Hi all,
I have been brewing for a couple of years now (about 1 year extract now all grain) using other peoples recipes. I thought it was about time I tried my hand a designing my own recipe; something simple - an American Pale Ale. So I made a spread sheet of the ingredients, hops, yeast, mash temps etc for a whole bunch of existing recipes from books, websites, magazines etc. I then read up on all of the various ingredients used, flavors etc and kind of cobbled together my own attempt. I put it into Beersmith 2 which indicated everything was in range for the style. However, I would greatly appreciate your feed back on what you think the taste might come out like. I’m hoping for nice hops but not overpowering with a good citrus flavor / smell plus some caramel malt. Here’s the recipe (for a 10 gallon batch):
18lbs 2-row pale (Marris Otter)
1lbs Crystal 40L
1lbs Crystal 30L
1lbs Crystal 10L
0.8oz Centennial - 60 minutes
0.8oz Cascade - 30 minutes
0.8oz Citra - 30 minutes
1.oz Simcoe 10 minutes
Mash temp 150
Wyeast 1056
Greatly appreciate any input / suggestions / observation.
Thank you
That will work fine. I don’t generally use more than one or two C/C . And I will generally use more than one grain. But that’s me. It’s your recipe so go for it. It will come out good you can tweak it the next time. That’s what it’s all about
Thank you for the response. If I may ask (for my education) why do you limit c/c to one or two and why more than one grain?
Thanks again.
Ian
That recipe looks pretty good to me. Only tweak I might make is to use 1 less pound of Crystal, probably the 10L. But it’s your option, your beer. It will turn out good the way you have it.
As for hops, do whatever suits your fancy. Only reason to limit to one or two varieties is just to help educate yourself what different hops do for you. Next time use different hops. Keep making the same recipe with different hops over and over until you know which combination you like the best. But if you’re only brewing this recipe one time and you want it to be like guaranteed to make you happy, then go ahead and use all four types if you want. It’s your beer. Do what YOU want.
Enjoy.
Awesome thank you. I really would like to ‘perfect’ MY perfect APA. So I will take on board you comments on the number of hops and start experimenting.
[quote=“ianjwebster”]Thank you for the response. If I may ask (for my education) why do you limit c/c to one or two and why more than one grain?
Thanks again.
Ian[/quote]
I don’t think it adds anything . I would only use 10l in a really light beer like a helles. And I’m with Dave I don’t go over 10% Chrystal. I’m afraid of sweet beer. Hey but that’s just me, brew it and then decide it looks like it will be a good recipe.
IMHO, Yer MO malt great, too much crystal, I’d back down to 3/4 of a pound of 30* Maybe even put Vienna malt. Hops, well, it seems that you are using great aromatic hops for bittering. Find an alfa acid hop to put in first boil. The big C hops I would put in at the last couple of minutes and even better yet chill to 180* then put a couple of cascade and stir fer a while, 15 minutes. Its fun to experiment with designing yer own, Take detailed notes while brewing, and keep a tally on yer tasting too…. I feel that crystal in excess changes the flavor down the road… You will get to know yer ingredients as time rolls on. I found doing 2.5 gallons til I was on to a flavor I liked then tweak it up to 5’s…. And be sure to git yer friends in to sample and critic it too! Sneezles61
