Recipe Advice

[12stones]

Okay, Saturday I'm going to a local brewery to brew with them..I'll get to bring home 5-gallons of pale ale wort to then ferment and finish as I choose. Here's the base brew info:

OG 1.054
IBUs 30
SRM 7.4

Grain Bill
Pilsner Malt 85%
Aromatic Malt 6.33%
Caramunich 40L 6.33%
Carapils 6.33%

Bittering and Aroma

Magnum 60 min
Tettnang 5 min
Grains of Paradise Whirlpool

The idea is to bring home the wort, ferment and flavor it how we wish and then present two bottles to owner for tasting. He'll pick the one he likes the best to brew a production batch. So, here are my thoughts.

Cream Ale Blend Yeast - this will provide the fruit esters to balance the spiciness of the hops.
Dry hop using 1oz meridian hops in primary after 5-6 days fermentation. Being a pale ale I didn't want to go for anything too complex.

Thought?

[BeaverBarber]

Okay, Saturday I'm going to a local brewery to brew with them..I'll get to bring home 5-gallons of pale ale wort to then ferment and finish as I choose. Here's the base brew info:

OG 1.054
IBUs 30
SRM 7.4

Grain Bill
Pilsner Malt 85%
Aromatic Malt 6.33%
Caramunich 40L 6.33%
Carapils 6.33%

Bittering and Aroma

Magnum 60 min
Tettnang 5 min
Grains of Paradise Whirlpool

The idea is to bring home the wort, ferment and flavor it how we wish and then present two bottles to owner for tasting. He'll pick the one he likes the best to brew a production batch. So, here are my thoughts.

Cream Ale Blend Yeast - this will provide the fruit esters to balance the spiciness of the hops.
Dry hop using 1oz meridian hops in primary after 5-6 days fermentation. Being a pale ale I didn't want to go for anything too complex.

Thought?

I might be tempted to heat the wort up to boiling for 10 minutes, throw in some yeast nutrient, and then pile on some "C" hops at 10 minutes and re-whirlpool with more "C" hops. For yeast, I'd use a blend of WLP 029 Kolsch for flavor and WLP 001 for attenuation. As part of my "C" hop additions, I'd throw in a bit of Citra at 10 minutes or whirlpool; that would throw the brewery owner for a loop.

[Ozwald]

I would ferment with his house strain or the equivalent available from Whitey or Wyeast. He wants to turn this into a production run & he's using his house strain for a reason - something about it appeals to him. If the beer is being selected as the one he likes best, not against a style definition, this would be likely to score some extra points. He may appreciate the creativity of other things, but the business side is also going to be in his mind while tasting.

Match his style & you're likely going to create something that he wants to create.

[brewinhard]

I would ferment with his house strain or the equivalent available from Whitey or Wyeast. He wants to turn this into a production run & he's using his house strain for a reason - something about it appeals to him. If the beer is being selected as the one he likes best, not against a style definition, this would be likely to score some extra points. He may appreciate the creativity of other things, but the business side is also going to be in his mind while tasting.

Match his style & you're likely going to create something that he wants to create.

Ahhhhh..... I like the way you think Ozwald!

[12stones]

I was thinking the same thing originally, Oz, but he actually wants something different than what he's doing. Also, I totally don't remember posting this. Holy hell I shouldn't surf the interwebs on Ambien.

[BDawg]

Those noble type hops with Grains of Paradise are saying "Belgian Pale Ale" or "Dunkleweizen" to me.
I'd try splitting the batch and go with a Belgian yeast like the Ardennes yeast in 1/2 and maybe a hefeweizen yeast in the other.