First APA attempt. Opinions?

[DHaught]

Not sure if this should be here or in the recipe's sub forum since I am a beginner. Move if necessary.

Hey there. So this is going to be my 9th batch of beer since I started brewing last summer. The first 7 were kits that turned out great except for one porter that turned out like ass because I dumped in a bunch of honey and made it taste like a rum and coke in a beer bottle. Live and learn.

Anyway I decided to try making two basic recipes using guidance from the joy of homebrewing. Here is one for an American Pale ale. This is already in the primary and smelling great so too late to change it for now but I'm looking for some opinions about whether something sticks out as off, or wrong, or maybe suggestions. I'll update as to what I end up with when I get it bottled and carbed up in a few weeks or so.

Here is what I cooked up: Edit: 5 gallon batch. 3 gallon boil

6.5 lbs Light DME
.5 lb Crystal 40
.25 lb American Cara Pils
2 tsp. Gypsum.

Hops; all pellets.
Boiling. 60 min. 1.5 oz Galena. 7.7 A. (seemed kind of low based on what I had read about it but it's what my LHBS had written on the package so....I was expecting 12-14)
.5 oz Mt. Hood 5.2 A. 15 min.
1 oz. Cascade 5 min.

Steeped grains at 155 F for 30 min. Boiled extract, and Galena, + Gypsum for 60 min. Added other hops as noted.
Cooled and transfered. Strained out some hop gunk and left most on bottom of boil pot. Topped off with spring water and added starter of Wyeast 1272.

O.G. 1.061.
Currently fermenting in the high 60's to about 70 degrees tops.

Did this on the 22nd and it was bubbling great that evening. Has slowed quite a bit now. Looking forward to racking to secondary this weekend and letting it sit for another week or two before bottling.

Any feedback?

 

[SteveM]

It sounds like you should have a real nice beer once you're done. Patience is most important at this point.

 

[kbuzz]

what size is the batch?

 

[DHaught]

Oh yeah.

5 gallons. I boiled about 3 gallons.

 

[YouHadMeAtASL]

what size is the batch?

From the amount of malt/hops, sounds like a 5 gallon batch to me.

What is your reasoning behind transferring to a secondary?

 

[bob1852]

You don't really need to rack to secondary.....a long (~3+ week) primary will give you the same results...

 

[DHaught]

From the amount of malt/hops, sounds like a 5 gallon batch to me.

What is your reasoning behind transferring to a secondary?

Well it's how I've done my prior batches, and it frees up my current primary which is a bucket for now. Also I was under the impression that the beer would clear up a little better and I was hoping to get this to be relatively clear since it is my first pale colored beer.

I guess I could just use my other carboy if I need it for primary but I tried using it once before and using a blow off hose but it was messy and I prefer the bucket method.

Other than the chance of oxidizing my beer is there anything really detrimental to racking it to secondary? It seems like there's a lot of difference of opinion from what I've read.

 

[bob1852]

Well it's how I've done my prior batches, and it frees up my current primary which is a bucket for now. Also I was under the impression that the beer would clear up a little better and I was hoping to get this to be relatively clear since it is my first pale colored beer.

I guess I could just use my other carboy if I need it for primary but I tried using it once before and using a blow off hose but it was messy and I prefer the bucket method.

Other than the chance of oxidizing my beer is there anything really detrimental to racking it to secondary? It seems like there's a lot of difference of opinion from what I've read.

There is nothing wrong with racking to secondary to free up a bucket (larger than your secondary) to use a primary.

 

[YouHadMeAtASL]

Well it's how I've done my prior batches, and it frees up my current primary which is a bucket for now. Also I was under the impression that the beer would clear up a little better and I was hoping to get this to be relatively clear since it is my first pale colored beer.

I guess I could just use my other carboy if I need it for primary but I tried using it once before and using a blow off hose but it was messy and I prefer the bucket method.

Other than the chance of oxidizing my beer is there anything really detrimental to racking it to secondary? It seems like there's a lot of difference of opinion from what I've read.

That's definitely a worthy reason! :rockin: