Pale Ale Recipe Question

[BeerMeChasay]

I was looking at making an extract Pale Ale recipe and was looking through several different recipes. As I was looking through the recipes I noticed a common theme of using both LME and DME... is there a reason for this? I'm looking at making something similar to SNPA but want to make my own. I'm trying to develop my own recipe to have in time of my Golden Retriever turning 1 year old
Gonna name it Lacee's Golden Pale Ale. Any suggestions and help would be awesome!

 

[PseudoChef]

I don't know why there would be both LME or DME additions. I would just suggest using a DME, mostly because they store better and are therefore often times fresher. However, if the place where you are getting your ingredients has a rapid turnover on liquid extracts, and they're fresh, there's no reason you can't use them.

The last thing I would suggest when using extract is knowing what is actually in it, be it 2-row, 2-row and carapils, pilsener, etc. You can usually find this information from the manufacturer's website(s). I would stick to plain 2-row based extracts for a pale ale (usually extra light or light) and get any color, flavor, and body from crystal and carapils steeping additions.

 

[Bob]

Lots of recipes have both types of extract because LME comes in convenient sizes and you can make up an OG difference more easily with DME than LME. Once you open the package of LME, for instance, it's very hard to store it. DME, OTOH, can be simply and easily apportioned and the excess stored.

I remember lots of recipes from the 90s having LME portions in tin sizes and DME to make up the rest. Like:

6.6 lbs Amber LME (2 tins of Muntons at 3.3 lbs each)
1.5 lb Amber DME

You dig?

Bob

 

[BeerMeChasay]

I was reading some more from the BYO beginner brewing and was reading through and looked as though they were doing DME at the beginning to get higher hop utilization and then added the liquid malt extract with 15 mins left in the boil. Could this be the reason for the DME and LME in a recipe?

 

[Bob]

That's another reason, one which I completely neglected. Nice catch!

Bob

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Well i'll look more into it and hopefully get a base recipe for some input. I gotta have this ready to drink by March 23rd!

 

[Wallygator]

Well i'll look more into it and hopefully get a base recipe for some input. I gotta have this ready to drink by March 23rd!

Why the 23rd of March?

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Lacee, my golden retriever puppy, is turning 1 year old on March 23rd. Thinking about having a celebration and just a really good excuse to make a brew

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Alright here is my recipe. I've looked over lots of Pales Ale recipes here and other places and finally come up with my own but dont' know how good it is. It is my first recipe and am looking for as many comments and suggestions as I can get! I'm looking for somewhat of a session beer that is easy to drink, kind of like SNPA and still has a good body to it.

Lacee's Golden Pale Ale


10-A American Ale, American Pale Ale

Min OG: 1.045 Max OG: 1.060
Min IBU: 30 Max IBU: 54
Min Clr: 5 Max Clr: 14 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Extract (Lbs): 7.00
Anticipated OG: 1.054 Plato: 13.28
Anticipated SRM: 9.4
Anticipated IBU: 42.8
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
42.9 3.00 lbs. Generic DME - Light Generic 1.046 8
42.9 3.00 lbs. Generic LME - Light Generic 1.035 7
7.1 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
7.1 0.50 lbs. Crystal 20L America 1.035 20


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Centennial Whole 10.50 23.1 60 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 6.3 60 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 3.2 30 min.
0.25 oz. Chinook Whole 13.00 3.8 15 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 2.5 10 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Whole 10.50 3.8 5 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade Whole 5.75 0.0 0 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial Whole 10.50 0.0 0 min.

I'm looking at doing a concentrated wort boil of 2.5 or 3 gallons and starting with the 3 lbs of DME and then adding the LME extract in at 30 or 15 mins because I don't have a big enough brew pot. I didn't know how to do that in the software so I just did a 5 gallon wort. I just want to get good hop utilization and a beer that my friends and I will enjoy and be happy to together on my dogs 1st bday

Any comments and suggestions about grain/extract or hop schedule and how to best do the concentrated boil would be awesome

 

[Bob]

Looks like a fine recipe to me! You'll have a whole bunch of that citrus, definitely American hops profile, and that's grand.

I never boil my late-addition extract. I just dissolve it at flameout. Even if you begin chilling immediately after dissolving the syrup, it takes a relatively long time to lower the temperature past sanitation point; in other words, there's still sufficient heat and time for sanitation to take place.

That's what I'd do - steep the Crystals in the initial liquor, add the DME. Boil that wort with hops. Add LME at flameout.

Have fun, and scratch your pup behind the ears for me!

Bob

 

[snailsongs]

Here is my first stab at an APA, and it turned out ridiculously delicious. It's basically Jamil Z's recipe from BCS, but I modified it a little. If you have an extra pot and a large nylon bag you could make this using deathbrewers' partial mash instructions for the victory and the wheat (the 2lbs of 2 row are there to get conversion from them), and you'll get a nice subtle malt complexity and creaminess in addition to the excellent hop flavor....you could even add your hop schedule onto this recipe if you wanted. nuff blabbing, here it is:

Type: Partial Mash
Date: 1/20/2009
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: bradley leland
Boil Size: 6.41 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (48 qt)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Extract 52.9 %
2.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 23.5 %
0.75 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 8.8 %
0.75 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 8.8 %
0.50 lb Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
1.00 oz Cluster [7.00%] (60 min) Hops 25.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00%] (10 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50%] (10 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50%] (0 min) Hops -
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00%] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.6 %
Bitterness: 31.0 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint

 

[Wallygator]

That sounds tasty to me. You can send some over for my daughters birthday on the 23rd. She'll be 6. And with a 6yr old I definitely need to drink some beer!

 

[BeerMeChasay]

ohhh yeah.....another question i forgot to ask... what yeast would be best to use for this beer? I think i'm going to go buy the ingredients today or tomorrow at the LHBS

 

[snailsongs]

ohhh yeah.....another question i forgot to ask... what yeast would be best to use for this beer? I think i'm going to go buy the ingredients today or tomorrow at the LHBS

If you're going for a traditional American Pale, you should go with the chico strain - American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale .....or White Labs California Ale yeast.

 

[Bob]

+1. Or you could use S-05 or Nottingham if you prefer dry. Both are clean-fermenting (low to no esters) and good attenuators.

I prefer S-05 in this application.

Bob

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Well i picked up my ingredients and forgot to get the yeast, DOH! And i'm not sure if they are open tomorrow and might have to postpone my first brew even longer. Arrghh. Definitely going to have a few brews to relax.

 

[Bob]

Oh, nuts! Know anyone local to you who might have a stash?

Bob

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Well i found the only open home brewing store today and picked up some yeast. Got Lacee's Golden Pale Ale right now boiling. I'm doing the dance!!! Definitely happy one of my buddies brought over a growler to share and help out, I needed it. I was stressed at first getting everything going but its smelling delicious in here and I believe i got hit by the.... ohh what do you call it...? OH THE BREWING BUG! lol Thanks everyone for the help! I appreciate it. AND PROST

 

[Bob]

Cheers! Glad everything worked out for you.

Bob

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Well i thought i would give a little update for anyone that has been helping or following along I decided to use SafAle-05 yeast recommended here and by the LHBS. I ended with an OG of 1051 which was a little lower than the calculated SG. I ended up with about 4.25 gallons because I had too high of a boil and some of my topping up water leaked out. It was fermenting a bit high at about 72 but now I got it down to 66. I check on it quite frequently and have become both a airlock watcher/sniffer lol. Very citrusy and hoppy but thats the way I like it!!

 

[BeerMeChasay]

i was wondering when would be a good time to bottle this? The fermentation has already slowed quite a bit... the first 3 days were pretty active but the airlock is barely bubbling now. I know 10 days is about average which i don't mind waiting for but I was was wondering if I should put in into secondary for like a week? I'm just wanting to have it ready on March 23rd and don't know how to best condition it how long it will need to clarify and and condition in the bottle. Any suggestions?

 

[bell0347]

I would leave it in primary until the 1st or 2nd of March. Don't worry about secondary on your first brew unless you are just dead set to use it. Sitting on the yeast will help clean the beer up. Gently rack to bottling bucket on the the 1st or 2nd and then bottle. That will give you plenty of time in the fermentor and three weeks in the bottles. Should be great by then. Read Revvy's bottling thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/revvys-tips-bottler-first-time-otherwise-94812/ I tried the whole rackig cane attached to tubing to bottle wand. Trust me, clamp a short piece of tubing onto the spigot on your bucket and then the other end on a bottling wand. Much easier.

 

[BeerMeChasay]

alright sounds good! time is going by too slow! But another question I had was should i dry hop this. I have to admit its got a pretty strong aroma when the airlock bubbles, probably because of the centennial cascade combination. I guess I'm wondering will that strong aroma subside during the time in the fermenter and if so how much?

P.S. I'm just trying to keep all questions as they come to me in this thread just so i don't have multiple threads going when all the questions pertain to the same recipe. Just a n00b with his first recipe, always worrying lol

 

[Bob]

Don't worry too much about worrying. We'll let you know when you start asking really stupid questions.

Dry-hopping is probably quite unnecessary. You'll have a pretty potent hops flavor and aroma from the additions you made on brew day.

+1 on waiting to bottle until at least 1 March. Let the flavors meld a bit before packaging, and give it enough time in the bottle that the flavors settle even more.

I'm glad you're successful!

Bob

 

[BeerMeChasay]

Well i just took hydrometer reading today. I got a reading of 1.010 which makes me think its pretty much done fermenting. I'm going to bottle tomorrow and hopefully get this baby to drinking shape. I did have a couple of questions tho. The strong hop aroma that was present at the beginning of the fermentation has subsided a lot and I was wondering if that comes back through the bottle condition. The flavor did taste a lot just like flat beer and I could taste the bitterness come through at the end of of the tasting. I was just wondering how many changes the beer really goes through in the bottle conditioning process and how much the hop aroma/flavor will come back during the process?

Also I remember when taking my sample today that the guy I bought the kit from said he had noticed the hydrometer was a little bit off so I tested it in water and got a .997 reading. Does that mean I add .003 to all my readings to calculate attentuation/alcohol content? I have read that just doing a water testing is not a perfect estimate but I guess if just use the readings I have and use the same hydrometer then i can still calculate those things? Thanks!