RecipeDB - Little Fella's Pale Ale

[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?

Calculated if i split it into two halves, add 1.5kg of ldme and 0.5kg of wheat malt extract and top up to 23 litres, ill get an OG of 1058 and the caramunich will be down to 11%, still high but should be drinkable??

Going to try galaxy and nz organic cascade in one half as i dont have enough chinook for both.

 

[SG9090]

May be a bit late now though, go easy on the Galaxy if late in the boil

 

[argon]

Did a batch of this yesterday and is happily fermenting away now in the fridge. Dropped the EKG and made up the difference with a touch more chinook. Been ages since i did my last batch... and first since i went 3V. The colour of the wort into the fermenter was beautiful and the aroma was great... can't wait to dump in a heap of dry hops and turn this one out in a few weeks.

 

[Acasta]

Had another batch of this in the fermenter 1 week, 1 week CC and 1 week bottle, taste tested and im not quite sure whats going on. Further inspection will be had. I might have mashed wrong, or maybe not enough hops. We'll see.

 

[argon]

Had another batch of this in the fermenter 1 week, 1 week CC and 1 week bottle, taste tested and im not quite sure whats going on. Further inspection will be had. I might have mashed wrong, or maybe not enough hops. We'll see.

What's the problem then?? Mashed wrong?... Hops? How so?
I once did a batch of this that had a fair whack of DMS from not maintaining a rolling boil. Using lightly coloured malts, have to be careful. Now i have a very healthy boil going on... never had it again.

 

[manticle]

Had another batch of this in the fermenter 1 week, 1 week CC and 1 week bottle, taste tested and im not quite sure whats going on. Further inspection will be had. I might have mashed wrong, or maybe not enough hops. We'll see.

Next time I would leave another 3-7 days at ferment temps before crash chilling. No need to rush chilling once you hit FG - the yeast is still working.

What do you mean 'mashed wrong'? What's actually wrong?

 

[Acasta]

What's the problem then?? Mashed wrong?... Hops? How so?
I once did a batch of this that had a fair whack of DMS from not maintaining a rolling boil. Using lightly coloured malts, have to be careful. Now i have a very healthy boil going on... never had it again.

Next time I would leave another 3-7 days at ferment temps before crash chilling. No need to rush chilling once you hit FG - the yeast is still working.

What do you mean 'mashed wrong'? What's actually wrong?

Not %100 sure of the problem yet. I've only tried it last night. Just didn't seem very clean on the malt side of things. I have a feeling its to do with my process not the recipe.

 

[manticle]

How long to condition?

 

[Guysmiley54]

The ibu for this recipe seems high, is the original LCPA really this bitter? I love LCPA, but this recipe seems pretty full on!! I have up to this point stopped my recipes at 40 ibu and found this to be at my (current?) threshold for bitterness.

If I were to scale this recipe at 35-40 ibu, should I adjust the flavour and aroma additions? If I do scale, should I consider lowering the crystal amounts too?

 

[Acasta]

How long to condition?

Sorry? Its been CCed one week and in bottles one more.

The ibu for this recipe seems high, is the original LCPA really this bitter? I love LCPA, but this recipe seems pretty full on!! I have up to this point stopped my recipes at 40 ibu and found this to be at my (current?) threshold for bitterness.

If I were to scale this recipe at 35-40 ibu, should I adjust the flavour and aroma additions? If I do scale, should I consider lowering the crystal amounts too?

This recipe balences quite well with the current IBUs and crystal. Its not just the IBUs that determine the end product, its more the balance.

 

[Guysmiley54]

Sorry? Its been CCed one week and in bottles one more.


This recipe balences quite well with the current IBUs and crystal. Its not just the IBUs that determine the end product, its more the balance.

Maybe I should just man up eh?

No guts, no glory! :kooi:

 

[argon]

When I first did this recipe I thought it may come out too bitter... But as acasta has said, it balances surprisingly well. Give it a shot and I think you'll be pretty happy with it.

 

[Guysmiley54]

I won't change a thing then :icon_cheers:

Off to the LHBS I go...

 

[manticle]

Sorry? Its been CCed one week and in bottles one more.

I would suggest that it's too early to tell (although I can't taste what you're tasting) - give it another whirl in a few weeks and see if you still think you mashed wrong.

 

[Acasta]

I would suggest that it's too early to tell (although I can't taste what you're tasting) - give it another whirl in a few weeks and see if you still think you mashed wrong.

Yeah i guess. I wasn't really looking for fix just yet really, more just venting my disappointment.

 

[Lecterfan]

Hey Acasta, I have to say the difference (for me) in taste/profile/overall smoothness and deliciousness (?) between 7 days in the bottle and 28 days in the bottle of this recipe is amazing. It blends together and smooths right out without losing the dry hop punch. I have two batches of this under my belt and can forsee myself doing it fairly regularly (with a few minor experiments and mods along the way). Bravo! :icon_drunk:

 

[Guysmiley54]

Well, it's in my ferment fridge chilling. Will pitch it tonight when the temp is cool enough. Ferment at 17 or 18 on this one? Smelled great in the kettle, had to sub magnum for bittering as I had run out of EKG everything else I followed to the letter.

I bought my first mill today, a carona mill, really made brew day fun I know many on here have much fancier mills but I had borrowed a carona on a few occasions and feel it works well enough for me at this stage.

 

[argon]

Wel done gs54!! If you're using us05 or equivalent 18c is the sweet spot. The batch I have in the fridge now on 05 is rocketing along... Giving a 2inch krausen and nice bulge on the gladwrap. Smells sooo good when I open the door for a look. Got a black ipa and tweaked version of tony's lcba in there too, so it's cascade city!!

Btw, jury's still out for me as to whether I can tell the diff using EKG or not. Magnum is a clean bittering hop and will be good.

 

[Guysmiley54]

Wel done gs54!! If you're using us05 or equivalent 18c is the sweet spot. The batch I have in the fridge now on 05 is rocketing along... Giving a 2inch krausen and nice bulge on the gladwrap. Smells sooo good when I open the door for a look. Got a black ipa and tweaked version of tony's lcba in there too, so it's cascade city!!

Btw, jury's still out for Mensa to whether I can tell the diff using EKG or not. Magnum is a clean bittering hop and will be good.

Cheers mate! You know, I tasted the pre ferment hydro sample and I don't reckon it's overly aggressive (at this stage) anyway, sweet malt and a citrus floral bitterness that matches pretty well :icon_drool2:

Thanks all, will post updates as I go.

PS It may interest you to know that I have brewed 5 APA batches so far and this is the first time I've really used Cascade!! (Amarillo, Simcoe, Galaxy and Citra are nice but Cascade is smelling great :icon_drunk: )

 

[Guysmiley54]

OK, I'm down to 1018 and it's tasting great :icon_drool2: I'm thinking tomorrow will be the day for dry hopping...

Has anyone done a version of this without the dry hopping? I'm low on stocks and planning on cracking a few at 2 weeks in the bottle but mostly drinking around 4-6 weeks. I have found that with super hoppy beers, it takes quite a bit longer for the flavours to meld and gel together. I've manned up with the IBU but now I'm losing courage... I'm still however interested in going the full recipe including the dry hop.

Thoughts?