Malty Apa Recipe

[cpsmusic]

Hi,

I'm interested in brewing an APA although I tend to prefer malty brews over hoppy ones. This is my first attempt at an AG recipe for a malty APA:


American Pale Ale with Caramel

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.000
Total Hops (g): 50.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.054 (P): 13.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (P): 3.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.31 %
Colour (SRM): 6.1 (EBC): 12.0
Bitterness (IBU): 25.6 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.000 kg American 2-Row (80%)
0.500 kg Munich I (10%)
0.250 kg Melanoidin (5%)
0.250 kg Wheat Malt (5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Super Alpha Pellet (12% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
Single step Infusion at 68C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 20C with Safale US-05
Recipe Generated with BrewMate


I'm interested in hearing any thoughts on this recipe.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[manticle]

To my palate, an apa works best when it's rich in malt and layered with hops so both are bigger. They balance each other.

I think the grist is OK (never used melanoiden though) but the hooping rates too low. I know you like malty - so do I but you'll miss the fruitiness of the US hops if you keep the rate too low.

I'd push up to 35 IBU and look at using some crystal instead of the melanoiden (or less melanoiden, replaced by some crystal). If you adding the extra IBU, I'd be looking at extra late additions (put an extra 5 g centennial in @ 20 and another in at 10 and see what numbers come up.

I'd also mash a couple of degrees lower. The maltiness from the munich and any cara malts will carry you through. Like any beer, these still need to be balanced. There are different ways of balancing.

I am of course basing this entirely on my palate but my house APA is very malty and has a strong bitterness level (around 57 IBU) to support (or the other way round). Lots of hoppiness/fruitiness and a rich toffee biscuit flavour.

I find most Aussie APA styles a bit thin and I always want a touch more of everything.

 

[Bribie G]

The APA master Browndog says that the base malt for an APA is quite flexible, being a hop driven beer generally. For example I used Bairds Perle which gives a really malty backbone - it actually got second place in the BABBs minicomp out of the APAs entries (around 23 entered IIRC) which was a shock as it was only my third ever APA.

I would forget about the 2 row (I take it you are using BB or JW ale or something similar?) and go for a UK malt such as Perle or Halcyon as the base malt. BTW the only colouring malt I used was 150g Caraaroma.

 

[big78sam]

I agree with manticle... I'd up the hops and add a touch of crystal, say 250g.

A light crystal is fine for just some sweetness or as Bribie say a bit or Cararoma (the darkest of the crystals IIRC) will give a bit of colour and in my experience a hint of raisin. I have used Caraaroma in APAs before but to my tastebuds I prefer a lighter crystal in this style, however everyone is different so you can try it and see…

FWIW I love a good malty backbone and my standard APA grist (based on KTs hopburst in the recipe DB) is

3.5 to 4 kg JW Trad or Marris Otter
750g Munich
250 g med to light crystal

You could try Katie's hopburst (keep in mind you need to scale it down to 23 L as the recipe is for a double batch)

A bit OT but if you want to experiment, add some Rye. Equal portions of Rye and Munich is :icon_drool2:

EDIT: Spelling

 

[argon]

3.5 to 4 kg JW Trad or Marris Otter
750g Munich
250 g med to light crystal

I think this is definitly the kind of APA recipe that will deliver you a good amount of maltiness especially if you went down the road of using Marris Otter. IMO the melanoiden in the OPs recipe will give you a sweetness... without much in the way of maltiness and/or body.

Hopped to at least 35IBU with the above will get you what you're chasing i reckon.

:icon_offtopic:

I used Bairds Perle which gives a really malty backbone - it actually got second place in the BABBs minicomp out of the APAs entries.

.... BTW the only colouring malt I used was 150g Caraaroma.

Sneaky bugger confusing us all with an English beer then throwing american hops at them :lol: I'll be doing a split double batch soon using GP and EKG bittering as a base and cube hopping one with EKG and one with US hops. My guess is that i'll be converted to an english base for most beers from now on.

 

[manticle]

My house:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...amp;recipe=1276

Might be bitterer than you'd like but it's very, very malty so the 57-ish IBU is a surprise that sneaks up on you.

 

[[email protected]]

I have made APAs with melanoiden malt before and it can work out OK but it was firmly bittered to support the additional maltiness. It tends to bring more of a malt richness than sweetness to my palate. Think of it as Munich on steroids so if you are going to use it I would drop the munich.

As Manticle said you should bring up the IBUs to 35 to provide some firm bittering to balance out the additional maltiness.

As Bribie said, Perle makes a great base malt for APAs and IPAs. I have used it several times.

My personal preference now when it comes APAs/AIPAs after is go with less characteristic based malts and complexity and let the hops shine through which tends to generally line up closer to the beers I have had in the US when I'm over there for work. Also makes it more sessionable IMO.

If you prefer a more malty brew maybe go down the American Amber route as it is not as bitter but does utilise the wonderful Ammercian hops for aroma and flavour?

 

[big78sam]

All the above gives you an excuse to do lots of brewing over the next few months to experiment and decide which you prefer.

With and without Melanoidin
With more/less hops
The difference in using light/med/dark crystal
Try some Rye
Aussie v British base malts

 

[cpsmusic]

All the above gives you an excuse to do lots of brewing over the next few months to experiment and decide which you prefer.

With and without Melanoidin
With more/less hops
The difference in using light/med/dark crystal
Try some Rye
Aussie v British base malts

Too many options :icon_cheers:

 

[RobboMC]

Just throwing in my 5c worth about hops, using entirely Cascade hops for bittering and aroma results in a beautiful beer that doesn't reflect the simplicity of the ingredients. Super Alpha might save some money, but why are you brewing this!

 

[bullfrog]

I brew APA's a lot, because it's a style that i really like, and I use Super Alpha for bittering quite often. Just for the record, it's not doing it wrong. I'm sure that it could be done incorrectly to make a poor product (like every other aspect of brewing) but I've never once felt that using low amounts of a high-alpha bittering hop detracts from a beer's overall quality or makes it in any way inferior to those brewed otherwise.

 

[manticle]

Too many options :icon_cheers:

Probably the best one is to take note of all the advice here but brew your recipe as it stands.

When the results are tasted, you'll have a much better idea which piece of advice will work for you and which way to tweak next time.

 

[cpsmusic]

Probably the best one is to take note of all the advice here but brew your recipe as it stands.

When the results are tasted, you'll have a much better idea which piece of advice will work for you and which way to tweak next time.

That's what I plan on doing. I'm still interested to get other opinions though.

 

[bum]

PIss that wheat off.

 

[Bribie G]

I used 250g of flaked wheat and it seemed to help with the long lasting head and lacing - however I wouldn't use wheat malt as I find that gives a bit of a thin twang (why I use flaked wheat or even just flour in CSA type clones)