Hazy Pale Ale Recipe Critique

[GregSVT]

First time poster. I've brewed a couple of one gallon extract batches and plan to move up to 2.5 gallons fermented in a 3 gallon carboy. One had specialty grains that I had to steep and thinking I'll do a similar process here. Decided to try a pale ale loosely based on Trillium Galaxy Fort Port with a majority of the hops going into the dry hop. Going the extract route instead of 2-row because my kettle is only 4 gallons at the moment and not wanting to spend $100 on a bigger one yet. Plus I like brewing on the gas stove inside right now. Thoughts?

OG : 1.063
IBU: 50-60
SRM: 4.38
FG : 1.014
ABV: 6.49%
Batch Size: 2.5 gallons
Boil Size: 3 gallons

1.5 lbs Extra Light DME
1.5 lbs Extra Light DME (late addition at 10min)
1 lb White Wheat
4 oz Carapils
2 oz Caramel 10L

.1 oz Columbus 60 mins
.4 oz Columbus 10 mins
1 oz Columbus Flameout/Whirlpool
3 oz Galaxy Dry Hop 4 days
.5 oz Columbus Dry Hop 4 days

BIAB steep grains at 155 for 60 minutes
Drain bag with collander and squeeze while bringing wort to a boil
Boil 60 minutes following schedule
Chill to 70
Transfer 2.5 gallons to carboy and aerate.
P̶i̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶Y̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶B̶a̶y̶ ̶-̶ ̶V̶e̶r̶m̶o̶n̶t̶ ̶A̶l̶e̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶s̶t̶
Pitch WY1318 London III Ale Yeast (switching based on the reports that Conan/Vermont yeast tend to oxidize quicker in the bottle)

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Going the extract route instead of 2-row because my kettle is only 4 gallons at the moment

Why does the kettle size stop you from partial/all grain?

 

[burninator]

Why does the kettle size stop you from partial/all grain?

Can't get 5 lbs of grain and 3 gallons of water in a 4 gallon pot.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

1.5 gallons of water is enough for 5lbs of grain. Mash (soak) the grains in the pot (in the bag). Once it's done (60mins or so) remove the bag and give it a squeeze (optional), have a separate food grade bucket (only a few $$$ at hardware stores) with the extra water (hot or cold) to 'dunk sparge' the grain bag in (dunk the bag/grains in the water, stir them, then remove them and squeeze the bag) and add the liquid from the bucket to the pot to make up the pre-boil volume. Alternatively, hang the bag with grains above the empty bucket and sprinkle water through the grains into the bucket to rinse/sparge.

 

[GregSVT]

Hmm the BIAB calculator I just did says at 6.5 lbs of grain I should have space for my strike water and grain so I may go that route. Besides the obvious answer of why to do all grain, do you see the extract version not being at least close?

I would probably do the colander sparge method.

 

[marjen]

That looks solid. Very similar to what i used when I did extract and was trying to get close to trillium type beer. Came out good. Your hop schedule is very similar as well, especially for the columbus. I do add some other hops at whirlpool and flameout, in this case I would use galaxy or mix in something else, citra, mosaic, el dorado or something similar. Maybe add another oz galaxy to the dry hop. Should be a good beer! And 1318 is the perfect yeast for this. Good luck.

 

[GregSVT]

That looks solid. Very similar to what i used when I did extract and was trying to get close to trillium type beer. Came out good. Your hop schedule is very similar as well, especially for the columbus. I do add some other hops at whirlpool and flameout, in this case I would use galaxy or mix in something else, citra, mosaic, el dorado or something similar. Maybe add another oz galaxy to the dry hop. Should be a good beer! And 1318 is the perfect yeast for this. Good luck.

Thanks! I have Citra as well and was thinking of splitting up the dry hop with that along with the Galaxy, maybe even do a double dry hop. I've read from the owner himself that Trillium has moved all their whirlpool hops to a big dry hop. Definitely want to do an El Dorado version at some point as well if this one works out.

 

[marjen]

Yeah I have not experimented with moving all hops to dry hop though that is what Trillium seems to do. They have a base beer with columbus for bittering, then add hops in the dry hop stage. That was my original goal, but i am adding other hops at flame out and whirlpool.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

If you want hazy add that first dry hop at 72 hours. I use some flaked wheat and flaked oats in my hazy PA/IPAs.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Oh, and that hop selection is awesome. I just did an IPA with the same combo...it was excellent.

 

[GregSVT]

If you want hazy add that first dry hop at 72 hours. I use some flaked wheat and flaked oats in my hazy PA/IPAs.

I've changed my mind about the dry hop time about 50 times. May just go 3 days and then a second one at 10 days.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

unless you just like a thicker beer DME already has Carapils in it, you dont really need it

 

[GregSVT]

unless you just like a thicker beer DME already has Carapils in it, you dont really need it

That's the idea. These NE IPAs/Pales are typically thicker in body.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I've changed my mind about the dry hop time about 50 times. May just go 3 days and then a second one at 10 days.

I've been dry hopping at 72 hours (with 1318 using a 1.5L starter on a 1.062 wort) and, at that point, the bubbling has almost stopped. Then I dry hop again about 3-4 days later for about 5 days, cold crash for two, then keg. Mine come out with an excellent haze. This also has a pound of flaked oats and a half pound of flaked wheat.

 

[GregSVT]

I've been dry hopping at 72 hours (with 1318 using a 1.5L starter on a 1.062 wort) and, at that point, the bubbling has almost stopped. Then I dry hop again about 3-4 days later for about 5 days, cold crash for two, then keg. Mine come out with an excellent haze. This also has a pound of flaked oats and a half pound of flaked wheat.

That looks delicious. Thanks for the dry hop ideas. I'll probably go that route.

 

[GregSVT]

So I finally brewed this beer and it turned out decent but not exactly what I was looking for. I upped the dry hops to 5 ounces of Galaxy and 1 of Columbus split into two separate doses. One at 3 days into fermentation and one around 4 days till bottling. It’s too bitter for the New England style and not really much of that dank aroma or flavor you get from production breweries. There’s a nice citrus flavor which is reminiscent of the style though. The hops I used were about 2 years old but I had kept them in the freezer the whole time.

I’m gonna do this again DDH with Nelson and Citra at 5 ounces and 4 ounces respectively. I’m also thinking of doing a half ounce of Columbus as first wort hops and the other half at flameout meaning no hop addition in the boil at all.

Should I steep the FWH for a while and then filter them out or just leave them in for the boil?