Hoppy Summer Pale Ale

[jimp2003]

Evening All!

I am planning doing my fourth BIAB all grain brew this weekend. My first three have all used recipes from others (2 from BYOBRA and one from an american forum) and have been very successful if I do say so myself.

Anyway, I want to brew something light and hoppy that I can bottle and serve nice and cold in the coming warmer months. I have come up with the following outline recipe using Beer Engine that will help use up some of the remains of packets of hops etc.

I don't think I am doing anything wildly original here but would like any feedback you guys could give me about possible improvements please.

Summer Pale:

OG: 1.046
FG: 1.011
EBU's: 48.0
Batch Size: 21.00 L
Boil Time: 90 minutes


Grain Bill

94 % Pale Malt, Maris Otter
3% Crystal Malt
3% Torrified Wheat

Hops

40.00 g Amarillo 90 mins 8.9
24.00 g Amarillo 15 mins 8.9
23.00 g Amarillo 5 mins 8.9
33.00 g Cascade Flameout 5.9

Yeast

S-04 or Nottingham ????


Thanks in advance for your advice.

Jim

[Lugsy]

I like US-05 with American hops but I've never tried S-04 or Nottingham in a pale so I'm probably not the best to comment! Having said that, it has a very high attenuation so I tend to make up for it by adding quite a bit of Munich or Crystal (10% or more) to leave a bit of sweetness so maybe S-04 or Nottingham would work better with you grain bill. Amarillo and Cascade work really well together so I'm sure it'll be delicious which ever way you go with it!

[leedsbrew]

IMHO Nottingham will give you the same results as US-05 but will drop bright and stick to the bottom of a bottle like sh1t on a duvet! 05 can be an absolute pig to drop bright (took one of my brews 8 weeks)

[Kev888]

Looks reasonable to me too. As LB says I also find notts and US-05 similar so i'd too go for notts from the packet due to it being more flocculent. But if you're harvesting/re-using I then personally prefer US-05; it seems to gain much more confidence by the second generation, going faster an attenuating more and clearing down sooner. Though Notts still seems better for clearing even then..

Cheers
Kev

[jimp2003]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Notts it is for this brew then. Good to hear about it dropping nice and clear LB as the paleness of the brew will show any cloudiness - not that I am too hung up on this as its not one I plan to enter into the forthcoming National Homebrew Comp (unless it turns out very good ). I also like the fact that it is likely to stick to the bottom of the bottle as I had a couple of brews where the yeast was quite mobile during pouring.

Its interesting what you say about re-using the US-05 Kev. I never really think about doing that with dried yeasts because they are so cheap but if they improve over the generations then I might have to consider doing that in the future. Do you limit the number of times you re-use your yeasts - I know there are arguments about yeast mutating and wild yeasts and bacteria taking over if you re-use too many times.

[dave-o]

Amarillo and cascade make a lovely summer ale. I'd use the whole lot late though!

I've not found a great dela of difference between notts and S05 either in taste or flocculation.

[jimp2003]

Amarillo and cascade make a lovely summer ale. I'd use the whole lot late though!

I've not found a great dela of difference between notts and S05 either in taste or flocculation.

Thanks dave-o. Maybe move the 90mins hops to 30mins??

[dave-o]

Personally i'd mix them all together, divide them into 3 and put them in at 15, 5 and 0 (steeped). But then i like flavour not bitterness.

[Rick_UK]

Looks very similar to my well hopped IPA which is just ready to drink. Its got a lovely clean bitterness in the finish and great citrus notes and aroma.

I used 4kg of MO, 250g Crystal and 150g wheat malt for a 25l brew.

I used Magnum for bittering to 60IBUs then 20g of Cascade at T-15, 20g Cascade for 80' steep and 15g dry hopped for 7 days following primary fermentation.

Taking a while to drop clear but tastes great. I used Girvan ale yeast at Notty was out of stock for some reason. I believe it is pretty much the same strain anyway.

Rick

[jimp2003]

That looks good Rick. My brewday did not go as smoothly as previous ones but the smell coming from the fridge is amazing and the Nottingham seems to be performing well.

[critch]

id use notty if you want a bright dry beer and 04 if you want a bit of residual sweetness as stated o5 can be a pig to drop bright without extensive end of fermentation chilling.

[iandiggs]

Sorry, bit of a novice here; how long do you steep/boil the maris otter/crystal malt in the above recipe?

[jimp2003]

Sorry, bit of a novice here; how long do you steep/boil the maris otter/crystal malt in the above recipe?

The grains were mashed for 90 mins. Then once the grains were removed (I use the BIAB method) the wort was boiled for a further 90 mins.

[Kev888]

Hi Ian,
its important not to boil the grains themselves, just the wort after its been run off from them. In an all grain recipe you're getting all the fermentables from the grain and you need the help of the enzymes in the grain to help convert/extract the malty sugars during the mash (steep), and they get killed off if you over-heat them. Even with grains just used just for flavouring (e.g. as additions to malt extract brews) boiling them can release too much tannin and other undesirable stuff.

Generally the accepted range for a mash is between around 62 to 68 degreesC, depending on the sweetness of beer you're aiming for, and the typical time is probably 90 mins at that temperature although 60mins is also quite common. Theres a bit on mashing here

Cheers
kev

[iandiggs]

thanks a lot for that!