recipe ideas please

[rabbit]

Planning on brewing an american type ale this weekend to use up some ingredients.
Not brewed one before so i'm looking for ideas given this starting point.


Batch Size: 18.93 L


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 82.4 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC) Grain 5.9 %
0.25 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 5.9 %
0.20 kg Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 4.7 %
0.05 kg Black (Patent) Malt (985.0 EBC) Grain 1.2 %


30.00 gm Cascade [7.60%] (90 min) Hops 31.3 IBU
40.00 gm Cascade [7.60%] (15 min) Hops 19.4 IBU
30.00 gm Cascade [7.60%] (2 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
30.00 gm Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (2 min) Hops 1.8 IBU


i also have chinook, amarillo and various other hops.


Any suggestions very welcome
thanks
jon.

[Lugsy]

That looks a pretty good start to me. What kind of colour are you looking for? It looks a little dark with the black malt but it could give you a nice deep red colour, I'd probably cut it back to 30g or so personally. I'd ditch the styrians and chuck some amarillo in there instead and also a good dry hop of about 30g or so of amarillo or chinook. That's just me though, I like really hoppy beers so be warned!

[rabbit]

Hi lugsy, i just put 50g of black malt in to adjust color in beersmith.
I really wanted to use chinook but it is very high alpha and only way i could
keep bitterness down was to use as a late hop And in small amounts but i have read it can be a harsh flavour.
I have 100g of each of the hops but i did not want to open a bag just to use 10g or 20g.
cheers
Jon.

[Barley Water]

Well first of all, most American Pale ales don't have quite the malt flavor your going to get using MO (we generally use American 2 two row which does not have the depth of flavor MO has). On top of that, you are adding Munich which is also more flavorful than the American malts. Of course, making the beer the way you have orginally layed it our will be quite good, just not all that American in malt profile. Finally, if you are adding the roasted malt simply to adjust the color I wouldn't bother, I think it will be just fine without it (I make an APA with base 2 row and just a little brown malt and thats it, the color is just fine). As far as hops go, I like to use the high alpha stuff to bitter simply because it keeps down the amount of vegetable matter in the copper. Chinook hops are very American but in my opinion, they have a very harsh flavor, especially bad it you are using harder brewing water. On the other hand, Stone brewing is doing very well and they use alot of Chinook so what the hell do I know? I have medium hard water and I subscribe to the low cohumolone hop theory, I want good bitterness but I don't at all like the harsh bitterness you sometimes run into, I think it separates the great from the not so great beers in this style. Amarillo is a good example of a low cohumolone hop, I use it alot, it's sort of like Cascade on steroids. Finally, I would also dry hop as a previous poster suggested. If you want an authentic American ale, you want it to just reek of "C" hops, the piney, grapefruit effect is much prized over here. Anyhow, have fun, I'm sure your beer will come out well no matter what you decide.

[rabbit]

Thanks for informative reply. I think this beer will be very malty as i am sort of trying various malts to get
an idea of how they affect flavour.
The black malt maybe too much but its already mixed in.
My main concern is the hops and whether to use all cascade or add a second or third hop.
After searching for hop combinations i am more confused than ever.

The hops i have are cascade amarillo chinook summit Nortdown progress bobek ekg.
Any ideas as to which combinations much appreciated.

[6470zzy]

Go ahead and use the Chinook for the 90 minute addition and dry hop with the Amarillo, I think that you will be happy with your beer no matter. Enjoy

Cheers

[garwatts]

Yes I'd go with the Chinook to start as well. Then some Amarillo
And late hop with the Cascade and maybe steep a few more at 80C. I definitely wouldn't bother with the black malt.

[rabbit]

finally decided to go with chinook 10g @ 60 mins, 15g @ 20 mins, 20g @ 10 mins, 20g @ 5 mins, 20g @ 1 mins, 15g @ 0 mins.
bitterness shouldn't be too high and hopefully flavour will come through.