American Pale Ale Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale

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I'm planning on brewing one gallon batches of this, and the Bee Cave Porter over the weekend. These will be my first attempts at one gallon brewing. Putting this one into Beersmith I noticed, as was mentioned earlier in this thread, the the color seems too light. My Beersmith SRM was 4.1 instead of the 5 that Ed stated. Thinking I'll go with Caramel Malt 20L instead of the recommended 10L. Anyone try this?
 
On Saturday I brewed the Bee Cave pale ale and the Bee Cave Porter. Both happily bubbling away. I brought them out for a few minutes to take a pic.

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62D1AAD0-391E-4756-A927-A49EF1C2A8C1.png 5th time brewing this. Decided to change the hops a bit since I had a bunch of nugget. Have never used nugget before so I’m hoping for the best!
 
Brewed a 1 gallon batch (scaled down using Beersmith 3), of this on Oct. 20th with one exception. I used Crystal 20L instead of 10L. OG taken with my hydrometer was 1.052. I got thinking about the amount amount of beer needed to take 2 final readings from a one gallon batch. So I ordered a refractometer, even though it's not intended for FG readings. I verified distilled water reading. Then using Brewers Friend I made calculations to estimate the general FG here's what I got:

measured OG = 1.052
converted OG to Brix = 12.9
measured FG brix = 5.0
measured brix converted to FG (alcohol corrected) = 1.001
est abv - 6.7%

Now, the FG seems low when compared to the original recipe/notes on page 1 of this thread. However I'm not sure how much faith I have in this measuring/conversion-calculation process. At any rate, I'll take another reading with the refractometer tomorrow, and if it still reads 5.0 Brix I'll go ahead and bottle and assume the abv to be in the 5.5 - 6.5% range, which is good enough for me.
Even though it was just an eye-dropper amount the sample tasted quite good.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/
 
Brewed a 1 gallon batch (scaled down using Beersmith 3), of this on Oct. 20th with one exception. I used Crystal 20L instead of 10L. OG taken with my hydrometer was 1.052. I got thinking about the amount amount of beer needed to take 2 final readings from a one gallon batch. So I ordered a refractometer, even though it's not intended for FG readings. I verified distilled water reading. Then using Brewers Friend I made calculations to estimate the general FG here's what I got:

You need to take a hydrometer AND refractometer measurement of the wort before any yeast has been added. The refractometer sample *must* be clear (filter it through a coffee filter). You will use the ratio of these 2 numbers to determine your wort specific correction value. You use that value in the alcohol present correction formula.

After that you don't need the hydrometer again. Just a small sample of wort that is also filtered through a coffee filter to degas and clarify. Should get you pretty close but do realize that errors up front lead to larger errors in the end. Therefore I suggest you also buy a set of 3 precision narrow range lab grade hydrometers.

A refractometer is not a replacement for a hydrometer unfortunately. Used properly within their limitations, the 2 tools compliment each other well though.
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation schematix. I pretty much assumed a refractometer at this point in the process wasn't going to get me an accurate abv measurement. I bought it, for this batch anyway, with the intent to get two consecutive equal readings to verify fermentation is complete, without taking a "hydrometer-worth" from my gallon batch to do so. Interesting about running samples through a coffee filter. Seems I have a lot to learn.

Quite honestly, at this point in time I'm not too concerned in measuring for abv within .1% I'm fine to know it's plus/minus 1.0% As a relatively new brewer a ballpark estimate is fine with me for now as I'm still working on dialing in my process.
 
You can get pretty damn close with correction factor. Just need some history using both refrax and hydrometer to calculate it. It'll get you close.
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation schematix. I pretty much assumed a refractometer at this point in the process wasn't going to get me an accurate abv measurement. I bought it, for this batch anyway, with the intent to get two consecutive equal readings to verify fermentation is complete, without taking a "hydrometer-worth" from my gallon batch to do so. Interesting about running samples through a coffee filter. Seems I have a lot to learn.

Quite honestly, at this point in time I'm not too concerned in measuring for abv within .1% I'm fine to know it's plus/minus 1.0% As a relatively new brewer a ballpark estimate is fine with me for now as I'm still working on dialing in my process.

That's pretty coarse measurement (why bother?) but if that's your requirement then what you've got will do it.

The correction calculations can be quite accurate for moderate strength beers near final attenuation. Shockingly accurate. But if you have one of those cheap $8 hydrometers that reads .998 to 1.120 you're only going to be able to get a measurement to within a few points and it's not going to be really consistent. Garbage in garbage out.
 
Just finished putting this into the carboy. New all-grain setup for me and missed OG a bit, came in around 1.042? Looks like im losing a lot more water in the process than usual somehow. 4.75 gallons it looks like and used the same measurements as yourself... Tasted and smelled great!
 
Hi all first time poster. I have the grains to brew a full batch of this but would really like to do a partigyle and split the wort into two beers. Given the simple grain bill it seems like a good opportunity to steep some additional grains pre-boil in the "non-APA" wort to gain an additional beer. Do you any of you guys have suggestions?
 
Hi, after reading almost the entire thread im going to give this a go for my 1st all grain brew in 5 years, I was thinking of dry hopping it
any suggestions? cheers!
I have simcoe,cascade and Chinook but can buy whatever will suit it best
 
Hi, after reading almost the entire thread im going to give this a go for my 1st all grain brew in 5 years, I was thinking of dry hopping it
any suggestions? cheers!
I have simcoe,cascade and Chinook but can buy whatever will suit it best
I brewed a 1.25 gallon batch of this in the fall, and I think I still have a couple bottles left. I'm thinking about brewing 5 gallons of it for my next batch, and move from bottling to kegging. Since it's all cascade hops, if I remember correctly, I'm thinking of dry hopping with more cascade.
 
Hi, after reading almost the entire thread im going to give this a go for my 1st all grain brew in 5 years, I was thinking of dry hopping it
any suggestions? cheers!
I have simcoe,cascade and Chinook but can buy whatever will suit it best
I wouldn’t change anything the first time. Try it as is, great, easy, cheap recipe and then experiment after that. But if you do dry hop, cascade sounds best out of those 3 to me.
 
Ill be brewing this up in a few days exactly to the recipe, im using RO water and ot sure on a good water profile for this? cheers!
 
I added some Rainer to this. 1oz.
Added 1/2oz at 15mins and 1/2oz at 5mins.
really gives it a nice extra touch of hops.
 
Brewed 11g and pitched two dry Nottingham packets without hydrating per the original instructions. Ferm ended at 1.020. Should I pull some settled yeast from the bottom of the conical and reintroduce it to continue ferm?
 
Brewed 11g and pitched two dry Nottingham packets without hydrating per the original instructions. Ferm ended at 1.020. Should I pull some settled yeast from the bottom of the conical and reintroduce it to continue ferm?

Well, pulled a quart of trub and yeast into a sanitized jar and dumped it back in the top. Fingers crossed.
 
A quick question for the OP or anybody else who has brewed this... I am plugging the recipe into my BeerSmith and when I add the hop additions exactly as the original recipe I only get 28.3 IBUs as opposed to the OPs 39. I haven't ordered my ingredients so without knowing the AA of the Cascade hops I'd receive, has anybody else noticed this discrepancy? Or am I missing something? To get to approximately 39.5 IBU with 6.6% AA hops my additions look like this for a total of 3oz instead of 2oz...
1.25 oz @60
.75 oz @30
.5 oz @15
.5 oz @ 5
Are these reasonable modifications?

Thanks
 
A quick question for the OP or anybody else who has brewed this... I am plugging the recipe into my BeerSmith and when I add the hop additions exactly as the original recipe I only get 28.3 IBUs as opposed to the OPs 39. I haven't ordered my ingredients so without knowing the AA of the Cascade hops I'd receive, has anybody else noticed this discrepancy? Or am I missing something? To get to approximately 39.5 IBU with 6.6% AA hops my additions look like this for a total of 3oz instead of 2oz...
1.25 oz @60
.75 oz @30
.5 oz @15
.5 oz @ 5
Are these reasonable modifications?

Thanks

I brewed a scaled down (1.25 gallon) batch of this, but kept ratios pretty much the same. Just had one after work today in fact. My opinion - there's not much hop presence at all, more like a blonde than a pale ale, especially now that mine's been in the bottle about 5 months. It's really good as is, a nice easy drinker, but when I brew it again I'll definitely adjust the hops upward a bit, or maybe dry hop it. I think it's a great base beer that can easily take whatever tweaks you like.
 
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I brewed a scaled down (1.25 gallon) batch of this, but kept ratios pretty much the same. Just had one after work today in fact. My opinion - there's not much hop presence at all, more like a blonde than a pale ale, especially now that mine's been in the bottle about 5 months. It's really good as is, a nice easy drinker, but when I brew it again I'll definitely adjust the hops upward a bit, or maybe dry hop it. I think it's a great base beer that can easily take whatever tweaks you like.

I brewed this recipe last week with these hop modifications:
1 oz. Cascade (8.5% AA) 60 min. 23.4 IBU
.5 oz. Cascade (8.5% AA) 30 min. 9 IBU
.5 oz. Cascade (7.8% AA) 15 min. 5.3 IBU
.5 oz. Cascade (7.8% AA) 5 min. 2.1 IBU
Total IBUs = 39.8
The bittering hops were some I had already opened and may not have been as fresh and possibly not as high %AA as what was printed on the package so my total IBUs might not be as high as BeerSmith predicts. The flavoring and aroma hops were new unopened packages that smelled fresher. It's been in the primary for a week now and the scent from the airlock is great. Another week or 2 before I keg and take a sample taste.
 
Hi All,

Been brewing for a few years now and used this recipe as my first step out of extract an into all grain BIAB. I nailed the OG but now im 7 days after brewday and im at around 1.026 with no airlock signs in the last few days. Any ideas on how to save this thing?
 
I brewed this yesterday with BIAB and finished with 5.75 gallons at 1.062, I changed nothing other than the hops. I usually overshoot the OG but not this much...

Buck - Try pitching more yeast. I followed the rehydration instructions on the Nottingham package and had activity within an hour.
 
I brewed this yesterday with BIAB and finished with 5.75 gallons at 1.062, I changed nothing other than the hops. I usually overshoot the OG but not this much...

Buck - Try pitching more yeast. I followed the rehydration instructions on the Nottingham package and had activity within an hour.

So I alreayd kegged it, I warmed it up a bit and swirled the carboy got it down for 1.02, and called it a day. Looking back now, that was my first all grain experience and i dont think I fully understood how important mash temps were. The thermometer I was using was junk, and I have since replaced it. I currently have a kolsch fermenting away, hoping I did a lot better this time.

The Pale Ale taste good actually, but is extremely malty. Im not complaining though haha
 
In regards to mash temps, I ferment low, almost with everything. Typically no higher than 150 and shoot for 148. I've never had an issue with too thin a body in my beers no matter what recipe I've followed. I also mash for 90 minutes and in this batch, raised the temp to 170 slowly following the 90 minutes at 148. All these things are likely helpful in meeting or exceeding my target OG.
 
Did my third 5g. Batch of this 4 weeks ago and it came out great as always, Half kegged in a 3g. Keg and half bottled. I did a blend of hops this time. Falconers for the 60 minute and a blend with cascade @ 20 and 5. Plenty of folks stuck around to finish the keg in 2 days. Luckily I have the case of bottles carbing for this weekend!
 
Brewed this on Saturday and underpitched Voss (kveik) hoping to capitalize on the rumored orange flavors. The bitterness is understated, possibly due to using a hop spider for the first time. Need to search this thread for dry hopping ideas...
 
A recipe from 2007 and still going strong! I found this recipe via an “Homebrewtalk top 100 recipes” document and thought It would be a good one to try out since I have all ingredients in my inventory. So I brewed up 20 liters of this earlier today. A bit low on the OG (1.047, was some water left in the pump when I turned it on for cooling.. yikes!) but nevertheless I hope it’ll turn out to be a nice beer. We’ll see in a few weeks.
 
A recipe from 2007 and still going strong! I found this recipe via an “Homebrewtalk top 100 recipes” document and thought It would be a good one to try out since I have all ingredients in my inventory. So I brewed up 20 liters of this earlier today. A bit low on the OG (1.047, was some water left in the pump when I turned it on for cooling.. yikes!) but nevertheless I hope it’ll turn out to be a nice beer. We’ll see in a few weeks.
Please keep us posted on how this turns out.
 
Did my third 5g. Batch of this 4 weeks ago and it came out great as always, Half kegged in a 3g. Keg and half bottled. I did a blend of hops this time. Falconers for the 60 minute and a blend with cascade @ 20 and 5. Plenty of folks stuck around to finish the keg in 2 days. Luckily I have the case of bottles carbing for this weekend!
I'm planning an upcoming brew day and since I liked this one so much I 'm thinking giving it another go. But I want to change up the hops a bit and so I reread this thread and your post in particular interested me. I have plenty of Cascade and also some Falconers Flight and was interested in how yours aged. Or did you finish it so fast that it didn't? :) Overall impressions?
 
Found some Wild Hops in the backyard, no idea what they are but thinking of doing a Wet Hopped version of this. Anyone ever try this? I understand I need to up the Hop amount to account for them not being dry.
 
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