Pale Ale like recipe

[pellis007]

Just wondering about any thoughts on this recipe. My buddy and I will be brewing next weekend. We started with an American Pale Ale type base and in fact I "borrowed" Yooper's basic grain bill from her house pale ale. We didn't want a citrus or flowery taste, nor anything too spicy. We did want a high gravity, high ABV brew which accounts for the 14lb grain bill. I looked at a lot of yeast options but felt the WYeast American Ale was the best fit for what we wanted. I also think the hops keep away from anything with too much citrus taste. Neither of us are hop heads but do like a nice hop taste and finish. Any thoughts?



Ingredients
Amt Name Type %/IBU
7 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter Grain 50.0 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Vienna Malt Grain 25.0 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt Grain 17.9 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L Grain 3.6 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L Grain 3.6 %
1.00 oz Cluster [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 20.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Cluster [7.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 18.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6.1 IBUs
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 5.0 mins) Fining
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 3.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) 1300ml Starter

Est Original Gravity: 1.074 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.7 %
Bitterness: 47.6 IBUs Bitterness Ratio: 0.640 IBU/SG
Est Color: 11.7 SRM

90min Single Infusion Mash at 154F, Fly Sparge
Single Stage Fermentation

 

[Yooper]

I'm not wild about cluster hops- using them at 60 minutes for bittering is fine though if you have them on hand.

One of the hops I'd consider using is Mt. Hood. It's in Denny Conn's Wry Smile IPA (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/denny-conns-wry-smile-rye-ipa-84515/) and it might be right up your alley!

I like the willamette, and liberty, and think those are good choices as well. Saaz would be another one to consider. Northern brewer hops are also good.

 

[BigB]

I'm not wild about cluster hops- using them at 60 minutes for bittering is fine though if you have them on hand.

One of the hops I'd consider using is Mt. Hood. It's in Denny Conn's Wry Smile IPA (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/denny-conns-wry-smile-rye-ipa-84515/) and it might be right up your alley!

I like the willamette, and liberty, and think those are good choices as well. Saaz would be another one to consider. Northern brewer hops are also good.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[pellis007]

Thanks for the suggestions Yooper. I actually formulated this with Northern Brewer hops originally, but since I have some Cluster on hand I decided to use it in this recipe for bittering. That Mt. Hood sounds interesting. I may pick up an ounce of that and of Saaz and make a brew day decision on that. I'll let my buddy decide.

 

[pellis007]

Brew day went great, other than the fact that I forgot to bring hops up with me. We had to run to the LHBS about an hr away before we could start. Hit all our numbers, had about 83% efficiency and ended up at a OG of 1.078. Should hit around 8% ABV. Looking forward to tasting this one.