Hazy Session Pale Ale - Recipe Check

[-Bezza-]

I'm quite keen to brew a <4% pale ale so done a bit of research and tinkered with Beersmith to come up with the following. Would welcome any thoughts.

The grain bill is deliberately complex to make up for the lack of ABV, selecting grains that would give a bit of maltiness and colour, plus some oats for mouthfeel. Mash is all geared towards getting a bit of body too.

Spoiler

Hazy Session Pale Ale

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 20.00 L
Boil Size: 24.90 L
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 22.40 L
Final Bottling Vol: 18.50 L
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage

Equipment: 1. Grainfather_18.5L Keg (20l batch)
Efficiency: 73.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.5 %

Prepare for Brewing

• Total Water Needed: 29.82 L

Mash or Steep Grains
Mash Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
2.00 kg​	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)​	Grain​	1​	57.1 %​	1.30 L​
0.50 kg​	Munich Malt (17.7 EBC)​	Grain​	2​	14.3 %​	0.33 L​
0.50 kg​	Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC)​	Grain​	3​	14.3 %​	0.33 L​
0.25 kg​	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC)​	Grain​	4​	7.1 %​	0.16 L​
0.25 kg​	Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)​	Grain​	5​	7.1 %​	0.16 L​

Mash Steps

Name​	Description​	Step Temperature​	Step Time​
Protein Rest​	Add 12.63 L of water at 52.9 C​	50.0 C​	30 min​
Saccharification​	Heat to 68.9 C over 15 min​	68.9 C​	30 min​
Mash Out​	Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min​	75.6 C​	10 min​

• Sparge Water Acid: None
• Fly sparge with 17.19 L water at 75.6 C
• Add water to achieve boil volume of 24.90 L
• Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.034 SG

Boil Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
12.00 g​	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	Hop​	6​	21.1 IBUs​	-​
10.00 g​	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min​	Hop​	7​	3.5 IBUs​	-​
25.00 g​	Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Boil 0.0 min​	Hop​	8​	0.0 IBUs​	-​

• Estimated Post Boil Vol: 22.40 L and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.040 SG

Cool and Transfer Wort

• Cool wort to fermentation temperature
• Transfer wort to fermenter
• Add water if needed to achieve final volume of 20.00 L

Pitch Yeast and Measure Gravity and Volume
Fermentation Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
1.0 pkg​	Liberty Bell Ale (Mangrove Jack's #M36)​	Yeast​	9​	-​	-​

• Measure Actual Original Gravity _______ (Target: 1.040 SG)
• Measure Actual Batch Volume _______ (Target: 20.00 L)

Fermentation

• 23 Mar 2022 - Primary Fermentation (14.00 days at 20.0 C ending at 20.0 C)
• 06 Apr 2022 - Secondary Fermentation (7.00 days at 3.0 C ending at 3.0 C)
• 
  

Dry Hop and Bottle/Keg

• Measure Final Gravity: _________ (Estimate: 1.011 SG)
• Date Bottled/Kegged: 13 Apr 2022 - Carbonation: Keg with 0.86 bar
• Age beer for 30.00 days at 12.0 C
• 13 May 2022 - Drink and enjoy!

Notes

 

[AJA]

My thoughts, feel free to disagree/ignore.

Your malt bill is fine in terms of diastatic power. Will give a nice malty, caramel finish if that's what you are going for. Too much crystal for my like but we all have our own taste. Did you consider adding any wheat to the bill?

Seems light on hops. Are there no whirlpool additions/dry hops?

Where's the haze coming from? That will probably end up bright and clear given lack of late hops/choice of flocculant yeast.

Your mash temp is high, will produce lots of dextrins for a less dry finish which I think you have right for this beer.

A mash time of 30mins is shorter than I'd expect, but I do a one step mash.

I presume you will tailor your water according to the recipe.

Oh, your lateflameout hops will add some IBUs unless cooled instantly, so you'll get a few more than that calculation says

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Any beer under 4% is heretical and probably the work of the beast, repent and it’s not too late.

 

[-Bezza-]

My thoughts, feel free to disagree/ignore.

Your malt bill is fine in terms of diastatic power. Will give a nice malty, caramel finish if that's what you are going for. Too much crystal for my like but we all have our own taste. Did you consider adding any wheat to the bill?

Seems light on hops. Are there no whirlpool additions/dry hops?

Where's the haze coming from? That will probably end up bright and clear given lack of late hops/choice of flocculant yeast.

Your mash temp is high, will produce lots of dextrins for a less dry finish which I think you have right for this beer.

A mash time of 30mins is shorter than I'd expect, but I do a one step mash.

I presume you will tailor your water according to the recipe.

Oh, your lateflameout hops will add some IBUs unless cooled instantly, so you'll get a few more than that calculation says

Cheers buddy.

I did toy with the idea of some wheat and could happily swap the vienna for some wheat. I did add the oats to give some haze.

I didn't want to go too bitter on the hops and, as you say, would expect to get a few IBU from the flameout hops. Using a Grainfather normally means I stop the boil and then run the wort through the chiller for 5 mins with no cooling, then cool back into the kettle for another 10 mins before cooling into the FV. On the dry hop, I was wondering whether it would work with a lower ABV beer. Having won 2kg of hops, I'm certainly not short of options. So let me know what you think would be a good plan.

Mash will be longer actually. I tend to mash for about 5 hours to fit with my brewing schedule!

Water will likely be Hoppy Pale Ale profile.

 

[-Bezza-]

Any beer under 4% is heretical and probably the work of the beast, repent and it’s not too late.

Normally, but I've not had much success with the stronger beers and quite fancy having something on tap where I can feel slightly less guilt about drinking it mid-afternoon. I suspect a lot of it will be given away in any case.

 

[-Bezza-]

Version 2, which now replaces vienna with wheat, reducing crystal and chucking in some extra hops at flameout. I've also dropped the total grain so should come out at around 3.6%. Rice hulls added on the assumption this is all going to be sticky!

Hazy Session Pale Ale
Blonde Ale (6 2)


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 20.00 L
Boil Size: 24.90 L
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 22.40 L
Final Bottling Vol: 18.50 L
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage

Date: 23 Mar 2022
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: 1. Grainfather_18.5L Keg (20l batch)
Efficiency: 73.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.5 %

Prepare for Brewing

• Total Water Needed: 29.86 L

Mash or Steep Grains
Mash Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
0.20 kg​	Rice Hulls (0.0 EBC)​	Adjunct​	1​	5.6 %​	0.20 L​
1.50 kg​	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)​	Grain​	2​	42.3 %​	0.98 L​
1.00 kg​	Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC)​	Grain​	3​	28.2 %​	0.65 L​
0.50 kg​	Munich Malt (17.7 EBC)​	Grain​	4​	14.1 %​	0.33 L​
0.20 kg​	Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)​	Grain​	5​	5.6 %​	0.13 L​
0.15 kg​	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC)​	Grain​	6​	4.2 %​	0.10 L​

Mash Steps

Name​	Description​	Step Temperature​	Step Time​
Protein Rest​	Add 12.76 L of water at 52.9 C​	50.0 C​	30 min​
Saccharification​	Heat to 69.0 C over 15 min​	69.0 C​	300 min​
Mash Out​	Heat to 76.0 C over 10 min​	76.0 C​	10 min​

• Sparge Water Acid: None
• Fly sparge with 17.10 L water at 75.6 C
• Add water to achieve boil volume of 24.90 L
• Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.033 SG

Boil Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
12.00 g​	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	Hop​	7​	21.4 IBUs​	-​
10.00 g​	Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min​	Hop​	8​	3.6 IBUs​	-​
40.00 g​	Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Boil 1.0 min​	Hop​	9​	2.9 IBUs​	-​

• Estimated Post Boil Vol: 22.40 L and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.038 SG

Cool and Transfer Wort

• Cool wort to fermentation temperature
• Transfer wort to fermenter
• Add water if needed to achieve final volume of 20.00 L

Pitch Yeast and Measure Gravity and Volume
Fermentation Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
1.0 pkg​	Liberty Bell Ale (Mangrove Jack's #M36)​	Yeast​	10​	-​	-​

• Measure Actual Original Gravity _______ (Target: 1.038 SG)
• Measure Actual Batch Volume _______ (Target: 20.00 L)

Fermentation

• 23 Mar 2022 - Primary Fermentation (14.00 days at 20.0 C ending at 20.0 C)
• 06 Apr 2022 - Secondary Fermentation (7.00 days at 3.0 C ending at 3.0 C)

Dry Hop and Bottle/Keg

• Measure Final Gravity: _________ (Estimate: 1.010 SG)

 

[AJA]

Sounds good, get brewing and report back :)