Not yet fully carbonated. This house pale ale is a nice blend of malt, hoppiness, and toastiness.
If your first pick for an ice cream flavor is vanilla, you may be a Pale Ale person. That vanilla ice cream tells you a lot about the other flavors that the maker has and how good they will be. Pale Ale, like vanilla, is the base for everything else in the lineup.
Gordon Strong, the world’s only Grand Master Level V Beer Judge, says this about American Pale Ale:
I always call for an American pale ale first. Why? Well, it’s a common style that every pub should have, and it allows for some creativity. But it also takes a little bit of finesse and is a good measure of the brewer’s skill. The same holds true with homebrewers; don’t tell me about all the oddball beers you can make. Show me first that you have your basic skills down. Give me an everyday American pale ale.
Making a drinkable and yet interesting American Pale Ale continues to be my quest. This last batch seems to be the grail. Good hop flavor with a touch of sweetness from the Caramel 60 malt and toastiness from the Victory malt.
The BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) says the flavor should be:
Usually a moderate to high hop flavor… Low to moderately high clean malt character supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity)….Caramel flavors are usually restrained or absent. Fruity esters can be moderate to none. Moderate to high hop bitterness with a medium to dry finish. Hop flavor and bitterness often lingers into the finish. No diacetyl [burnt butter or butterscotch flavor].
This American Pale Ale recipe started out as the American Pale Ale recipe from “Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew” by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. It has been tweaked enough that it is now quite different. The latest tweak was to substitute Victory malt for the Vienna malt (which had replace Jamil’s Munich malt in the original recipe). The Sinamar in the recipe adds color without the flavor that would come from Chocolate malt or Midnight wheat.
This is a 10 gallon batch and the mash efficiency is at 82%. If your efficiency is higher or lower, you will need to adjust your amounts.
Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.3 %
Bitterness: 38.3 IBUs
Est Color: 8.2 SRM
Mash Temp: 152F for 60 minutes
Pre-boil gravity was 1.042
| Ingredients | ||||
| Amt | Name | Type | Step | % or IBU |
| 17.19 gal | The brewer’s water | Water | 1 | – |
| 10.00 g | Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) | Water Agent | 2 | – |
| 0.03 kg | Sinamar (750.0 SRM) | Adjunct | 3 | 0.30% |
| 7.81 kg | Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 4 | 89.50% |
| 0.54 kg | Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 6.20% |
| 0.17 kg | Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) | Grain | 6 | 2.00% |
| 0.17 kg | White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) | Grain | 7 | 2.00% |
| 28.00 g | Galaxy [14.80 %] – Boil 60.0 min | Hop | 8 | 25.7 IBUs |
| 28.00 g | Cascade [7.70 %] – Boil 10.0 min | Hop | 9 | 4.4 IBUs |
| 28.00 g | Chinook [13.00 %] – Boil 10.0 min | Hop | 10 | 8.2 IBUs |
| 28.00 g | Cascade [7.70 %] – Boil 0.0 min | Hop | 11 | 0.0 IBUs |
| 28.00 g | Chinook [13.00 %] – Boil 0.0 min | Hop | 12 | 0.0 IBUs |
| 3.0 pkg | Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] | Yeast | 13 | – |
| 1.0 pkg | SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] | Yeast | 14 | – |
| 56.70 g | Chinook [13.00 %] – Dry Hop 14.0 Days | Hop | 15 | 0.0 IBU |
What flavors and aromas do you like in your American Pale Ale?
Batch-22 