Straying from extract kit recipes

[Matty_Ice]

So I recently bought a Brewers Best American Pale Ale Kit. Makes 5 Gallons.
After thinking about the ingredients I'm contemplating subbing some out for better quality ingredients and want to know if/how it will affect my beer.
- It has 1 lb. Caramel 20L and am thinking about cutting that with 1/2 lb of American 2-Row malt.
- Using White Labs California Ale Liquid Yeast instead of the dry yeast
- Dry hopping with 4-6oz fresh Cascade hops
- Maybe adding some dried grapefruit rinds into the secondary fermenter
Will any of this work?

 

[helibrewer]

You will have to mash the 2-row. You may get enough grapefruit with the Cascade...Citra will also give you a good dose of citrus flavor.

The liquid yeast is a great idea.

 

[unionrdr]

So I recently bought a Brewers Best American Pale Ale Kit. Makes 5 Gallons.
After thinking about the ingredients I'm contemplating subbing some out for better quality ingredients and want to know if/how it will affect my beer.
- It has 1 lb. Caramel 20L and am thinking about cutting that with 1/2 lb of American 2-Row malt.
- Using White Labs California Ale Liquid Yeast instead of the dry yeast
- Dry hopping with 4-6oz fresh Cascade hops
- Maybe adding some dried grapefruit rinds into the secondary fermenter
Will any of this work?

cutting half the crystal with base grains won't get you much. The 20L is for color moreso than flavor. And base malts are for mashing anyway to get conversion of the other grains added. And 4-6oz of Cascade will make it more of an IPA than an APA,APA's use less,but similar hops. And it's the "C" hops that give that grapefruit flavor,not zest. And the wlp001 yeast is medium flocculation,so it'll be a bit more work to clear.

 

[bottlebomber]

Those all actually sounds pretty reasonable compared to the tampering some people do. I don't know about the zest, and you may want to be careful with that crystal as DME is already balanced sweetness and body wise. The yeast is a sure win.

 

[Pezman1]

I'm with helibrewer, I think the best addition is the liquid ale Cali yeast. Cascade dry hopping would be next on my list, but if you are a newish brewer, I wouldn't get too complicated.

The only other thing is that I'm not a huge fan of much crystal malt in APAs. Too much caramel taste for me, so I would reduce the bill to half a pound without subbing in anything extra. Again, this is just my personal taste, your mileage may vary.

Pez.

Just saw bottlebomber made my point already about the crystal malt, so plus1

 

[Matty_Ice]

Perhaps I am still too new to be try out the 2-Row, maybe in a few more batches. I think you all are right about the grapefruit as well, the cascade hops should do fine on their own.
Quick question about the yeast though, do I pitch it straight from the tube or is there more to it than that?

 

[unionrdr]

Starters are typically reccomended for liquid yeasts. Check out Mrmalty for details on how big a starter,etc.

 

[brtisbuck]

Quick question about the yeast though, do I pitch it straight from the tube or is there more to it than that?

Usually starters are recommended with liquid yeast. What is the OG of this brew as per the instructions? If it is low enough you can many times get away with no starter with a wyeast pack.

 

[Matty_Ice]

Usually starters are recommended with liquid yeast. What is the OG of this brew as per the instructions? If it is low enough you can many times get away with no starter with a wyeast pack.

The OG is supposed to be 1.051-1.055

 

[brtisbuck]

If you are at the low end of that you could get away with say a Wyeast 1056 without a starter, but most would recommend making starters a habit whenever using liquid.