Hi guys. I am completely new to Beeradvocate. I've visited the site in the past but have finally registered and am now a user. I've been brewing for about a year now and have slowly been moving away from kits. Now I'm in the process of formulating an American ale recipe. I need a little help on it. I would like to get an extremely hoppy kind of American ale with a citrus after-tone. I'm working on the ingredients below. Any advice on the ingredients or brew process would be greatly appreciated. Malt: 90% 2 Row American Pale Malt SRM:2.5-4 S.G. Yield: 1.030-35 10% Crystal Malt SRM: 10-120 S.G. Yield: 1.020-30 Pretty standard malts for an American pale ale. Hops: 3 oz. Cascade Alpha Acid: 4-7% 3 oz. Liberty Alpha Acid: 4-5% 1 oz. Nugget Alpha Acid: 11-16% I have been told in the past that Cascade and Liberty can go well together. I really want to put about 7 ounces of hops in it. But I feel it may be way too bitter. When adding the hops in the brewing process will determine that. But, I need an idea about ingredients first. I would like to add the nugget hops to the primary to get more aroma. Tell me what you guys think about this. I have a difficult time when choosing hop types and what goes with what. Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast This is one of my favorites. It's perfect for American ales. Additives: 2 tbsp Irish moss Orange peels Please tell me what you guys think of what I have so far.
What original gravity are you shooting for? Before the Crystal Police chime in (and I personally do not consider myself as being part of the Crystal Police), I would suggest using less Crystal Malt; maybe something more like 5-7%. “I would like to add the nugget hops to the primary to get more aroma.” Nugget hops are principally known for being bittering hops (I personally have only used Nugget for bittering). Hopefully somebody who has used Nugget as an aroma hop will provide some input here. As regards “citrus after-tone”, of the hops listed Cascade would be the hop that would provide the most citrus flavors/aromas. I would recommend that you concentrate on using Cascade for late/end of boil and dry hopping. Other hops that provide citrusy flavors/aromas are Centennial. Amarillo, Ahtanum, … “I really want to put about 7 ounces of hops in it.” Rather than thinking about a total of 7 ounces it would be more appropriate to think what you want in your beer; how bitter do you want it and how much flavor/aroma do you want? For example, you could produce a hoppy American Ale with less than 7 ounces. One example: 1 ounce Nugget for 60 minutes of boil (bittering) 1 ounce Cascade for 15 minutes of boil (flavor) 1 ounce of Cascade at end of boil (aroma) 1 ounce of Cascade for dry hopping (7 days of contact time) I am uncertain how to properly utilize Liberty in this beer since it is similar to Hallertauer and not something I would personally use to make a hoppy American Ale. You made mention of “2 tbsp Irish moss”. The typical amount of Irish Moss to add is 1 teaspoon for the last 15 minutes of boil; I personally re-hydrate my Irish Moss flakes. Wyeast 1056 makes an excellent hoppy American Ale; I personally use the dry yeast version of US-05. Good luck with your hoppy American Ale. Cheers!
Thanks I appreciate the help! The original gravity I would like to aim for 1.045. That seems reasonable for an American ale. With crystal malt, I had read online that Sierra Nevada uses a 90% 2 row American / 10% crystal. I'll look into lowering it down. This is my first attempt at creating an American ale recipe so thanks for the feedback on that! My goal is really to make an American ale that is very hoppy. I want the person that is drinking it to be like, ya there are hops in there but with that citrus after-tone. I really like your recommendation regarding the use of Nugget hops. I have been unsure how to use them. I have never used them previously, but the more I read up about them, they seem like they are definitely what I'm looking for. I was definitely thinking about using cascade as my true staple. Dry hopping them is a great idea considering they are for finishing. I'm going to make a note of that. I am still unsure about Liberty hops. I read about there profile regarding usage in American ales, but I think Cascade and Liberty may go well together, or they may actually be better substitutes. Still unsure about them. Nugget seems like a powerful hop so I may not even need Liberty. I do like the recommendation of using Centennial though. I have used those before and have found great success with them. Ya I was up in the air of how much Irish moss to use. 1 tbsp makes more sense. I definitely agree with that recommendation! I thought about after you said it and it makes a lot more sense. Thanks a whole lot for the recommendations. I will let you know what I try on brewing and how it turns out! Any other recommendations?
You need to decide what crystal malt you want. And that may influence the amount. For an APA, I'd generally suggest looking at C-60 or lower. That said, you said you want the beer to be hoppy, but how sweet do you want your beer to be, and what kind of sweetness? Caramel-y? Toffee-like? Raisin-y?
I was definitely considering C60. I would like to have the beer give off a taste of hops but only be sweet enough for the person consuming to know that there are oranges in it. I do not want it to be super sweet. Definitely would like a weaker caramel-y sweetness. Any tips? I have never tried an American ale so I'm learning as I go.
I'll give that a try. I think 5-7% Crystal malt may be better then my original intentions of 10%. Thanks for the feedback!
I recently brewed up an apa and used cascade and amarillo, adding it at a 2:1 ratio. I used close to 16oz between the boil and dryhopping. The base beer had about 7% crystal that I feel was excessive now, but the hop profile was amazing.
That is very similar to what I would like for the finished APA to be. Did you dry hop with the Cascade or Amarillo? Or both?
My hop schedule looked like thi: 1.0oz magnum @ 60 1.0oz cascade @15 .5oz amarillo @ 15 2oz cascade @ 5 1oz amarillo @5 1.5 oz amarillo @0 3.0oz cascade @ 0 2.0oz amarillo dh 7days 4.0oz cascade dh 7 days. The dryhop was cut in half and dryhopped in two charges for 7 days each. I feel it was too long and would use the same amount for 2x3day dryhop additions. I got some vegetal flavors hiding behind all that hop glory. As for the grain bill I will not be using any crystal next time but rather maybe 2% biscuit and the rest a equal amount of vienna and 2row or maybe munich. I want the bready notes and less toffee.
Oh wow that's a lot of Amarillo. If you would do it again I would suggest Munich to make it less toffee. I have found great success with Munich. Cascade is definitely in. Would you think instead of using Amarillo, Centennial may be a good choice to go along with Cascade instead? I've never used Amarillo before.
Amarillo is a very unique hop with no substitute that I have found. Centennial is always a good choice though, one of my favorite hops, and certainly will go well with Cascade.
“Would you think instead of using Amarillo, Centennial may be a good choice to go along with Cascade instead? I've never used Amarillo before.” There is no easy way for somebody to properly answer that question for you since your palate may perceive the varying hop varieties differently. Amarillo, Centennial and Cascade all taste citrusy to me but they do have their own unique flavor profiles (which will also vary with the particular crop; which hop farm and year). Some folks report that Centennial has a grapefruit taste. I sometimes perceive the specifics of grapefruit (depending on the hop crop) and sometimes the best I can say is that it tasted citrusy. Amarillo has a BIG citrus flavor to my palate but I have difficulty stating whether it is orange or tangerine or … Cascade is a unique hop for my palate since while I definitely get a citrus flavor, I also get other flavors as well (some floral aspects). I do not think you can go ‘wrong’ with any of these hop choices. If you generously late hop solely with Cascade that will produce a tasty beer too. This is your homebrew; I recommend that you ‘experiment’ and see how it turns out for you. Cheers!
This was my first attempt using amarillo, however I have enjoyed commercially available examples that include it, most notably gumballhead. I get big citrus from it, mostly tangerine and lemon. The centennial dryhopped beer I brewed was more grapefruit forward, however like Jack pointed out, my palate may pick things up that yours doesn't. I enjoyed the flavor profile tat amarillo and cascade produce together, and because of the high AA% in amarillo I used about half as much of it as I did the cascade. There are huge citrus flavors that run the gammut in my apa, and I attribute that to using these hops togethner in a ratio that puts them on an even playing field. Persoanally I feel that it is lacking some resinous qualities that I like, however it has some floral qualaties that I rather enjoy. I just wish I had hit my numbers better on this one and used less (read:no) crystal. Que sera sera. Edit: I meant to add that the next time I use these hops together I may throw something dank and resinous in there like simcoe, but not a lot, just enough to round this one out a bit more.
Well I've been given some great advice from you guys. I've got a good idea of what I'm doing. I'm going to give a go this Sunday! Thanks guys!
