Recipe critique

That's a very unusual grain bill for a pale ale. Rather than suggest changes, I'll ask... what are your goals for this beer?

 

With all the dry hopping it seems more like a session IPA than pale ale. No?

 

One simple piece of advice would be to eliminate the Munich malt and replace with the same quantity of Vienna malt. You'll already have plenty of body from the wheat and oats and the Munich malt flavor is kind of working against the hop flavors you're going for.

 

Agreed. Even Vienna (as well as the Munich) I would use in smaller quantities and use a pale malt as a base for a pale ale. However, it might turn out great as is! YMMV.

 

You specifically say you want a low abv summer beer. To me, your grain bill looks a lot closer to an Oktoberfest than a pale ale. Personally, I like a little Vienna or Munich in a pale ale grist, but I've never come close to using it at 60% of the grain bill. If you want a hoppy Oktoberfest, go for it. If you want something else, sub in 2-row or Pilsner malt for most of the Vienna and Munich.

 

Back in 2005 when I worked at Kuhnhenn BC I got off work at went home to brew a Vienna.
Bag of grain in hand, yeast, and hops were at home. I mashed in and during the run off I was going to weigh out the hops.

I suddenly realized I was wrong I did not have any Hallertau or any other noble hops in the freezer. All I had was nugget and cascade.

I thought about running back to work and grabbing the proper hops but I was a little intoxicated and that made it not an option.

I reworked the recipe sticking with the Vienna time schedule. But I went with American Pale Ale type hops and amounts. I stuck with the lager yeast.

The beer was really good. Having both the Vienna malt/lager quality, but with an American citrus edge to it. I now make this beer every winter when I make my Czech Pilsners for summer.

Moral of this toot my horn story is if you like the beer nothing is wrong with the recipe. period.

As for the OP I would cut back on the oats by 50%. Replace the 50% oat and munich with pilsner malt or 6-row.

 

The only comment I would make is dry hopping on day 3 is moving close to the "biotransformation" hop schedule, of dry hopping at day 2 or when active fermentation is still rolling. If you are looking for that, that's fine(Love hazy NEIPA's). If you are looking for a more traditional pale ale (or IPA), day 5 might be good.....

 

Instead of all the oats and wheat, I would just mash high. Check out the most recent podcast from brülosophy, they cover high temp mashing for more body.

 

The last beer I brewed was a pale ale/session IPA type (this is the Waimea hopped beer of another thread). Anyhow, I used 40% Briess GoldPilsVienna and 50%2Row (+ some Carafoam and Caravienne). I've used 95% GoldPilsVienna in the past in a tropical hopped pale ale. I don't know that I agree with the suggestion to use less Vienna. I think it depends on what you want, and if you're not sure, I don't think what you have suggested with regard to Vienna and Munich is a bad place to start. 20 percent wheat and 20 percent oats will be cutting the character of those malts, in any event. I will be curious how you find it impacting body. I would expect something with very soft mouthfeel.

 

If you want to make a really hoppy beer use a less malty malt like pilsner or 6-row. The graininess of these malts compared to pale makes more room for the hop flavor by having a less malty/bready/biscuity flavors in the beer. The grainy also come across the palate kind of quickly and does not linger like pale malt.

 

I think just drop the Munich and replace that amt with Vienna like others have said.

What is your process?

 

Agreed. I brewed up what I called a "Session IPA" that was probably more of a low gravity pale ale with extra hops. It ended up about 3.6% ABV with a grain bill of all Weyermann Light Munich other than 1# each of CaraFoam and flaked rye. Mashed ~160°. Late hopped with Belma, hopstand with Comet, and dry hopped with Chinook. Fermented with London III. Better than any session IPA I've ever bought, especially considering the low alcohol content. Not too malty at all, but I might cut the rye in half next time.

Depending on what you're looking for, I don't see anything wrong with your original plan.

 

I brewed a massively dry hopped pale ale that I did not want to commit to calling it an IPA so I called it a JPA instead. Juicy Pale Ale!

 

Looks tasty. My basic IPA recipe includes a pound or two of Munich with a base of Pale Ale Malt (between pale malt and Vienna) and no crystal. This looks pretty close to that.

I'd mash that low, since Vienna and Munich aren't as fermentable as plain 2 row. Good luck!