I've been brewing lots of tropical NEIPA beers and want to brew a crisper Pale Ale next. I had stocked up on Galaxy, Mosaic, Simcoe and Citra so I'd like to try some new hops. This is what I have so far. I'm looking for more of a crisp citrusy pale ale but am not afraid to increase the hops if it will accentuate lemon/grapefruit aroma and taste. I want it cleaner but not afraid of some haze. 8.5lbs Valley 2-row pale ale 1lb Munich 20 (would go lighter but I need to use this) 1lb Flaked corn (I have whole kernel malted corn that I'll run through my grain mill) 1lb Malted Oats (Naked Oats from Valley Malt) Warrior 0.5oz @60min Centennial 0.5oz @5min Loral 0.5oz @5min Centennial 0.5oz @0min Loral 0.5oz @0min Loral 1.0oz dry hop 2 days Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II (never used before) Water - 100% distilled Cl/SO4 ratio 1.0 Cl - 130ppm SO4 - 130ppm Any insight would be great. Thanks!
Do you have a target OG? When I brew my APA’s my target is 1.050. Needless to say it depends on your efficiency but around 10 lbs. of grain should get you in the vicinity. I would recommend that you nix the malted oats and just go with: 8.5lbs Valley 2-row pale ale 1lb Munich 20 1lb Flaked corn As has been discussed Loral is not as ‘vibrant’ a hops as Centennial. I would recommend dry hopping with 1 ounce of Centennial instead of Loral. Do you have more Centennial hops in your inventory? Cheers!
Didn't notice the oats at first peruse. Ditch them if you truly want this beer to be crisp. Also, notice that you have a caveat to your corn, not flaked but malted whole kernel. I don't know much about malted corn, but you may have to do a cereal mash to get the full benefit of it.
I would drop the corn, but that’s me. Maybe adjust water for a more west coast ipa profile, go straight centennial with maybe a hint of that Citra you have laying around to punch up the fruit. Maybe a 2 to 1 centennial to Citra ratio. Maybe even 3 to 1.
Good points, thanks guys. I did a malt share a while back and I'm trying to get through them. I can see how oats don't really line up with a "crisp" profile. I might get rid of them. I've always liked oats in beers and thought it'd give it some body. I don't want it heavy but do want some body. I thought corn would be good for a crisp profile though. Maybe I can't have it both ways. I've never used malted corn (was part of the malt share). OG = 1.053 (depending on what this corn does that I have) FG = 1.011 Mash pH around 5.3 I just wanted to give Loral a shot. Haven't had it before. I've read it gives off some Lemon/Floral notes. Just sounded nice and maybe a good combo with Centennial. To be clear, I have no hops at the moment. Any other hops our there that would give off a lemon/grapefruit? Centennial seemed so obvious I went with it but wanted to try something different than the old 5 C's but maybe that's what I'm looking at here. Thanks again, much appreciated!
Loral is a bump on a log. I’d use it for lagers if it was super cheap but I see no reason to seek it out.
Been pretty happy with Loral as of late. It seems to have gotten better since it was first released. I don’t ever use it as the focus of anything but it’s awesome as a part of a blend. Got a Citra + 15-20% Loral beer that’s carbonating now.
Good to know. I'm finally finishing off the pound I bought 3 years ago, wasn't really impressed, but worked well in saisons. I know Stone was using it with success in IPAs for a while. Sounds sorta like Belma in that it had some hype off the bat that it didn't live up to, but has gotten better as plants have matured. Might have to revisit.
Interested in buying the ingredients to brew this on Friday. I’m also craving a citrusy dry/bitter pale ale. I currently have some bootleg biology Oslo Kveik yeast which I’ve read the Kveik yeast tends to make beers lean towards the bitter side? I have never used it. Also what’s y’alls thoughts on adding a 1bl of wild flower honey? Would it affect the mouth feel with using the corn? I guess hops are centennial for the hot side and then whirlpool and dry hop with??
Homey will increase your gravity and ABV, but will not add body like, say, an equivalent amount of malt would. So yes, it will affect mouthfeel.
I would be careful fermenting honey at Kveik temperatures though. I’ve picked up off flavors from fermenting honey too warm.
