Pale ale recipe

Northern Brewer General
1

So I have been wanting to do a good standard extract pale ale Brew. I think I have decided to try the Stone pale ale recipe however in the store-bought stone, there is a slight earthy aftertaste I don’t love. I think it might be the Ahtanum hops. I have made the NBs Sierra Madre and really like that hop flavor which I think might be mostly a cascade flavor. So what I was thinking is merging the two recipes. Here is the original:

3 lb. Gold dry malt extract
3.3 lb. Gold liquid malt extract
1.5 lb. Caramel 60L, 6 oz. Dark Crystal
0.71 oz. Magnum bittering hops-60min
1 oz. Ahtanum flavor hops-15min
1 tsb Irish moss-15min
Wyeast ESB 1968

I was thinking about substituting the Ahtanum hops for 1 ounce of cascade at 15 minutes and possibly an additional 1 ounce of cascade at zero minutes. Also thinking about adding another half pound of extract?
This is my first attempt at changing recipes so i was wondering if anyone has any opinion on how this one might turn out? thanks.

2

You might want to boost the gravity just a scosch. You could either add a 1/2 lb. of LME or just a 1/2 lb. of table sugar during the boil to help dry out the brew. Otherwise it’d be too sweet for me, personally.

3

I don’t feel the LME will assist with drying out the beer. The table sugar will. 1lb adds ~.010 to a 5 gallon batch.

4

That recipe looks like it’s going to end up pretty sweet and underattenuated for what I would be looking for in a Pale Ale. With the amount of Crystal you are using, I’d switch the extract to the lightest extract you can get (i.e., Extra Light or even Pilsen). If you like the yeast character from WY1968 then go for it, but I would probably look for something more attenuative myself (WY1098 if you like that British Ale character or WY 1056 if you want something more neutral). I also agree with the recommendation to add 1/2-1 pound of sugar to help boost the gravity a bit while drying things out.

Of course, if you’ve brewed the recipe you listed before and you like then end results, then ignore everything I just said. :mrgreen:

And definitely swap out the Ahtanum for Cascade as you mentioned. That will be damn tasty. Definitely add the extra ounce at flameout as well.