First Recipe not in a kit, Sierra Nevada Style Pale Ale

[Calistar]

Alright, to keep my pipeline going, I'm going to attempt a Sierra Nevada style American Pale Ale recipe I found. Here it is:

5 pounds, unhopped light dry malt extract
1/2 pound, dark crystal malt
1 ounce, Cascade hops (60 minute boil)
1/2 ounce, Cascade (30 minute boil)
1/2 ounce, Cascade (10 minute boil)
1/2--1 ounce, Cascade (dry hop)
Wyeast American ale yeast

Any suggestions? This will be the first time I am using a yeast that isn't dry, do I need to make a starter?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[brew703]

I've tried three different SNPA clone recipes and none were remotely close.
SN doesn't dry hop and they also use leaf hops. Doesn't hurt to give it a try though.

What size batch are you brewing?

As for as the yeast, if it's fairly new (production date) and the required cell count is close to 100 b cells then I sometimes pitch the entire pack without a starter. I usually make a starter and harvest some for future batches.

I just brewed over the weekend and had Wyeast 1318 that I pitched the entire package into a blonde ale. It was about a month old and took about 16 hrs to start.

 

[RM-MN]

Dry yeast does not need a starter and may be less effective if a starter is made with dry yeast. The dry yeast is packaged with more yeast cells than dry yeast and has the nutrients it needs to multiply.

If you want to have a beer that is exactly like SNPA, buy SNPA. If you want a good beer to drink, use your recipe. It may not be close to SNPA but it will be pretty good.

 

[JonM]

Looks good! The only suggestion I'd make is to combine the 30 and 10 additions into one single 10 minute addition. And maybe use a middle crystal like C-60 instead of the really dark stuff. If you're doing a partial boil with the extract in the boil for the whole 60 minutes, you'll have plenty of color just from that.