APA recipe input needed

[WeissGuy]

I've decided to try to make my own APA recipe. My goals for this beer are: 1) Create a Pale Ale that I can potentially become my "house beer." I get the impression that my BMC friends are most open to trying Pale Ales when they try craft beer, so I think this style would be good. 2) Get a balance between a solid (yet SIMPLE) grain bill and a citrusy/piney hop profile. Here's what I have in mind:

9 lbs. American 2-Row
1 lb. Victory
1 lb. Caramel 40

.75 oz. cascade 7% AA 60 min.
.50 oz. cascade 20 min
.75 oz. cascade 10 min
.75 oz. cascade 5 min

And possibly dry hop with 1-2 oz. of cascade. Also, I will probably use US-05 or Nottingham to keep it simple. My calculations tell me that with 75% efficiency, this will give me about 5.6% ABV and about 39 IBU. Any thoughts or suggestions? Orignally I had the victory and caramel cut down to .75 and .5 lbs respectively, with a pound of Munich 10L added. Thoughts between that and what I have above? As always, thanks guys.

 

[Yooper]

I love victory malt in an APA or IPA, but in a much smaller amount. I'd cut it in half, or even leave it out. If you leave it out, you've got a very Sierra Nevada Pale Ale type of APA, or Mirror Pond. I love a pound of Munich in an APA grainbill. It enhances the maltiness without sweetness.

I love all-cascade, but there is no "piney" in it if that's what you're looking for.

 

[WeissGuy]

Thanks Yooper. With that advice, I think I'll cut the Victory down to 0.5 lbs, add the lb. of Munich back in, and drop the caramel 40 down to .75 lbs.

 

[daksin]

That sounds very good (with your new adjustments). If it's pine you want, chinook is the go-to. You just can't go wrong with an all cascade or all chinook beer, and a cascade chinook combo is very tasty, as is centennial-chinook. Simcoe often gets described as piney, but it's much more complex than that with a lot of citrus and tropical notes.

 

[WeissGuy]

That sounds very good (with your new adjustments). If it's pine you want, chinook is the go-to. You just can't go wrong with an all cascade or all chinook beer, and a cascade chinook combo is very tasty, as is centennial-chinook. Simcoe often gets described as piney, but it's much more complex than that with a lot of citrus and tropical notes.

In an effort to go for simplicity with this beer, I'll use one type of hop for now. I'm going to try it first with an all-cascade bill, and then all-chinook sometime down the road. Eventually I'll be sure to start blending once I have a strong idea about what I like to get out of each hop.

 

[daksin]

Sounds good- keep us posted.

 

[tnbrewer371]

id cut the crystal to .5 and the victory as well, actually id cut the victory out entirely and keep the crystal where it is, also id add some adjunct in the range of about 10% of the entire grain bill, additionally, i dont like a cascade only beer personally, only time i tried it it came out very floral, it was interesting and educational, id just never do it again, than again different strokes and my .02

 

[lumpher]

I love victory malt in an APA or IPA, but in a much smaller amount. I'd cut it in half, or even leave it out.

not sure what this means. you love it in an apa/ipa, but you'd cut it or leave it out? do you mean out of this particular recipe with this hops/yeast?

 

[daksin]

She means a pound is too much in a beer of this gravity. Also, it's good, but she doesn't need to have it in there.