Hey everybody, being busy with college I haven’t been able to brew lately but I have small break coming up and plan on cramming some brews in. I have usually lean towards the malty side of the spectrum when it comes to brewing but I want to brew some decent hoppy beers. What is a good starting point for making a decent Pale Ale. Here is a general idea of what I want to do. This would be for 5 Gallons.
Grist:
90% Pale Ale malt
5% CaraAmber or Simpsons Golden Naked Oats
5% Rye Malt
Hops:
.75oz Simcoe @ FWH
2oz Mosaic @ Whirlpool 170F
.75oz Simcoe @ Whirlpool 170F
Yeast probably just US-05
Any feedback would be appreciated!
that looks pretty good to me as is.
I’d stick with 2 row rather than “Pale Ale” Malt personally.
The rye malt likely will be very subtle at that level, but maybe that’s what you want.
yep looks good, and I’m on the other side of the fence…I like pale ale malt.
Looks pretty good to me. I normally use 2 row, but pale ale malt would work fine there. I’d be more inclined to use pale ale malt in an APA than an AIPA.
Thanks for the feedback! I am going with the Pale Ale malt because I feel like it just would add some character to round out the beer. Some Pale Ales I have tasted just seem like they have no malt character. Obviously the beer is supposed to showcase hops but I think it should still have a solid malt backbone.
I think you’ll like it. Lately I’ve been brewing my APAs with 95% Pale Ale Malt and 5% of flaked oats while playing around with different Cl/SO4 ratios and different hops. I agree with others suggesting that the Pale Ale malt will give you a good malt backbone for a simple hoppy beer.
At that level of rye, you’ll likely never know it’s there.
That was going to be my comment. I would either up the rye to 15% or omit it.
I agree. I cant speak to other pale ale malts, but for avangard (what I use) I really like the what it brings to the game…both pale ale and IPA. a good water profile and hop schedule and you end up with a really nice beer IMO.
Interesting. Avangard Pale Ale malt is the only malt of theirs that I have not liked; so much, in fact, I don’t intend on ever buying it again. I felt that it was too characteristic in most lighter-than-amber beers when used as the primary base malt. What I experienced was a tangy, sweet malt character, and the color it imparted to the beer was very dark for a base malt (at 75% AvanPaleAle and 25% corn, 1061 OG, my beer came out nearly orange [dark gold with orange hues]). I described a few times as though it was base malt mixed with a substantial percentage of C40. It worked well in dark beers because it was hidden, but in the end I would opt for a different “pale ale” base malt for most purposes. I kept feeling like I got a screwed up bag of malt; it produced beer nearly the same color as Avangard Light Munich but was definitely not munich in character.
Of the several “pale ale” malts I’ve tried, my favorite is probably TF Optic. It has more bread character than US 2rows, and not as much biscuit character as MO. In the ballpark of Golden Promise, but not quite as sweet and still just a touch more “malt” character.
Just my opinion and experience, of course.
C40 because of color or sweetness ?. Here’s pale ale malt 95% and carared 5%. Not sweet at all at FG 1.009.
It’s really important to balance the malt and hops with anything. Too much of anything out of balance can suck.
Edit- and you can make a fantastic pale ale or IPA out of Vienna as base malt. IMO, If they’re too sweet or malt forward, the water profile, attenuation, and hop profile/ bitterness is wrong, not the base malts fault [emoji51]
Because of color and sweetness, but the sweetness was “tangy” which would be unlike C40. It was the “tangy” that made the malt so characteristic and non-versatile for me. Just not a malt I would buy a full sack of again. Different strokes for different folks, to be certain.
To each their own is the beauty of this hobby for sure.
Some revisions to the grain bill, I’m dropping the rye malt seems how it will have little to no effect. I am going with Simpsons Golden Naked Oats and flaked Oats at 5% each and the rest Pale ale malt. The hop schedule I am fine with. Yeast I will probably just use US-05 seems how I have a couple packets on hand.
Lots of oats with 2 types at 10%. Might consider replacing one of the oat portions with vienna or munich for some added malt complexity.
I don’t think 10% is too much in this recipe and considering Simpsons Golden Naked Oats act more like a sweet nutty crystal malt. I’ve used 15% flaked oats before in recipes.
I would give the naked oats a shot to see what you think. Maybe decrease to under 10% if using them without the flaked. I have done an oat pale ale with oat malt, naked oats, and flaked oats for a total of 25% while vienna was the base malt. I didn’t care for it but I am not sure which malt was to blame…
I personally think your original recipe is a perfectly fine place to start. You are not overwhelming the beer with specialty malts and you are still providing what should be a solid malt background with the pale ale malt. While the rye, at 5%, may not be the “highlight” of the beer, I also don’t think that it should be therefore I feel like 5% is a good place. It WILL contribute to the mouthfeel of the beer at 5% giving a fuller body, plus it’s flavor contribution will be present, just very subtle. The oats are fine but I would personally go with the caraamber because you already have the rye in the recipe (the oats will also contribute to a fuller mouthfeel). I like some percentage of crystal malt in my american pale ales (not a ton, but 5% is pretty reserved) - I am NOT one of those crystal malt haters that seem so prevalent these days. This is all opinion of course, but I almost feel as though you won’t have enough malt presence in the beer even with this recipe (and the oat changes you’ve made in later posts would reduce that even more, IMO). A splash of victory or biscuit might help to bring up some light toasty qualities, unless you are planning on using Maris Otter in which case it has plenty of that character.
So After browsing around the forum, and looking at some other threads I have finalized my recipe. My grain bill will be 90% Pale Ale Malt, 5% Golden Naked Oats, 5% CaraAmber. I think the ratio of 90% Pale malt/10% light Crystal malts is a good start for now. I will probably over time brew variations of this using rye or flaked oats. Thanks for the input everybody I will post back once this one gets brewed.
For an APA I would consider a yeast that can produce some esters. If you ferment Chico down in the low 60’s you will get a peach ester that I personally like a lot in lighter abv, crisp APA’s, and it works great in a pub ale I make with it (US-05).
I personally am a Conan man, but west coast works as well, especially as a baseline. Since you don’t brew these often, maybe split the wort after chilling and use two different yeasts?