recipe crit - house pale ale

[brownrice]

Hey y'all, I wanna try a relatively simple American Pale Ale as the first batch in a new brewing spot. I'm trying to be more disciplined about getting critiques on here instead of assuming I know everything. Here goes:

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: jiminy cricket house pale

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.044
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 5.77%
IBU (tinseth): 38.87
SRM (morey): 5.74

FERMENTABLES:
4.5 lb - American - Pilsner (56.3%)
3 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Extra Light (37.5%)
0.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (6.3%)

HOPS:
1 oz - CTZ, Type: Pellet, AA: 15.5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 30.87
1 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 8
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 0 min

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 148 F, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

 

[k47k]

a few comments (my opinion)

1. WAY to much victory, i would use zero victory, but if you like the flavor id go with 1/4 - 1/2lb at the most.

2. id drop the crystal to 1/2 lb

3. at 22 IBU it is more of a blonde ale. id up it to around 30-40 if you are looking for a pale ale.

i dont much care for caramel in my pale ales, i would do 50:50 mix of Pilsner and Vienna. move the CTZ to 15 minutes. the rest looks fine.

 

[brownrice]

thx for the rapid reply!
I edited, so let me know if I'm off-track. Otherwise I'll go with this.

I don't yet understand the differences/uses of Victory, Munich, Vienna, etc.

My guess was that it would add a "malt backbone" to complement the hops.

 

[k47k]

your updates look good, should be an enjoyable beer.

 

[chickypad]

It gets confusing when you modify the original post after people have commented without noting where the edits are. I think the current recipe of just pilsner, DME, and crystal looks fine although it would also be okay to add a little victory or vienna or munich depending on what you are going for.

 

[brownrice]

I hear ya chickypad, I just hate unnecessarily long threads b/c of re-posting recipes and then quoting them, etc.

These recipes are kinda spitballing based on what I have on-hand.

I'm still trying to figure out where Victory is appropriate; I'm hearing that it doesn't belong in pale ales nor stouts, so I'm conf'd. Probably gonna add 1 lb victory back into this jawn, because a lot of my "simpler" beers are turning out watery and one-note boring.

 

[chickypad]

A lot of this comes down to personal preference. I think a little victory in a pale ale can be nice though I'd probably keep it in the 5% range or less for something like that. I more commonly use it in ambers and browns. I've seen it in stout recipes also - basically any time you would want a little toasty/biscuity flavor. You could also try some different base malts with a little more flavor, like a domestic pale ale malt or maris otter. Or take the above suggestion of using part vienna as a base.

 

[brownrice]

final iteration:
(the LME is Maillard Malt's Maris Otter LME)

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: jiminy cricket house pale

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.051
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 6.68%
IBU (tinseth): 44.05
SRM (morey): 6.83

FERMENTABLES:
5.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (55%)
4 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light (40%)
0.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (5%)

HOPS:
1 oz - CTZ, Type: Pellet, AA: 15.5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 29
1 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.52
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 5.26
1 oz - Nugget, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Boil for 1 min, IBU: 2.28

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 148 F, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

 

[whovous]

Isn't nugget mostly a bittering hop? If so, then boil it another 59 minutes! Of course, this will put your IBUs through the roof.

 

[brownrice]

yeah that was kind of a last minute "why not?"

but i'm not making an IPA here; i'm going for a balanced APA.

i should prolly just take my pound of nugget hops and make a more deliberate late-addition nugget experiment.

 

[z-bob]

I believe Nugget is a very bitter dual-purpose hops. Nothing wrong with using it for aroma if you like it.

 

[whovous]

I am very new to this, so discount my response accordingly. Still, APA is what I am trying to teach myself as well. I bottled my first six days ago, and my second went in the fermenter last night. This means I have ideas, but do not yet have any results.

I think balance is everything in beer, but I think the balance is between bitter and aroma. You seem to have all aroma. I don't know nearly enough to say that is a bad thing, but it does not sound balanced to me, whether we are talking IPA in the West Coast sense, or American IPA, i.e., APA.

I could, of course, be very wrong. If so, that means I have yet another opportunity to learn something.

 

[brownrice]

whovous, you're absolutely right that all my hops are late additions. look up the term "hop-burst" to see why I did that. (also i have a bunch i'm trying to use up)

to clarify, "balance" IMO refers to malt sweetness vs hop bitterness, not bittering vs aroma. if you make a high-alcohol beer, it will be cloyingly sweet. if you really like hops, it's easy to get overzealous and end up with sandpaper beer. the fine-tuning is done with crystal malts or specialty malts.



lastly, i'm brewing this for a combination audience of yuengling-drinkers and craft brew nerds. i want something that's approachable but with character. there's a term called flavor fatigue and urban dictionary has a surprisingly apt scientific definition: a gimmicky, unique flavor can get tiresome after a few gallons. in my experience, a balanced beer is the most resistant to flavor fatigue. so i want each sip to be a hit of hop flavor that quickly fades into layers of toast and bread, rather than a lingering bitterness.

of course, there's a time and place for my belgian tripel IPA :cross:

i was debating whether or not to use pils malt for the extra-light color and crispness, but i wanna try out this Maris Otter sizzurp and i'll use the pils for somethin else.

 

[whovous]

Ahh, so we are balancing different things. I am doing AG with mostly two-row, plus a little Munich for color and even less CaraPils for mouthfeel. Not much sweetness if I am doing it right, I hope, just a balance between bitter hops and aroma/flavor ones. You are way ahead of me on this.