stoneyts
Well-Known Member
Can anyone suggest a good, sessionable pale ale or IPA recipe that is also an extract recipe? Thanks
Sessionable pale ale or IPA
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Jeremy_N
Well-Known Member
My first batch was a sierra nevada pale ale clone from midwestsupplies.com. I was very happy with it. My OG came out lower than the real deal, but it was a great session beer. Maybe check out biermunchers blonde ale and double the hops. I am sure someone has converted the AG recipe to extract. I tried this blonde ale, but if I did it again I would double the hops for my taste.
aiptasia
Well-Known Member
Hmmm, have you tried the recipes section? 
How "big" do you want to go for this sessionable beer? That makes a difference, because it's really hard (at least for me) to make a great IPA with less than about 5.25% alcohol. That's been my holy grail of brewing for about the last 5 or 6 years!
I've come close, but never nailed it and thought "That's it! That's perfect!"
A couple of keys: start with just enough malt to get to your desired ABV, and enough IBUs to keep it from being too sweet; use lots of late hops, but not harsh hops; balance the hops/malt more to hops (for the hoppy beer) but not too much because if you're going with a lower OG IPA, then the malt needs to have to a "backbone" and consider using Munich malt (either LME or in a partial mash); Don't use much crystal malt (if any at all), but instead use come character malts for your specialty grains; use an attenuative yeast strain so the beer finishes dry and "clean", and keep fermentation temperatures under control.
Besides that, if you want to let us know what ABV you're thinking of, I'm sure we could come up with a recipe or at least a really good start on one! Also, what kind of APA/IPA you'd like (big citrusy hops? earthy hops? Piney and dank? etc) will help us formulate something, or give you one of our recipes.
I've come close, but never nailed it and thought "That's it! That's perfect!"
A couple of keys: start with just enough malt to get to your desired ABV, and enough IBUs to keep it from being too sweet; use lots of late hops, but not harsh hops; balance the hops/malt more to hops (for the hoppy beer) but not too much because if you're going with a lower OG IPA, then the malt needs to have to a "backbone" and consider using Munich malt (either LME or in a partial mash); Don't use much crystal malt (if any at all), but instead use come character malts for your specialty grains; use an attenuative yeast strain so the beer finishes dry and "clean", and keep fermentation temperatures under control.
Besides that, if you want to let us know what ABV you're thinking of, I'm sure we could come up with a recipe or at least a really good start on one! Also, what kind of APA/IPA you'd like (big citrusy hops? earthy hops? Piney and dank? etc) will help us formulate something, or give you one of our recipes.
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stoneyts
Well-Known Member
Yooper,
Are you familiar w/Butternuts Beer and Ale's Porkslap Pale ale? It comes in at 4.3%ABV. In that neighborhood would be great but your number is fine. I really like big citrusy hop profile. I recently made a Citra Pale ale , dry-hopped w/ Mosaic and LOVE it. If I could make a lower ABV version of it I would love it. I am looking to have my favorite type of beer easier to enjoy as a session beer for the summer. I've only made 3 5 gal batches so far and they have come out really nice. The CPA is by far my favorite!. All have used DME and specialty grains. I' haven't done partial mash, so I would need some guidance if that were the way I needed to go.Thank's for your input!!!
Are you familiar w/Butternuts Beer and Ale's Porkslap Pale ale? It comes in at 4.3%ABV. In that neighborhood would be great but your number is fine. I really like big citrusy hop profile. I recently made a Citra Pale ale , dry-hopped w/ Mosaic and LOVE it. If I could make a lower ABV version of it I would love it. I am looking to have my favorite type of beer easier to enjoy as a session beer for the summer. I've only made 3 5 gal batches so far and they have come out really nice. The CPA is by far my favorite!. All have used DME and specialty grains. I' haven't done partial mash, so I would need some guidance if that were the way I needed to go.Thank's for your input!!!
I don't know those beers, I'm afraid! But I've done some 4.5% APAs with good results.
Maybe if you post that recipe you like so much, we could help you lower the ABV but keep the recipe basically the same. I'd be willing to try, at least!
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stoneyts
Well-Known Member
5.5 gal h2o
8oz 10l Crystal, crushed pre-boil
8oz 20l Crystal, crushed pre-boil
8oz Victory, crushed pre-boil
8oz CaraMunich, crushed
7# light DME boiled 65 min.
2oz Magnum hops 60 minutes boil
.5oz Citra hops 20 min.
.5oz Citra hops 15 min
1 tsp irish moss 15 min
.5oz Citra hops 10 min
.5oz Citra hops 5 min
1oz Citra hops @ flame -out
1 Safale s-04 yeast
3oz Mosaic hops added day 7 of fermentation period
SG 1.075
FG 1.021
Target ABV 7.5A%
IBU's 150
Racked to secondary on day 14 to aid in clearing the beer.
8oz 10l Crystal, crushed pre-boil
8oz 20l Crystal, crushed pre-boil
8oz Victory, crushed pre-boil
8oz CaraMunich, crushed
7# light DME boiled 65 min.
2oz Magnum hops 60 minutes boil
.5oz Citra hops 20 min.
.5oz Citra hops 15 min
1 tsp irish moss 15 min
.5oz Citra hops 10 min
.5oz Citra hops 5 min
1oz Citra hops @ flame -out
1 Safale s-04 yeast
3oz Mosaic hops added day 7 of fermentation period
SG 1.075
FG 1.021
Target ABV 7.5A%
IBU's 150
Racked to secondary on day 14 to aid in clearing the beer.
I'm curious. Wouldn't you pre-crush all your grains before mashing???
Ok, what I would do is to keep all the hops the same EXCEPT for the magnum. Reduce the magnum and lower the amount of DME and cut some of the crystal/cara malts.
I come up with this:
8oz Victory
8oz CaraMunich
2# light DME
3# light DME (at flame out)
.50 oz Magnum hops 60 minutes
.5oz Citra hops 20 min.
.5oz Citra hops 15 min
1 tsp irish moss 15 min
.5oz Citra hops 10 min
.5oz Citra hops 5 min
1oz Citra hops @ flame -out
S05 yeast (Or wlp001)
dryhop with mosaic hops (2-3 ounces) 5-7 days before packaging
OG of 1.045
Fg of 1.010ish
4.6% ABV
This should give you lots of hops aroma and flavor, very similar to the original, but with lower alcohol. It won't be the same, but it will be close and sessionable.
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stoneyts
Well-Known Member
You're AWESOME Yooper!! I am definitely try this in the near future. When I do I will post w/ results! Thank you very much! This could be the begining of a great summer time house beer.
Yooper,
I think it'd be a great learning experience for this thread if you post you favorite session recipe (and I can brew it!)
Anyway, I think hop bursting (tons of late late hops) works pretty well for these types of beers, but Yooper is right about getting the malt balance right.
Yooper, what's your go to yeast for this style?
I think it'd be a great learning experience for this thread if you post you favorite session recipe
(and I can brew it!)Anyway, I think hop bursting (tons of late late hops) works pretty well for these types of beers, but Yooper is right about getting the malt balance right.
Yooper, what's your go to yeast for this style?
It really depends. If I'm using "character malts" like Munich or Vienna (or even consider 6 ounces of aromatic for a malty backbone without much alcohol- that works!), I go with something like WLP001 or even Wyeast's pacman (forget the number) for a clean, dry, well attenuating strain. I mash higher (AG batches).
If I'm going with a grainbill like this one (no or few character malts), I will use something like Dennys Favorite (Wyeast 1450) to enhance the malt backbone without it being under attenuating.
I've been really working hard on perfecting a hopbursted low ABV IPA but I have no real standard yet. My problem is that I LOVE IPAs but at 135 pounds I can't drink very many 7% beers, so I'm really trying to get all of the great hops flavor and aroma in a lower alcohol beer. It's harder than you'd think! An IPA is all about balance- or rather, the unbalance of extreme hoppiness of a beer but with enough malt backbone to hold up to the hops.
Yeah I agree that's its tricky. I've made a few but haven't been overly pleased with my results. Ill try Denny's Fav again, the one time I did I got an infection. Do you lean toward simple grain bills? This is one of those beers for me that I must perfect.
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stoneyts
Well-Known Member
govner1, When I posted the recipe I should have said ( in regards to the grains) "added pre-boil" They are the specialy grains that are steeped until the water is brought to 170*.
I use simpler grainbills for bigger beers, generally. Sometimes a lower ABV beer needs some "oomph" for malt support if it's heavily hopped, so for those beers I might give the grainbill a little more complexity.
Also, the technique called "hopbursting" can help with a lighter ABV APA or IPA. That means adding all of the hops at 20 minutes or less. It uses more hops to get the desired IBUs, but there is more hops flavor and aroma.
I just drank a beer last night by Founder's called "All Day IPA". It's 4.7% ABV, with a nice hoppy finish. I am still trying to make mine better than Founder's, though!
Keeps the color a bit lighter, less chance of boil over, better draw from the hops, less chance of burning the malt.
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