RecipeDB - Little Fella's Pale Ale

[Filby]

Cheers Argon,

I used your final recipe and tried to follow it to the letter. Here is the overview.

Firstly, it was BIAB.
33lts at 65deg, steeped grain for an hour, then over a few mins brought the temp up for mashout, removed BIAB bag and let drain into kettle. SG was 1.056 @70deg
29lts, boiled for 60mins with hop additions added at the correct intervals.
18lts, syphoned into no-chill cube with 2lt loss to trub.
Quick chilled in tub with running water (didnt want to wait till the next morning to pitch)
Syphoned into fermenter and lost another 2lt to trub so ended up with 17lts. Added 2lts of cool boiled water to bring the volume up and ended up around 1.050.
Pitched US05 yeast @ 22deg and fermented @ 20deg. Finished in 4-5days at 1.012. Dryhopped in fermenter for 2 days then moved to keg and into fridge for conditioning. No fining agents used or filtering (dont have the equipment yet).

EKG plugs @ AA 5.2%
Cascade Pellets @ AA 5.0%
Chinook pellets @ AA 11.4%


Cheers

Fil

 

[Filby]

Pour a glass, cover the top with glad wrap then leave it in the fridge for an hour (so it goes more flat).

Does it still taste too bitter?

Because it could be a carbonation + bitterness issue. I've overcarbed beers before and thought they were too bitter but it was just the carbonation.

Hi Mark

Its currently uncarbonated. I dont know if that makes it worse or better? Its also unaged, but Im not sure if its meant to be this bitter to begin with (being inexperienced).

 

[argon]

Good info mate. Still reckon that it will blend a little more with a little conditioning.

However a few things to consider;
Firstly, It looks like you got around 68% efficiency. Your target SG was 1055 you've hit 1050. This will essentially have 2 effects. (as calculated in Beersmith)
1. you'll end up with beer at around 4.8% instead of target 5.5% (nothing to be concerned about really)
2. you'll have extracted a touch more bitterness from your hops. You achieved 44IBU Target 42IBU. (again hardly anything really)
Although, what this will end up doing is tipping the balance of IBU/SG towards the bitterness. You achieved .878 where the target is .765. A balance of IBU/SG of .878 is verging on IPA territory. So obviously balanced toward bitterness.

Secondly, another point to look at is compensating for your chilling method. I no chill and compensate by subtracting 15mins to all my hop additions. eg 60min addition = 45min, 0min = 15min. However you said you chilled in a tub. Unless it chilled very rapidly you'll still be extracting alot of bitterness from the late hops.

Third, Chinook can be perceived quite bitter by it's flavour profile and with a big late hit... you may be getting this... in my opinion it's a good thing. As i've read before on this board "Chinook is the death-star of bitterness". I've also found that sometimes with Chinook it even throws a little perceived bitterness when dry hopping.

I'm sure it will still end up being a tasty beer once things blend a little in time.

Let us know how it develops.
Cheers
:icon_cheers:

 

[Filby]

Cheers Argon

Ive got a shed load of stuff to learn, I have no idea how you obtained those numbers! I'll take some taste samples over the next few weeks and keep you updated. Looking forward to having my first non-K&K-twang beer

Edit: Oh and I cooled it to pitching temps in about 1.5hrs.


Fil

 

[MarkBastard]

Hi Mark

Its currently uncarbonated. I dont know if that makes it worse or better? Its also unaged, but Im not sure if its meant to be this bitter to begin with (being inexperienced).

Could be an issue in that case but I'd be tasting it as a carbed and cold beer before passing any judgement.

 

[MarkBastard]

I've noticed that with Chinook too argon. It's why I love it!

 

[argon]

I've noticed that with Chinook too argon. It's why I love it!

Get you're hands on a Mikkeler Single Hop IPA - Chinook... 100IBU of Chinook goodness. I think Platform Bar has it. Would love to do a clone of that one day. I've got the recipe so should do it soon.

 

[argon]

Cheers Argon

Ive got a shed load of stuff to learn, I have no idea how you obtained those numbers! I'll take some taste samples over the next few weeks and keep you updated. Looking forward to having my first non-K&K-twang beer

Edit: Oh and I cooled it to pitching temps in about 1.5hrs.


Fil

If you're planning to continue down the AG path the i can't stress enough how good it is to use decent brewing software. Here's the link to Beersmith, where all the calcs came from in above post.

That's decent time in getting to pitching temp, so you would have slowed/stopped utilisation in reasonable time and locked in some good aroma.

M^B gives good advice... chilled, conditioned and carbed will definitely assist in balancing the beer.

 

[Lecterfan]

Mines now just over 3 weeks in the bottle and is magnificent...at only 10 days in the bottle it made my arsehole pucker. I suspect the late chinookiness adds to the perceived bitterness as Argon stated above, but certainly some patience and minimal conditioning has helped this beer along. So far I would say that as a function of improved skills/experience AND the quality of the recipe this is the nicest beer I've brewed so far, followed closely by Tony's LCBA (having said that, these types of beer suit my taste). I will be doing two more batches of this very soon as it is an easy drinker with a BIG profile and something to impress friends and family with (...and that at 3 weeks I've drunk a third of the batch -damn I wish I had kegs!!!).

 

[bear09]

Once again I have to ask - how do you make beers with 50IBU and not hit the floor when you drink it?

I make beers with 30 IBU and sometimes find them to be heavily bitter. I have soft Melbourne water and I add salts to my brew.

I just dont understand how recipe's like this can be pulled off.

 

[MarkBastard]

Once again I have to ask - how do you make beers with 50IBU and not hit the floor when you drink it?

I make beers with 30 IBU and sometimes find them to be heavily bitter. I have soft Melbourne water and I add salts to my brew.

I just dont understand how recipe's like this can be pulled off.

A lot of the answer is really to 'man up' or to put it more politely, develop a palate for bitter beers.

I made a beer somewhat similar to this (hops used) to 65 IBU with NO crystal. Just Ale malt and Munich II, and then I did that 100 shots in 100 minutes thing with it.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Once again I have to ask - how do you make beers with 50IBU and not hit the floor when you drink it?

I make beers with 30 IBU and sometimes find them to be heavily bitter. I have soft Melbourne water and I add salts to my brew.

I just dont understand how recipe's like this can be pulled off.

Being balanced with the correct malt profile helps alot.

What were the recipes of the 30IBU beers that were a bit too bitter for you?

 

[bear09]

Being balanced with the correct malt profile helps alot.

What were the recipes of the 30IBU beers that were a bit too bitter for you?

76% Golden Promise
19% Munich 1
4% Cara aroma

Mashed at 68. US05 dried yeast at 18 degs. 36 IBU's and its so bitter its not enjoyable. Perhaps there is something wrong with it.

It finished at 1017 and still just tatses bitter.

 

[argon]

A lot of the answer is really to 'man up' or to put it more politely, develop a palate for bitter beers.

:lol: it was only a matter of time before someone said that!! I remember in my early days of brewing i picked up an IPA fresh wort kit. before i brewed it i tried a couple of JS IPAs and the bitterness was too much. So i brought the kit back and swapped it back for an Aussie Pale Ale. I now have a Black IPA at 70IBU on tap that goes down like mother's milk and enjoy the Mikeller single hop varieties at 100IBU. I've ended up loving the bitterness once my palate developed a bit... i'm sure alot have experienced the same

Being balanced with the correct malt profile helps alot.

+1 here... balance is undoubtedly the key

76% Golden Promise
19% Munich 1
4% Cara aroma

Mashed at 68. US05 dried yeast at 18 degs. 36 IBU's and its so bitter its not enjoyable. Perhaps there is something wrong with it.

It finished at 1017 and still just tatses bitter.

That actually sounds really tasty... could imagine that with some 1469... :icon_drool2:

 

[MarkBastard]

Yeah for sure, that recipe sounds awesome.

 

[Filby]

Amazing what a couple of days maturing and a bit of carbonation will do. Now very drinkable (at 8:30am)!

The beer is amazing. Great flavours and the head is like beaten egg whites. Not only that, there's actual microbubbles in the beer that I have never seen before in a K&K crapola beer.

Pretty stoked for my first All-grain. Thanks Argon for a great recipe!



Cheers
Fil

 

[argon]

Amazing what a couple of days maturing and a bit of carbonation will do. Now very drinkable (at 8:30am)!

The beer is amazing. Great flavours and the head is like beaten egg whites. Not only that, there's actual microbubbles in the beer that I have never seen before in a K&K crapola beer.

Pretty stoked for my first All-grain. Thanks Argon for a great recipe!

View attachment 42813

Cheers
Fil

Filby... that looks fekkin' awesome! Love it when it gets that rich creamy dense head on it. That little bit of wheat and all those hops really help with good head formation and retention.

:icon_cheers:

 

[SG9090]

Hi Argon,

Im going to have a crack at this one right now just wondering is post 55 your preferred recipe?

 

[argon]

Yeah mate that's the best one I reckon. Should be the same as in the db. Just the calcs work out a bit different. Bought some cascade and some chinook this morning for this soon myself.

Good luck with it... Hope it turns out well.

 

[Arghonaut]

Gah made a mistake, about to mashout and i was throwing out the empty grain bags, and in my haste i realised i put in caramunich 1 instead of munich 1. That'll teach me to brew on xmas eve.

Wondering what to do...... split into halves, add some light dry malt and do a double batch?