Stone Brewing Co Shares Recipe for Pale Ale

[Exile]

Stone Pale Ale was the first beer ever brewed and distributed by Stone Brewing Co., and now, 19 years later, the powerhouse of craft brewing has decided to discontinue that beer. Naturally, when the news hit social media, super Stone fans went ape-**** in the way that super fans tend to go ape-**** when anything in their world changes. So Stone Brewing Co. is doing the world a solid. They’re still discontinuing their Pale Ale, but they’re also sharing the recipe with the world in hopes that those traumatized super fans will be able to brew their own Stone Pale at home.

Stone Pale Ale
Yield: 5 Gallons (about 54 12-ounce bottles or 30 22-ounce bottles)

• 10 pounds plus 7 ounces crushed North American two-row pale malt
• 1 pound plus 4.2 ounces crushed 60L crystal malt
• 4.8 ounces crushed 75L crystal malt
• About 9 gallons water
• 0.44 ounce Columbus hops (12.9% alpha acid)
• ½ tsp Irish moss
• 0.77 ounce Ahtanum hops (6.0% alpha acid)
• 1.19 ounces Ahtanum hops (6.0% alpha acid)
• 1 (35ml) package White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast or WLP002 English Ale Yeast
• 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp light dried malt extract

Clean and sanitize all of your equipment.
Mashing
In a 10-galloln insulated cooler, combine the crushed malts with 3 gallons plus 12 cups of 172°F water. The water should cool slightly when mixed with the grain. Hold the mash at 156°F for 20 minutes.
Add 2 gallons plus 2 cups of 184°F water. The mixture should come up to 165°F.
Lautering & Sparging
Lauter the mash. Once the liquid is lower than the level of the grain, begin to slowly sprinkle 3 gallons plus 1 cup of 168°F water over the grains to start the sparge. Continue sparging.
The Boil
Set the brew kettle of wort on top of a propane burner and add water to bring the wort level up to about 6 gallons plus 12 cups, if needed. Bring the wort to a rapid, rolling boil. As it begins to come to a boil, a layer of foam and scum may develop at the surface. Skim it off and discard. Once the wort is at a full boil, put a hops bag containing the Columbus hops in the kettle and set a timer for 90 minutes. Stir the wort frequently during the boil and be watchful to avoid boil-overs.
At 15 minutes before the end of the boil, stir in the Irish moss. At 10 minutes before the end of the boil, put a hops bag containing the 0.77 ounce of Ahtanum hops in the kettle. When the boiling time is over, turn off the heat and put a hops bag containing the remaining Ahtanum hops in the kettle. Cover the kettle and immediately begin cooling the wort as quickly as possible.
Pitching Yeast & Fermentation
Once the wort has cooled to 72°F, discard the spent hops and check the specific gravity of the wort with a hydrometer. The target starting gravity is 1.057 (14 Plato).
Transfer the wort to the primary fermentation bucket. Pitch the yeast (or prepare a yeast starter).
Allow the wort to ferment through primary and secondary fermentation at 72°F until it reaches a specific gravity of 1.014 (3.5 Plato).
Bottling
When you’re ready to bottle, clean and sanitize the bottles, caps and bottling equipment. Put the dried malt extract in a medium saucepan and stir in just enough water to dissolve it. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat, cover and let cool slightly. Proceed with bottling.

Stone Pale Ale (Advanced)
Yield: 5 Gallons (about 54 12-ounce bottles or 30 22-ounce bottles)

• 87.0% crushed North American two-row pale malt
• 10.5% crushed 60L crystal malt
• 2.5% crushed 75L crystal malt
• Conversion temperature 156°F
• Mash out 165°F
• 0.171 lb/bbl Columbus hops (12.9% alpha acid)

[90 minutes]

• 0.30 lb/bbl Ahtanum hops (6.0% alpha acid)

[10 minutes]

• 0.46 lb/bbl Ahtanum hops (6.0% alpha acid)

[0 minutes]

• White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast or WLP002 English Ale Yeast
• Pitch rate 16 to 18
• Starting gravity 1.057 (14 Plato)
• Final gravity 1.014 (3.5 Plato)
• Ferment at 72°F

Source: http://blog.stonebrewing.com/index.php/stone-pale-ale-recipe/

 

[Tomo]

What's with the 20 min mash? I don't understand that. Newbie question.

 

[Dan Pratt]

From what i have read in teh book about hops that Mitch Steel wrote ( ex head brewer of Stone ) is that they used a 30min mash and achieve full conversion withiin that time.

YOu can try it, most homebrewers target 60mins, Ive moved to 30mins now i have understanding on grist mill size, water chemistry and all areas dialled in.

 

[Tomo]

Thanks Dan the recipe from stone brewery must have a typo. Will try 30 mins and check with iodine.

 

[MHB]

The link in the OP appears to have died try https://www.stonebrewing.com/blog/miscellany/2015/stone-pale-ale
It says 20 minutes, there are a couple of other versions like this one from Brewers Friend that say 60 minutes, the hops are different to.
I strongly suspect the 20 minutes is a mistake of some sort, as would be 30 minutes (sorry Danny) anything under 45 minutes and there will be pretty easily measurable changes in the wort. For home brewers it makes lots of sense to stay around 60 minutes, personally I find I get better results at 90 minutes.
Even being Iodine Normal wont guarantee that everything is reduced that can be or that all the starch has been gelatinised and degraded.
Not that the mash out and sparge water is only 75oC, 75oC isn't really a mash out temperature as it wont denature all the Alpha Amylase, keeping the mash-out/sparge cool argues that they might be doing a short mash. Heating from 75oC to a boil should give the enzymes left in the wort a chance to degrade any late eluted starch before its denatured.

There is a decent chance that they are doing a 69oC mash but that they are step mashing in a tun that only heats at something like 1/2oC/minute. If they mashed in a bit cooler (say 60oC) then heated to their rest at 69oC for 20 minutes then ramped to 75oC and held for 10 minutes, that would expand the total mashing time to pretty close to an hour in total.
Whoever translated from the brewery recipe to the home brew version might not have been all that aware of the process...
He appears to be the blogger at Stone, rather than a brewer.
Mark

 

[fdsaasdf]

From what i have read in teh book about hops that Mitch Steel wrote ( ex head brewer of Stone ) is that they used a 30min mash and achieve full conversion withiin that time.

YOu can try it, most homebrewers target 60mins, Ive moved to 30mins now i have understanding on grist mill size, water chemistry and all areas dialled in.

I don't have the book, but I have heard him speak about his mash schedules. In 2013 he talked about 120 minute mashes for IPAs, and 90 minutes for other styles.