East Coast American Pale Ale

[mick02]

As a follow up to BeerBuddah's informative brew day post (here - https://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/all-grain-brewing/leann-follain-brew-day-double-batch-double-brewer/) I figured that I would do something similar with a slightly different twist.

He mentioned in his post that he did not spend much time formulating his recipe so for this post I will be formulating a recipe and will be detailing my reasons for choosing particular grain, hops, yeast, mash profile etc.

I've got a Grainfather so pictures of my brew day are not going to be as exciting as BB's so I'll leave that side out completely.

OK so for anyone that knows me they know that my favoured type of beer to brew is a Pale Ale.

I'm going to talk about what I'm looking for in the beer and how I'm planning to achieve those results.

First off I've been drinking a lot of East Coast Pale Ales recently and that is the style that I'm going to brew.

I'll be brewing to BJCP guidlines for category 18B

For clarity these are the BJCP guidelines for this style.

Aroma: Usually moderate to strong hop aroma from dry hopping or late kettle additions of American hop varieties. A citrusy hop character is very common, but not required. Low to moderate maltiness supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity). Fruity esters vary from moderate to none. No diacetyl. Dry hopping (if used) may add grassy notes, although this character should not be excessive.

Appearance: Pale golden to deep amber. Moderately large white to off-white head with good retention. Generally quite clear, although dry-hopped versions may be slightly hazy.

Flavor: Usually a moderate to high hop flavor, often showing a citrusy American hop character (although other hop varieties may be used). Low to moderately high clean malt character supports the hop presentation, and may optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity). The balance is typically towards the late hops and bitterness, but the malt presence can be substantial. Caramel flavors are usually restrained or absent. Fruity esters can be moderate to none. Moderate to high hop bitterness with a medium to dry finish. Hop flavor and bitterness often lingers into the finish. No diacetyl. Dry hopping (if used) may add grassy notes, although this character should not be excessive.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body. Carbonation moderate to high. Overall smooth finish without astringency often associated with high hopping rates.

Overall Impression: Refreshing and hoppy, yet with sufficient supporting malt.

Comments: There is some overlap in color between American pale ale and American amber ale. The American pale ale will generally be cleaner, have a less caramelly malt profile, less body, and often more finishing hops.

I'll start with the malt bill. From the different sections the malt bill will affect the following characteristics ...

Aroma: Low to moderate maltiness, optionally show small amounts of specialty malt character (bready, toasty, biscuity)
Flavor: Low to moderately high clean malt character. Malt presence can be substantial. Caramel flavors are usually restrained or absent.
Appearance: Pale golden to deep amber. Moderately large white to off-white head with good retention

OK so taking all of the above and combining that with the type of beer that I want to brew I will be using the following

Grain:

69% Pale Malt - Base Malt (will be using Golden Promise)
7% Flaked Oats - For head retention
17% Oat Malt - For that soft mouthfeel that is synonymous with East Coast Pale Ale
7% Melanoiden malt to add colour and additional malt profile

Hops:

2018 Galaxy (50g flameout, 60g dry hop)
2018 El Dorado (10g @ 10 minutes, 60g Dry Hop)
2018 Vic Secret (50g flameout, 60g Dry Hop)

Yeast:
Fermentis S04 @ 18C

Water:

I will be using tap water to make this beer. I am lucky that the water that comes from my tap is pretty stable as it is a single source and not blended therefor I have a certain amount of confidence that the profile is always in the same ball park. The water profile that I use is as follows ...

pH: 8
Ca: 22
Mg: 2
Na: 4
SO4: 30
Cl: 20
HCO3: 33
Total Alkalinity: 28
Total Hardness: 57

I want to get as close to this water profile as possible to help with that soft juicy mouthfeel ...

Ca: 140
Mg: 11
Na: 4
SO4: 75
Cl: 150


Mash

I am looking for medium body to support that juiciness that I am after. I don't know why but to me it feels as though a light bodied beer just wouldn't have the same effect. Maybe that is a future experiment.

I will be doing a single infusion mash at 67C with a mash out for 10 minutes at 77C.

Fermentation will be held at 18C for 7 days (assuming that terminal gravity has been achieved) and will then be racked to a keg.

I'm not worried about cold crashing as I am not concerned about clarity in this beer.

Another important part of this brew day will be the hop additions.

I've experimented with different hop additions in the past and my favoured approach is to add the first addition at 10 minutes left in the boil as my bittering charge and then add the rest at flameout.

Generally once I add my flameout additions I will stir constantly for 10 minutes before transferring to the fermenter. I use a hop sock that is wrapped around my mash paddle to make sure it is constantly moving around the wort.

I will be aiming for the low end in terms of IBU and am looking for about 30-35.

I also like to do a "first wort" where the dry hops are added to the fermenter when racking into it from the counter flow chiller (beware as this can sometimes get messy)

I am hoping to get this beer on in the coming weeks (not sure how achievable that is right now) and if I remember I will update this thread with some pics and commentary of gravity readings etc from the brew day.

If you decide to brew this and have it done before I update the post I'd like to hear how it went for you.

Mick

[Beerbuddha]

 Great idea Mick. Fair play.

[Simon_]

Fantastic. Looking forward to this Mick to see if I can tweak my pale process a bit. Always interested in how people dry hop. I'm always underwhelmed by hop aroma in mine. That or I end up with hop matter in the keg which is unpleasant. Also find it hard to get a beer to clear after dry hopping though looks like you're not concerned about that for this beer.

I remember you saying in the past that you don't do any whirlpool or hop stand. You throw in your zero minute hops and transfer? Edit: You've said above you stir for 10 minutes now

[pob]

Always interested in how people dry hop. I'm always underwhelmed by hop aroma in mine. That or I end up with hop matter in the keg which is unpleasant. Also find it hard to get a beer to clear after dry hopping.

Do you treat your water? Makes a big difference in how the hop around/flavours come through.

Cold crash? Gelatine to clear? It really doesn't strip the aroma/flavours.

[mick02]

I've almost always managed to get quite a good hop profile in my beers. I think it's because I'm paranoid about making sure the hops are agitated regularly. When I dry hop I usually use a stainless mesh cylinder that is attached at the end with some dental floss. I usually pull at the dental floss about 2 or 3 times a day to make sure the hops are moving around in the beer as much as possible. I always think that dry hopping when the beer is a few points off terminal gravity means that any oxygen introduced by dry hopping is scrubbed by the yeast. Whether that's what actually happens or not is another thing but it helps my brain to think that this is the case. One I've finished with the dry hop I do a pressure transfer to a corny. Again I believe that this helps preserve the hop aroma longer. Your mileage may vary!

*edited for autocorrect

[mick02]

Always interested in how people dry hop. I'm always underwhelmed by hop aroma in mine. That or I end up with hop matter in the keg which is unpleasant. Also find it hard to get a beer to clear after dry hopping.

Do you treat your water? Makes a big difference in how the hop around/flavours come through.

Cold crash? Gelatine to clear? It really doesn't strip the aroma/flavours.

I usually use 1 campden tablet in my mash water and another in my sparge water (the grainfather uses a lot of sparge water). I also adjust the pH using phosphoric acid and as whatever salts I need to achieve the water profile I'm trying to achieve.

I used to use gelatine for fining my beer but haven't used that in the last 15/20 batches

[Simon_]

Always interested in how people dry hop. I'm always underwhelmed by hop aroma in mine. That or I end up with hop matter in the keg which is unpleasant. Also find it hard to get a beer to clear after dry hopping.

Do you treat your water? Makes a big difference in how the hop around/flavours come through.

Cold crash? Gelatine to clear? It really doesn't strip the aroma/flavours.

RO water with either 1 or 2 tsp of gypsum and 1 tsp of cc. I've stopped using gelatine altogether because I hate the smell of it. I've played around with crashing and not crashing and can't figure out which I'm happier with. I've started syphoning into the out post of my kegs but it's problematic with loose pellet hops and nearly always get blocked.

Don't get me wrong. There is aroma there. I just want more.

[mick02]

Always interested in how people dry hop. I'm always underwhelmed by hop aroma in mine. That or I end up with hop matter in the keg which is unpleasant. Also find it hard to get a beer to clear after dry hopping.

Do you treat your water? Makes a big difference in how the hop around/flavours come through.

Cold crash? Gelatine to clear? It really doesn't strip the aroma/flavours.

RO water with either 1 or 2 tsp of gypsum and 1 tsp of cc. I've stopped using gelatine altogether because I hate the smell of it. I've played around with crashing and not crashing and can't figure out which I'm happier with. I've started syphoning into the out post of my kegs but it's problematic with loose pellet hops and nearly always get blocked.

Don't get me wrong. There is aroma there. I just want more.

I went on a crusade for the ultimate hop aroma a few years back and I achieved it in one beer. You know what the secret was? The freshest oiliest hops I've ever used. They were leaf hops and when I pulled them out off the packet my fingers were sticking together because of the hop resin. The beer that came from using those hops was the most aromatic I've ever produced. That is why I always try to use the freshest hops in my hop forward beers otherwise what's the point in brewing them?

Sent from my Mi MIX 2 using Tapatalk

[Simon_]

I'm paranoid about making sure the hops are agitated regularly. When I dry hop I usually use a stainless mesh cylinder that is attached at the end with some dental floss. I usually pull at the dental floss about 2 or 3 times a day to make sure the hops are moving around in the beer as much as possible.

Very interesting. I normally chuck dry hops straight into the fermenter. They float at the top for a day or 2 and then drop to the bottom. Then I try and syphon out and that's where I've been hoovering up matter.  Next time I'm planning on syphoning through a mesh cylinder

[mick02]

I'm paranoid about making sure the hops are agitated regularly. When I dry hop I usually use a stainless mesh cylinder that is attached at the end with some dental floss. I usually pull at the dental floss about 2 or 3 times a day to make sure the hops are moving around in the beer as much as possible.

Very interesting. I normally chuck dry hops straight into the fermenter. They float at the top for a day or 2 and then drop to the bottom. Then I try and syphon out and that's where I've been hoovering up matter.

I used to do this but found exactly like you the amount of hops I had to deal with in the transfer broke my heart. If at all possible I try to use hip filters or hop socks

Sent from my Mi MIX 2 using Tapatalk

[KDeath]

I also like to do a "first wort" where the dry hops are added to the fermenter when racking into it from the counter flow chiller (beware as this can sometimes get messy)

Is this a single dry hop charge then or do you do a second at the end of fermentation (or a 3rd mid-way as well)?

[mick02]

I also like to do a "first wort" where the dry hops are added to the fermenter when racking into it from the counter flow chiller (beware as this can sometimes get messy)

Is this a single dry hop charge then or do you do a second at the end of fermentation (or a 3rd mid-way as well)?

Honestly I've found that I get very little from additional dry hop additions so I tend to leave them out. I've always found that one dry hop with up to 150g gets the beer where I want it. Also I find there is a tipping point in the first dry hop where extra hops don't really add anything. Again this is my observations you might have different results on your own kit.

[molc]

If you're going east coast like NEIPA, then I'd do a day 2 addition to get the biotransformation - it really clouds up the beer but gives you that big juicy flavour and I think a good bit of aroma.

I've done a west coast IPA recently and just skipped that step and you really notice the difference - not bad btw, just less juicy and smooth.

[Simon_]

Wouldn't Mick be getting the same biotransformation with the hops added while chilling?

[Qs]

Do you do anything with your crush when using malted oats? I've only used them once and lost a lot of efficiency, I think they may not have milled properly, do you tighten the mill for them?