Passed Pawn Pale Ale

[dragonfyre]

Ok so, this is a recipe I designed for my first home brew. I want to do something somewhat out of the ordinary as far as APA's are concerned, using Ahtanum instead of Cascade hops. What should I expect from using Ahtanum hops? Does this recipe look decent? Please let me know. This is a brew-in-a-bag recipe as a small batch, just so I can get the hang of brewing at home before tackling bigger batches. Thanks in advance for the tips!

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Passed Pawn Pale Ale BIAB
Brewer: Dan K
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.36 gal
Post Boil Volume: 2.61 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 1.78 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 6.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 57.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 71.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.00 gal Boston, MA Water 1 -
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 72.7 %
1 lbs Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 3 18.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 4 9.1 %
0.30 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 24.2 IBUs
0.30 oz Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 8.8 IBUs
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
0.20 oz Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 3.5 IBUs
0.40 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop 9 3.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 10 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 5 lbs 8.0 oz
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 15.05 qt of water at 158.1 F 152.1 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
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Whirlpool the last Centennial batch for 5 minutes AFTER flameout.

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
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[sumbrewindude]

Recipe looks good!

If anything I'd maybe change the Crystal 10 to something like Crystal 40 to get that little bit of carmel in the mix, C10 is more sweet than carmel. It'll bump your color a little also. Biggest thing will be your water, keep an eye on the mash pH incase you're not acidic enough for the mash.

Ahtanum hops are slightly more flowery than citrusy. They are difference than Cascade, but IMO in a good way. They'll go great with the Centennial. I like the hop schedule, if the recipe were mine I'd change it this way -

Centennial - FWO (basically toss them in right away as you start the boil - gives a nice smooth bittering)
Ahtanum - 15min
Ahtanum - 5min
Centennial - Dryhop 5 day (you'll get a LOT more impact from the Centennial in a dry hop than the whirlpool in my experience)

Like I said, they're minor changes and the base recipe looks great as is. I vote go for it and enjoy!

 

[passedpawn]

First (and foremost) the name of your beer indicates you are a brewer of distinction!

Cigar City uses Ahtanum in their Jai Alai IPA, which is my favorite, so I'm onboard with your recipe.

I just would like to caution you to not use too much caramel malts. Too much will make the beer cloying, and less digestible (as the Belgians like to say).

Good luck on your brew.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I'd do 4-6 oz of c40 instead of the c10. Otherwise looks tasty. I use a touch of c40 in my ipa and it works out great. I think I have 3% or so c40. I would have to double check.

 

[dragonfyre]

Thanks for the feedback! I am going to get a water report from the town soon, so I can dial in pH and stuff like that. The only reason I am not dry-hopping is that I am trying to keep things as simple as possible. I realize dry-hopping is a rather simple concept, but if I can avoid cracking open the fermenter to do that (I am very, very particular about process and am in a very crowded space with a curious and perpetually dirty 2 year old, haha) then great. I realize that whirlpooling will not have a punch versus dry-hopping, but I would at least like to try it out like this and then go dry-hopping once I get more comfortable with the process. But thank you so much for the feedback!

 

[dragonfyre]

I'm gonna give this a friendly "bump" since I have modified the recipe and I do not know if it's for the better or not. What would substituting Vienna malt for Munich malt do? Any thoughts? Please let me know, brew day is Columbus Day!!!

 

[sumbrewindude]

I'm gonna give this a friendly "bump" since I have modified the recipe and I do not know if it's for the better or not. What would substituting Vienna malt for Munich malt do? Any thoughts? Please let me know, brew day is Columbus Day!!!

I'd keep the Munich - your base malt is Pale, which isn't too terribly far off from Vienna so it might get lost in the mix. At least with the Munich you'll have a nice contrast in the malt.

Still think you should sub out the C10 with a darker crystal, but that's me.

Hop schedule looks great. If not dryhopping, double your hops into the whirlpool addition and let it coast from 185 to 170F.


Brew it!

:rockin:

 

[dragonfyre]

I actually forgot to put that I switched it to 40L. Thanks for the notes!

 

[dragonfyre]

I brewed this recipe this past weekend! Pre-boil gravity was estimated to be around 1.047 with post boil-gravity around 1.054 so I got to within one one-hundredth of the post-boil estimation! I am very happy with that. Fermentation is looking good so far, I will take a gravity reading once I get another hydrometer (mine broke in the cleaning process) but I'm hoping to bottle this weekend! Keep you all posted.