Extract APA - will this be any good

[snails07]

I've just put down an APA (probably more like an IPA) and I'm wanting some feedback on how I've gone about it and any issues you think there might be.

The recipe is this:
10 litre boil for 60min
Fermenting at 18c (US-05) and I'll leave it for about 3 weeks.

Light DME - 1.65kg
Amber DME - 1kg
Dextrose - 0.3kg

Steeped grains
Crystal 240 - 0.2kg
Caraamber - 0.2kg
Caramunich I - 0.2kg

Hops
Mosaic 5g @20min
Centennial 5g @20min
Simcoe 10g @15min
Galaxy 10g @15min
Mosaic 10g @10min
Centennial 10g @10min
Simcoe 15g @5min
Galaxy 15g @5min

OG 1.060
FG 1.014
IBU 35.5
ABV 6.2%

I plan to dry hop with some or all of the above varieties but unsure which combo and how much to use.
Also thinking of cold crashing which I've never attempted before.

Any thoughts and recommendations appreciated!

 

[snails07]

I should point out that I'm an absoulute beginner - this is only my 5th or 6th brew.
The grains and hops used are a very wild guess at what might taste somewhat okay - so any feedback is helpful.

Cheers

 

[waggastew]

Looks good!

Any of those hops will go well in dry hop, 2-3g/L is typical.

Probably bump up temp to 19-20 after a few days to ensure cleanup of diacetyl

Once bottled, leave a month, and then do a side by side tasting with a pale ale you like. Comparing (pref blind) to a commercial will make it much easier to work out what you like it don't like about your beer

 

[snails07]

Cheers mate.

I was thinking around 3g/L so will go with that.
I'm after a Beechworth Pale Ale/Hop Hog type beer. Would using equal parts of all 4 hops be the go or would certain varieties be more suited to dry hopping?

 

[Matplat]

I'm a total beginner too, so this may be a stupid question... but why are you doing a 60 min boil if you don't add any hops at 60 mins?

I'm keen to know how that hop combo tastes, as I haven't used any of them yet!

Cheers, Matt

 

[snails07]

Haha good question - I'm not really sure either!!

I'm boiling the grains liquid (after steeping) along with 800g of the Light DME and I think I read somewhere that they need the 60min boil for proper flavour or some sort of chemical reaction (that I clearly didn't understand). And 60 min seems to be the norm for most every recipe so I stuck with it.

I'd love to know the answer too if anybody knows?

 

[nathan_madness]

Hey, guys to be honest after reading through your replies "KISS" seems to the best answer!!! If if it's your 1st pale just stick to one hop to try it out and then start blending from there.

You can go as far as 5g per/L for dry hopping or even more if you are bottling (due to the length of time that it takes to carb) . US-05 should be all done and dusted within 2 weeks and as "waggastew" said bump it to 20°c to finish off,personally I go with 19°c all the way through. I go with 14 days primary ferment then dump dry hops in and leave it for 7 more days at 2°c then bottle or keg.

 

[snails07]

Cheers Nathan. I reckon KISS is definitely the way to go but I get a bit excited when reading all about the different hop varieties!

 

[dark_brew]

I did something similar a few months ago, but kept all my hops to a 10 min addition:

2 kg LDME
1 kg Dextrose
0.3 kg Carapils
0.3 kg Caraaroma

40 g Citra @ 10 min
30 g Galaxy @ 10 min

25 g Citra Dry Hop 3 days
25 g Galaxy Dry Hop 3 days

US-05

Tastes pretty good, if anything i'd go for more hops! I agree with nathan_madness on the KISS front - it is pretty useful to get to know what each hop variety really tastes like / aroma - so you can improve the beers in future, otherwise your not quite sure which element you may love or hate !

 

[snails07]

Good to know I'm kinda on the right track.
The 50g dry hop was not enough darkbrew?

 

[stewy]

Good to know I'm kinda on the right track.
The 50g dry hop was not enough darkbrew?

50 is ok for dry hop. I put shit loads in during the last 10 mins, the more the better! Gives great hop flavour.
Your recipe looks like it will be tasty, just one thing. Any reason for 1kg Amber DME instead of just all Light DME + specialty grains? I suspect the SRM will be darker than an APA, but should still taste great
One other thing to be aware of, with the addition of Dex you will get a higher attenuation with us-05, expect the FG to be closer to 1.010-1.011 & ABV 6.4% (6.8-6.9 after bottling). I have always gotten 81-83% attenuation with all extract plus dextrose using US05

 

[snails07]

The amber was all I had on hand at the time and I don't really mind the extra colour.
With the Dex, that was exactly the reason for it. I wanted a higher attenuation in an attempt to make the beer drier as all my past attempts were a bit kind of thick and didn't have a nice finish.
Having said that, I still have no idea what I am doing really!

 

[dark_brew]

Yes be careful with the dex addition.. I follow a rough 2:1 rule of thumb for mine but that is because I know my local LDME always finishes high (FG's around 1018) so I use the dex to "thin" it down and attenuate better.

 

[shacked]

I think you may want to simplify your hop schedule a bit. Perhaps one variety per addition.

You generally need to do a 60 minute boil to kill off any nasties that may be hiding in the specialty grains.

I think this brew may end up closer to an American Amber Ale than a pale. Just be a little cautious as the amber extract generally contains crystal (caramel) malts and you are adding 3 additional crystal malts. Your brew may end up a little sweet. You can either adjust your hops for added bitterness or switch the amber extract out for pale (light) malt extract. I did an AG amber ale and it was around 42 IBU with cascade and Amarillo and turned out great.

I'd dry hop before cold crashing and agree with others that you could bring the temp up to 20 for a few days before dropping to 2 for a few more.

Keep us posted!

 

[snails07]

Thanks for the info shacked.
Will dry hopping balance the sweetness? Or not really?

I'm thinking I will follow the advice of upping the temp to 20 for a few days and then dry hop a fair amount for 3 days while cold crashing.

With dry hopping, I think I will go for 25g simcoe and 75g galaxy for the 3 days. Does that sound like too much?

 

[shacked]

Dry hopping can add the perception of bitterness but not actual bitterness as you are not extracting the hoppy oily goodness into your beer (Google: isomerisation).

For an APA and if you love hops, go up to 5g per L. Be a little cautious of Galaxy dry hopping for too long. Some have reported grassiness; I've never had that issue but I've only done a galaxy dry hop at ~1.5g per L and that was with other hops (centennial and Nelson Sauvin).

Maybe 25g of each (50g total) might be a good start and see how it goes and adjust for the next batch.

 

[snails07]

A quick update :
I dry hopped 20g each of simcoe, centennial, galaxy and mosaic last night (day 17) and had a taste tonight.
It is bloody delicious!
It's the bright orange colour of a Boatrocker IPA and is comparible in taste to a Hop Hog (I might be a bit biased but reckon it's fairly close).
I'll start to cold crash it tomorrow (day 19) and then bottle it day 21.
Can't wait til this one is finished. My best effort by a mile!

 

[stewy]

A quick update :
I dry hopped 20g each of simcoe, centennial, galaxy and mosaic last night (day 17) and had a taste tonight.
It is bloody delicious!
It's the bright orange colour of a Boatrocker IPA and is comparible in taste to a Hop Hog (I might be a bit biased but reckon it's fairly close).
I'll start to cold crash it tomorrow (day 19) and then bottle it day 21.
Can't wait til this one is finished. My best effort by a mile!

What was the FG in the end?

 

[Yob]

Will benefit from 4 days AT cold conditioning temps, gives the yeast time to drop clear..

Kegging or bottling?

 

[snails07]

You were spot on stewy, FG was 1.010 which is great. Attenuation was somehere above 80% (forget exact number).
Unfortunately I'll be bottling Yob! The most un-fun part of it all!