Looking for help with my first pale ale

Beer Recipes
1

I’m thinking of brewing a pale ale soon.
Will be doing it all grain
  Any advice on recipe that anyone can give me?

2

American or British?

3

That is the important question.

4

I’ve messed around with a lot of pale ales

  1. UK style: I have a Golden Ale on tap now (SMaSH beer: Thomas Fawcett’s Golden Promise, EKG, & the Timothy Taylor Strain) that’s pretty light at 1.040 OG/10 plato, 30ibus. I hopped at 60m, 10m, Hop Stand, & Dry for this one. Pretty citrusy and bready. Also a big fan of ordinary bitter in which I’ve used less late hops and 5-10% UK medium crystal malt. Water usually fairly high in Calcium Sulfate. Mashed at 5.4ph, finished beers ended up pretty low.

  2. US Style: I tend to focus on the modern NorthEast style juicy pale ales. I’ve used 85% Pale Malt, 15% Flaked Oats, and 1/2 oz to an oz per gallon of hops in a long (60-90m) hop stand and an oz or 2 per gallon dry hopped. I’ve liked Conan and english yeast strains for this style more than S-05. Seems to stack up well with the Tired Hands/Vermont beers I enjoy.

Let us know what you’re going for and we can get more specific.

5

American

6

What I am thinking is a mild flavored ale with hop flavor but without a large amount of bitterness

7

Brody, do you attribute that “juicy” cloudy look to the oats addition? How’s the mouthfeel? This style is pretty interesting to me.

8

To keep the bitterness in check maybe start with a FWH and add the rest of the hops with fewer than 20 minutes left in the boil.  You could even play around with a hop stand.

9

Here’s my recipe for APA. I like it quite a bit:

OG 1.054
FG 1.010-1.012
IBU 41-ish

76% 2 row
17% Maris Otter
7% Crystal 40 L

41 IBU  Perle, Magnum, or Warrior - 60 mins
4-5 oz of whatever aroma/flavor hop - added after cooling to 175-170F. Steep for 30 mins, then cool.
Dry hop 3 oz for 5 days, then package.

WY 1056

Mash 152F/ 60 mins

There you go. Easy peasy.

Edit - BTW this recipe is for 5.5 gallons, in terms of gauging the steeping and dry hop additions.

10

The combination of Oats & massive dry hops definitely leave a cloudy look. The oats add that classic oats mouthfeel that I have a tough time describing (everyone says silky… but I kind of look at that the same way that people say saaz is spicy… not sure I really get the reference).

Beyond the oats I think the english yeast (Tired Hands and Hill Farmstead are rumored to use London Ale III the Boddington’s strain but not confirmed. Alchemist obviously uses Conan.) helps keep the mouthfeel soft. Stuck a pH meter in a Hop Hands and was surprised how low it was (below 4 IIRC). I forgot about a growler of HF Edward in the back of my fridge once - the hop aroma had totally faded and the English yeast flavor was dominant.

So that low pH, massive fruity hop aroma/flavor, softness, haze, and relatively low bitterness lead to the juicy descriptor. A lot of people have trouble with tired hands growlers blowing on them if shipped so some theorize that they keg the beer without any cold crash, finings, filtration and there may be some yeast still at work while they error on the side of freshness.

This guy did some nice work figuring out the style - http://www.alesoftheriverwards.com/2015/08/tired-hands-hophands-clone-revisted.html

11

that looks simple, and delicious. +1 I am going to put that in the recipe sheet.

12

Yep, it’s simple and tasty. Let me know what you think !

13

I like 90/10 2-row/Crystal

Color of the crystal is a preference, but can also be a blend. I’d keep the average of the two below 40.