APA

[robster62]

Hi, all can you please give me your honest opinions on this recipe.

5.8kg Maris otter
0.3kg oats
0.3kg crystal
30g Apollo at 60 mins
30g cascade at 5 mins
20g simcoe at 5 mins
55g simcoe at flameout
70g cascade at flameout

Mash at 66c for 60 mins
Boil for 60 mins

TIA

 

[NicF]

Should be nice! What yeast are you going to use?

 

[robster62]

I've got liberty bell, empire and gervin in stock or I can get something from the LHBS. What do people suggest?

 

[NicF]

Well I've a soft spot for Liberty bell, IMO it gives a lovely balance between malt and hops, so that would be my choice.

IIRC Empire is a low attenuator which usually means it's not so fond of long chain sugars so, if I was using that on I might mash a couple of degrees lower, years since I've used it not sure I would use it for an APA.

Gervin is Nottingham so that's a neutral high attenuator and would work well.

US-05 or a West coast yeast like Bry-97 would be nice in there too.

Hope it turns out well

 

[YeastFace]

That looks pretty spot-on. Why the oats, out of interest? (Not that they're out of place, plenty of oatmeal pales).

Liberty Bell or Gervin I'd say are the best choices from what you have. Liberty Bell is, I have read, a blend of Nottingham and Windsor so should give you best of both worlds.

 

[robster62]

Is it worth dry hopping the last 25g of simcoe?

 

[DocAnna]

That's a fair heft of hops at flameout, which risks adding quite a bit of bitterness depending on how fast you can cool your wort, and will be hard to predict or replicate. I suggest to get the most of the hop oil fresh flavours you consider a hop stand, starting at just under 80 deg letting it steep as it cools passively to 70-ish for about 40 minutes. This should also avoid most of the need for a dry hop.

 

[robster62]

Anna unfortunately the beer has been fermenting for a week, so I thought I would use up the remaining hops to dry hop today and bottle on Wednesday.

 

[DocAnna]

Anna unfortunately the beer has been fermenting for a week, so I thought I would use up the remaining hops to dry hop today and bottle on Wednesday.

Ah .... sorry a wee bit late then , I hope it tastes great.

 

[Empty bottle]

That's a fair heft of hops at flameout, which risks adding quite a bit of bitterness depending on how fast you can cool your wort, and will be hard to predict or replicate. I suggest to get the most of the hop oil fresh flavours you consider a hop stand, starting at just under 80 deg letting it steep as it cools passively to 70-ish for about 40 minutes. This should also avoid most of the need for a dry hop.

Hi Anna i'm Rab and it was just to ask about this hop stand at 80 deg. I am pretty new to this brewing and always learning and have never tried this method before so it was to see if i'm correct in thinking that if when the boil is finished and i have started the cooling process that i should turn the cold water tap off and add some hops at 80deg and allow them to sit for 40 mins and just leave them to stew and then turn the tap back on and proceed with the cooling after 40 mins?
Cheers Rab

 

[MashBag]

... I suggest to get the most of the hop oil fresh flavours you consider a hop stand, starting at just under 80 deg letting it steep as it cools passively to 70-ish for about 40 minutes. This should also avoid most of the need for a dry hop.

Absolutely agree. I maintain 85c for 30m then remove, and that gives smashing results.

 

[MashBag]

I have noticed hops need to be removed before chilling. They almost seem to rob flavour. This is an observation not a fact.

 

[Empty bottle]

I have noticed hops need to be removed before chilling. They almost seem to rob flavour. This is an observation not a fact.

I will give this a go tonight when i make another brew. So if i cool the wort to 80deg then add my hops to stew for 40 mins and remove the bag and give the bag a good squeeze to get all the juices out and start the cooling process again as normal. I will try this and not bother with the dry hoping and see how it turns out.

 

[MashBag]

Don't squeeze it to hard. I have and you get a bitterness

 

[RoomWithABrew]

You could drop the crystal next time and try some Vienna or Munich.

 

[robster62]

Next time I think I'll lose the Apollo and bitter with a small amount of challenger.