Pale Ale

[MJB]

I would really like to brew a Pale Ale, probably not a unique decision. I would like it to be full of hop flavor and aroma, but have a gentle and balanced bitterness. Something like Deschutes Hop Trip would be a good example. Any suggestions?

[Bobbie Dooley]

That beer style is a friend of mine, but I sure love a good barleywine.

[NervousDad]

As a base for my Pale Ales,I take the SNPA recipe and replace the crystal 60 with Munich and about 2% Cara-pils. I bitter with about 15 IBUs of a clean bittering hop like Magnum. Then you can just add a bunch late addition/flameout hops that you like Cascade/Centennial/chinook/Columbus . I keep the IBUs under 40 and it comes out very hop forward with low bitterness.

[MJB]

Thanks for the input. I was thinking that using very little or no crystal and late hop additions could get me what I want. I'm still new to recipe formulation.

[NervousDad]

This is the SNPA base. If you do replace thy crystal you can use something like Munich. Very simple beer and it is always delicious.

I like to use wlp007 in my pale ale, but wlp001 is very good too.

All Grain Recipe - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone ::: 1.052/1.012 (5.5 Gal)
Grain Bill (70% Efficiency assumed)

10 lbs. - 2 Row Pale Malt
1.25 lbs. - Crystal Malt (60L)
Hop Schedule (33 IBU)

1/3 oz. - Magnum - 60 min.
1/2 oz. - Perle - 30 min.
1 oz. - Cascade - 10 min.
2 oz. - Cascade - at flameout

Yeast

White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001) - 1800 ml starter

Mash/Sparge/Boil

Mash at 153° for 60 min.
Sparge as usual
Cool and ferment at 65° to 68°

http://www.brew365.com/beer_snpa.php

[MJB]

Great, thanks again. I'll post my results. If I don't screw it up.

[Bobbie Dooley]

For real help, my main suggestion is to make sure your boil pH is close to the low end of mashing pH. High boil pH extracts harsh compounds from the hops. Once I started adjusting my mash with acid, my hop bitterness got infinitely smoother. You can get an assertive bitterness that isn't trying to murder your mouth.

[MJB]

Wow, I haven't gotten that deep into the process yet. I'm still brewing with extract. Is it possible that the extract could correct the ph of my water?