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tominator

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SMaSH APA « on: Today at 07:35:30 PM » Quote Modify Remove

Hey all!

After several experimentations this year, I went back to basics and brewed up an all-2 row, all Cascade pale, using BIAB. it turned out pretty decent! it won't win any awards, but as an IPA and pale ale snob, i take my drinking seriously. tonight was the first time in a long while that i didn't drink a commercial beer! i had 2 of my own, and for me that's a big deal. it's got a smooth bitterness with a moderate amount of cascade aroma and flavor. this is the first time i tried first wort hopping and i think it helped a lot. it could use more flavor, but that's why i started with the basics. it gave me a great place to build from. details below.

it's a 3-gallon batch:
OG 1.052
FG 1.012
6lbs 2-row
1oz cascade first wort hop
.5oz cascade @10min
.5oz cascade @0min
4days in primary, racked to secondary (probably won't bother with doing secondary next time)
1oz cascade dry hop after 4 days in primary 7 days in second
cold crash 24hrs
7 days bottle conditioning with DME as priming sugar (i'm hoping to have my kegging system soon....)

it tastes pretty plain, and next time ,i'll do more late/dry hopping to bring out more of the floral aroma and flavor. had a great time brewing this one and am happy with the results.

Cheers!
Tom
 
Nice. I started my move to all-grain the same way. Very basic home made recipes to help me get my water profile and basic grain bill and efficiencies dialed in. Now I make more flavorful all-grain recipes, but always keeping in mind my basic grain profile.

I too like Ipa and Pale ale. I really like light color IPA and pales with relatively low ABV. When researching these types of recipes I found that it is actually a little tricky to keep the color light but add complexity and flavor to the malt, keeping in mind that sweet malt flavors are not very desirable. What I have found is that using a good two row malt with an addition of munich or using a 'Pale ale' malt with a little less munich or even some vienna can add great complexity. Currently I use two pale ale grain bills:

1: 2 row (83% ), Munich (7%) , Flaked wheat (5%) , and crystal 15 (5%)

and

2: 2 row (85%), belgian biscuit (6%), Munich (6%) carapils (3%)

The idea is to add something that will contribute some robust malty and grainy flavors, a small amount of something with color and a complicated sweetness or other carbohydrate flavor and something that can contribute to mouthfeel. We need something to add mouthfeel because we will be mashing for a dry finish and it may be hard to keep it from seeming watery otherwise.

I shoot for a mash temp that starts at 154 to 152 and ends at around 148 after 60 minutes.

As for Hops... Cascade is a great start. You will probably find that Centennial, Chinook, CTZ can accompany the cascade well at a low cost. If you are a true hop head, search out some Simcoe, Amarillo or Citra hops, they can all offer amazing hop flavors.
 
Thanks for the encouragement and advice!

Forgot to add that I used wlp001 that I had rinsed, stored, and pitched with a starter. Pretty happy with the results!

Tom
 
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