Simcoe APA recipe - thoughts/critique please!

[FatsSchindee]

I have 3 oz Simcoe pellets and want to make an American Pale Ale with them. Just wondering what everyone's experience with Simcoe has been... I've enjoyed the PA/IPA/IIPAs I've had with Simcoe in them, but don't think any had ONLY Simcoe. Have any of you done a SMaSH or just Simcoe hopped pale ale, and how'd it turn out? I like the piney and passion fruit flavor and aroma... Just wondering if I should pair it with something else (Amarillo, Cascade, Citra maybe?)... I'm trying to go with a more complex grain bill than a SMaSH; recipe to follow...

 

[FatsSchindee]

Here the recipe I've come up with. It's for a five gal batch (5.25 into fermentor, to aim for 5 gal after racking to bottle), partial mash, partial boil... though I may scale down to a 3 gal batch. That way, I can do a full vol boil (3.5 gal, to get about 3 gal into fermentor and 2.5-2.75 to bottle), and, since it's a new recipe, I'm not out as much if it's not too good.


Simply Simcoe APA - 5 Gal

Style: American Pale Ale OG: 1.053
Type: Partial Mash FG: 1.012
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 5.34 %
Calories: 172.42 IBU's: 38.80
Efficiency: 70.00 % Boil Size: 3.50 Gals
Color: 6.7 SRM Batch Size: 5.25 Gals
Preboil OG: 1.026 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
1.50 lbs 16.67 % Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 60 mins 1.037
8.00 ozs 5.56 % Munich Malt - 10L 60 mins 1.035
6.00 ozs 4.17 % Victory Malt 60 mins 1.034
6.00 ozs 4.17 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 60 mins 1.034
4.00 ozs 2.78 % Cara-Pils/Dextrine 60 mins 1.033
1.00 lbs 11.11 % Extra Light LME 60 mins 1.035
5.00 lbs 55.56 % Extra Light LME 10 mins 1.035

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.50 ozs 25.93 Simcoe 60 mins 12.70
0.50 ozs 12.87 Simcoe 15 mins 12.70
1.00 ozs 0.00 Simcoe 0 mins 12.70
1.00 ozs 0.00 Simcoe 7 days 12.70

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2 vials California Ale White Labs 0001

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 15 mins Boil
1.00 tsp Gypsum 60 mins Mash

Mash Profile
Profile Name: Partial Mash

Grain Temp: 78.00 °F Mash Tun Vol Loss: 0.00 Gals
Grain Absorption: 0.13 Gals/lb Tun Temp Loss: 4.00 °F
Cooling Shrinkage: 4.00 % Kettle Trub Loss: 0.13 Gals
Hourly Boiloff: 0.50 Gals/hr

Mash Steps:
Partial mash 60 [email protected]°F
Add 4.20 qts water @ 170.0°F
Dunk sparge in new pot 10 [email protected]°F
Add 6.30 qts water @ 170.0°F
(null)
Sparge 5.06 qts water @ 149.87 °F

Water Profile
(none)

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 11 days @ 68.0°F
Primary 3 days @ 70.0°F
Secondary 7 days @ 68.0°F

Carbonation
Bottle Carbonation
Desired Vol of CO2: 2.50 Vols
Beer Temperature: 78.00 °F
Residual CO2 in Beer: 0.75
Corn Sugar Required: 4.93 ozs

Notes
(none)
www.iBrewMaster.com Version: 1.0.9


For the grain bill, I set it up as a 1/3 mash (3 lbs total), then adding 1 lb LME for the 60 min boil, and the other 5 lbs late addition - for 9 lbs total. Do you think the CaraPils is necessary? I've been adding it to my last couple brews to help with head retention, but not sure if it's necessary since I have the C40 in there...
Was thinking 154 for the partial mash temp... Should be about right for a medium body beer, no? Or should I lower it a bit, to make up for the LME being generally less fermentable? Am leaning that way, the more I think about it (my Oktoberfest I made from Munich extract - extract and steeping, though, not PM - was much more unfermentable than I calculated and my FG was higher than desired, and on the sweet side).

Also, I'll do a starter (unless I do the three gal batch, then 1 vial should just about be enough), not pitch two vials like it says (I just don't see where to change it to "starter" in my software).

I want it less bitter (for the APA instead of an IPA style - but still within the BJCP APA range) and more flavor/aroma, so that's why I went with the 0.5 0.5 1 1 oz hop schedule. Was thinking of even shortening the bittering addition to 45 or 30 minutes and hop-bursting more for flavor and aroma to make up the IBUs...

Would love to hear any thoughts/experiences/critiques, please! Thanks...

 

[Calder]

Do some research. I have heard some people don't like the flavor Simcoe gives when used as a bittering hop. You might want to use a different hop for the bittering charge.

If you get decent mash efficiency, the OG will end up closer to 1.060 than 1.053.

I don't think you are over the top with the crystal/cara-pils for an APA. I'd probably replace the cara-pils with crystal, to get more flavor.

I prefer my beers on the drier side. You might want to mash at 150 to offset some of the sweetness of the extract. I'd probably toss in a half lb of table sugar to help dry it out too.

Make a starter with some of that extract and you will only need 1 vial.

 

[FatsSchindee]

Do some research. I have heard some people don't like the flavor Simcoe gives when used as a bittering hop. You might want to use a different hop for the bittering charge. If you get decent mash efficiency, the OG will end up closer to 1.060 than 1.053. I don't think you are over the top with the crystal/cara-pils for an APA. I'd probably replace the cara-pils with crystal, to get more flavor. I prefer my beers on the drier side. You might want to mash at 150 to offset some of the sweetness of the extract. I'd probably toss in a half lb of table sugar to help dry it out too. Make a starter with some of that extract and you will only need 1 vial.

Thanks for the feedback. I think that's a good idea, to mash lower to offset the sweetness/reduced fermentabity of the LME, to add some table sugar to that end as well, and to just replace the Carapils with more crystal. Here's what I'm thinking for the revised grain bill:

Mini-mash at 150*:
1.5 lb 2-row
8 oz lt Munich
8 oz Victory
8 oz C40

During boil:
8 oz Extra Light DME at 60 min
8oz Table Sugar at 10 min
5 lb Extra Light LME at 10 min

That keeps it at 9 lbs total, with 3 lbs in the mini-mash. I upped my efficiency to 78% (which is what my actual was for my last two mini-mashes), and that shows an OG of 1.056 and an FG of 1.013. I do plan on doing a starter to only use one vial. And although I was wanting to do an "only Simcoe" APA, I have read enough people getting the cat-piss smell from too much, so I think I will look into something else for the bittering (Centennial maybe?), and maybe a citrusy hop to mix in the late hops as well... Appreciate the advice!

 

[dlaramie08]

You may want to skip using simcoe for bittering. Not because of flavor, but because when you run out and can't get any more, you'll hate yourself for wasting their flavor as a bittering charge. Use something else for bittering, maybe magnum if you have some. Keep simcoe for what it does best, flavor and aroma.

 

[FatsSchindee]

Alright, I keep tweaking and reworking this recipe, and I decided to make a big change. I'm going to halve it to a 2.5 gal batch (2.75 into fermentor), and try it as my first all-grain brew using BIAB (this way I can still use the equipment I have without any major upgrades, but get the benefit of all-grain and a full-volume boil). I have a separate post in the all-grain section about the BIAB method, so if you have advice about that, look for that post there. Here, I'm still mainly looking for recipe advice...

The other big change I'm thinking about doing is hop-bursting with the Simcoe. A couple of you mentioned it's not the best for a bittering charge, so I'm thinking of eliminating the early 60 min addition, and just doing multiple late additions with the 3 oz I have. See the recipe below for exact details, but I'm thinking an IBU is an IBU is an IBU, so if I'm still at 42 total IBU, it shouldn't be too different in bitterness (except in the harsher quality of the 60 bittering addition that you are saying to avoid, maybe?) than the original, should it (well, the 5 gal batch was at 38 IBUs, so it should be a little more bitter, but still within BJCP and okay with me)? I'm just wondering if that's going to just be too much aroma and flavor from the Simcoe and will it overpower the malt and balance I'd like. It still gives it a BU/GU ratio of .76, so that's about right for an APA... I'm just not sure about the quality of Simcoe as I've never used it before. Looking for anyone with experience in that hop to add their 2 cents. Thanks for any advice!


Simply Simcoe APA - 2.5 Gal

Style: American Pale Ale OG: 1.057
Type: All Grain FG: 1.013
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 5.76 %
Calories: 186.16 IBU's: 42.18
Efficiency: 78.00 % Boil Size: 3.25 Gals
Color: 10.1 SRM Batch Size: 2.75 Gals
Preboil OG: 1.053 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
4.75 lbs 79.17 % Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 60 mins 1.037
8.00 ozs 8.33 % Munich Malt 60 mins 1.037
6.00 ozs 6.25 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 60 mins 1.034
6.00 ozs 6.25 % Victory Malt 60 mins 1.034

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.50 ozs 19.78 Simcoe 15 mins 13.00
0.50 ozs 14.45 Simcoe 10 mins 13.00
0.50 ozs 7.95 Simcoe 5 mins 13.00
0.50 ozs 0.00 Simcoe 0 mins 13.00
1.00 ozs 0.00 Simcoe 7 days 13.00

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.74 vials California Ale White Labs 0001

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
0.50 tsp Gypsum 60 mins Mash
0.50 each Whirlfloc Tablet 15 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Profile Name: BIAB profile

Grain Temp: 78.00 °F Mash Tun Vol Loss: 0.00 Gals
Grain Absorption: 0.13 Gals/lb Tun Temp Loss: 4.00 °F
Cooling Shrinkage: 4.00 % Kettle Trub Loss: 0.25 Gals
Hourly Boiloff: 0.50 Gals/hr

Mash Steps:
BIAB 60 [email protected]°F
Add 12.00 qts water @ 163.4°F
Batch Sparge
Sparge 4.12 qts water @ 170.00 °F

Water Profile
(none)

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 11 days @ 68.0°F
Primary 3 days @ 70.0°F
Secondary 7 days @ 68.0°F

Carbonation
Bottle Carbonation
Desired Vol of CO2: 2.50 Vols
Beer Temperature: 78.00 °F
Residual CO2 in Beer: 0.75
Corn Sugar Required: 2.82 ozs

Notes
After boil loss of ~0.5 gal, chill, and add to fermentor. Aerate and pitch yeast.
www.iBrewMaster.com Version: 1.0.9

 

[dlaramie08]

That'll do it and I think you'll be impressed with hop bursting.