Another APA recipe, critique please

[dickproenneke]

Hey guys! I've been playing around with this recipe for an APA. I like what big late hop additions have done for my IPAs and thought that I'd try it with a smaller beer, in lieu of dry hopping. Although this is NOT a clone attempt, the malt bill and hops is fully credited to Maine Beer Co who is nice enough to list their ingredients online. Let me know what y'all are thinking about this one.

APA - Partial Mash
5.5gal
OG 1.052
FG 1.011

45% 2-Row
40% Extra Light DME (late addition)
5% Vienna
5% Red wheat malt
5% Crystal 40

Mash 150*/60 mins

60min - 0.3oz Warrior [15AA]
15min - 0.25oz Amarillo [7AA]
15min - 0.25oz Centennial [10AA]
15min - 0.25oz Cascade [5.5AA]
5min - 0.25oz Amarillo [7AA]
5min - 0.25oz Centennial [10AA]
5min - 0.25oz Cascade [5.5AA]

30min hot hop steep 1.25oz each Amarillo/Centennial (too much?)

WLP001

 

[JohnnyO]

Sounds delicious. Love the hop bursting idea.
Saw that they have an article in this months BYO magazine on whirlpool hop additions. Planning on reading that soon.

 

[dickproenneke]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Johnny. I'll have to check out that BYO article too.

 

[Jwood]

looks great to me too! I don't think a 2.5 oz hop steep is too much for an APA. I say go with it. Good thing is that if it comes in a little too hop forward, that tends to balance after a while as I'm sure you've seen with your IPAs.

I also like the malt bill too. Finishing on the drier side with an amount of crystal malt that is within reason. I wouldn't be afraid to increase the percentage of vienna malt if you wanted. It can lend a nice toasty background that goes really well with pale ales. Maybe start out with 80% 2-row : 20% vienna if you are into that kind of flavor in an APA and adjust accordingly in the future. 2-Row w/ Maris Otter as a combo also works quite well. That's the only change I'd make, but that is to my taste preference, maybe not yours.

 

[dickproenneke]

I ended up brewing this yesterday. I left the grain bill as is but switched the C40 for C10 - had some extra from a previous brew. For the hops, 0.25oz Warrior @ 60, ended up ditching the Cascade and Centennial and used Citra and Amarillo @10,5,0 (30 min steep). Hydro sample tasted real good, hoppy with just a touch of vienna biscuityness at the end. I plan to ferment for 3 weeks, crash cool, gelatin and bottle.

 

[dickproenneke]

***Update***
I've had this fermenting for the past 2+ weeks. Pitched yeast at 58* and then slowly raised temp to 66* over 3 days and held it there until day 7. After 7 days, I raised to 68-70*. Checked the gravity last night and it's at 1.009... down from 1.051! I'm no math wiz but I'm pretty sure thats >82% attenuation The sample jar tastes fantastic. Dry and hoppy. Kind of reminds me of Yards PPA, but less bitter. Very refreshing

 

[dickproenneke]

***Update***

Ok. I am not satisfied with this beer at all. I had high hopes for it at bottling time but after carbing and conditioning I know that this brew falls short. It's like a 3xIPA but at only 5.5%abv it's waaaay to much hop flavor IMHO. And that's coming from a guy who likes hops... alot (or so I thought). I wouldn't even say that the hop flavor overwhelmingly citrusy; it's spicy, like allspice?and tangerine. I fermented 001 on the cool side so I'm assuming that most of what I'm tasting is hops derived and not yeast derived. So what gives? Where did this brew go so horribly wrong? My guess, using so gd'ed much citra is where I really screwed the pooch. That stuff is strong. Really strong. It has no place, in a such large quantities, in a beer this small. I very much want to perfect a good sessionable ipa, but this certainly ain't it. Oh well. Live and learn. That's what it's all about, right? Perhaps next time use Amarillo, Centennial and cascade. I'll go for a small high alpha 60min addition, 1/2oz blend at 15, 1/2oz blend at 5 and a 1.25oz hop steep.

 

[atom]

***Update***

Ok. I am not satisfied with this beer at all. I had high hopes for it at bottling time but after carbing and conditioning I know that this brew falls short. It's like a 3xIPA but at only 5.5%abv it's waaaay to much hop flavor IMHO. And that's coming from a guy who likes hops... alot (or so I thought). I wouldn't even say that the hop flavor overwhelmingly citrusy; it's spicy, like allspice?and tangerine. I fermented 001 on the cool side so I'm assuming that most of what I'm tasting is hops derived and not yeast derived. So what gives? Where did this brew go so horribly wrong? My guess, using so gd'ed much citra is where I really screwed the pooch. That stuff is strong. Really strong. It has no place, in a such large quantities, in a beer this small. I very much want to perfect a good sessionable ipa, but this certainly ain't it. Oh well. Live and learn. That's what it's all about, right? Perhaps next time use Amarillo, Centennial and cascade. I'll go for a small high alpha 60min addition, 1/2oz blend at 15, 1/2oz blend at 5 and a 1.25oz hop steep.

i'm pretty sure there's no such thing as too much citra...

 

[dickproenneke]

i'm pretty sure there's no such thing as too much citra...

I've been enjoying bm's blonde for the past few weeks so maybe my taste buds just weren't ready for an aggressive hop like citra... Hmmm, now you got me thinking... Can lupulin shift work in reverse?

 

[stpug]

I actually think your original recipe would have been closer to what you said you were attempting to create - a hop-forward APA. I think the AmCenCas hop combo would have been pleasant without being too aggressive (though I would dial back the steeping hops to 2 oz to keep things moderated). I agree that the citra is where things started to change direction (and the quantity of citra as well) but I'm sure this will be a fine beer it may just need a little time to mellow.

 

[dickproenneke]

Yeah, I guess I'll age out the rest of the bottles and see where it ends up in a few months. It's not terrible. I am just a little disappointed with it because it didn't turn out how I had hoped. I'll keep your hopping suggestions in mind on my next attempt at this brew. I may mash a bit warmer too.

 

[stpug]

I can't imagine that it's BAD by any means, but maybe just not what you were seeking (too IPAish maybe?). Considering that this was a partial mash I personally think your mash of 150 was fine since the extract was probably mashed a bit higher (152-154F). Was the sweetness lacking in your version? If so, you could always up your crystal a tad in your original recipe to compensate, or just not mash your crystal with your base malts (steep it instead). I don't know - just a suggestion.

I have recently read (no personal experience) that mashing crystal creates more sugars which we all knew, but also made those sugars more fermentable which yielded less residual sweetness. I recently wanted to try this on an IIPA - stone ruination-like clones - but just didn't (laziness mostly) and have yet to actually taste this brew.

 

[dickproenneke]

Good point. Adding another 1/2# of crystal would certainly give me a little more sweetness. Although I am very happy with the color of this brew (beautifully golden, very pleasant) and wouldn't want to alter that feature... The beer finished at 1.008 - pretty dry and not much malt to back up all those hops. I expect that an FG 1.011/12 along with some changes to the hop bill should get this beer where I want it.