Brewing a new APA today!

[Yooper]

I just kegged 10 gallons of English IPA yesterday- so I have 2 empty fermenters!

I want something relatively lower alcohol, light but not bland, not sweet but not too dry, not too bitter, but with lots of hops flavor.

I have plenty of simcoe and amarillo, but I'm getting low on centennial. I have lots of different yeast strains available. I'm also happy to try to use up small amounts of Munich and Vienna, so here's what I've come up with:

10.5 gallons
OG 1.051
IBUs 36

12 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 61.5 %
2 lbs Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 10.3 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 10.3 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7.7 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5.1 %
1 lbs Wheat - White Malt (2.3 SRM) Grain 5.1 %

1.00 oz Magnum [11.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 20.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 14.8 IBUs
2.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 1.3 IBUs

American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) for one fermenter
Denny's Favorite 50 (Wyeast #1450) (Slurry) for the other fermenter

1.00 oz Centennial - Dry Hop 5-7 Days
1.00 oz Simcoe Dry Hop 5-7.0 Days



It's sunny today, and it makes me think of summer pale ales on the boat. I don't have any "oddball" hops around like moteuka or summit, just the typical c-hops and some willamette, besides the ones I listed, although I do have 2 ounces of Falconer's Flight.

I wonder if Falconer's Flight would give me what I'm looking for.

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

mmmmmm late boil Amarillo

 

[TyTanium]

Yum! I just bottled a pale ale pretty similar to this one, except WY1968....awesome warmer-weather Spring beer. I love IPAs as much as the next brewer, but nothing beats a simple, hoppy pale ale. Looks great!

 

[Pappers_]

That looks great! Except for the Simcoe dry hop, of course, but we all know about the difference of opinions about Simcoe

 

[HawksBrewer]

although I do have 2 ounces of Falconer's Flight.

I wonder if Falconer's Flight would give me what I'm looking for.

I used some Falconer's Flight for the first time in my most recent DIPA and it added some nice depth to the hop character. Not that you need any advice on brewing, but I love me some flaked barley in an APA. 1 lb in a 10 gal batch adds some nice complexity IMO. Regardless it looks like a great brew!

 

[Pappers_]

I don't have any "oddball" hops around like moteuka or summit,

I love Summit, I used in an IPA we're drinking now and it worked great. Summit and Chinook are now my primary bittering hops for American styles, I think.

 

[Jayhem]

I love APA's dry hopped with Cascade, Centennial, Citra or some combination of them.

 

[Yooper]

That looks great! Except for the Simcoe dry hop, of course, but we all know about the difference of opinions about Simcoe

What? You don't like cats?!? A little "cat pee" is nice in a beer.

I just looked again, and the Falconer's Flight are the 7Cs version. That sounds good to me, so I may want to sub the 1 minute amarillo addition with 7Cs. I only used them once before, though, so I'm unsure of this.

7Cs are supposed to be the 7C hops plus a few more? That might be great, and not so "grapefruity" than if I use all amarillo I think. But since I'm not really experienced with 7Cs, I don't want to screw it up either!

 

[Jayhem]

I've never had a homebrewed APA that was less than "good". Throwing in lots of tasty hops into a medium gravity brew is almost fail proof.

 

[Yooper]

My 7Cs Falconer's Flight hops bag was marked "2 ounces" but it was light feeling so I weighed it. It was one ounce. So I just used it at 1 minute, in place of 1 ounce of amarillo.

The wort smelled and looked soooooooo good! I should have taken a picture of the hydrometer. The wort was very clear, and I got an OG of 1.051. It tasted very hoppy, so I have high hopes for this one!

 

[BryceL]

Looking forward to the updates on this one Yooper! I have several pale ales I usually brew, but have been wanting to try something a bit different to mix it up a bit...I like the looks of this one!

 

[tagz]

Looks like a nice rich base, without being sweet. Although if a noob came in with that recipe everyone would be telling him to simplify

 

[TyTanium]

...Although if a noob came in with that recipe everyone would be telling him to simplify

Ha...possibly. Though usually with those "you need to simplify" cases, the proportions are way off and/or it's mixing grains that don't compliment each other well.

The line between complex and muddled is subtle.

 

[Yooper]

I checked the SG yesterday, and both the batches are at 1.014. Both are still a bit cloudy, but I expected that from the Denny's yeast (but not the 1272).

Anyway, the flavor is really nice! I gave Bob a taste out of the hydrometer sample, and he said "Oh, that's really lively tasting!". I didn't think that at first, but once he said that I agreed totally. It's very "bright" with great hops flavor.

I normally dryhop in the primary, but I decided to rack both beers onto the dryhops today so that I can wash/save the yeast. I want to use the 1272 in a lawnmower beer next week.

Interestingly, I like the flavor of the Denny's yeast version better at this point. It's not as bitter in the finish as the 1272. Both fermented at 64 degrees and will be dryhopped at 68 degrees for about a week before being kegged.

Edit- at 1.014, the current ABV is 4.8%ish. That's actually perfect, but I suspect it might drop another point or two. I wanted something at about 5%, and not higher, for summer drinking.

 

[Jayhem]

I checked the SG yesterday, and both the batches are at 1.014. Both are still a bit cloudy, but I expected that from the Denny's yeast (but not the 1272).

Anyway, the flavor is really nice! I gave Bob a taste out of the hydrometer sample, and he said "Oh, that's really lively tasting!". I didn't think that at first, but once he said that I agreed totally. It's very "bright" with great hops flavor.

I normally dryhop in the primary, but I decided to rack both beers onto the dryhops today so that I can wash/save the yeast. I want to use the 1272 in a lawnmower beer next week.

Interestingly, I like the flavor of the Denny's yeast version better at this point. It's not as bitter in the finish as the 1272. Both fermented at 64 degrees and will be dryhopped at 68 degrees for about a week before being kegged.

Very nice!

I really like the US-05 for APA's because it settles out so well.

Please show us some beer pr0n (glass pictures) when it's ready!

 

[Yooper]

Very nice!

I really like the US-05 for APA's because it settles out so well.

Please show us some beer pr0n (glass pictures) when it's ready!

I almost never use S05, because it just doesn't clear that well for me. I like the way the 1272 formed a tight compact yeast cake, although the beer isn't quite clear yet. I normally use WLP001 because it tends to give me clear beer quickly, but not as quick as some of the English strains like Wyeast 1335.

 

[Jayhem]

I almost never use S05, because it just doesn't clear that well for me. I like the way the 1272 formed a tight compact yeast cake, although the beer isn't quite clear yet. I normally use WLP001 because it tends to give me clear beer quickly, but not as quick as some of the English strains like Wyeast 1335.

Admittedly, I have never tried those strains. I do always do at least a 21 day primary though and use Irish moss in the boil and all my beers clear up nicely now.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I'm drinking this now!

A couple of interesting things. I went with a "pale ale" water profile, with more sulfate than I normally use. 237 ppm of sulfate (which is a bit lower than the "pale ale" profile, but I had plenty of calcium and other things so I didn't want to add more).

At first, the "Denny's" yeast was the winner, as it just seemed to be "brighter" and better. But after dryhopping and kegging, the Wyeast 1272 is the better beer.

The "Denny's" yeast finished at 1.012, and the 1272 finished at 1.010. The higher sulfate with the Denny's yeast seems to have given a harsher bitterness to that batch, while the 1272 batch really shines. It's pretty subtle, but side-by-side I can definitely pick out which one I like better.

I actually love this beer. It's a really nice "Summer Pale Ale" and I love the brightness of the hops with the rich malt flavor. It's not sweet, but it's balanced really nicely. I was a little worried about too much victory malt, but I think it's just right.

I think this beer will be in constant rotation around here, and with the Wyeast 1272 (or maybe WLP001 when I have some).

I did use 7Cs Falconer's Flight for one ounce of the amarillo hops at 1 minute, and I don't have any more, so I think it will be all amarillo next time or maybe some other C hops (I have a ton of cascade and chinook and centennial usually).

Overall, I'm very pleased with the results of this beer.

 

[Pappers_]

Save me some

 

[Yooper]

Save me some

Better hurry and come for a visit, then!

10 gallons will probably go fast.