AG#11 Celebrated Summer Pale Ale - pics added

[gurtpint]

It's starting to look like I'll get to brew on Sunday. Joy! I have a crisp, hoppy and relatively low ABV American style pale in mind. It's probably going to look something like this (23L):

pilsner 3700g
crystal 40 250g
crystal 100 150g
vienna 250g
wheat 200g

columbus 30g 60min
columbus 20g 10min
columbus 20g steep
cascade 40g steep

cascade 60g dry hops

S-05

OG 1041
IBU 60-ish
ABV 4%-ish

I was thinking of maybe adding a touch of biscuit malt too. Opinions on that, anyone?

 

[Mark1964]

biscuit has a distinct taste and in my opinion should be used in belgians but thats just my opinion

 

[Easy Peasie]

Personally I would increase the abv to 5- 5.5% at 60 ibu's

 

[Darcey]

+1 on the ABV. You may need something to calm that cascade. Its a lovely hop but can get very grassy if its too much in your face. I think a 5-6% would handle this well with out dedracting from a v big hop flavour (and aroma).

I do LOVE cascade.. Its my favourite..

 

[gurtpint]

Cheers chaps. I think I'll omit biscuit. So far all my brews have been in the 5-7% range, so I thought I'd try my hand at making a less strong one now, for experimentation's sake. You know, something you could have a couple of pints of without getting an irresistible urge to sing dirty songs... :grin:

I think I'd rather scale down the bitterness than rise the ABV. Would this recipe be a bit more balanced if I adjusted the bitterness to 40-50 IBU and kept the flameout and dry hops the same?

Cascade is one of my favourite hops as well and I also liked Columbus a lot in my previous AIPA (combined with Centennial, mmmm...)

 

[Darcey]

I a good rule of thumb I read in a book somewhere is to balance the OG with the IBU. So 1.050 will handle a 50IBU. I know its not as scientific as many on here would use and isnt really relevant if your doing an APA but I find it a useful tool.

D

 

[graysalchemy]

What you are talking about Bittering Units/Gravity Units ratio or BU:GU . When you increase the gravity of a beer you have to increase the bittering units of the bear to maintain the bitterness.

So if you have a 1040 beer with an IBU of 30 you have a BU:GU of 30/40= 0.75

So if you want to increase it to an OG of 1050 then you will need an IBU of 37.5 (50 x 0.75 ) to maintain the bitterness.

Beers all vary in BU:GU, but this is a very useful tool if you want to increase the gravity of one of your beers or increase the gravity of a clone recipe.

 

[TheMumbler]

from here

 

[graysalchemy]

:thumb: I have got that somewhere.

 

[gurtpint]

Cheers guys! I'll cut the bittering hops to 20g and otherwise go according to my plans. Almost added some amber malt as well as I have some lying around but decided against it as I felt it was a bit too roasty for this one. Grains weighed and boiler + mash tun dusted. I'll probably do an overnight mash again as I want to get this one over with pretty early tomorrow.

 

[gurtpint]

Overnight mash done, 30 mins into the boil now. Whoo!

 

[gurtpint]

A good day, this. Collected a touch under 23 liters at 1042. Just pitched the yeast. Six hours from starting to heat up the sparge water to tidying up, mopping the kitchen floor and doing the dishes included. Me happy.

 

[gurtpint]

Some pics from yesterday.

first runnings in the grip of Cthulhu

sparge #2

jumpin' an' hoppin'

yet another no-holds-barred boil

saucy hot break in soft focus

steeping hops, another semi-****ographic take

please do get in, good sir

spot-on OG for once

This was quite a trouble-free day. Managed to make a mistake calculating the amount of water needed for the first sparge and ended up 4 liters short. Just added that to the second batch and it seemed to do no harm.

This is likely to be my last brew until autumn, since the ambient temp in my place will get too high for fermenting soon. Unless I get desperate enough to heave-ho the fermenting bucket five floors up and down to the cellar...

 

[TheMumbler]

looks like it went well

You could go for a Saison in the summer if you can get the right yeast. You are supposed to ferment them fairly hot. That is what I did before I got temperature controlled fermenting sorted (old fridge, heater (60w lightbulb) and some sort of temperature controller to switch between)

 

[broadfordbrewer]

Hi, check out my brewday for AG#11 :shock:
We brewed very similar beers!

 

[gurtpint]

Mumbler - that's an interesting idea that hadn't crossed my mind before... I like mainly English/American style ales and don't have much experience with the Belgians, but this is something to think about. Did a quick research via the net and it seems like some Belgian yeast strains can be fermented in temps as high as 27C. I am not a fan of, say, banana notes in my beers but I suppose I could come up with something interesting with some of the less fruity yeasts. Which ones have you used?

Broadfordbrewer - well I'll be! Some similarities indeed. I'm looking forward to hearing about the results! :

 

[gurtpint]

S-05 raced down to 1004 in five days... A bit drier than I was shooting for - I'll up the crystals and the mash temp slightly next time. Tastes quite nice and crisp though but may lack some body. Racked into a secondary today and added a hop sock with lots of cutlery and 57g of Cascade. Bottling due in 10 days.