.75 compared to $4.50. All grain + liquid would be $5.50 per 6-pack compared to $4.25 using dry yeast.

When I can buy good, local craft beer at around $7 per 6-pack it makes it hard to justify all that extra work

 

[Yooper]

That would mean 2g of gypsum and calcium chloride added to the mash water. Sounds about right for 2.5 gallons of RO water?

Yes. That sounds about right.

If it was my beer, and I wanted a clean dry american ale yeast, I'd use S05. It's the best choice for pale ales, but if you like S33 and want to use it of course it's fine.

 

[aprichman]

Yes. That sounds about right.

If it was my beer, and I wanted a clean dry american ale yeast, I'd use S05. It's the best choice for pale ales, but if you like S33 and want to use it of course it's fine.

Thanks Yooper, I think I'm going to keep this grain bill and play around with different yeasts to find out which one I prefer.