help with APAs

[Monk]

I was reading a thread on here about formulating an American Pale ale recipe and I have a question about my own for you all:

How does this recipe look to you?

6 lbs. pale LME
1/2 lbs Crystal malt
1 oz Chinook (60 min)
1 oz Cascade (2 min)

I bought this as a kit and made it. I came out rather bland, in both the hop and malt flavors.

Looking at the recipe suggestions here, it seems I should have put a lot more hops in, and at different times (30 min, 15 min, dry hop).

Opinions from the experienced? you're probably all more experienced than me!

 

[Sasquatch]

That isn't a huge amount of hops, but then, I tend to like extremely hoppy pale ales (IPA rather than the APA). Typical pale ale is crisp and fruity, rather than bitter outright.

If you want to bring that thing up to speed, put some Northern Brewer or just some more Chinook in for the full boil for more bitterness, and then you can finish it however you like... Cascades hops are pretty wicked in a pale ale, and I wouldn't be afraid to put 2 oz in with 15 minutes left, and another ounce or more right at the end. But then, I'm currently hooked intraveinously to a hop-infusion drip...

You could also put a lot more in the way of specialty grains in there for flavour, but if you want the thing to stay really pale, you can't move to anything really toasted.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

personally I would try adding a dry hop also. I've used cascade in the past but I've heard centennial hops are good also I've got an IPA that I'm dry hopping with centennial right now so I'm looking forward to that comparison.

 

[AHammer16]

I made a couple APA's and the dry hopping really turns it around. Try dry hopping w/ an oz or more!

 

[Ivan Lendl]

yup...like everybody else said, namely more hops, and spread them out a bit.
(60, 30, 10, 0, dry-hop...along those lines) I would up the crystal to a full pound and/or throw something else in there like munich, or victory, or biscuit, or whatever. 3/4-1 lbs. of crystal and 1/4-1/2 lbs. of anything else will give it some complexity...

what kind of yeast did you use?

you can alays sub different yeast too, any english/irish/american ale yeast would work.

 

[Monk]

i used the dry safale us-56 yeast. It starts pretty fast (1-4 hours) and completes quickly, too.

I have a question about using hops at different times. If I add hops with 30 min to boil, will they add to the flavor, or will the flavor boil out in that time? What about 15 min? What does that add? Flavor, aroma?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I have a question about using hops at different times. If I add hops with 30 min to boil, will they add to the flavor, or will the flavor boil out in that time? What about 15 min? What does that add? Flavor, aroma?

This seems to be debated a bit. There are certainly some hop aromatics that are vaporized pretty quickly and don't survive a boil (this is one reason we dryhop...to keep these compounds). I imagine there must be something of a continuum, particularly if you look at how the rate of IBU's extracted is dependent on the time the hops are boiled. Hops added early in the boil contribute strictly to bitterness, hops added at the end contribute primarily to flavor/aroma, and in between there is a little of both. AFAIK this is why DFH hops continuously in the wort...to get the full spectrum.

Having said (or typed) all that, I've adopted a hop schedule of 60/15/0/dh for my APA's. I'm not sure what the 30 minute addition does. I get all my bitterness that I require from the 60m addition, get a flavor contribution at 15, and then a bit of flavor and aroma at 0. I believe the dry hopping really contributes aroma which results in a flavor perception on the palate.

But this is purely Friday afternoon conjecture.

 

[Monk]

But this is purely Friday afternoon conjecture...

First of all. I've gotta say "amen" to it being Friday. Sheeeee-it. It was a long week.

then a bit of flavor and aroma at 0.
.

Now one other, little, question: When you say 0 min addition, how do you handle that? Do you turn off the heat on the kettle and chuck in the hops? How long do you leave it in? Usually, for the 20 minutes after the heat is turned off, I have my kettle in the sink cooling down, then into the carboy. How long would you steep the 0 minute addition before removing?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Now one other, little, question: When you say 0 min addition, how do you handle that? Do you turn off the heat on the kettle and chuck in the hops? How long do you leave it in? Usually, for the 20 minutes after the heat is turned off, I have my kettle in the sink cooling down, then into the carboy. How long would you steep the 0 minute addition before removing?

Most people (including me) chuck in the hops at flameout (or stove off) and leave them in until the beer has been racked to the fermentor. They will steep in the hot wort like a tea, but you'll keep some of the aromatics that would have been lost had then been boiled.