I am trying to make my own first recipe for an all grain american pale ale and wondered if anyone can give an opinion if I’m on the right track or if I’m making any terrible mistakes (only 3 all grain brews under my belt) I started with an IPA kit recipe that turned out good, decreased the Og and IBU, then I removed the aromatic malt addition, and substituted the 10 min Centennial hop addition for Willamette. I have never used Willamette but read it blends well with the C hops. I have also never used wyeast 1272.
Any opinions?
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Style: American Pale Ale ()
Boil Size: 7.24 gal
Color: 7.4 SRM
Bitterness: 39.4 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.053 (13.0° P)
Est FG: 1.012 SG (3.1° P)
ABV: 5.3%
Ingredients
Amount Name Type #
10 lbs 0.4 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 91.8%
8.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2. 4.9%
5.7 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3. 3.3%
0.5 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops 4
0.3 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 45 min Hops 5
0.3 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 30 min Hops 6
0.3 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 20 min Hops 7
0.5 oz Willamette [5.5%] - Boil 10 min Hops 8
0.5 oz Crystal [3.5%] - Boil 5 min Hops 9
1 pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast10
1.0 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Dry Hop 5 days Hops 11
I might get rid of that 45 minute addition and maybe the 30 - move them later in the boil and even up the amount. I’ve found for me personally, with hop-forward beers, that I don’t get much from 45/30 minute additions, and would rather almost continuously hop toward the last 20 minutes of the boil. Otherwise, recipe looks like a winner!
+1 to keeping late additions late. You’ll get enough bitterness with the Chinook at 60min. Whats the IBU anyway? You want it around 1:1 BU/GU so a target of 50 would be adequate. Maybe even 40.
I’d also maybe bump up the Victory to a pound, you won’t get that much character from 6oz.
if you are just starting out making your own recipes, don’t change a bunch of things all at once. start out with one change and see what that brings to the table then move on the the next ingredient. otherwise you don’t know what the effect each change had on the final outcome.
Thanks for the advise, I made some changes. Switched bittering to magnum which I’ve used before ( in the spirit of not changing too many things at once). Upped the victory, and changed the hop schedule as below:
Batch 5.5gal
OG 1.055
IBU. 39.2
9 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1
9.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2
1 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3
0.6 oz Magnum [14.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops 4
0.3 oz Willamette [5.5%] - Boil 20 min Hops 5
0.3 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 15 min Hops 6
0.3 oz Willamette [5.5%] - Boil 10 min Hops 7
0.3 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 7 min Hops 8
0.6 oz Crystal [3.5%] - Boil 5 min Hops 9
1 pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast 10
1.0 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Dry Hop 5 days Hops 11
Any opinions overall?
Also wondering if it would be better to put all the Willamette at 20 min vs spreading it out? Don’t know what difference in taste that would make.
