Session Pale Ale MKII

So after my first session pale ale recipe (can be seen here.) turning out to be a little disappointing I've completely changed the recipe. I've learned quite a bit from the first attempt, mostly that there wasn't enough malty flavour or body (due to the low grain bill and using little other than base malt) or hop flavour (I think because I used pretty high AA hops so couldn't get as much in as I'd have liked. I also got the addition times wrong as well I think.).

Here is the "revised" recipe:

2.70 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 71.1 %
0.50 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 2 13.2 %
0.40 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 3 10.5 %
0.20 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 4 5.3 %
4.00 g Ahtanum [3.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 1.6 IBUs
15.00 g Amarillo [8.90 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 12.0 IBUs
10.00 g Ahtanum [3.80 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 3.4 IBUs
15.00 g Amarillo [8.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 7.7 IBUs
10.00 g Ahtanum [3.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 2.2 IBUs
15.00 g Mosaic (HBC 369) [14.10 %] - Boil 10.0 m Hop 10 8.1 IBUs
10.00 g Ahtanum [3.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 1.6 IBUs
20.00 g Amarillo [8.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 12 4.1 IBUs
50.00 g Amarillo [8.90 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 14 -

I've added munich to add more malt flavour and sweetness and flaked oats to improve the body. I'm essentially going to be hop bursting with just a tiny addition at the start to prevent a boil over. I'm managing to get in 149g hops with a much bigger focus on flavour than last time although I think the 50g Amarillo at flame out will still give a good aroma.

The recipe should give an ABV of 3.7% but plenty of bitterness (40.8 IBUs) and flavour. The last recipe was 3.4% and 27.6 IBUs. Not going to be brewing it for quite a while so I've no doubt I'll play around a little between now and then.

Any comments or suggestions?

Looks great. You can pretty much guarantee that'll be a great brew.

Are you going to dry hop at all?

rodabod said:

Looks great. You can pretty much guarantee that'll be a great brew.

Are you going to dry hop at all?

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Wasn't planning on it, mostly because the quantities of hops are based on what I have already plus 100g of Amarillo. :lol:

Bloody Hell, I missed reading the 50g at the end!

How are you chilling, out of interest?

rodabod said:

Bloody Hell, I missed reading the 50g at the end!

How are you chilling, out of interest?

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I have a grainfather which uses a counter flow chiller.

After today's brew I have less mosaic than I thought so going to tweak again as I'll need another pack of hops so will replace some of the Amarillo. Can't decide if I should get more mosaic or some citra.

If it were me, I would let the flameout hops steep for a little while (say 15-20mins) before the beer gets chilled. That's roughly what Thornbridge do for Jaipur which isn't dry-hopped.

I did a large flame-out addition of Amarillo in my extra pale ale, and I wish I'd left it to steep a little longer as I started chilling it almost immediately and didn't get as much flavour extraction as I would have liked.

I've seen it mentioned quite a bit that you should let the temp drop to 80c and then steep but I've never bothered trying it as I'm a bit lazy! I will give it a go at some point but it'd be a bit of a faff with the GrainFather as I'd have to attach it while the wort is near boiling to sterilise it and then take it back off.

I dropped to 90c for the start of my last steep, but I don't think it's absolutely essential. The bitterness develops over time, and the wort will naturally cool quite fast at that temperature.

DoctorMick said:

I've seen it mentioned quite a bit that you should let the temp drop to 80c and then steep but I've never bothered trying it as I'm a bit lazy! I will give it a go at some point but it'd be a bit of a faff with the GrainFather as I'd have to attach it while the wort is near boiling to sterilise it and then take it back off.

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There's an experiment somewhere on 'tinterweb (I linked it to onther thread so there's a link somewhere on the forum) where a guy does a blind test with some beer judges of steeping hops at 100C and 80C. The upshot was that the 100C one had a more harsh bitter flavour and the 80C one was smoother

The mistake I made with my last IPA was that I didn't cool the wort to 80C quickly before adding the flameout hops.

I let it cool naturally (it took about 25-30mins to cool from 100C to 80C). What I didn't realise at the time was that during the time it took to cool to 80C, all of my late addition hops were still isomerising, which left my beer very astringent.