My House Pale Ale

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?

Advertisement

Another BrewZaster: Feedback Edition

 

I thought it might be fun to share the tasting notes on two of our beers.

Last month two of Flogthis Brewing’s home brewed beers were judged as part of the Battle of the Brews home brew competition. We here at Flogthis Brewing want to thank the Sonoma Beercrats for the home brew portion of this event.

The two beers were part of a split batch of our House Pale Ale (recipe here); one batch was pitched with Safale S-05 yeast and dry-hopped with Australian Galaxy hops, and the other with Safale S-33 yeast. The beers were entered as a Pale Ale (BJCP Category 10A) and a Blonde Ale (BJCP Category 6B) respectively. Given the hopping schedule, the Blonde category was a bit of a stretch, but the S-33 yeast does eat a bit of the bitterness.

The Pale took Second Place.

Here is the feedback the beers received from the two sets of judges:

Judge #1 – 10A American Pale Ale entry 45

Aroma                                                                      9/12

Nice hoppy aroma, citrus, floral, piney-good array of American aromas.

Appearance                                                           2/3

Clear, good Golden-Amber color, moderate head falls quickly.

Flavor                                  13/20

Good hop flavor supports aroma. Crisp, refreshing. Good bitterness, not overdone. Malt flavor is a bit neutral; more like a blonde ale.

Mouthfeel                           3/5

Well carbonated, medium-full mouth feel. A bit astringent.

Overall impression                                 8/10

A very nice example of the style. A little more richness from the malt would better support the well-chosen hop profile, maybe a touch of caramel malts?

Total                                                                                                 33/50

Stylistic Accuracy

Classic Example _ _ _ _ _ Not to Style

Technical Merit

Flawless _ _ _ _ _ Not to Style

Intangibles

Wonderful _ _ _ _ _ Lifeless

 

Judge #2 – 10A American Pale Ale entry 45

Aroma                                              8/12

Has hop and malt aromas. light bready aromas from the malt, but distinctly missing the hallmark hop character of an APA. No diacetyl or DMS. Some hops come through as it warms up.

Appearance                                   2/3

Very clean gold color with off-white head that quickly subsides to a thin foamy film.

Flavor                                              13/20

Light vegetal flavor (DMS?) Comes through over the malt flavor. Strong hop bitterness but surprisingly less hop flavor. Malt comes through with bread and crackers. Slightly sour character too. Maybe from grain hull tannins?

Mouthfeel                                                   3/5

Medium light body, a little light on the carbonation and some astringent dryness in the finish.

Overall impression                                 7/10

I see where this beer is going but it seems too bitter, and without enough aroma and flavor. Also there is a little sour/astringency that distracts from the overall character. But, with lesser bittering and more hop flavor/aroma this would be right on track.

Total                                                                                     33/50

Stylistic Accuracy

Classic Example _ _ _ x _ Not to Style

Technical Merit

Flawless _ _ _ _ _ Not to Style

Intangibles

Wonderful _ _ _ x _ Lifeless

 

Judge #3 – 6 B blonde ale entry 46

Aroma                                                                      8/12

Hop-dominated aroma, yet light overall. Vinous, grapefruit-rind, orange-rind combo. Lighter fruits like melon, peach appear. Light malt graininess, no off aromas.

Appearance                                                           3/3

Clear, golden, SRM ~ 5. Thick, long-lasting head and fine white bubbles. Looks great.

Flavor                                  12/20

Balanced flavors of hops and malt, though pushing the upper “west coast” and of the blonde style on hop flavor and bitterness. Appropriate fermentation, no off flavors. Aftertaste.

Mouthfeel                           4/5

Medium body, high carbonation, some astringency. Light warmth from alcohol.

Overall impression                                 6/10

This is a “West Coast” blonde. Although I prefer a less intense blonde with hoppiness, this is mostly to style. My biggest criticism is the lingering bitterness. As this should be an entry-level craft beer, the lingering bitterness reduces over all drinkability.

Total                                                                                                 33/50

Stylistic Accuracy

Classic Example _ x _ _ _ Not to Style

Technical Merit

Flawless _ x _ _ _ Not to Style

Intangibles

Wonderful _ x _ _ _ Lifeless

Judge #4 – 6 B blonde ale entry 46

Aroma                                              7/12

citrus and peach hop aromas-medium, some grainy malt in background, light esters-OK for style

Appearance                                   3/3

deep gold-like copper, clear, light phase, persistent white head

Flavor                                               11/20

light, clean malt flavor, some slight graininess-wheat? Medium hop flavor-American, moderate bitterness

Mouthfeel                                                   3/5

Medium-light body, medium-high carbonation, some alcohol warmth-not to style

Overall impression                                 6/10

This blonde ale is close to crossing the line to pale ale territory. The hop bitterness and alcohol are too high for a blonde ale. The fermentation and execution otherwise is fine; lower your malt and hop bitterness.

Total                                                                                     30/50

Stylistic Accuracy

Classic Example _ _ _ x _ Not to Style

Technical Merit

Flawless _ x _ _ _ Not to Style

Intangibles

Wonderful _ _ x _ _ Lifeless

 

 

 

This Week in BrewZasters: Brewing the House Pale

I’m brewing the house pale ale today. The minor changes made to the 10 gallon recipe below are 20g of gypsum in the mash and 1oz of Sinamar coloring. The Sinamar addition should bring the color to near a 6 SRM.

Batch Size: 10.00 gal	Style: American Pale Ale
Boil Size: 13 gal	Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 6 SRM	Equipment: – My Keggle (15 gal capacity)
Bitterness: 41.4 IBUs	Boil Time: 75 min
Est OG: 1.052 (12.8° P)	Mash Profile: Single Infusion, 154F (Medium-Full Body)
Est FG: 1.014 SG (3.5° P)	Fermentation: ~66F
ABV: 5.0%	Taste Rating: 5 stars

17.19 gal	The brewer’s water	Water	1
18 lbs 5.6 oz	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM)	Grain	2
1 lbs 4.0 oz	Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)	Grain	3
13.0 oz	White Wheat Malt (3.1 SRM)	Grain	4
1.1 oz	Galaxy [14.8%] – First Wort	Hops	5
1.0 oz	Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 10 min	Hops	6
1.0 oz	Centennial [10.0%] – Boil 10 min	Hops	7
1.0 oz	Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 0 min	Hops	8
1.0 oz	Centennial [10.0%] – Boil 0 min	Hops	9
1.0 oz	Sinamar	color	10
4 pkgs	Fermentis Safale 05	Yeast	11
2.0 oz	Galaxy [14.8%] – Dry Hop 4 days	Hops	12

Related articles

• This Week in BrewZasters: American Pale Ale

Speed Brewing Your Six-Pack of Beer

Brew one in less than an hour. Cheers.

James Spencer and Steve Wilkes must be the nicest guys on the web. One of these days I would love to meet them. Their Basic Brewing website and (mostly James but more than occasionally Steve) podcasts are fun and informative. I really recommend the podcasts on toxicology of home brewing.

In this video they show how to brew an India Pale Ale in less than an hour (~45 minutes, not counting fermenting and bottling time). This technique will work fine for a pale ale (less hops) or a blonde (less malt and less hops).

This Week in BrewZasters: MyBrewCo and the Accidental IPA (on purpose)

This past week I have had some good exchanges with Michael, the designer of the MyBrewCo.com website. Being a typical male, after reading in Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine that MyBrewCo existed, I jumped in and set up my own “Batch-22 Brewery“ (tagline: There’s Always a Batch). After I set up the Batch-22 Brewery, I posted my observations on this site (here) and Michael had responded to those (see the comments).

An Unexpected IPA. It was supposed to be an American Pale Ale.

Thinking there was no time like the present to start tracking my brewing online, I tried uploading an XML file for the Accidental IPA that was exported from my BeerSmith program. This led to an error message that the recipe didn’t meet the database’s needs.  Databases are notoriously literal and don’t handle human inconsistencies well. (Michael says the standard procedure for standards is to deviate slightly from the standard.) In the end, I created the recipe on the website by picking ingredients from its drop-down menus. (Note: now when you upload a recipe the site tells you that your “File has been uploaded. We’ll process the file and let you know if the recipes need repairing. You can navigate away from this page.”)

Brewing the Accidental IPA on purpose

As you may recall, the first version Accidental IPA was supposed to be an an American pale ale from the book, “Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew” by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. However the original gravity was higher than normal due to some alignment of things* that weren’t there before in my brewing that affected the efficiency of the brew session (apologies for the awkwardness of the sentence).  More sugars in the wort means more food for the yeast which gives the beer more alcohol in the end.

Yesterday, the plan was to brew the Accidental IPA on purpose. As always, I got out the trusty Brewer’s Logbook from BasicBrewing.com for my notes–paper and pencil really help capture stuff as it’s happening. I hit the numbers that the beer needed: 12.5 gallons of 1.057 wort pre-boil and 9.5 (I wanted 10) gallons of 1.072 wort into the fermenters.

One reason for notes is that I follow Tasty McDole’s method of mashing, in that I don’t sweat trying to calculate the exact strike water amount (at 1.25 quart/1 pound of grain), but simply put in 10 gallons and then fly sparge (rinse) the grains. Keeping track of the strike water temps for different size grain bills for 10 gallons of water becomes important to put in your notes, if you want to replicate the results.

I also went to MyBrewCo.com and set up a “Brew Job.” (You may set up a Brew Job only if you are registered as a “Brewery.”) I picked my recipe, named it On Purpose IPA, picked the mash schedule from the Mash Template (Infusion, Mash Out, Fly Spare, Medium [body])**, the Brewing Method (all-grain), and a few other details and told the program to “Create” the Brew Job. The program then gives you an overview of the job, including the beer’s profile (tachometer-style dials indicate the IBUs, the predicted original gravity, final gravity, ABV, and color***).  Above the dials are tabs relating to the batch: Job, Brew Day, Mashing*, Schedule, equipment, Fermentable, Hop, Miscellaneous, Yeast, Actuals (actual volumes of wort produced), Readings, Notes, Carbonation, and Batch Split.

After the instructions, the “Readings” tab is probably the most beneficial/important. It is here you add a “Reading Type” (Gravity or Temperature). Within the drop-down menu of the Temperature choice you will find: “Ambient, Grain, Mash-In, Rest, Mash-Out, Boil, Into Fermenter, Pitch, Primary, Secondary, Container, Serving.” What was missing, for me, was Strike Water temperature****.  I track the strike water temperature so that I can duplicate (or, more often, tweak it up or down because the mash temp was off) the result next time. I would like to see the strike water temperature in there (maybe it is and I missed it). I would also like to see the mash temperature listed in the recipe–mash temp controls the body of the beer. (for more on mash temperature and the body of the beer, see Brad Smith’s write-up here.)

Brewing is a craft–a mixture of art and science. You may think of brewing as I do, a simple process of making a porridge, saving the liquid and tossing out the grainy bits, boiling, cooling, and fermenting. But as you get better and acquire more knowledge, you consider more and more steps/requirements–and there are lots of those. MyBrewCo tries to help you track and manage the stuff involved in making consistently good beer, while trying to be different/better than other online brewing sites such as BrewToad.com. I wish Michael luck in this and will continue to help in dialing in the process.

About MyBrewCo.com

The MyBrewCo website says it is designed to, “Manage your brewing online.” You can:

• “Create and upload Recipes”.
• “Convert Recipes between brewing methods, unit of measures and automatically scale to equipment”.
• “Let the system manage your efficiency and automatically scale recipes”.
• “Manage recipe versions, copy and modify any recipe in the database”.
• Create “An online shopping list, add custom items or let the system populate when a job is created”.
• “Use our calendar or plug your brewing schedule into your favorite application using the internet calendar”.
• “Use our online shopping list, add custom items or let the system populate when Use our online shopping list, add custom items or let the system populate when” you are ready to do so.
• “Manage Brew Jobs, view recipe and instructions”.
• “Record brew day statistics for analysis.”
• “Track efficiencies between equipment profiles”.
• “Record gravity readings and track your beer’s fermentation”.

*Perhaps my grain grinder has the perfect alignment of its teeth so it gives the perfect crush or switching from brewing in a bag (BiAB) to fly sparging or something else made the mash efficiency go up.

**The choice of the Mash Template is quite important. On my first attempt I wasn’t paying close attention and missed this selection and the first choice in the queue was chosen by default. This would normally not be a big deal, you would go to where you could edit the mash schedule and change it. The only change allowed after the program creates the Brew Job is to change the name of the mash; the temperatures, times, and steps cannot be altered. You will need to delete the Brew Job and reenter the data.

***The color that the program gives is a 10 SRM and the beer is probably a 4.0-5.5 SRM.

****The rule of thumb is to heat the strike water 10F more than the mash temperature desired due to the cooling provided by the grain (at 1.25 quarts of water per 1 pound of grain).

Related articles

• Online Brewing Software – MyBrewCo.com (52beers.wordpress.com)
• This Week in BrewZasters – Tasting the Accidental IPA (52beers.wordpress.com)
• This Week in BrewZasters: American, erm, India Pale Ale (Take 2) (52beers.wordpress.com)
• This Week in BrewZasters: American Pale Ale (52beers.wordpress.com)

This Week in BrewZasters – Tasting the Accidental IPA

Accidental IPA. It was supposed to be an American Pale Ale.

When it was brewed two weeks ago, the Accidental IPA was supposed to be an American Pale Ale.  That is, until, due to better efficiency in extracting sugars, the specific gravity was overshot by 12 points and Accidental IPA became an India Pale Ale (American style– though at around 39 IBU it is low on bitterness). The beer was dry-hopped with 1 ounce each of Citra, Falconer’s Flight™, and Centennial hops.

This time, instead of bottling the batch, it was put into a 5 gallon keg and 3 keggettes (Tap-A-Drafts actually, if truth be told).

Appearance

The beer is cloudy, perhaps due to the yeast not having dropped, or from the use of wheat, or the pickup tube pulling yeast in. Its color is about a 3 or 4 SRM (the color of straw,which is lighter than what the picture shows) and has a foamy white head. There is little lacing left on the glass after the beer is gone.

Aroma

The beer’s aroma is subtle, a sweet combination of malt and citrus. As the beer warms a fruity character appears (probably from the Citra dry-hopping).

Taste

My impression is that the beer leans toward the bitter side but not jarringly so and tastes of citrus. The aftertaste is citrus also. There may be an off-note that I can’t quite wrap my tongue around, but then I could be overly critical.

Mouthfeel

It strikes me as a bit on the light side, though not unpleasantly so. The beer is well carbonated and tingles the tongue and adds to the bitterness.

Overall Impression

This is a dangerous beer. It’s 7.5% ABV hides in the carbonation and citrus flavors and will definitely affect your ability to say no to another. It’s a drinkable beer with a good beat that many could dance to. I think it will be a hit at the Northern California Homebrewers Festival in September.

Related articles

• This Week in BrewZasters: American, erm, India Pale Ale (Take 2) (52beers.wordpress.com)
• This Week in BrewZasters: American Pale Ale (52beers.wordpress.com)
• The Science Of Beer Foam (science20.com)
• This week on BrewZasters: Session IPA (52beers.wordpress.com)

Related articles

• This week on BrewZasters: Session IPA (52beers.wordpress.com)

This Week in BrewZasters: American, erm, India Pale Ale (Take 2)

I know I used this picture last time. But, really, you need this book. (Cover via Amazon)

Yesterday, we here at Flog This Dead brewing, tried our hand again at an American pale ale (definition here). And, again, we made a 10 gallon batch of beer.

The recipe was the same as before and came from the book, “Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew” by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. (Really, if you don’t have this book in your library, you should.)

American Pale Ale
Anticipated alcohol by volume: 5.82%
Anticipated Original gravity: 1.056
Anticipated Final gravity: 1.012
Anticipated IBUs: 39
Anticipated Color: 4.5 SRM
Anticipated Efficiency: 65% (Actual Efficiency 76%!)

Grain Bill (for 10 gallons)
23.0 lbs of 2-Row Malt
1.6 lbs of Vienna Malt (substituted for Munich)
1.0 White Wheat Malt

Mashed for 60 minutes into 10 gallons at 154F (recipe calls for 152F)

Fly-Sparged at 168F

Boil time was 90 minutes

Hop Schedule
1.25 oz Horizon Galaxy (14% alpha acids) 60 minutes from end of boil
1 oz Cascade (10% alpha acids) 10 minutes from end of boil
1 oz Centennial (5.5% alpha acids) 10 minutes from end of boil
1 oz Cascade (5.5% alpha acids) 0 minutes from end of boil
1 oz Centennial (10% alpha acids) 0 minutes from end of boil
And, since the OG landed higher than a pale, it was dry-hopped:
1 oz Citra (12.0% alpha acids) dry-hopped
1 oz Cascade (5.5% alpha acids) dry-hopped
1 oz Galaxy (14.0% alpha acids) dry-hopped

The wort was divided into three carboys (4 gal, 3 gal, and 3 gal).

Two carboys were pitched with Fermentis’s Safale 05 yeast (I toyed with pitching one with Safale 04 but decided not to), and one carboy had Wyeast 3787 Trappist Ale yeast pitched into it. My son and my friend Paul are excited about the Belgian brew.

Actual alcohol by volume: 8.1%
Actual Original gravity: 1.071
Actual Final gravity: 1.010
Calculated IBUs: 39
Calculated Color: 4.5 SRM
Actual Efficiency: 76%

For the second time in a row, our American pale ale jumped into the India pale ale category (for two of the carboys–the Trappist will be Belgian-y), at least as far as alcoholic content is concerned.

Related articles

• This Week in BrewZasters: American Pale Ale (52beers.wordpress.com)

This Week in BrewZasters: American Pale Ale

Cover via Amazon

Yesterday at flog this dead brewing we made an American pale ale (definition here). And, for the first time ever in our brewing history, we made a 10 gallon batch of beer. The recipe came from the book, “Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew” by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. If you don’t have this book in your library, you should. The recipes are designed for extract brewers, and also have the recipe for all grain brewers.

American Pale Ale
Anticipated alcohol by volume: 5.82%
Anticipated Original gravity: 1.056
Anticipated Final gravity: 1.012
Anticipated IBUs: 39
Anticipated Color: 4.5 SRM
Anticipated Efficiency: 65%

Recipe (keep in mind this is for a 10 gallon batch of American pale ale):

We needed to slightly modify the grain bill for Jamil’s American pale ale by replacing the Munich malt with 1.75 pounds of Vienna malt. The rest was 23 pounds of 2 row barley malt and 1.25 pounds of white wheat malt.

The hop schedule for this one was 1.25 ounces of Galaxy hops at 60 min. (we had no Horizon hops in stock), 1 ounce of Cascade hops at 10 min., 1 ounce of Centennial hops at 10 min., 1 ounce of Cascade hops at 0 min., and 1 ounce of Centennial hops at 0 min. in addition, we will dry hop with 2 ounces of Falconer’s Flight hops.

4 packages of Fermentis’s Safale 05 yeast

In addition to this being flog this dead brewing’s 1st 10 gallon batch, it was also the 1st time we have ever fly sparged (our 15 gallon keggles could not handle that much grain and water at the same time). Perhaps it was the fly sparging for our better than 65% efficiency, but our efficiency was 73%. As a result, what should have been an original gravity of 1.056 turned onto be 1.068. Our American pale ale is in the India pale ale category at least as far as alcoholic content.

The beer is now in Better Bottle fermenters (and covered with wet T-shirts to keep the beer as cool as possible under trying conditions) and merrily percolating away. The initial taste of the raw wort is of a sweet pleasantly hopped ale. We should know in a week to 10 days if this batch will be a success.

This Week on BrewZasters: One Gallon Batches

You know that you would like to brew your own beer but:

• You don’t have time to brew your own beer.
• You don’t have the space (because you live in an apartment) to brew your own beer.
• You don’t have the money to brew your own beer. All the extra equipment can really drain the wallet.
• You live in an apartment, you don’t have room to store all that stuff to be able to brew your own beer.

As Charlie Papazian says, “Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew,” perhaps, micro batch brewing may meet your needs. For our purposes, micro batches are one to three gallons in size. And, they can be as simple or complex as you wish to do, and some can be done in under an hour. It’s easy to make beer. People have been brewing their own beer for as long as they have been growing grains (there is evidence that it’s even longer than that). If you can make oatmeal, you can make beer (in beer’s case you’d throw away the oatmeal and keep the liquid). At its most basic, beer is made from water, malted barley, hops, yeast and, sometimes, other stuff.

Making beer involves three or four steps:

1. You boil the batch
2. You ferment the batch
3. You bottle the batch
4. (Optional) You drink the batch.

I’ve brewed three micro (one-gallon) batches of beer and have had good results using the following recipes:

15-Minute Pale Ale (15 minute Boil That is)

4.3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM)
1 lbs 3.1 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)
27 g Cascade hops [5.50 %] – Boil 15.0 min
11 g Cascade hops [5.50 %] – Boil 5.0 min
3 g Cascade hops [5.50 %] – Boil 0.0 min
0.5 pkg. Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)

See Ya Nevada Pale Ale

2.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM)
1 lb. 1.6 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)
9.33 g German Perle [6.50 %]
7.01 g Cascade hops [5.50 %] – Boil 60.0 min
7.01 g Cascade hops [5.50 %] – Boil 10.0 min
9.39 g Cascade hops [5.50 %] – Boil 0.0 min
0.5 pkg. Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast

Related articles

• This week on BrewZasters: Session IPA (52beers.wordpress.com)
• Small Batch Brewing – PDF (thebeveragepeople.com)

This week on BrewZasters: Session IPA

I got a call from my friend Ron, the owner and head brewer, at Kelsey Creek Brewing Company the week before last. He had some American ale yeast, would I like it? Hell yes, I would like it. Getting “some yeast” from Ron is the equivalent of maybe 10 starter batches; it’s probably a pint (~0.5L) of active yeast.

I recently found a recipe for a “small” IPA (India Pale Ale) that I wanted to try. The recipe falls pretty well into the hoppy pale ale category. The idea is to give the “mouthfeel” and hoppiness of an IPA without the alcohol kick. Or, what I call a session IPA. Here’s the recipe:

(Anticipated) Original gravity = 1.045

(Anticipated) Finished gravity = 1.012

(Anticipated) SRM (Color) = 18

(Anticipated) Alcohol By Volume = 4.3%

Grain Bill (Mash at 152F/67C for 60 minutes)

2.9 lb (1.3 kg) 2-row pale malt (2 SRM)

2.5 lb (1.13 kg) Munich malt (9 SRM)

2.0 lb (0.9 kg) Vienna malt (3.5 SRM)

Hop Schedule

0.78 Oz (22g) Simcoe hops (12% Alpha acids) at 90 minutes

1.0 (28g) U.S. Golding hops at flameout

2.0 Oz (56g) Amarillo hops “dry hopped” in secondary

Yeast

Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) yeast

The author appears to be going for an English/American fusion IPA taste by calling for a London Extra Special Bitters yeast and the aroma/dry hop additions of Golding and Amarillo hops. These aroma/dry hop additions should give the beer a floral and citrus aroma but the London ESB yeast should dampen some of the taste in ways a cleaner American ale yeast wouldn’t. The use of Munich and Vienna malts should give a fullness (I’m no expert here, I’m checking BeerSmith and BeerAlchemy for descriptions) that wouldn’t be there with straight 2-Row barley because they will yield less fermentable sugars than straight 2-Row barley would. (Experts, please leave a comment to let me know if I’m totally off base)

I wanted to make this. I really like the session beer idea where you get a lot of taste but don’t need to take a nap after two beers.

Of course, I had only two ingredients of the recipe: 2-row malted barley and Munich malt.

I needed to get creative. I had ten to twenty batch-worths of yeast that wouldn’t last indefinitely. So as somebody (Hunter S. Thompson?) once said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

This is a picture of my Laurel IPA, but the Session IPA looks similar.. Slightly cloudy with a SRM color around 6.

Here’s the recipe I came up with:

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.045

Estimated Final Gravity: 1.010

Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 %

Estimated Bitterness: 39.0 IBUs

Estimated Color: 6.1 SRM

5 gallon batch

Grain Bill (Mash at 152F/67C for 60 minutes)

5 lbs 12.7 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)

1 lbs 12.1 oz Munich Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 20.5 %

12.8 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 3 9.3 %

3.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.8 %

Hop addition schedule

19.84 g Galaxy [14.00 % AAU] – First Wort Hop

1 Oz (28 g) Centennial [10.00 % AAU] – Boil 0.0 min

1 Oz (28 g) Falconer’s Flight [10.50 % AAU] – Dry Hop

Yeast

3 pkg Wyeast Labs #1272 American Ale II (a bit fruitier than my go to yeast Safale 05)

I brewed it on July 8 and hit the estimated numbers right on. The wort cooled and I added the yeast. Visible fermentation happened in 30-40 minutes. It started so quickly I worried that it had an infection. I covered the Better Bottle carboy with a wet t-shirt to keep it cool and closer to the optimum fermentation temperature. The coolest part of my house, the basement, was hovering around 80F during the day—too warm for something that is not supposed to be a Belgian-style beer.

The specific gravity after two days in the fermenter was 1.010. It was transferred to another carboy (i.e. the secondary) and left for several more days.

My beer wench (i.e. my wife) and I bottled the beer today using four ounces of corn sugar mixed with the beer to carbonate (bottle conditioning).

I’m pleased with how it turned out. I give the beer 4 out of 5 stars. It tastes delightful with a citrusy hoppiness that dances on your tongue. It has a pleasant aftertaste. The mouthfeel is on the light/watery side of the scale. I would like to have a bit more fullness and maybe a little biscuit. I’ll add Victory and Vienna malts to the next batch in lieu of the corn and Crystal 60.

Related articles

• Homebrew Recipe: Summer Simcoe IPA (therobotmusteat.com)
• Simple Beer #1 (instructables.com)