Critique my Am. Pale Ale

[PseudoChef]

Call to action on my club's board was well received, gonna brew over at a fellow member's house on Sunday. Here's my Pale Ale recipe for critique:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Son of Lupulome - American Pale Ale
Brewer: PseudoChef
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.15 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 6.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 47.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 72.99 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 12.17 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 8.11 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.06 %
0.33 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2.68 %

0.25 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
0.50 oz Chinook [14.30 %] (60 min) Hops 23.2 IBU
1.50 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (10 min) Hops 14.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.90 %] (5 min) Hops 3.8 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.75 oz Centennial [8.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
0.15 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (Fermentis #S-05) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12.33 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 15.41 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F

[DrunkenSatyr]

That Munich and Vienna is going to be great! I would drop the Cent @ 60. you are not going to taste it there.

[Barley-Davidson]

That recipe made me thirsty

[PseudoChef]

That Munich and Vienna is going to be great! I would drop the Cent @ 60. you are not going to taste it there.

Yeah, I was just using it to get a couple extra IBUs. I might just bump the Chinook up to cover that, then. Thanks.

[Ó Flannagáin]

Looks delicious dude.

[mdd134]

I think you are spot on for a damn good APA

[rooster445]

There's no way that it cant be great

[MrMarbleHead]

Dude I am such a fan of Dry hopping with Huge AA Hops. Everyone thinks that you can only use them for bittering, but man they add such a great aroma to beers. I think that you should split the amarillo and Tomahawk though, 50/50 (for dry hopping).

I could see some biscuit malt working in well with that grain bill too, will add another layer to the APA style.

[PseudoChef]

Dude I am such a fan of Dry hopping with Huge AA Hops. Everyone thinks that you can only use them for bittering, but man they add such a great aroma to beers. I think that you should split the amarillo and Tomahawk though, 50/50 (for dry hopping).

I could see some biscuit malt working in well with that grain bill too, will add another layer to the APA style.

I totally agree, but I only have the 0.2 oz of Columbus on hand in terms of high AA%. The only other high AA% I have is the Chinook, and I'm not going to dry hop with those for this particular beer.

[PseudoChef]

Finished at 1.059 O.G. in my quickest brew day yet of about 4.5 hours.

Decided to FWH instead, so maybe it'll make a difference, maybe not. Bitch of a time cooling to 65, where I like to ferment S-05.

Mad props to my friend who opened up his house to me to let me brew. He did a double brew day of an Oatmeal Stout and a Hefe. He did two batches and was done shortly after I was - 5 hours or so. Pretty impressive. He gave me some gypsum to add to the APA - so maybe the hops will shine through more.

[PseudoChef]

Pulled my first sample tonight after 10 days. Fermentation didn't start for about 36 hours since I pitched around 63° and fermented around 65-66°. Fermentation took about 5 days total, with a healthy krausen the whole time - just noticed it had dropped around Sunday, I believe.

Man, this is one of the better hydro samples I've pulled. Down to 1.011. Middle ground between an IPA and APA. What I think is the Munich is awesome - great malty backbone that is a good support to the hops.

I might change the dry hop to Centennial since I have more of those, but I'm not totally sure yet, as I love the Amarillo as much as the next guy. Fuck - maybe I'll do both to get a great nose out of it. Supremely happy with this one.

[Ryanh1801]

damn that looks like a great beer.

[PseudoChef]

Actually not that happy with how this turned out. It's extremely drinkable, but the bitterness seems too mellow for my tastes, even pushing the boundaries of the Pale Ale sub-style.

The thing I am having a hard time grasping is it's lack of body. It did get down to 1.010 (S-05, starting grav. of 1.059), so that may be an issue (believe I mashed at 152, so I will raise that next time). Also surprised the Munich doesn't come out. I love the Munich Malt, but it's just lost in this one.

Back to the drawing board for the next one. Just wanted to give an update.

[mr x]

If you have the BCS book, try JZ's recipe for an APA without crystal. Just brewed it, and it tasted excellent, but next time I'm using 1272 instead of -05.

[Evan!]

Holy crap, drinking one now, it's like hop tea. No malt. None. I made a hop tea in a french press a couple weeks ago for the pregnant wife's N/A brew, and, well, this is exactly like that. Hop tea. I like hops, yeah, but wow. Kewl!