Recipe Suggestions for Putting a Twist on a Good Brew

[tennesseean_87]

I have some friends that have enjoyed a few beers I have made and talked about having me brew them a batch. They really like Summit's Extra Pale Ale, and have that around all the time. This is supposed to be a close clone (from Northern Brewer):

7.5 lbs 2Row
1 lb Bel Carapils
.5 lb Crystal 20

2 oz. Cascade at 60
1 oz. Cascade at 1

I thought that rather than making a clone of something they drink a lot anyway, I'd try to use it as inspiration for a slightly different brew. My thoughts were:

• bump up the hops a bit and dry hop (will such a light grain bill carry that much hop flavor?)
• Tweaking the grain bill for a hoppy brown ale (would that turn out well, or do cascade and chocolate malt not get along?)
• Bumping up the grain bill and hops to more IPA proportions (would I just boost the base malt?)

I'm not sure how any of these would turn out but am looking for advice on what would turn out well and keep something of the spirit of the original. Thanks in advance!

 

[phenry]

If it were me, I'd probably bump up the grain bill and change the hopping around a little. Something along the lines of:

8 lb 2-row
1 lb Vienna
.5 lb cara-pils
.5 lb crystal 20

x oz any high AA clean bittering hop
1 oz Cascade - 15 min
1 oz Cascade - 1 min
1 oz Cascade - Dry hop 1 week

The amount of the bittering addition would depend on what hops you use, personally I'd shoot for somewhere around 40 IBUs total.

That's just based on my tastes though, and should make a decent APA if your friends like Cascade.

 

[Yooper]

If you want to go with an American brown, I've found that cascade and chocolate malt do play nicely together! To turn that recipe into a nice American brown, use the crystal you have, lose the carapils and add .5 pound of crystal 60L and maybe .25 pound of victory malt (if you have it) and .5 pound of chocolate malt. The hopping could be the same, but I'd add a 15 minute cascade addition for flavoring for some depth of hop flavor.

For an IPA style, you could use a similar grain bill, just drop the carapils, and increase the Vienna malt. Get to about 1.065 with two-row and Vienna, and .5 pound crystal. You could use all or mostly cascade. Bitter to 50-60 IBUs with this hopping:

Bittering hops (cascade, magnum, centennial or columbus) 60 minutes
1 oz cascade 15 minutes
1 oz cascade 5 minutes
1 oz cascade flameout
dryhop cascade.

Both of those ideas, the American brown and the American IPA would take your grainbill and hops as a base and make those changes into the other American styles without many changes.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Thanks for the help! Barring any other great ideas, I'll maybe ask their preference.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I think I will just brew the IPA version and surprise them. I may even do some labels. Here's what I have scaled down to half-batch because of equipment constraints:

Brewer Thomas
Date 01/09/2012
Batch Size 2.750 gal Boil Size 2.750 gal
Boil Time 0.000 s Efficiency 70%
OG 1.064 FG 1.013
ABV 6.6% Bitterness 52.9 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 7.4 srm (Morey) Calories (per 12 oz.) 209


Fermentables:

Total grain: 6.812 lb
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Briess PA Malt Grain 5.750 lb Yes No 80% 3.5 srm
Vienna Malt Grain 13.000 oz Yes No 78% 4.0 srm
C20L Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 75% 20.0 srm


Hops

Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 8.3
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 3.3
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 1.000 min Pellet 0.7
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 0.000 s Pellet 0.0
Columbus 14.6% 0.500 oz Boil 60.000 min Pellet 40.6


Yeast

Name Type Form Amount Stage
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Dry 2.232 tsp Primary
Mash

Name Type Amount Temp Target Temp Time
BIAB Mash Infusion 0.000 tsp 164.608 F 152.000 F 0.000 s
Final Batch Sparge Infusion 0.000 tsp 180.669 F 170.000 F 15.000 min

How does that look? The original recipe used US05, but I figured Notty would be close enough. It shouldn't dry it out too much with the 152 mash, should it?

 

[Yooper]

I think I will just brew the IPA version and surprise them. I may even do some labels. Here's what I have scaled down to half-batch because of equipment constraints:

Brewer Thomas
Date 01/09/2012
Batch Size 2.750 gal Boil Size 2.750 gal
Boil Time 0.000 s Efficiency 70%
OG 1.064 FG 1.013
ABV 6.6% Bitterness 52.9 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 7.4 srm (Morey) Calories (per 12 oz.) 209


Fermentables:

Total grain: 6.812 lb
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Briess PA Malt Grain 5.750 lb Yes No 80% 3.5 srm
Vienna Malt Grain 13.000 oz Yes No 78% 4.0 srm
C20L Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 75% 20.0 srm


Hops

Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 8.3
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 3.3
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 1.000 min Pellet 0.7
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 0.000 s Pellet 0.0
Columbus 14.6% 0.500 oz Boil 60.000 min Pellet 40.6


Yeast

Name Type Form Amount Stage
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Dry 2.232 tsp Primary
Mash

Name Type Amount Temp Target Temp Time
BIAB Mash Infusion 0.000 tsp 164.608 F 152.000 F 0.000 s
Final Batch Sparge Infusion 0.000 tsp 180.669 F 170.000 F 15.000 min

How does that look? The original recipe used US05, but I figured Notty would be close enough. It shouldn't dry it out too much with the 152 mash, should it?

Looks good! If you don't want such a bitter beer, you could even back off of the columbus at 60 minutes a tad.

I'd expect a FG of 1.008-1.010 or so with a 152 degree mash, the notty, and that recipe.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Maybe I'll do that or switch to Centennial. I guess I could use a bit less and have it to bitter another brew.

I may bump the mash temp up just a little. Thanks for all the help!