# RecipeDB - Cracka Fat Pale Ale



## big_dazza27 (28/10/09)

Cracka Fat Pale Ale  Ale - American Pale Ale  Extract               4 Votes        Brewer's Notes Dry hop 1g/litre Cascade after 2/3rds into ferment. Have also made with 2 cans LME rather than 1 light and 1 amber, just makes a lower ebc.1 packet SafAle US-05   Malt & Fermentables    % KG Fermentable      0.2 kg TF Caramalt    0.1 kg Weyermann Carapils(Carafoam)     1.5 kg Coopers LME - Light    1.5 kg Coopers LME - Amber    0.5 kg Generic DME - Light       Hops    Time Grams Variety Form AA      10 g Cascade (Pellet, 5.5AA%, 10mins)    10 g Cascade (Pellet, 5.5AA%, 60mins)    10 g Cascade (Pellet, 5.5AA%, 0mins)    5 g Nelson Sauvin (Pellet, 12.7AA%, 60mins)    5 g Nelson Sauvin (Pellet, 12.7AA%, 10mins)    5 g Nelson Sauvin (Pellet, 12.7AA%, 0mins)       Yeast     12 g DCL Yeast US-05 - American Ale       Misc     1 tablet Whirfloc         22L Batch Size    Brew Details   Original Gravity 1.055 (calc)   Final Gravity 1.014 (calc)   Bitterness 18.1 IBU   Efficiency 75%   Alcohol 5.33%   Colour 18 EBC   Batch Size 22L     Fermentation   Primary 10 days   Secondary 10 days   Conditioning 4 days


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## big_dazza27 (1/11/09)

Fixed


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## Acasta (11/7/10)

Did it improve with the 2 light LME cans? Or would you recommend the 1 light 1 amber?


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## thanme (12/7/10)

It'd more or less just affect the colour, so I wouldn't be too hung up on it. Take your pick 
Nowadays, when I'm doing extract, I generally use light DME and colour with spec malts.


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## New2thebrew (18/7/10)

Tried a few of these on tap at the local last night, very tasty drop.

Have decided to have a go at the recipe next weekend, have a few quick questions;

(1) How long did you steep the grains for?
(2) How much (if any) of the LME / DME did you add to the hop boil?
(3) Does it need whirfloc, or would racking onto gelatine be ok?

Cheers :beer:


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## thanme (19/7/10)

If it was me, I'd do it like this:

(1) 60 mins
(2) 1.5L of LME would do it (maybe a touch less)
(3) Gelatine would be fine


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## New2thebrew (24/7/10)

NME said:


> If it was me, I'd do it like this:
> 
> (1) 60 mins
> (2) 1.5L of LME would do it (maybe a touch less)
> (3) Gelatine would be fine



Just got back from Craftbrewer with the ingredients (minus TW Export Pilsener grain which I understand needs to be mashed), and am looking to put this one on tomorrow.

As this is my first crack at an extract brew, you'll have to excuse my noob questions  

Was going to steep the caramalt in 1lt of water (65c) for 60mins, strain into a larger pot (rinsing with another 500ml of water at 65c), then boil for 60mins with 1.5kg LME & hop additions as per recipe. After boil, add remaining LME & DME, stir well and then pour into fermenter.

My first question is, how many litres should I be boiling the steeped liquid, LME & hops in? I read somewhere on here that it should be 1lt per 100g DME, but what about LME?

My second question is, how long do the hop pellets added at 0mins (5g Nelson, 10g Cascade) need to be left in the pot before straining into the fermenter?

Lastly, I am assuming as it's an ale, and I'm using US-05, yeast will need to be pitched at around 18c.

As always, thanks for helping a newbie who is always trying to improve


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## New2thebrew (21/8/10)

Bottling this one today, tastes pretty good, though not quite as hoppy as I'd expected.

As this is my first extract, I'll be waiting (rather impatiently) for the next 4 weeks to see how it goes.


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## Malted (16/9/10)

*Software:*
I have just started using Beer Smith and am finding it very good.

*Grain bill:*
I skipped the pilsner malt too and used 250g of JW Caramalt. I got the JW profiles from the Beer Smith website.
So far not a lot of body. Would Pilsner malt have helped this (I suspect more Caramalt would be better).
I steeped the caramalt as a Porridge for 60 mins and then 'sparged' it through a collander! I am not sure of the volumes of water I used. Liquid was then boiled with the Amber LME + water to make up about 7-8 litres.
*
Colour:*
I like the colour of it with light & amber LME.
Do you know the EBC ratings for the Coopers Cans - I forgot to look if it was on the cans before they went in the bin. 

*Hops:*
I did not add the 0 mins at flameout. I dry hopped them. Hence 5g Nelson + 10 g Cascade rather than 15g Cascade for dry hopping. The floral notes of the Nelson are quite dominant (at least I think it is Nelson but haven't used Cascade before either - just going by the smell of the hops before adding). It's my first time using these hops and what a great surprise! I dry hopped some Hallertau in a Wheatbeer once. It could be a little more bitterness for my liking but my Cascade was only 5% AA and Cascade was only 11 % and I did not add compensatory amounts and there were no hops at flameout (but they would not have time to contribute bitterness). It is a very smooth drop (despite having not conditioned yet) that is easy drinking. I reckon SWMBO is going to like it, if she gets a chance before I guzzle it!

*Yeast:*
I'd question the pitching rate (but am a noob so know nothing about this). Does it need to be 25g of yeast (two sachets)? It took off like a rocket within an hour and was pretty much finished in 3 days (at 19oC). 

*Fermentation:*
I didn't 'secondary' ferment it. As activity slowed after day 3 I dropped the dry hops into the ferementer at day 5 and let them sit for another 5 days. I then crash chilled it for 48 hours and siphoned (from the top, not the tap) off into a keg and gassed it. Nice and clean, no filtration or whirfloc neeeded. It started at 1.052 and finished at 1.014.

*Overall: *A good recipe for a noob to have a crack at. I did things a little differently or incorrectly (for example not measuring water volumes -except for in the fermentor), so my brew does not really taste like a _Fat Yak_ (which I had assumed it would have a similarity to). Having said that, it is a very smooth drop (despite having not conditioned yet) that is easy drinking. I reckon SWMBO is going to like it, if she gets a chance before I guzzle it!


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (16/9/10)

@OP - how did the Nelson Sauvin play with the other hops? I have found that NS tends to dominate, and I usually now use it on it's own (I love the hop, but it generally can't be mixed with others, from my experience).

Goomba


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## booyablack (16/9/10)

Yeah, I just racked my first attempt at a Fat Yak clone last night. I made up the recipe myself and put in plenty of Nelson Sauvin thinking that the Cascade would overpower it. 

*WRONG*. Massive NS aroma coming from that brew. 

Don't get me wrong, I like Nelson Sauvin but next time I will definitely only be using small amounts of NS compared to the Cascade when making a Fat Yak replica.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (16/9/10)

booyablack said:


> Yeah, I just racked my first attempt at a Fat Yak clone last night. I made up the recipe myself and put in plenty of Nelson Sauvin thinking that the Cascade would overpower it.
> 
> *WRONG*. Massive NS aroma coming from that brew.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I like Nelson Sauvin but next time I will definitely only be using small amounts of NS compared to the Cascade when making a Fat Yak replica.



Don't worry, I made that mistake with saaz (i've even put the recipe up) - fantastic beer, but can't find the saaz in it.

NS, from my use of it, tends to be a hop that needs to be front and centre of any beer. It gets lost if used in small amounts with other american hops, but dominates anything else if used in large amounts.

The other hop I'm liking lots is Citra - somewhat similar to NS, but not so "wine-like" in flavour with less gooseberry and grape, and more passionfruit, pineapple and I've even seen others describe as rosewater. I made a SMaSH ale with it, and it is just a fantastic quaffer. It would be at home in any APA style beer.

Goomba


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## booyablack (16/9/10)

Citra is definitely on my to-do list. As a big fan of APAs it sounds like it's right up my alley.

I think it's a good idea to use a new hop on its own at first, like you have LRG, to really work out the taste and aromatic characteristics.

I foresee an all-Citra APA on tap at my place pretty soon.....


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (16/9/10)

booyablack said:


> Citra is definitely on my to-do list. As a big fan of APAs it sounds like it's right up my alley.
> 
> I think it's a good idea to use a new hop on its own at first, like you have LRG, to really work out the taste and aromatic characteristics.
> 
> I foresee an all-Citra APA on tap at my place pretty soon.....



Sounds like a great idea.

I made some great beers by mixing up a number of hop varieties, but then wondered what each hop actually contributed. I really formulated the recipe on balancing out the descriptions of the hops and malts, rather than any actual tasting knowledge of each hop or malt individually.

So I ended up (and am continuing) to make some SMaSH beers, just to broaden my intimate understanding of each hop, not just that it will work with others.

The Citra SMASH Ale (Recipe is on Recepe DB) of mine is a seriously good, simple APA - I did it one night after work. SWMBO drinks it like no tomorrow and she is one harsh critic. I used Citra because the LHBS was out, and they recommended it as a good (or better in his words) replacement.

The other thing I'm finding with those american fruity hops - drink them young. I did a brown ale that was seriously nice with Nelson Sauvin, Amarillo and others. I put a bottle away for 3 months and came back, and althought it was smoother, it lost the boldness one associates with APAs and was more malty and warm (that might have been the 7% too). Same thing I found with drinking Matilda Bay's Big Helga - to quote Patty & Selma "the older they get, the cuter they ain't".

Goomba


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## big_dazza27 (20/12/10)

Hey Guys,

Didn't realise there was any interest in this recipe. I had forgotten all about it and have moved on to all-grain since putting it up.

I checked back as i have a mate starting on extracts and wanted to compare to the one he just put down.

I have changed a couple of things on the recipe

1. 100g of pilsner malt should have been carapils
2. 1 pkt of US-05 (i think at the time i was unsure of how much was in a packet)
3. I dry hopped with 1g/litre of cascade last time i made it and it turned out great.

With the carapils and caramalt, you only really need to steep for about 20min. Put your water in your pot and bring upto 68-69deg and throw it in in a grain bag. Leave for 20 min then add your LME/DME*, stir in and return to heat bringing to a rolling boil adding your hops etc.

*(The LME is a little less economic than DME but not that much of a difference that you need to worry about. When i was doing extracts if i was boiling 1/2 the total volume (12-13L) i would add about half the malt and the rest with 0min hop addition.

Hope this helps a few of you guys out a bit.


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