LCPA clone - Great after one week!

[WWDWD]

Here's my attempt at a Little Creatures Pale Ale clone, this is the second time I've made basically the same recipe but first time I was able to temp control in the fridge. First beer I was able to cold crash and the clarity is a beautiful thing. It has turned out pretty amazing after only one week in the bottle. I thought I'd test it out not expecting much. It tastes pretty darn close to LCPA. The main thing though, and this is only my 6th brew ever, is that this is the first beer I've made with great head retention and lacing. Blown away. This is making my hangover disappear. Going to chuck a few more in the fridge right now. It's good to go!!

Wet Dogz LCPA Clone (Cascade & Amarillo American Pale Ale)

Ingredients
-----------------------------------------
1 x Coopers Australian Pale Ale Can
1 x Briess Golden Pale Malt Extract
300g Light DME
200g crystal malt

4 litre Hop Boil (with all DME and steeped grain liquid)
20g Cascade @ 30 mins
30g Cascade @ 10mins
15g Amarillo + 30g Cascade @ flame out
20g Cascade @ dryhop


US-05 Yeast
23L

Pitched US-05 at 22°
Brewed in fridge at 16°
Dry Hopped 20g of Cascade after 7 days
Bottled with Coopers carb drops on day 14

 

[indica86]

Congrats mate.

 

[eresh666]

I have a can of coopers pale ale that I need to get rid of.

Is the 4litre hop boil including the crystal grain? Mash?

 

[WWDWD]

I have a can of coopers pale ale that I need to get rid of.

Is the 4litre hop boil including the crystal grain? Mash

Here's my method.

• pop crystal malt grain into grain bag and bash with rolling pin to crack the grain a bit
• bring 1.5 litres of water to 70° and turn heat off then add cracked grain bag - let steep with lid on for 30mins
• In a larger pot bring 4L of water to the boil, mix in the liquid from the grain steep & all of the dry malt extract
• Add the hop additions.
o 20g Cascade @ 30 mins
o 30g Cascade @ 10mins
o 15g Amarillo + 30g Cascade @ flame out
• Let wort cool (place pot in sink filled with ice cold water for 30mins)
• strain into the fermenter
• Add the two tins of liquid malt extract to the fermenter then add water to 23 litres aiming for 22°
• pitch US-05
• Pop in fridge at 17°
• Dry Hop with 20g of Cascade after 7 days

 

[eresh666]

thanks for the run down, I will give it a go in a couple weeks once my fermenting cider is out of the fridge.

 

[pat86]

that does look mighty clear and sounds good! How long and what temp did you cold crash at?

 

[WWDWD]

2 to 3C for four days.

 

[jkhlt1210]

Here's my method.

• pop crystal malt grain into grain bag and bash with rolling pin to crack the grain a bit
• bring 1.5 litres of water to 70° and turn heat off then add cracked grain bag - let steep with lid on for 30mins
• In a larger pot bring 4L of water to the boil, mix in the liquid from the grain steep & all of the dry malt extract
• Add the hop additions.
o 20g Cascade @ 30 mins
o 30g Cascade @ 10mins
o 15g Amarillo + 30g Cascade @ flame out
• Let wort cool (place pot in sink filled with ice cold water for 30mins)
• strain into the fermenter
• Add the two tins of liquid malt extract to the fermenter then add water to 23 litres aiming for 22°
• pitch US-05
• Pop in fridge at 17°
• Dry Hop with 20g of Cascade after 7 days

that looks awesome! I must try that recipe

 

[jkhlt1210]

Here's my method.

• pop crystal malt grain into grain bag and bash with rolling pin to crack the grain a bit
• bring 1.5 litres of water to 70° and turn heat off then add cracked grain bag - let steep with lid on for 30mins
• In a larger pot bring 4L of water to the boil, mix in the liquid from the grain steep & all of the dry malt extract
• Add the hop additions.
o 20g Cascade @ 30 mins
o 30g Cascade @ 10mins
o 15g Amarillo + 30g Cascade @ flame out
• Let wort cool (place pot in sink filled with ice cold water for 30mins)
• strain into the fermenter
• Add the two tins of liquid malt extract to the fermenter then add water to 23 litres aiming for 22°
• pitch US-05
• Pop in fridge at 17°
• Dry Hop with 20g of Cascade after 7 days

that looks awesome! I must try that recipe

 

[WWDWD]

Cheers. Gonna keep working on it to try and get it closer to LCPA, but this is definitely a good start. Looking forward to it improving in the bottle over the next month.

 

[FFC]

• Add the hop additions.
o 20g Cascade @ 30 mins
o 30g Cascade @ 10mins
o 15g Amarillo + 30g Cascade @ flame out

Sorry, I am new to all of this so if this seems like a dumb question I'm sorry!
With the boil after 30 minutes you add the first lot of hops? Then 10 minutes after the initial addition of hops you add more?

OR

After the grain steep/malt has been added, you add in the first lot of hops and boil for 30 minutes. Then add in the second lot of hops for 10minutes. After 10 minutes, stop boiling and add the 3rd lot.

OR

Other, and I shouldn't try to grasp brewing as a concept whilst I have the flu.


Cheers
Dave

 

[WWDWD]

Yeah I was confused when I started brewing a few months ago. I'm still fairly new to this too.

The times represent how long is left in the boil / how long you boil that hop addition for.

So...

• Once you've steeped the cracked grains (at 70C for 30mins) and removed them, pour that liquid into a bigger pot, top up with water to reach your boil volume (usually 4 - 8litres depending on pot size) and stir in the Dry Malt Extract.
  
• Bring it to a boil and wait for what is called the hot break. This is when the pot really foams up substantially. Keep an eye on the pot so it doesn't boil over. Once the foam has subsided you make sure you're getting a lovely rolling boil and you start the timer for the hop boil.
  
• In this instance I'm doing a 30 minute boil.
  
• So I set the timer on my phone for 30mins and add the first lot of hops.
  
• Then with 10 minutes *remaining* on the timer (so we've been boiling for 20mins now) we add the next addition.
  
• Then the timer goes off. You turn the heat off and you add any "flame out" additions.

I'm getting into extract brewing now. Which means I don't use the pre-hopped kits (e.g. the coopers australian pale ale tin etc) any more, I just use a combination of un-hopped liquid malt extract and dry malt extract. Then I do a full 60minute boil of hops. A hop addition with 60mins left will give you bitterness but no flavour or aroma. Around the 30 - 20 minute mark you're getting less bitterness but more flavour and a bit of aroma. With 15, 10, 5 and flame-out additions you're getting mostly aroma.

Once you get your head around all that it's pretty cool. You have more control over your beer.

 

[FFC]

Yeah I was confused when I started brewing a few months ago. I'm still fairly new to this too.

The times represent how long is left in the boil / how long you boil that hop addition for.

So...

• Once you've steeped the cracked grains (at 70C for 30mins) and removed them, pour that liquid into a bigger pot, top up with water to reach your boil volume (usually 4 - 8litres depending on pot size) and stir in the Dry Malt Extract.
  
• Bring it to a boil and wait for what is called the hot break. This is when the pot really foams up substantially. Keep an eye on the pot so it doesn't boil over. Once the foam has subsided you make sure you're getting a lovely rolling boil and you start the timer for the hop boil.
  
• In this instance I'm doing a 30 minute boil.
  
• So I set the timer on my phone for 30mins and add the first lot of hops.
  
• Then with 10 minutes *remaining* on the timer (so we've been boiling for 20mins now) we add the next addition.
  
• Then the timer goes off. You turn the heat off and you add any "flame out" additions.

I'm getting into extract brewing now. Which means I don't use the pre-hopped kits (e.g. the coopers australian pale ale tin etc) any more, I just use a combination of un-hopped liquid malt extract and dry malt extract. Then I do a full 60minute boil of hops. A hop addition with 60mins left will give you bitterness but no flavour or aroma. Around the 30 - 20 minute mark you're getting less bitterness but more flavour and a bit of aroma. With 15, 10, 5 and flame-out additions you're getting mostly aroma.

Once you get your head around all that it's pretty cool. You have more control over your beer.

Fantastic, thank you for that. I was getting lost as everyone seems to talk in a very specific way when it came to this point of the process. Now I understand!

A little more reading about the process and I'll invest in a kit.

 

[WWDWD]

Cool. I found the sooner you start the better. Cos you're bound to make a few mistakes on your first few brews - better to get them out the way now because it means you'll be making good beer sooner. It wasn't until my 5th beer that I was happy with a brew. My 7th brew is fermenting now.

 

[indica86]

I'd argue the 15, 10, 5 are aroma only.
The Pales I make - limited experience but a few brews down - have a 60 minute bittering addition, then 15, 10 and 5 minute additions - depending on aa% - and have loads of hop flavour.

 

[WWDWD]

also, I have to add... I just had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale whilst out, I think my recipe turned out closer to that than a Little Creatures Pale Ale. I'll have to do a taste test on the weekend and compare.

 

[menoetes]

If you're going for a LCPA clone I'd suggest a little chinook hops, there's definitely some in there. Try this hop schedule with your Coopers Pale kit, it worked well for me;

• 20g Cascade (6.8 % AA) – 15min boil
• 20g Chinook (11.4 % AA) – 5min boil
• 20g Cascade (6.8 % AA) – 5min boil
• 10g Cascade (5 % AA) – Dry Hop after 7 days
• 10g Chinook (11.4 % AA) – Dry Hop after 7 days

You can up the quantities if you would like it even hoppier but I find it works well for a 20 liter batch. 1g of hops per liter (in each addition) works well for Pales IMHO.

 

[manticle]

I'd argue the 15, 10, 5 are aroma only.

As in contribute neither bittering nor aroma at all - just purely smell nice?

 

[indica86]

Nope, I meant I'd argue against that. WWDWD posted that. But I get plenty of flavour in my beer around then,

 

[WWDWD]

Oh yep, I was wrong. Still plenty of flavour at 15 and 10mins. This chart is pretty handy when designing your beer.