American Pale Ale Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale

[fragged]

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.

I've done the same with this beer, but at 5 gallons each. I used cascade at day 3 of fermentation. Think I used 2 ounces.

I'd say that it was nice to have both. I basically had pale ales at both ends of the spectrum. If I was forced (at gunpoint) to dump one, it probably would have been the one without the dry hop though.

 

[Abrayton]

Turned out very good.

 

[scbruinsfan]

Thanks. Using MO and Munich would make a different beer. The munich malt would make it much more heavier and maltier. It would also make a darker beer going from 4L to 10L in color.

The MO would not make much of a difference other than increasing the price of the batch.

My goal in devising this recipe was to make a beer that was very drinkable, easy to make, while using the fewest, yet most cost effective ingredients; hence dry yeast, only one hop type, mostly 2 row Pale, etc.

I'm sure you would make a good beer, but it would be darker & maltier with the Munich.

I'm going to try this recipe just because I'm looking for a Haus Ale with the same goals- simple, inexpensive ingredients that yields consistent results and most everyone like. I used to do an extract Canadian ale that fit this bill but have since lost the recipe. Besides, I'm liking pale ales a lot more now since my trip to England earlier this year.

 

[Travis K. Jansen]

Can someone describe the flavor of this? I am interested in a beer that's approachable to most people and not bitter. I don't like bitter beers. Thanks!

 

[fragged]

Can someone describe the flavor of this? I am interested in a beer that's approachable to most people and not bitter. I don't like bitter beers. Thanks!

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. To me, they are extremely similiar, especially after this one has sat in a keg for a few weeks. Earlier than that you get much more hop smell. I love it, but some won't like it at that stage (typically those who've only had something like an IPA a couple times). They'd probably perceive it as bitter, associated with the hop smell rather than the actual flavor.

 

[Travis K. Jansen]

I can actually distinguish between the smell and the flavor. As long as it doesn't have the bitter aftertaste I'm good. I've actually had some beers that had a high hop Aroma but will not happy or bitter at all. And that was kind of a cool experience.

 

[fragged]

I can actually distinguish between the smell and the flavor. As long as it doesn't have the bitter aftertaste I'm good. I've actually had some beers that had a high hop Aroma but will not happy or bitter at all. And that was kind of a cool experience.

Probably the cheapest, easiest recipe on here, short of a smash.

Brew it, drink it, see how you like it. The price, quick turn around, great aroma and flavor are what keep it on my tap list.

Just blew my keg with this pour, so 10 more gallons on the way this weekend.

 

[Travis K. Jansen]

Yeah, I'll give it a whirl. Lots of beers on my list!

 

[-Ajax-]

I know this calls for Nottingham dry, but I have a Nottingham slurry from a batch of cream ale I did recently - anything adverse gonna happen if I use the slurry instead of dry yeast?

 

[Abrayton]

I know this calls for Nottingham dry, but I have a Nottingham slurry from a batch of cream ale I did recently - anything adverse gonna happen if I use the slurry instead of dry yeast?

It’s common to save yeast and pitch slurry. I actually use 001 for this recipe and it turns out great.

 

[-Ajax-]

It’s common to save yeast and pitch slurry. I actually use 001 for this recipe and it turns out great.

Awesome, thank you.

 

[fizzix]

This is perhaps the best beer this new guy has made. The recipes seem to be getting better along with my skills!
Tried one, and it was gone before I could share or take a photo.

 

[NickAus]

Brewing this as we speak.

The only subtle change is that 2lbs Vienna equals 900ish grams over her in Australia, I had a 1kg bag, so stuffed if I was going to save 100grams (3 and a bit ounces I think). So I threw caution to the wind and put a full kilogram in lol.

Did everyone pitch one yeast sachet or two? From memory US05 is 6 billion yeast count per gram, so two? Thanks Ed, smells and looks delicious, can't wait to try it!

 

[NickAus]

1.052 happy days, sample tastes fantastic

 

[leftcontact]

Brewed this last weekend (with my own hops!), but now I'm going to be out of town next week and won't be able to pull at the 10-day point. I assume a few extra days on the yeast won't hurt anything?

 

[LionMac]

all will be good, will taste even better.

 

[NickAus]

This has mellowed beautifully! At first I thought it needed dry hopping but after a few weeks conditioning it really doesn't, there's a subtle aroma sweetness that's really nice, the beer is very well balanced. A mate I'm introducing to home brew says it's delicious, that's all I need to hear. Will be my Haus pale definitely! Nice work Ed!!

 

[fizzix]

This has mellowed beautifully! At first I thought it needed dry hopping but after a few weeks conditioning it really doesn't ...Nice work Ed!!

I agree, Nickaus. The recipe stands as-is on its own, and a dry hop would subtract from its goodness. This is a favorite at my house as well.

 

[cskid]

So, need a little help here. Just brewed my first batch of Haus Pale Ale. While I know some of my numbers were off and I had to work through a stuck sparge the beer turned out drinkable. The beer is very malty (which is my issue) and though I added even more hops than called for there is not much hop flavor coming through like I'd expect for a pale ale. I brewed this 6.17.18 in the middle of the summer in Florida. Temp on brew day in my garage was 92F degrees.

Here was my process and numbers:

-Followed all grain recipe exactly except added 3 ounces of hops instead of 2.47 hops
throughout the boil. Decided just to add all three 1 ounce bag of hops. Used beer smith for my recipe but, ended up with almost 7 gallons in the fermenter before bottling which also means something is off. Maybe in my equipment set up?

-Mashed for 60 mins temp steady between 149-150 (temp in garage while brewing 92F)

-Batch sparged. Had a stuck sparge and blew back through the drain tube to get the wort flowing again. Sparge process due to stuck sparge took much longer than anticipated.

-Pre-boil gravity was 1.030

-Took one hour post boil to cool the wort to 80F using tap water running through standard size copper wort chiller

-Original gravity was 1.041 (was shooting for 1.055 per recipe)

-Pitched two packs of nottingham dry yeast to the fermenter (i use a 7 gallon plastic fast fermenter) and did not rehydrate yeast. As stated fermenter was placed in a fast fermenter cooling bag in our dining room replacing ice jugs 24-48 hours.

-Fermentation was vigorous and visually seemed complete after 24 hours. Just in case left in 12 days to ensure fermentation was complete and gravity reading was 1.015 (shooting for 1.012 for FG). Exchanged collection ball on the fast fermenter on day 13 then became very busy traveling for work. Batch stayed in the fermenter for a total of 26 days between 70F-71F degrees

-Bottled using corn sugar and bottles sat at room temperature for 2 weeks at 76-78 degrees F. Tried the first beer after refrigerating for 24 hours on week 3. Tried my second beer on week 4 after 48 hours of refrigeration.

Final product is color appropriate. Much more malt character than I was expecting. Almost to malty. Very little hop bitterness/flavor apparent. Since I missed my numbers beer is coming in at around 3.28% ABV vs. the 5.7% I was hoping for. The carbonation is on point with good lacy head retention.

Sorry for the long post but, wondering why this beer is so malt forward with an absence of hop flavor? Do you see anything glaringly wrong with my process? The beer is drinkable and not bad in any way (no off flavors at all) but nothing like what I expected. Wish I could ferment cooler but it's what my hobby budget allows for. Any thoughts from others. Am I just missing it? Is the beer supposed to be that non complex and very malty? For some reason took a first sip hoping to have something lower key but similar to Dale's Pale Ale. Finally, I've not yet attempted to up my original gravity if I miss on the mash by adding DME or LME. Little nervous that I might might screw something up but this would have been the perfect time to do so.

Thanks.

 

[MikeOhio]

Brewed this as my second brew...Biab/3 gallon batch. Outstanding beer on its own although my head retention wasnt what i hoped for. I mashed a little high, 156-158. Next time ill add some flaked barley and drop the mash temp to 153 to see what that does for head retention. Also a great base beer for hops experiments. Centennial hops on the list for future brews with this recipe. Thanks Ed!

 

[Cede]

You can add a few oz of carapils / carafoam for head retention.

 

[fizzix]

@Cede, do you think maltodextrin could help as well? About 8oz for ~5 gallons seems to have cured my headless beers.

 

[BongoYodeler]

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?

 

[BongoYodeler]

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.

 

[Abrayton]

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!

 

[BongoYodeler]

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/

 

[schematix]

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.

 

[BongoYodeler]

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.

 

[Travis K. Jansen]

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.

 

[schematix]

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.