Looking to make house pale ale. How does this look?

Really have been loving the cascade based APAs. Looking to build my own. This is what I have come up with. Let me know how it looks.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.9 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Brent

That's what? 20% crystal malt? I'd definitely reduce that. I'd ditch the carapils, and if you want some extra maltiness add some Vienna or Munich malt.

The hopping looks good. It will be less bitter than some pale ales I like, but I think it'll be tasty!

Looks like a good APA. I use a simular house recipe, I change up the crystal from time to time and mix and match the hops. Easy, enjoyable brew - enjoy!!

Go with the 10% Munich or Vienna instead of the CaraPils. Its really a waste above 5% of the grist, and with the 10% crystal (10 L) you won't need it.

Don't be afraid to brew a Pale ale w/o any crystal malt. They are delicious.
Also, 50-100% Vienna pale ales kick booty, too.

8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.05 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 10.26 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 7.69 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

How does this look? Bit better?

CoalCracker said:

8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.05 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 10.26 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 7.69 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

How does this look? Bit better?

Click to expand...

YES! I like the looks of that. I still think it might be a bit low on IBUs, but I didn't do the math to figure it out. Check out my "house pale ale"- it's similar to what you're thinking and we love it.

Beersmith calculates the IBUs at 35.5 Which is on the low end of the style.

I can add another 1/2 ounce at 1 minute. I would have to enter this into Beersmith to see what this would get me. Probably not much more than just a bit of taste and aroma. I am heading to the LHBS Friday and will get the ingredients for this. Looking to do this recipe and a belgian wit on my new brutus 20. Should be a very exciting weekend.

CoalCracker said:

I can add another 1/2 ounce at 1 minute. I would have to enter this into Beersmith to see what this would get me. Probably not much more than just a bit of taste and aroma. I am heading to the LHBS Friday and will get the ingredients for this. Looking to do this recipe and a belgian wit on my new brutus 20. Should be a very exciting weekend.

Click to expand...

Right- for IBUs you want to add them at 60 minutes. For flavor and aroma, the late additions are the way to go.

If you're content with the IBUs (and I think I would be), then I'd leave it as is!

Great! I'll pick up the stuff friday and brew it. I'll post results in a little while. Thanks for all the help. Hopefully my first recipe is a winner! Need something to call my own haha

CoalCracker - I've got an amazing Witbier recipe I have finalized, if you want to check it out. Click on my link in my sig, and its the most recent Witbier I've brewed (near bottom of 2010's page)

I love to brew a Witbier b/c they are so damn easy! I have decided that a 30 min boil works best (as long as you don't use Pilsner malt; I use british pale)

Brewed the pale ale yesterday. Still getting used to the new system so I had some hiccups. Mashed too high at about 158 so it's going to be a bit sweet. Missed my OG by .005. Had airlock activity after 8 hours. Guess I'll find out how it is in about a month or so...

Kegged this on Monday. Pulled a tiny taste last night. Still very green so it still needs a another few weeks. Noticed a bit of a nutty taste that seemed to overpower the rest. of it. Hoping that mellows out. Smells fantastic though!! I'll post final results once it's ready to drink!

Sounds like a winner! I'm on vacation next week and will be brewing 2 or 3 brews, first time brewing since before summer! Congrats!

Update: This brew rocks. Very refreshing, slightly bitter, with a great hop tates. Took it to a retirement party and a halloween party. Everyone loved it. Keg is actually almost gone. One of my dad's friends stopped by for a bit and made a good dent into it. Going to place this in the recipe section.

Yeah, that looked like a nice APA recipe.

Congrats on your "house" ale, we all need one!

Hey Coal-

Looks like you have a pretty good recipe there, although I will offer my thoughts anyway....I never use cascades as a bittering hop, instead I use sterling as my 60 minute in my APA. Also, not sure what the concern is about a higher % of crystal malts....my bill is about 79% 2 row, 11% crystals and 10% munich with sterling cascade and cascade additions.

Good Luck!

riverfront - the crystal thing was because he had 20% crystal malt in the original recipe. Not necessarily a bad thing, but we were suggesting to sub the CaraPils with a malty base malt, such as munich or vienna. He chose Vienna, which lends a nice toasty malt flavor and aroma.

And, its a trend here on HBT to dis anyone who uses larger proportions of Crystal in their recipes.

My next recipe I think I might try centennial as the bittering, Cascade at 15, amirillo at 5. Try something different. Right now it's pretty damn good an what I'll most likely keep it at. However there is no harm in experimenting.

Cascade is tried and true bittering hop. It wasn't until recently (last 15 years or so) that the high Alpha varieties (cultivars) came around, thanks to the USDA providing funding!

But with high alpha varieties, sometimes you are missing out on the "how" a lower alpha hop bitters. B/c when you bitter with a high alpha variety, you are only using a small amount of hops at 60 min. With a lower alpha hop, you would have to use significantly more hops (by wt) to get the same bittering level. Which means more of the hop oils are ending up in the beer.

Think of a German Pils bittered with 4%A Saaz v. 9%A Perle. The higher amout of Saaz used is going to get all those sexy noble hop oils in your beer, where the Perle is going to miss them.

Does it mean better beer? No, just different.