To Dry Hop My Pale Ale Or Not?

[petesbrew]

 

[hazard]

Yeah, the second one. I see where your logic is going, that pales are a watered down version of IPAs, but this is very much not the case. Exact opposite, in fact.

:icon_offtopic: OK I understand that pale ale existed before export of ale began to India. But from what I've read (so depends on how accurate my source material is, and how accurately i've interpreted it), I understand that porter was the predominat drink in London through the 18C and early 19C. Possibly because London water is hard and is best suited to dark beer, also because pale malt was expensive compared to brown malt. According to legend, a ship bound for India was wrecked on the south coast of England in the 1820s, and the locals got a hold of the barrels of ale on board and found that they liked this style of beer, which stimulated domestic demand for pale ale brewed in the India style. Thus began the long decline of porter.

Around the same time, the Burton-on-Trent breweries had just started to brew pale ale for the Indian market, and this new demand from London gave them impetus to ramp up production to satisfy the local market which was much larger than the Indian market. hence the rise of Bass et al.

So my point was not that pale ale per se descended from IPA, but that some of the pale ales on sale today descended from the IPA that was brewed in large volume in the 19C.

But I could be wrong!!

 

[bum]

My information (internets) has pale ale predating IPAs by about 200 years happy to be corrected of course.

However, it doesn't matter either way in that I agree with your initial point that dry-hopping can be appropriate in a pale.

 

[mje1980]

In front of me now i have Terry fosters pale ale book ( from the Classic beer styles series ). Under the heading "Flavour and aroma of pale ale", it says basically some use aroma hops, some don't, either as late hops, or dry hops. Not saying that this book is the be all and end all, just adding some info.

I like hoppy beers but they can be over done sometimes.

Let us know how it goes mate.

 

[Creedy]

Let us know how it goes mate.

Well, I'm reporting back in, brew worked out quite well, only problem was an unusual "plasticy" flavour, I initially didn't know what caused this but I think I've tracked it down to my poor rinsing of bleach based sanitizer from the fermenter. Oh well you live and learn.

Other than that it was quite good and the odd flavour wasn't enough to stop me scoffing the lot :icon_cheers:
It was bit of a head kicker at 6.1% though and it was a bit dangerous as it was such a dry drop and way too easy to drink.

Next brew was/is a "Drowned Faery Ale" that will be finished clearing and going into the keg in a few days time.
And I've already go another "Drowned Faery" in a cube waiting for the fermenter to free up.

So in the end it tasted good except for my stuff up which I've researched and rectified for future brews.

Cheers,
Creedy