My First APA

[SchlazzGraft]

I posted this in the recipe forum, and then saw that all the other recipes are pretty well established and brewed by many people. I figured posting it on here would get more responses... sorry for being a noob (and mods can feel free to delete it from the recipe page if necessary). I sampled one of these a week after bottling, very pleased so far and I'm expecting it to get much better!

Here it goes, I called it Mad River Pale Ale... after a trip to vermont where I enjoyed many simcoe-riddled ales

Yeast: Wyeast 1272 American Ale II
Batch Size: 5 Gal
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.013
IBU: ~40
Boil: 60 Min
Color: 10 SRM
Primary: 7 days
Secondary: 10 days

Tastybrew details (IBU a little higher here than I think it actually is)

%Weight    Weight (lbs)  	                              	Grav    Color
42.9 % 	   3.00 	Light Dry Malt Extract 	Muntons 	20.3 	2.0
35.7 % 	   2.50 	Amber Dry Malt Extract 	Muntons 	16.9 	12.5
7.1 % 	   0.50 	Crystal 60L 		                 2.3 	60.0
7.1 % 	   0.50 	Belgian Biscuit 		         2.3 	23.0
7.1 % 	   0.50 	CaraPils 		                 2.5 	1.8
Total      7.00 	  	  	                        44.1 	 

Hops
% Wt 	Weight (oz)  Hop 	Form 	AA% 	AAU 	Boil 	Util. 	IBU
25.0 % 	0.50 	      Simcoe    Pellet 	13.0 	6.5 	60 	0.052 	33.6
25.0 % 	0.50 	      Simcoe 	Pellet 	13.0 	6.5 	15 	0.015 	9.6
25.0 % 	0.50 	     Amarillo 	Pellet 	7.0 	3.5 	15 	0.015 	5.2
25.0 % 	0.50 	     Amarillo 	Pellet 	7.0 	3.5 	1 	0.002 	0.7
Total   2.00 	  	  	  	  	  	               49.0

 

[Starderup]

If you leave it in the primary for 4 weeks, you can skip the secondary, and your beer is going to be clearer and cleaner tasting.
Other than that, looks good to me.

 

[SchlazzGraft]

If you leave it in the primary for 4 weeks, you can skip the secondary, and your beer is going to be clearer and cleaner tasting.
Other than that, looks good to me.

Yeah, if I was to brew this one again (and i probably will) I'd just do primary. It was only my second brew, first one picking out my ingredients, and I racked into the secondary on my own. It was a bit cumbersome, and by the end I lost the siphon and couldn't get it to suck up the last little bit. Worried about contamination from exposure, and due to frustration, I just dumped the last bit. Probably about a quarts worth...

Live and learn I suppose, but it still drives me crazy to think about that good beer that went to waste!

 

[Starderup]

Yeah, if I was to brew this one again (and i probably will) I'd just do primary. It was only my second brew, first one picking out my ingredients, and I racked into the secondary on my own. It was a bit cumbersome, and by the end I lost the siphon and couldn't get it to suck up the last little bit. Worried about contamination from exposure, and due to frustration, I just dumped the last bit. Probably about a quarts worth...

Live and learn I suppose, but it still drives me crazy to think about that good beer that went to waste!

It was probably best to just let it go, but I know how you feel.
My siphoning technique is to put the intake about halfway down the primary and get it going. Once I have made sure that it isn't aerating the hell out of the beer in the bottling bucket (which is always a battle), I concentrate on keeping from losing the siphon on the intake by moving the wand down a few inches at a time. When it gets down to about one and a half inches left, I position that little black boot on the tube just above the yeast cake, and start slowly tipping the primary to that side. I can usually leave less than a quarter cup that way, and get no cloudy beer at all.

 

[SchlazzGraft]

I bottled about 2 weeks ago, the taste is very citrusy and refreshing... and only gonna get better
edit: there's still a little chill haze going on, which might clear up. mostly just from condensation though