Critique my first non-kit brew

[chevyguy]

I'm about to take my next step on my homebrewing journey. I'm planning on brewing a pale ale tomorrow with ingredients I put together myself, as opposed to buying a kit. But I would appreciate some input before I brew it so I don't waste perfectly good supplies on a crappy beer.
I have 2 lbs of Amber DME and 3 lbs of Pilsen DME, 1 lb of Crystal 60L, 2 ounces of Cascade 5.0, and US-05 yeast. I was planning on using 1 ounce of the hops for a 60 minute boil, and doing .5 at 30 and .5 at 10 minutes. I'm hoping for a nice, easy drinking pale ale for the summer. Am I on the right track?

 

[jigidyjim]

Have you used the amber DME before? I've never brewed with amber dme, but I know a little amber whole grain goes a long way. I suspect the amber DME isn't as potent flavor wise, but maybe someone else will know.

 

[Calder]

You will be low on bitterness. Assuming a 1.050 beer and doing a 2.5 gallon boil for 60 minutes., your IBUs will be about 16, which is pretty low. Probably want to be closer to 40.

Probably want somewhere around 15 AAs at 60 minutes. That is 3 ozs of 5.0 AA hops, or 1 ozs of 15 AA hops in 5 gallons.

Edit: Forgot about your 30 minute addition. That will get you to 20 IBUs. Not sure the 30 minute gets you anything. Move it later for flavor or aroma, or earlier for bitterness. Doesn't really accomplish much at 30 minutes.

 

[phenry]

If I were you I'd only use 8 oz of the Crystal 60 and move the 30 minute addition to 15 min and the 10 minute addition to either 5 or 0 minutes. You'll be ending up with a pale ale with an OG of about 1.045 and 25ish IBUs (assuming a full boil), which should be a nice hoppy sessionable beer. Again, that's just what I would do in your situation, but I'm not too experienced so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

[chevyguy]

If I were you I'd only use 8 oz of the Crystal 60 and move the 30 minute addition to 15 min and the 10 minute addition to either 5 or 0 minutes. You'll be ending up with a pale ale with an OG of about 1.045 and 25ish IBUs (assuming a full boil), which should be a nice hoppy sessionable beer. Again, that's just what I would do in your situation, but I'm not too experienced so take my advice with a grain of salt.

That's actually exactly what I was thinking about doing differently. I realize my hop levels are a little low, but I'm doing a 2.5 gallon boil so my hop utilization should be a little better, right?

 

[phenry]

That's actually exactly what I was thinking about doing differently. I realize my hop levels are a little low, but I'm doing a 2.5 gallon boil so my hop utilization should be a little better, right?

Not if you add all of your extract at the beginning of the boil (or so they say, I'm not going to get into the hop utilization debate here). What I would do in your case would be:

-Steep 8 oz C60L, bring to boil
-Add 1.5 lb Pilsen and 1 lb Amber
-Start hop additions when boil starts back
-Add the rest of the extract in at knockout and then top off to 5 gal (I would make my last hop addition at 5 mins with this being the case, don't know why, but I'd just feel more comfortable doing so)

I don't know if this beer would actually fit into any of the BJCP guidelines, but I know that won't stop it from tasting good.

 

[scoundrel]

chevyguy your beer sounds good to me. The only suggestion I'd make from an extract perspective is to do away with the amber malt and stick to all pilsen. It's a pale ale so keep it light.

I think phenry's advice is good. Since your not using a lot of hops adding the extract late will boost the bitterness and probably make it taste really nice. Good luck!

 

[Calder]

I realize my hop levels are a little low, but I'm doing a 2.5 gallon boil so my hop utilization should be a little better, right?

Smaller boil = lower hop utilization.

If you boil with half the extract and add the rest at flame-out, you might get up to 25 IBUs.

BJCP guidelines have an APA being 30 - 45 IBUs.

It will be beer, and may be pretty tasty, but if you are trying for a Pale Ale, you might find it lacking a little bitterness.