American Pale Ale Citra Pale Ale- Oddsides Clone

[Puddlethumper]

This is a great beer! Pulled a few pints Thursday and Friday and everyone who has tasted it here agrees it is an amazing beer.

My batch came in with OG 1.052 and FG at 1.012 yielding an ABV at 5.25%. I'm glad I chose to only use 1 oz. of whole leaf to dry-hop in the keg. The flavor/aroma comes through beautifully without being overwhelming. I also chose to use Magnum for bittering and believe that worked well too. Magnum adds the right amount of IBU's without doing much of anything to the finished flavor of the beer. Another week of carbonation/conditioning and this will be about perfect.

All-in-all I think this is a great beer and will remain on my short-list of recipes to do again.

Cheers!

 

[brew703]

This is a great beer! Pulled a few pints Thursday and Friday and everyone who has tasted it here agrees it is an amazing beer.

My batch came in with OG 1.052 and FG at 1.012 yielding an ABV at 5.25%. I'm glad I chose to only use 1 oz. of whole leaf to dry-hop in the keg. The flavor/aroma comes through beautifully without being overwhelming. I also chose to use Magnum for bittering and believe that worked well too. Magnum adds the right amount of IBU's without doing much of anything to the finished flavor of the beer. Another week of carbonation/conditioning and this will be about perfect.

All-in-all I think this is a great beer and will remain on my short-list of recipes to do again.

Cheers!

How much magnum did you use and at which point? Did you keep all of the citra additions even with the addition of the magnum?

 

[Puddlethumper]

How much magnum did you use and at which point? Did you keep all of the citra additions even with the addition of the magnum?

I had some Magnum on hand and didn't see any sense in using the expensive Citra for a 60 min. bittering addition. Here's what I did:

0.5 oz Magnum - 60 min
1.0 oz Citra - 10 min.
0.5 oz. Citra - 5 min.
0.5 oz. Citra - 1 min.
1.5 oz. Citra - flameout - steeped 15 min. (whole leaf)
1.0 oz. Citra - 12 days - whole leaf @ kegging - steep 2 days @ 75F then chill and carb. Serve after approx. 7 days

IBU 35.8

Cheers!

 

[brew703]

Thinking about making this again except using Denny's Favorite and eliminating the first Citra addition and replace with .25 oz of Magnum at 60. I'll be doing a 3 gallon batch.

How do you think the the flavor will change with these additions?

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thinking about making this again except using Denny's Favorite and eliminating the first Citra addition and replace with .25 oz of Magnum at 60. I'll be doing a 3 gallon batch.

How do you think the the flavor will change with these additions?

Can't address the change in yeast since I've no experience with that strain. But, IMO, the change in hops should make very little difference. Magnum is very neutral and will add the IBUs with virtually no impact on flavor.

 

[Helly]

Thinking about making this again except using Denny's Favorite and eliminating the first Citra addition and replace with .25 oz of Magnum at 60. I'll be doing a 3 gallon batch.

How do you think the the flavor will change with these additions?

I've done a pale ale with Denny's favorite (not this recipe but similar) and it was awesome. Definitely give it a shot.

 

[brew703]

Going to make 3 gallons next weekend using Denny's. Will use magnum as the first addition.

 

[brew703]

Brewed my second batch on Saturday (3 gal). Only change was I used Denny's Fav. Within 8 hrs it's rocking. Only thing is the color is lighter than the first batch. Hoping it darkens up a bit once fermentation slows.

 

[MFWINZLOW]

So much - exactly what I was looking to do! Have been doing heavier bodied ales of no specific type most of the year. But, I did this one before I found this thread and recipie...very close to what I brewed yesterday 11/01/15. Including the heavy Citra with an off ryhthm hop schedule. Yesterday - I did do a 45 min 1oz of Simecoe...yes, bitter please. IBU is 55. This 6-gal batch - in 2 carboys - is very active and smells very nice! Cannot wait to sample. I am going to load this specific recipie into Brewtarget for my next brew - will happen in a week or so. (EDIT: Nope!...went for a Mosaic / Cascade / Citra variation this time)

11/19
It is bottled. I understand now about the catty aspects of Citra - as I did a couple of hydrometer readings along the way and it was quite strong, but, at bottle time the catty has mellowed and I really like this.
Citra overwhelms a green beer, but started to mellow in mine at day 18.

11/29
Ten days in the bottle and all has mellowed. Catty aspects are all gone. This is a very nice beer that I will adjust a bit and run again soon. I have just ran a variation of the Aberdeen Brown (Newcastle clone) - so in (2) weeks...another shot!

Going to modify batch 2 of this - I would like it a touch lighter in color and body - and I DO mean just a touch.
This is my favorite that I have made....just like all the rest before...


Thanks for the knowledge
Winzlow

 

[eelgerg]

Going to be brewing this for my next brewday. Recipe seems similar to Kona big wave golden ale. Just have to find some flaked wheat (is toasted flaked wheat the same??). Alternatively I can get carapils or carafoam. What would subbing those into this recipe do to the flavour profile?

 

[DrewinPR]

Brewed this up with a couple friends, it was our first batch (ever) and we were very impressed with the results! Not sure why I didn't post in here sooner (thought I had) but we've only got one bottle left now! Sampled a couple of bottles at a homebrew meeting, was only our second ever meeting and at the first meeting we had yet to brew anything. The crew there couldn't believe it was my first batch and everyone clapped! Ha, it was pretty unreal. Anyway, everyone has loved the aroma so far. We actually used a little Belgian yeast from our local brewery (Townsite Brewing) that my friend (the brewmaster there) pulled right out of a fermenter into a jar for us. He couldn't believe it was that yeast that was used (the homebrew meetings are hosted at his brewery).

Anyway, I have lots of citra on hand so we will definitely be doing this again. Photo with the 3 sample glasses is our first ever tasting, we were pretty giddy.

 

[eelgerg]

Note. - I have flaked barley (.5 lb) that I could sub instead of flaked wheat......??

 

[eelgerg]

DrewinPR - fellow BRitish Columbian here. Funny coincidence. I wish they had homebrew club meeting at the local craft brewery here! There isn't even a homebrew club in Kamloops yet!

I hope to brew this within the next two weeks. I'll post my experience, recipe tweaks (if any) and photos of the results when done.

 

[eelgerg]

Is the OP recipe designed for a 5.5 gal batch?

 

[DrewinPR]

DrewinPR - fellow BRitish Columbian here. Funny coincidence. I wish they had homebrew club meeting at the local craft brewery here! There isn't even a homebrew club in Kamloops yet!

I hope to brew this within the next two weeks. I'll post my experience, recipe tweaks (if any) and photos of the results when done.

Small world! You should talk to the guys at Red Collar and see if you can get anything going. I just joined the executive at the local CAMRA chapter, they were sort of behind kick starting our local homebrew club. We've only had a couple of meetings so far. There's a CAMRA south okanagan but they may not do much in Kamloops I guess.

 

[eelgerg]

Any opinions on subbing flaked barley for the flaked wheat? Or could I just leave it out entirely? methinks it won't change the flavour of the beer at all (flaked wheat is for head retention and mouthfeel?!?)

 

[eelgerg]

Ok I got me some flaked wheat. Brew day this week - maybe tomorrow. I'll post pics and an update of the day when it happens. Grain is all measured out. Can't wait!

 

[eelgerg]

Starting a 10G brew tonight. I'm also doing an exbeeriment on my oxygenation source as I am suspicious that the O2 welding tank that I picked up is the source of a ruined batch last time. I'll post a big update of the brew night tomorrow.

 

[brew703]

This is a little late but I have subbed torrified wheat for flaked wheat.
This is one of my favorite brews. Keep us posted how it turns out.

 

[eelgerg]

Hit a snag - delaying brew until this weekend

 

[eelgerg]

OK. So I got my brewday in last night. If I had to pick one word to describe it was: CHAOS

Recipe
- Pretty well matched the recipe bang on except I eyeballed the flaked wheat, and scaled up for a 10.5 gal recipe.
- ingredients were exactly as listed except for hops - did the same 15, 10, 5, 0 minute additions except then I hit a snag - more on that below.

Brew Steps
- mash went well. Initially was a bit high - so stirred until temp came down below 160. Then it really dropped. I really don't like my thermometer/setup. It seems to "stick" a lot especially in mashing. It'll read an initial temp - maybe the grain around it insulates it a bit and causes temp stratification within the mash tun (keggle)
- then temp went down to 145. I added some hot (180F) water to bring it up, when again I had the "stuck thermometer" issue. I used my Thermapen to confirm that the top of the tun (mostly water at this point) was 156 F and the bottom must have been what the temp dial read (1). Assuming it all worked out in the end - aiming for the listed 152F. This is one of my challenges with my setup.
- Then drained, batch sparged until I got final boil volume of 12.5 L - probably was a bit over (13.0?) as my BK was pretty full.
- SG before boil was only 1.035, which I considered low, so I decided to boil for 75-90 mins and test OG along the way.
- Boiled away and checked at 75 mins and OG was 1.062!!! Not sure if that is really what happened or if my initial reading was either off or low because wort was hot (?)

The Issue
- then I hit my big snag. for all of my hop additions I used muslin bags filled with either whole hops or pellets.
- My last hop addition I said to heck with it and added whole hops (1.0 oz) straight in. Problem is that I don't have a screen on the bottom of my BK just a dip tube.
- started to drain the wort and nothing happened. Got really pissed off, trying to unplug the jam using many techniques, most of which potentially infected the batch (we'll see). After about an hour of trying gravity feed, solar pump, and other techniques, I was resigned to cleaning my mash tun keggle, and transferring all the word from the BK into that so that I could run it through my blichmann plate chiller. By this time it was midnight and I was not a happy camper.
- from here on it things went well. I believe my final volume is right around 10 G into 2 fermenters. Although I have a real mess to clean up when I get home tonight, plus it's St. Paddys day so this probably isn't gonna get dealt with until tomorrow!

Fermentation
- running two split batches (5G each) both with Safale S-05. This morning there was action in one, and nothing in the other. Worried that one of the S-05 packages might have been dud. If there's no activity after 2 days.

 

[eelgerg]

OK. So I got my brewday in last night. If I had to pick one word to describe it was: CHAOS

Recipe
- Pretty well matched the recipe bang on except I eyeballed the flaked wheat, and scaled up for a 10.5 gal recipe.
- ingredients were exactly as listed except for hops - did the same 15, 10, 5, 0 minute additions except then I hit a snag - more on that below.

Brew Steps
- mash went well. Initially was a bit high - so stirred until temp came down below 160. Then it really dropped. I really don't like my thermometer/setup. It seems to "stick" a lot especially in mashing. It'll read an initial temp - maybe the grain around it insulates it a bit and causes temp stratification within the mash tun (keggle)
- then temp went down to 145. I added some hot (180F) water to bring it up, when again I had the "stuck thermometer" issue. I used my Thermapen to confirm that the top of the tun (mostly water at this point) was 156 F and the bottom must have been what the temp dial read (1). Assuming it all worked out in the end - aiming for the listed 152F. This is one of my challenges with my setup.
- Then drained, batch sparged until I got final boil volume of 12.5 L - probably was a bit over (13.0?) as my BK was pretty full.
- SG before boil was only 1.035, which I considered low, so I decided to boil for 75-90 mins and test OG along the way.
- Boiled away and checked at 75 mins and OG was 1.062!!! Not sure if that is really what happened or if my initial reading was either off or low because wort was hot (?)

The Issue
- then I hit my big snag. for all of my hop additions I used muslin bags filled with either whole hops or pellets.
- My last hop addition I said to heck with it and added whole hops (1.0 oz) straight in. Problem is that I don't have a screen on the bottom of my BK just a dip tube.
- started to drain the wort and nothing happened. Got really pissed off, trying to unplug the jam using many techniques, most of which potentially infected the batch (we'll see). After about an hour of trying gravity feed, solar pump, and other techniques, I was resigned to cleaning my mash tun keggle, and transferring all the word from the BK into that so that I could run it through my blichmann plate chiller. By this time it was midnight and I was not a happy camper.
- from here on it things went well. I believe my final volume is right around 10 G into 2 fermenters. Although I have a real mess to clean up when I get home tonight, plus it's St. Paddys day so this probably isn't gonna get dealt with until tomorrow!

Fermentation
- running two split batches (5G each) both with Safale S-05. This morning there was action in one, and nothing in the other. Worried that one of the S-05 packages might have been dud. If there's no activity after 2 days I'm gonna re-pitch with another S-05 package. Pics will be posted soon.

 

[eelgerg]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458313099.512715.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458313117.046394.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458313131.763829.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458313151.581988.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458313162.233485.jpg

 

[brew703]

That sucks to have those issues. Hopefully in the end all is good. I've brewed this recipe three times, the last time I used Denny's Fav and it was better than the previous two where I used US-05.

 

[eelgerg]

if no activity tomorrow in fermenter #2 (i.e. 58 hours from pitching yeast) I am going to re-pitch with hydrated S-05 yeast. Initially I just pitched dry yeast into fermenter (it was late.....).

 

[eelgerg]

No activity so I re-pitched today. Let's see how long this takes. Should have taken a gravity reading but I'm paranoid of infecting - my syphoning or sampling techniques are not good

 

[eelgerg]

Repitched yesterday at noon. Shazam! She's rockin now. And that smell!!!! And it's not even dry hopped yet. I just hope it got enough bitterness from the hood. I'm not a fan of my hop bags in the boil kettle. Need to get a good screen for my BK.

 

[eelgerg]

Here is the photo of the two fermenters now. Right is about 3 days behind the left, but bubbling away.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458534865.596687.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458534885.262157.jpg
I will let these babies sit for 2-3 weeks and then plan to dry-hop for 7-10 days. I have an oversees trip planned for them and when I get back this should be ready!

 

[eelgerg]

2 weeks in and they are happy. at week 3 (next Friday) I am going to add my dry-hop additions - 2 oz of pellets per carboy straight to the fermenter. Then I'm off to Tokyo for a week and when I'm back I'll transfer to kegs and carb this badboy up!

 

[brew703]

Gonna brew this one again soon. I have three small batch SMaSH brews scheduled then a Russian River then Oddsides. The last time I made this one I split the batch and one I dry hopped with Citra/Galaxy and I preferred that over the original.