is there a home-brew / zymurgy thread around here?

American Pale Ale II

5 gallons, all-grain; OG = 1.056 (14° Plato); 40 IBUs; SRM = 12; ABV = 5.75%

Ingredients:

  • 8.5 lbs. two-row pale malt such a Gambrinus or Great Western
  • 0.5 lb. carapils or dextrin-type malt
  • 0.5 lb. crystal malt, 20° Lovibond
  • 0.5 lb. crystal malt, 60° Lovibond
  • 0.5 oz. U.S. Northern Brewer hops (3.5% alpha acid) for 90 min.
  • 2.5 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha acid): 0.75 oz. for 45 min., 0.75 oz. for 15 min., 1 oz. at end of boil
  • 1 pt. starter of Wyeast 1056 (American ale)
http://byo.com/barleywine-and-imperial-stout/item/31-20-great-extract-recipes


The one thing that these recipes contrast is the use of crystal malt (caramel malt) in a APA. JZ's recipe I posted uses some victory in the steep to impart some biscuity/bready flavors while the other two use varrying additions of crystal malt to provide sweetness and caramely flavors. I've brewed JZs and a varriation of the other two and my person preference would be, in order: JZ, SNPA, APA II. If you want to create your own recipe, I'd look at the IBU/OG ratios of these recipes, target a ~5% ABV the hop schedules and the crystal vs. victory as some key points. Late addition of the bulk of your extract will help keep the color lighter and reduce the potential for kettle caramelization. Fermentis US05 is a good choice if you want to use dry yeast rather than liquid.

Here's the BJCP guidelines on what the essential elements of a APA are:
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category10.php#style10A
 
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You definitely don't need to rack to a secondary for fermentation unless you'll be fermenting more than 3 weeks, which you won't for ales.

I find that lighter, hoppier ales taste their best at two weeks in the bottle. By three weeks, they'll start to lose a bit of their floral nose.

Eloy, I understand that some people (you included) love the process as much as the product, and I respect that, but for your first batch, just buy 6 lbs. of light malt extract, 2 oz of Hallertau hops (1.5 oz for 40 minutes, .5 oz for 10 minutes), and two packs of Munton and Fison dry ale yeast. Consider this your baseline. For your next batch, change one variable - use an amber malt, or change the hops schedule (try dry hopping), or change yeast. Brew a few of these simple batches and notice how each variable affects the final beer. As you get more sophisticated, you'll have a better understanding of how the process and ingredients affect the final product.

Don't worry about fermentation temperature - if you are comfortable, your brew will be comfortable. Put away the hydrometer.

To put it in guitar terms, consider these first batches to be the telecasters of brewing. Get your basic chops down, then start exploring different scale length necks, pickups, string gauge, etc.
 
GomezAddams said:
You definitely don't need to rack to a secondary for fermentation unless you'll be fermenting more than 3 weeks, which you won't for ales.

I find that lighter, hoppier ales taste their best at two weeks in the bottle. By three weeks, they'll start to lose a bit of their floral nose.

Eloy, I understand that some people (you included) love the process as much as the product, and I respect that, but for your first batch, just buy 6 lbs. of light malt extract, 2 oz of Hallertau hops (1.5 oz for 40 minutes, .5 oz for 10 minutes), and two packs of Munton and Fison dry ale yeast. Consider this your baseline. For your next batch, change one variable - use an amber malt, or change the hops schedule (try dry hopping), or change yeast. Brew a few of these simple batches and notice how each variable affects the final beer. As you get more sophisticated, you'll have a better understanding of how the process and ingredients affect the final product.

Don't worry about fermentation temperature - if you are comfortable, your brew will be comfortable. Put away the hydrometer.

To put it in guitar terms, consider these first batches to be the telecasters of brewing. Get your basic chops down, then start exploring different scale length necks, pickups, string gauge, etc.
Click to expand...

I get what you're saying, and I would break a nail to defend your right to say it, but I have to respectfully decline. That's just not me. And the fact that I'm making the first batch in hopes of taking it along with me for several people to enjoy other than myself makes me want to try to make the best batch I can the first time around. If it were just drummergirl and I sitting around drinking it on the weekends, I might do just that. But given the circumstances, I want to be a little more aspiring.

I do really appreciate the advice though.
 
The various Sierra Nevada recipes are always good , my first all grain was one although I used all cascade instead of bittering with another hop.

Seeing as you don't have a brewing fridge to control temp properly then US05 is a great yeast as it is very temperature tolerant and no need to make a starter or worry about aeration. I still use it a lot


If you want to use some of the british yeasts available further down the line I'd recommend getting a proper temperature controlled fridge as they can drop out easily or change in flavour quite rapidly with only small changes in temp. But they are much more interesting from a flavour perspective than the likes of US05, and some can be really clean too if you can control the temp but be quicker and drop much faster than US05





For a typical easy drinking british golden ale recipe I usually use

95% Maris otter/Optic/Pearl/Halcyon etc
5% unmalted wheat

OG 1.038 - 1.046
35 -45 IBU
clean yeast

Lots of late hops and dry hops. Bittering additions, if any, will depend on the hops used

This is a good base recipe to try out hops, it works great for single hop brews as the grainbill is simple (citra is great in a single hop beer)
 
Well, I've gone and done it. I went out Friday after work and got all the equipment. After a few snags with forgetting to start a yeast starter, pushing brew day from Saturday to Sunday, and then needing to run to Lowes for an adapter so the wort chiller would fit our kitchen sink, we (hopefully) were able to successfully make some beer. But only time will tell.

I ended up brewing that recipe I posted early. Something I found in BeerSmith and modified slightly for a percentage higher ABV, a bit more IBUs, and more color.
Steeped 10 oz each of Crystal 40 and 60.
8 lbs Pale LME
1.6 oz Challenger hops at 60
1 oz Fuggles at 15
1 oz Goldings, East Kent at knockout
Wyeast American Ale 1056

Thermostat is set at 67, it's supposed to get cold these next few days so I don't expect any trouble on that front.
Estimated OG was 1.055, I read 1.054 at 75 degrees F, so with adjustment that's 1.056.
I'm calculating between 36 and 39 IBUs.

So it's basically an ESB, but with an American Ale yeast. So... an ASB? :grin:

I've probably committed some sort of sin, let's hope Poor Richard can forgive me. I didn't take many pictures, as I was busy enough, even with drummergirl's help. But I did get a few off. There's the making of the yeast starter yesterday, then one steeping the malt today. There will certainly be one of the final product when that day comes.

20140315_2101531_zps21387c71.jpg


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20140316_183124_zps74b50135.jpg


I did go down and check it a bit ago and though it's only been about an hour I did see a bubble! So that's a good sign, haha. Never been so excited to see a fucking bubble. That's a lot of work to have something go wrong and ruin the whole batch. So hopefully I didn't fuck it up anywhere along the way.

And now.... I play the waiting game.
 
As Papazian says "Relax, have a homebrew".

There isn't much you can do to ruin a batch (well, aside from a major cockup). It is still going to taste great.

Oh, except don't use you mouth to start a siphon. Alcohol and hops will kill most every bug that your brew is likely to encounter, but the lactobacillus present in your mouth will happily destroy your handiwork if you let it.
 
Nice Job!

I brewed on Sunday as well & took a couple snaps

Getting ready to mill the grist
20140316_132601.jpg


Mash hops, FWH, 60M & 15M, 10M, 0 and centennial for the dry hop
IMG_20140316_142531.jpg


Dang near maxed out my MLT
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I used to make what my brother called Japanese Gin.
5 gallon pail
bag of oranges
big bag of sugar
couple packets of yeast.

peel & smash oranges (remove seeds!)
throw in pail.
add sugar & yeast, fill with water to about 2" from top.
cover (don't seal!)
leave for 10 days
strain and drink.

of course, we distilled it :facepalm:
 
This thread made me get some 5 gallon buckets to scale up my efforts. :)

New buckets, a bigger wort pot, and a copper wort chiller is on the way to my door right now.
 
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You will not regret it!


My brew went well, currently cleaning up

84% Marris Otter
10% sugar - to be added in a few days once it's taken off. might up it to 15%
5% wheat malt
1% caramunich to use it up

mashed @148F
T58 yeast
OG 1.080 assuming I use 10% sugar
 
OK. I got the pot, chiller, and a big ass thermometer. Now I just need the buckets and some ingredients. Should be ready next week sometime, I think.
 
Tiltsta said:
OK. I got the pot, chiller, and a big ass thermometer. Now I just need the buckets and some ingredients. Should be ready next week sometime, I think.
Click to expand...

The kitchen thermometers work a bit better than the rectal thermometers. At least that's what I've read on the forums.
 
So are you going to stick with a tried and true recipe and just scale it up or are you going to try something new this time around? What will you be brewing?
 
I'm going to stick with extract type kits for now, but the idea of the new stuff was to expand into more 'real' brewing from what I am doing now. I'm going to do a irish red ale first. Sort of like real brewing with some training wheels. Once this is going, I will probably try something a little more exotic, like high test Belgian tripel with some long fermentation and such.

Here are the particulars....basically a beer kit in a box with some added specialty grains (also in the kit).

SPECIALTY GRAIN (which I will steep into the wort in a mesh bag at about 160-70F for 30 minutes)

--0.5 lbs Belgian Caramel Pils

--0.25 lbs Briess Special Roast

--0.125 lbs Belgian Biscuit

--0.125 lbs English Chocolate Malt

FERMENTABLES

--6 lbs Gold Malt syrup

HOPS & FLAVORINGS

--1 oz Willamette (60 min)

--1 oz US Goldings (30 min)

YEAST

--Wyeast 1272 American Ale Yeast II. Fruitier and more flocculant than 1056, slightly nutty, soft, clean, slightly tart finish. Apparent attenuation: 72–76%. Flocculation: high. Optimum temp: 60°-72° F.
 
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My older brother, who brews a lot, thought this recipe looked easy, and he told me that ales like this bottle condition quickly and don't need any secondary or clearing bright tank time, so they are really about the easiest type of beer you can make for a first try. He said they were practically idiot proof, as they are pretty resistant to mistakes and moderate temperature swings. He told me a simple ale is the best place to start.

He thought the recipe might benefit from another couple of pounds of light golden DME in the fermentables to up the alcohol content, but I may stick to it as is. I really have no idea what I will do yet. My past experience is helping him make beer in his giant beer room and my little conical fermenter and 'fast' extract only kit beer (aka Mr Beer in a better shaped tank).
 
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