Bayou Beer

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Tag Archives: american pale ale

American Pale Ale With Decoction

September 3rd, 2016

So I’m out of pale ale! I’ve been happy with what I’ve been brewing but time for a few tweaks as an experiment. Bruce Baker is always talking about a small decoction being awesome with his so I’ll try it with mine. Also going to just move the bittering addition back as a first wort hop. Oh and finally I’m using BestMaltz because the homebrew shop was out of Weyermann which I’d been using.

Update 9/5/2016

Well this has been one of those brew days. Started pouring raining during the run off. Had to fix the pump when the mash started. Had the hardest time getting the wort to run clear during the mash. Lots of stuck lines due to the grain getting clogged.(I’m guessing I need better stainless washers for the Blichmann screen) Just a total pain in the ass. Skipped that decoction just because enough was already problematic. I think all this is a combination of me not brewing for several months due to life as well as the total disarray of my brew room and garage due to the great flood which had us taking on my inlaws. The gravity came out high at 1.050 which shouldn’t be a problem and will likely help with the bitterness dude to the first wort hopping with the centennial.

Update 9/14/2016

Fermented out fine. Added dry hops once it was mostly done. 2 ounces of Amarillo and 2 ounces of Centennial which I believe is different from the recipe. That stayed for about 7 days. Transferred and carbonating. One note on this batch from the brew day: I forgot to add the crystal until the mash was about 80% done.

Update 10/10/2016

This beer is just wonderful to drink. To me it could use a little more residual sweetness but to anyone who loves a west coast pale ale this is it. Big hop aroma and huge hop flavor. Very resinous. Lots of pineapple, passion fruit, various shades of citrus. Just enough maltiness to support. I sent it to Dixie Cup so maybe I’ll get lucky and win something in the pale ale gauntlet.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 44.3 IBUs 9.0 SRM 1.046 1.011 4.5 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Pale Ale 18 B 1.045 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.015 30 - 50 5 - 10 2.3 - 3 4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsen (BestMälz) 7 lbs 66.27
Munich (BestMälz) 3 lbs 28.4
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 3 oz 1.78
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 3 oz 1.78
Special B Malt 3 oz 1.78

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Centennial 1 oz 60 min First Wort Pellet 10
Amarillo 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 9.2
Centennial 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 10
Mosaic (HBC 369) 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 12.3
Citra 2 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 12

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lactic Acid 10.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 5.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 5.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 154°F 60 min

Notes

Doing a hop stand at 160ish for 15 minutes. Adding the bittering hops as a first wort hop addition.

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American Pale Ale With Challenger

January 2nd, 2016

So I have some challenger I’ve been needing to use and I’m running out of my American hop stockpile I’ve been working on for the past year. Before I can justify ordering a giant round of wholesale hops I need to burn through it. So try some things out. How about Simcoe and Challenger? We’ll see how it comes out. Going to try a little more crystal than I typically use because I’ve read that Challenger can be a little sharp. Simcoe can also be a bit aggressive to me so I think more sweetness won’t hurt. The brew day went well with the gravity being more like 1.048.

2/4/2016 Update
This beer ended up being ok at best. Ironically the BeerXML plugin for my site won’t show the recipe for some unknown reason. Probably because the plugin knows that the beer wasn’t great. The hop flavor and aroma just isn’t smooth. It’s pretty harsh and the bitter probably isn’t very pleasant either.(I have to speculate due to being mostly bitter insensitive) I drink it but don’t love it. May dump it if I run out of kegerator space soon. Currently have 5 full, 2 in the works and want to brew some more. So something has to go!

American Pale Ale

November 29th, 2015

Wow it’s been probably the longest drought between brews I’ve had in a while. I did brew a barleywine last month in the event I forget to post it. Just haven’t had the time to do anything since September. I have been doing beer related things such as judging and trying to figure out how to adjust my beers based on scoresheet feedback from the last few competitions I participated in. The desire to try some IPA/pale ale hopping theories combined with running out of beer got me out of my rut.

  1. All hopping additions were done with the flame off at 215F or below as it dropped. Basic issue I’m trying to address is reduced astringency I believe is due to boiling hops and taking too long to reduce temperature. I’d also like improved hop aroma although my procedures to date have been aromatic enough.
  2. Reduced lactic acid additions based on new understanding of using acid to adjust Ph.
  3. Dry hop added as soon as the airlock starts bubbling based on Sierra Nevada notes on the effects of fermentation on dry hop.
  4. Note. Trashcan beer. Meaning the grain bill changed a bit due to not having things around the house I thought I did.
  5. Volume was low and 1.047 was a little lower than intended gravity. I keep forgetting to adjust Beersmith for my efficiency to volume ratio on calculations.

Update 12/1/2015
Fermentation going well. Added the dry hop of Amarillo today. Went ahead and added 2 ounces of Columbus because I was reading brulosopher and make a decision to up my dry hop.

Update 12/3/2015
Gravity finished at 1.01. Pretty darn dry. Tastes great. Cold crashing today.
Update 12/6/2015
Racked to keg and fined with gelatin for the first time ever today. Felt strange adding gelatin to a beer but appears to work. Lots of pine, onion, tropical fruit in this beer aroma/flavor hop profile. Should bee a great brew when its carbonated.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
4.7 gal 60 min 45.3 IBUs 7.7 SRM 1.047 SG 1.013 SG 4.5 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Pale Ale 10 A 1.045 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.015 30 - 45 5 - 14 2.3 - 2.8 4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 4.25 lbs 45.95
Pale Malt, Maris Otter 3.75 lbs 40.54
Munich Malt - 20L 8 oz 5.41
Aromatic Malt 4 oz 2.7
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 4 oz 2.7
Caramunich II (Weyermann) 4 oz 2.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Simcoe 1 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 13
Amarillo 1 oz 7 min Boil Pellet 9.2
Simcoe 1 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 13
Amarillo 1 oz 3 min Boil Pellet 9.2
Simcoe 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 13
Simcoe 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 13

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 8.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 8.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 5.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 154°F 75 min

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Pilsner Wheat Oat Pale Ale

April 18th, 2015

So in my continued trial of multiple combinations of pale ale here we go with the oats & wheat. This is another variation of my pilsner pale ale all of which have been wonderful. This is actually a variation of the Hopasaurus Sex from Zapp’s to be precise.

The brew day went well and I’m certainly looking forward to trying this beer. Fermented it out and racked it to secondary so I could pitch my American barleywine on it’s yeast cake. Added the dry hops and will let it go for about a week before kegging.

Update 8/3/2015

This beer turned out very well. It ended up placing first in American IPA and second in pale ales for clash of the carboys. Interesting since it was about 3 months from it’s complete and ready to drink date which was in May. I think the extra malts and reduction in crystal malts made it more interesting than what judges are typically used to. I think the wheat helps with presentation and bready savoriness with this beer. The oats added a substantial mouth-feel sensation without being heavy like you’ll get from too much crystal. I do feel like this beer needs a little bit of age though. 1-2 months before it clears well enough and mellows a little.

My next stop on this beer will be to convert it to an Imperial Red.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 90 min 43.5 IBUs 4.6 SRM 1.054 1.009 5.9 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Pale Ale 10 A 1.045 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.015 30 - 45 5 - 14 2.3 - 2.8 4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 7 lbs 68.29
Munich Malt 1 lbs 9.76
Oats, Flaked 1 lbs 9.76
White Wheat Malt 1 lbs 9.76
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 4 oz 2.44

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Magnum 1 oz 40 min Boil Pellet 14
Centennial 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 1 min Boil Pellet 12
Centennial 1 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 12
Centennial 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 10
Simcoe 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 13

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lactic Acid 15.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 6.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 6.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Saccharification 148°F 75 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

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All Munich Pale Ale

March 1st, 2015

I want to see what happens when you brew a beer that’s 100% munich so I cooked up this little pale ale recipe just full of American hops. The brew day ended up being 10 gallons so that I could have 5 for my house and 5 for Zapp’s beerfest. The color was surprising in that I thought it’d be lighter. I may end up having to call this an Amber ale. Post fermentation and dry hop it tastes great. Perhaps a little sweet though due to the weather going from 82F to 35F in the same day and possibly crashing my fermentation a little early.

The planned original gravity was to be 1.045 and ended up about that once I figured out my refractometer was reading very high. Final gravity ended up being 1.011. Beer tastes excellent. Next time I might add some wheat or carapils for body depending on how the carbonation effects the final product.

Update 3/19/2015

This beer did indeed come out very good albeit a little focused on malt due to the Munich bill. So in the spirit of American pale ale I took two tea balls / hop balls as they’re called, put an ounce of Simcoe in one and and ounce of Simcoe in the other and dropped them in the keg. 36 hours later the hop flavor/aroma was faaaar more pronounced. It went from good to excellent to me and added this post carbonation dry hopping with hop balls to the playbook.(hop ball is a metal ball with a clasp to keep all the particles in the ball. Any homebrew shop or Amazon will have them)

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 41.3 IBUs 9.8 SRM 1.052 SG 1.010 SG 5.5 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Pale Ale 10 A 1.045 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.015 30 - 45 5 - 14 2.3 - 2.8 4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Munich Malt 10 lbs 100

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertau Magnum 1 oz 30 min Boil Pellet 12.4
Simcoe 1 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 13
Citra 1 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 12
Columbus (Tomahawk) 1 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 14
Citra 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 12
Columbus (Tomahawk) 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 14
Simcoe 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 13

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lactic Acid 15.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 8.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 6.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F

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Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

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