pale ale recipe

[allanyork]

Hey everyone, been into brewing kits for quite awhile now and I'm thinking I want to start making better beer. I looked over a few threads but I get mixed ideas. I. I'm trying to figure out a good recipe Thats not a kit but not a big mash style boil. I only have small equipment right now, ie 2l pot for boiling, common kit tools buckets ect.
So I'm thinking I want to try a pale ale, with unhopped malt extract and hops with maybe a little grain? Or crystal malt? Just want to see what you guys think. What would be a good recipe for me Thats not a kit?

Thanks

 

[Jayhem]

What size batch are you trying to make?

American Pale Ale is my favorite style.

A good working recipe would be 90-95% light or extra light malt extract, 5-10% Crystal Malt steeped for color and body (I like Crystal 60L). A bittering hop addition at 60 min, 15 minute flavor hop addition and a flame out and/or dry hop after fermentation for a nice hop aroma! I like my Pale Ale to be about 5% abv and 35 ibu's. It is the perfect beer for any occasion.

 

[allanyork]

Just a 5 gallon batch. So how does your boil times work? I only have a 2 liter pot so I'm kinda restricted to how much I can boil at once. But I like the sound of your recipe. And 5% abv would be perfect. Could you elaborate on your process? Thanks I'm excited to try it

 

[Jayhem]

Just a 5 gallon batch. So how does your boil times work? I only have a 2 liter pot so I'm kinda restricted to how much I can boil at once. But I like the sound of your recipe. And 5% abv would be perfect. Could you elaborate on your process? Thanks I'm excited to try it

2 L pot? You sure? That's basically a saucepan!
that's just barely over 1/2 gallon.

You can do a partial mash or extract 5 gallon batch using a single 5-gallon pot, boiling about 3.5-4 gallons which will boil down to 2.5-3 gallons, cool, add to fermenter and add cool bottled spring water to bring the level up to 5 gallons. This is how most people brew 5-gallon kits. I really don't think you can brew a 5 gallon batch using a 2 Liter pot in a traditional manner. Are you in USA? You can buy 5 gallon aluminum pots for as low as $20 sometimes. I found my second 5 gallon pot on Ebay for $20 shipped!

 

[allanyork]

Ok my buddy just gave me a 2.5 gallon pot. So can I use that?

 

[Jayhem]

Ok my buddy just gave me a 2.5 gallon pot. So can I use that?

You can but I'm not sure what kind of beer quality it will make it you attempt to make 5 gallon batches since you could only boil about 2 gallons and then have to add over 3 gallons in the fermenter to end up with 5 gallons of wort.

Personally if a 2.5 gallon pot is all I had I would boil 2 separate batches that end at 1.5 gallons each and then combine them in one 5 gallon fermenter and add top off water at the end.

Here's what could work out for you to make a 5gal batch with only a 2.5 gallon pot:

Boil size 2.0 gallons per batch.
Each batch will use the following ingredients:
- 3 lbs of Extra Light Liquid Malt Extract
- 8 oz of Crystal 60 malt (milled) - steep
0.25 oz Magnum bittering hops at 60 minutes
0.5 oz Cascade flavor hops at 15 minutes left in boil
1.0 oz Cascade aroma hops at flame out
1 packet of Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast

1. Add 2 gallons of water to your brew pot
2. Heat water to 150F and steep your Crystal Malt in steeping bag for 30 minutes
3. remove grain bag and bring to boil.
4. stir in half of your extract (1.5 lbs)
5. Bring to boil and add bittering hops
6. boil for 45 minutes and add your flavor hops
7. boil another 15 minutes and then turn off heat.
8. Stir in the other half of your extract (1.5 lbs)
9. Stir in your aroma hops as you begin to cool the wort in an ice bath.
10. Cool the wort to 65-75F and then add to fermenter.
11. repeat for second batch. You should end up with about 3 gallons of wort in the fermenter, then you can top off with bottled spring water to the 5 gallon mark, mix or stir and then add your dry yeast.

 

[allanyork]

You can but I'm not sure what kind of beer quality it will make it you attempt to make 5 gallon batches since you could only boil about 2 gallons and then have to add over 3 gallons in the fermenter to end up with 5 gallons of wort.

Personally if a 2.5 gallon pot is all I had I would boil 2 separate batches that end at 1.5 gallons each and then combine them in one 5 gallon fermenter and add top off water at the end.

Here's what could work out for you to make a 5gal batch with only a 2.5 gallon pot:

Boil size 2.0 gallons per batch.
Each batch will use the following ingredients:
- 3 lbs of Extra Light Liquid Malt Extract
- 8 oz of Crystal 60 malt (milled) - steep
0.25 oz Magnum bittering hops at 60 minutes
0.5 oz Cascade flavor hops at 15 minutes left in boil
1.0 oz Cascade aroma hops at flame out
1 packet of Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast

1. Add 2 gallons of water to your brew pot
2. Heat water to 150F and steep your Crystal Malt in steeping bag for 30 minutes
3. remove grain bag and bring to boil.
4. stir in half of your extract (1.5 lbs)
5. Bring to boil and add bittering hops
6. boil for 45 minutes and add your flavor hops
7. boil another 15 minutes and then turn off heat.
8. Stir in the other half of your extract (1.5 lbs)
9. Stir in your aroma hops as you begin to cool the wort in an ice bath.
10. Cool the wort to 65-75F and then add to fermenter.
11. repeat for second batch. You should end up with about 3 gallons of wort in the fermenter, then you can top off with bottled spring water to the 5 gallon mark, mix or stir and then add your dry yeast.

This is perfect. Thank you for the effort involved in this post. This is manageable for me, and I can figure out what to do when. So you made this before? What do you call it? Jayhams mayham pale ale? Lol. I'm excited to brew this thank you.

 

[allanyork]

So new question. The hops. Pellets or leaf? I can get them both in leaf. Or cascade in pellet. But I can't get magnum in pellet. What's the difference?
Another thing, I'm not sure I can get extra light malt extract, I only see light malt extract on my LHBS website.
And last but not least, is there only one kind of Nottingham ale yeast? I dont see one that's specifically nottingham "dry" ale yeast. Thanks

 

[Jayhem]

So new question. The hops. Pellets or leaf? I can get them both in leaf. Or cascade in pellet. But I can't get magnum in pellet. What's the difference?
Another thing, I'm not sure I can get extra light malt extract, I only see light malt extract on my LHBS website.
And last but not least, is there only one kind of Nottingham ale yeast? I dont see one that's specifically nottingham "dry" ale yeast. Thanks

I have brewed this recipe before but I used all grain 2-row pale malt instead of light extract. It is a solid recipe.

Regular light extract is just fine. Also if you want your pale ale to come out deep gold/copper use the Crystal 60. If you prefer lighter blonde color use Crystal 20, 30 or 40 instead.

The same weight of hop pellets will produce the same effect as equal weight of hop whole leaf. I prefer pellets because they are easier to deal with and won't clog your siphon when you go to bottle.

this is the Nottingham Ale Yeast I'm talking about:

Oh and if you do make 2 small batches and then combine them in the fermenter and add water to bring it to 5 gallons you really only need 1 packet of the yeast for the entire thing.

Also, your beer will taste best if you ferment at an air temp of 60-65F. If it's warmer than that you will get some off flavors from most ale yeasts. Keep it in the low 60's F and it will ferment out perfectly. I would leave it in the fermenter for no less than 2 weeks before bottling. I always let mine go 3 weeks to be safe. Use a hydrometer to verify it's finished around 1.010 Final Gravity before bottling! For a 5 gallon batch I used 3.7 oz of regular white table sugar to prime the batch before bottling.

This is how mine looks when its' been carbonated and in the fridge for a week before drinking

 

[allanyork]

Ok awesome sounds good. I'm capable of fermenting beer at 54 to 61 f right now. But I can't maintain one of them temps. It swings that much. I put ice packs in a cooler with water that my fermenter is in. Will this be ok or will it be too cold and to much fluxuation?

 

[crawforc3]

54 to 61 is too cold for ale fermenation

 

[Jayhem]

Ok awesome sounds good. I'm capable of fermenting beer at 54 to 61 f right now. But I can't maintain one of them temps. It swings that much. I put ice packs in a cooler with water that my fermenter is in. Will this be ok or will it be too cold and to much fluxuation?

the 5 gallons of beer will take a long time to change temp even if you have a 5 or 10 degree swing, so long as the average temp between the high and low swing is in the low 60's I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[allanyork]

Well I guess mines a little low then. Maybe if I add more water and smaller bottles of ice I maintain that warmer temp. If the temp is to low it will add off flavors?

 

[Jayhem]

Well I guess mines a little low then. Maybe if I add more water and smaller bottles of ice I maintain that warmer temp. If the temp is to low it will add off flavors?

If the temp is much below 60 for ale yeast the yeast will go to sleep and stop fermenting the beer. If the temp is too high the yeast will ferment too fast and produce off flavors.

 

[crawforc3]

http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-beer-yeast

This website suggests that Danstar Nottingham yeast have an optimal temperature range of 57 to 70 degrees. It also says the yeast have good tolerance at low temperatures. Going on that information, you might be ok at the range of temperatures that you said you are able to maintain.

 

[allanyork]

Hmm well Thats good. The beer I'm brewing right now at that temperature using that yeast and its still fermenting. But it never went crazy, I never checked the gravity yet but its only been 9 days fermenting. So the yeast didnt pass out on me yet lol. We will see.

 

[tagz]

I've brewed with notty at 59. It'll take a little longer but should be fine. Dry yeast provide a large enough cell count to get the job done.

 

[MikePiotti]

Not to steal this thread, but I see you mention to dry hop the pale ale. I have a pale ale in the fermenter right now and would like to dry hop it. Which do you suggest?

 

[allanyork]

I believe jayham likes to dry hop with 1 oz cascade after fermentation

 

[MikePiotti]

Thanks I'm going to give that a shot

 

[Jayhem]

Not to steal this thread, but I see you mention to dry hop the pale ale. I have a pale ale in the fermenter right now and would like to dry hop it. Which do you suggest?

Cascades are a great American hop to use as a dry hop. Other good ones include Centennial, Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo, and a few others.

Make sure fermentation is complete before dry hopping. I dry hop with pellets, just toss them right in the fermenter. There is no need to sanitize hops since they are naturally anti-microbial. Let them go 7 days and by then most of them will have settled to the bottom. To siphon to bottling bucket without getting hop particles you simply strap a small, sanitized paint strainer bag to the tip of your siphon using a sanitized zip tie and rack away!