American Pale Ale Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale

[Mothman]

Took a first gravity reading today, beer is in it's 8th day.

Via the hydrometer, I'm at 1.011. Via a corrected refractometer reading (just bought one for this brew, so seeing if it's trustworthy), it's at 1.012 (via Brewers Friend calculator which is the closest of the few I've tried).

Likely done, but I'll be leaving it til later in the week or this weekend in any case to confirm.

I am a bit surprised at the color. Doesn't look Pale Ale-ish... it's very light in color. Also very cloudy, which I don't really care about. But yeah, definitely very light in color.

The flavour (of the hydro sample) was fine (I think... still not good at judging warm, flat, beer).

But if this turns out ok and I do it again, I'll look at using darker crystal.

Not sure if it's because of the scaling down of batch size, in Beersmith. Going down to 3.5 gallons, Beersmith had me using only 4 oz of crystal 10L, and maybe that simply wasn't enough.

 

[schematix]

Not sure if it's because of the scaling down of batch size, in Beersmith. Going down to 3.5 gallons, Beersmith had me using only 4 oz of crystal 10L, and maybe that simply wasn't enough.

Did you mean to post to the apfelwein thread?

Something was definitely off. Even a 1.040 100% Pilsner malt beer would be darker than that.

 

[Mothman]

Did you mean to post to the apfelwein thread?

Something was definitely off. Even a 1.040 100% Pilsner malt beer would be darker than that.

lol

No, I definitely made (tried to make) Haus Pale Ale.

I hit all the predicted gravity numbers... 1.052 OG, and if the FG stands, it'll be 1.011.

So I made something.... just not quite sure what. Hahaha

Any ideas on what would cause this, given that the gravity numbers seem right on the mark?

 

[PearlJam]

@ Mothman

Mine also came out with that colour. I have checked the recipe several times and also can't pinpoint the reason.

3.50 kg BEST Pale Ale (BESTMALZ) (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 76.9 %
0.85 kg BEST Vienna (BESTMALZ) (4.6 SRM) Grain 4 18.7 %
0.20 kg BEST Caramel Hell (BESTMALZ) (15.2 SRM) Grain 5 4.4 %

 

[Mothman]

My percentages ended up a bit different...
77.9% Pale malt
19.3% Vienna
3.5% Crystal 10L

Changing to my BIAB profile while scaling the recipe in Beersmith results in the proportions changing for some reason.

In any case, I wouldn't think a single % point up or down would make that big a difference. But I don't know, this was my first all-grain attempt.

Don't know if a mash error can mess with the color like this? I'd almost question whether the crystal grain I got wasn't crushed and I didn't realize it?

 

[fragged]

My percentages ended up a bit different...
77.9% Pale malt
19.3% Vienna
3.5% Crystal 10L

Changing to my BIAB profile while scaling the recipe in Beersmith results in the proportions changing for some reason.

In any case, I wouldn't think a single % point up or down would make that big a difference. But I don't know, this was my first all-grain attempt.

Don't know if a mash error can mess with the color like this? I'd almost question whether the crystal grain I got wasn't crushed and I didn't realize it?

The beersmith issue is likely because either the batch size or the efficiency is different in your profile vs. the OP. Had the same problem when I first started using it. Anymore I just build these recipes from scratch in BS, less chance for error IME, YMMV.

Was your OG/FG the same as OP?

 

[Mothman]

The beersmith issue is likely because either the batch size or the efficiency is different in your profile vs. the OP. Had the same problem when I first started using it. Anymore I just build these recipes from scratch in BS, less chance for error IME, YMMV.

Yeah, I scaled the batch to 3.5 gallons, and my efficiency is set at 70%

Was your OG/FG the same as OP?

Yes, my OG was 1.052, and my first FG reading yesterday was 1.011.

 

[fragged]

No clue. Sure it was Crystal 10? Maybe you're right and it wasn't crushed. I would imagine just Vienna and 2-row would be about that color. It almost seems watery looking, though that could just be because it's flat.

Edit: To be clear about my overall thoughts though, carb it, drink it, and enjoy.

 

[Mothman]

Haha yeah I will definitely drink it.

Thinking I might call it "What The Fail Ale".

 

[Mothman]

And I am leaning toward a grain error.

My grain was mislabelled... What was supposedly 2 row was labelled pale chocolate. I checked with the supplier and they said all was fine, just a labelling error. Obviously pale chocolate looks very different and it LOOKED like it was 2 row, but the error makes me doubt a bit in terms of the order accuracy.

And thinking back I do recall one of the grains looking more intact and not dusty like the others. Quite possibly they mistakenly sent whole Crystal malt.

Chalk it up to experience. Maybe I discovered a delicious new recipe. Lol

 

[fragged]

Thought I'd add a photo. This one definitely gets better at the 4 week mark. Clears quick too, as advertised.

View attachment 1499904458922.jpg

 

[Mothman]

I put my test bottle in the fridge a week or so ago, after two weeks bottle conditioning.

I was trying to leave it in the fridge until it lost the chill haze entirely but lost patience. Lol

Popped the top today and tried it out.

As expected it's not fully carbonated, but I'm pretty happy with the taste!

And some how it darkened somewhat during bottle conditioning. Still not pale ale like, but at least it doesn't look like white wine anymore. Lol

Happy how my first all grain turned out, and the rest of the bottles, once fully conditioned, should be great.

 

[NickTheGreat]

So you Relaxed, Didn't Worry, and Had A HomeBrew?



Seriously though, this was my first all grain, I believe, and I've made it several times since. I should make it again

 

[tdp]

Thanks- I just brewed this for the first time yesterday and was also a little surprised how light/yellow the wort looked... planning to give it about 10 days fermentation and keg - should be ready for weekend after next - fingers crossed.

 

[Mothman]

Mine looked super pale/yellow too, in the fermenter (posted a photo a page or two back).

After conditioning it darkened up slightly, turned out fine.

 

[LionMac]

great recipe, will be part of the rotation, thanks for sharing.

 

[tdp]

Mine has turned out a little thin/watery - it is carbonated btw and the OG/FG were fine.

Any suggestions? (FYI I mashed at 152)

 

[NickTheGreat]

Mine has turned out a little thin/watery - it is carbonated btw and the OG/FG were fine.

Any suggestions? (FYI I mashed at 152)

How old is it? Bottled or kegged?

This seems like one that needs a little bit of time to come around. I've done it really fast, like 3 weeks from grain to glass, but it's better after another week or two.

 

[tdp]

It's a little young. I kegged it about 10 days ago and brewed it about 10 days before that.

 

[tdp]

Maybe I'll leave it settle for a week or two and give it another try.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I would guess you'll be happier with it in another week or two.

 

[tdp]

Thanks!!!

 

[bikedave99]

Thanks!!!

I have thought my batch was a little thin at various times of its keg life, but right now, probably 6wks in the keg, I am reallllllly enjoying it. Not over the top in any sense, just a really nice drinker.

 

[tdp]

I just tried mine last night --- far smoother --- it does seem to take some time.

 

[Griffin495]

Well after reading the first 71 pages of this thread last week, I was in the neighborhood of my local home brew store so I stopped by and picked up the stuff to brew this. Not sure when I'll get around to it as I'll be at the ranch all week for Thanksgiving, but sometime soon hopefully. Thanks, Ed. Looking forward to it.

**Oh, and I got all the stuff 100% per the recipe. Not gonna make any changes without seeing how the original comes out.

 

[CGVT]

Well after reading the first 71 pages of this thread last week, I was in the neighborhood of my local home brew store so I stopped by and picked up the stuff to brew this. Not sure when I'll get around to it as I'll be at the ranch all week for Thanksgiving, but sometime soon hopefully. Thanks, Ed. Looking forward to it.

**Oh, and I got all the stuff 100% per the recipe. Not gonna make any changes without seeing how the original comes out.

You will not be disappointed. It is a real nice Pale Ale.

 

[fragged]

Brewed this again a couple weekends ago (I really need to keep better records).

So much better this time, much more pale ale like than my last, and I thought that one was good.

I've improved my process a little, wondering if anyone has ideas about what made the hops come through much better this time.

Main things I can think of that were different are that:

1) I've added a pump and now whirlpool chill, cooling time went from 1 hour to 20 minutes, under 150 in 5 minutes.

2) Different hop supplier, though they seemed fresh before.

3) Using lactic instead of citric acid to adjust pH.

4) 5 extra days in fermenter (5 before 10 now; not an intentional change, No available kegs)

I would think 1 or 2. Just curious to your experiences really, most of these are things I'll keep doing. Just strange how much better this one is, even better than one I dry hopped before.

P.s. This was a fantastic pale ale before, now it's amazing.

 

[CGVT]

I've found that this beer seems to take just a little longer than others to "come together". I think it is much better after a couple of weeks in the keg. Maybe the extra time was the trick?

 

[Griffin495]

I usually follow directions/recipes to the letter the first time I brew or cook them, but I got to thinking that I've got two spare 3 gallon fermenters sitting around not doing anything right now. What if I leave half the recipe as is in one and in the second one dry hop it and end up with two similar but different beers? What would you dry hop it with? I'm assuming more Cascade. And how much would you dry hop a 2.5 gallon recipe? And when? I've brewed about 40 recipes so far, but have never dry hopped any of them. Thanks in advance.

 

[Abrayton]

I am looking for feedback on an adjusted hop schedule I’m thinking about using with this recipe but bumping the pale malt up to 10lbs.
1oz Magnum 60 min
.5oz Cascade 10 min
.25oz cascade 5 min
.25oz cascade flameout
2oz cascade dry hop 7 days
Thanks for any feedback