Pale Ale Input

[TBuuck]

With MLB spring training coming up, I was considering doing a Pale Ale Series, one called the Cactus League, one the Grapefruit League. I'd like each to have its own hop character, the cactus being more piney and the grapefruit being a tropical hop. I was hoping somebody could point me toward a recipe for a simple pale ale that would work for this project! I am an extract guy still, but could do a partial if necessary...



Another thought I had was to make one batch and simply split them to dryhop (I have a 3 gallon carboy I rarely use).

 

[daveooph131]

For grapefruit apa I would probably use cascade and Amarillo it will give you a nice citrus flavor. Tangerines a little grapefruit.

For cactus -Maybe summit and chinook

 

[Devilsnight]

I have ferocious in both my fermentors right now. Upon taste testing, was like a grapefruit punch in the face! Can't wait for it to be done. Warrior @60, Amarillo and Simcoe 20minutes on down. dryhop with them also. I'm going to try and workout a similar pale ale with a much smaller alcohol content in the future. Let me know what you come up with or I'll do the same. Not sure how to guide you on the cactus one

 

[JR_Brewer]

Great idea! I like this! Are you planning to go south for spring training, or are you just getting in the spirit of the new baseball season?

I don't have my house IPA recipe handy, but a Pale Ale malt profile is pretty simple. You can definitely stick to extract if you like and have good results. I would just start with a standard pale malt DME/LME, find some steeping grains to suit your taste (a little carapils for head retention, your favorite caramel malt, etc), and then focus on hops. If I were you, I would really highlight the hops with some late additions and dry hopping, but you're probably already planning that.

The guys above have some good ideas on hops. Additionally, I like the Falconer's Flight 7C's hop for citrus notes. Here's a chart from BYO to help characterize/substitute hops.

Good luck! Go Braves! (sorry, had to add that!)

 

[TBuuck]

I play college baseball, so we'll be in Arizona for two weeks and get to catch a couple games during our off-days. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[gilstein21]

I did several batches using Galaxy and got a great grapefruit taste. I'm now switched over to Simcoe/Cascade/and another citrus hop and have also gotten the grapefruit taste. I've done Simcoe/Cascade/Falconer's Flight, and Simcoe/Cascade/Ahtanum

 

[ballsy]

If you want a "tropical" hop (though not grapefruit) you should consider Citra. Some love it/swear by it & others dont care for it. I have only used once, but it was in a APA and had a really good tropical passion fruit kind of taste from it. Me and my friends liked it.

 

[bford]

I'm still putting my recipe together... but I'm going to use Citra and Amarillo together for my pale ale.

A friend used this for a recent small two gallon batch.

3.2 pounds of 2 row malt
.2 pounds of Victory, Caramel 10 and Caramel 20
Cascade and Chinook hops about a quarter of an ounce each.


I can't wait for baseball season to start... even though I'm an Astros fan... hope springs eternal.

 

[JR_Brewer]

I play college baseball, so we'll be in Arizona for two weeks and get to catch a couple games during our off-days. Thanks for all the advice!

Very cool! Good luck with the upcoming season :rockin: