Heavy malted and hopped pale ale

[Daron1973]

OK, got:
Coopers Pale Ale kit,
2kg of light dried malt extract,
100g of Cascade, and
American Ale yeast

I'm hoping to make a heavily hopped (think Holgate's Hoppinator), higher alcohol pale ale.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Daz

[Wassa]

I'd go with the pale Ale and even the 2kgs of malt, but to even it out you are going to0 want to add some hop additions.

Cascade is a great hop, my personal favorite for my Honey Porter recipe.

I'd go for an 8 litre boil. Dissolve your malt in 8 litres of water and bring to boil again. 25gm of Cascade at 30 mins, 25gm at 15 mins and 20gm at flame out.

Should be an interesting brew.

[Daron1973]

thanks, mate.
what about dry hopping? worth leaving 10g for the fermenter?

[warra48]

Go the dry hopping. 10 gr sounds good, about 4 to 5 days into your fermentation. Then leave it for another week, at least.

Personally, I love the Cascade hop flavour and aroma.

[Daron1973]

OK, I boilt 8 litres (in two pots - halved all the adjuncts as the pot wasn't big enough), added 500g of a maltodextrin/dextrose mix (Coopers stuff u had lying around for priming purposes).

I hopped 25g at 30min, 25 at 45min, 25 at 60min, then 10g at flameout with the kit added.

I've kept 15g to dry hop in about 5 days.

The OG was 1065..... I'm expecting this brew to be an arsekicker, but the aroma is sensational. This is my first crack at Cascade hops.

So, now I wonder when or if to rack??????

I havent racked in years as I generally dont care about a cloudy brew, but this one was pretty cloudy.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Bum]

I'd just let it sit longer in the primary - wouldn't bother with the racking unless it was for a good reason. Leaving it in primary will clear it out more and not hurt it at all.

Is it just me or is this recipe looking like a bit of an AIPA?

[warra48]

I'd just let it sit longer in the primary - wouldn't bother with the racking unless it was for a good reason. Leaving it in primary will clear it out more and not hurt it at all.

Is it just me or is this recipe looking like a bit of an AIPA?

I'm another one who is not usually a fan of racking, unless there's a very good reason for doing it.

With all of those ingredients, I agree it looks like an AIPA. Should be very tasty if given a bit of time to mature.

[Bum]

I just re-read my post and it looks like I'm suggesting that leaving it in primary will clear it more than racking to secondary - I just mean that more time in primary will clear it.

[warra48]

I just re-read my post and it looks like I'm suggesting that leaving it in primary will clear it more than racking to secondary - I just mean that more time in primary will clear it.

I agree with Bum, more time in primary will help to clear it.

I usually leave my brews in primary for between 2 to 3 weeks, and then bottle straight from primary.
If you want to make sure you drop almost everything out, lower the temp on your primary to about 2ºC for a few days before bottling.

There are others who are fans of racking, but I only see the need to do it for lagering a pils etc.

[Daron1973]

Thanks, fellas. I forgot to mention I will be kegging this little arse kicker. I'll let it bubble away for a couple of weeks and see what she's like.

[drsmurto]

I rack but then i also reuse the yeast cake so like to grab it early and clean it up a bit.

I also like to fine my beers (gelatine/polyclar) and occasionally dry hop, neither of which i want in a yeast cake i plan on re-using.

But with yeasts like nottingham, ringwood, cask ale, west yorkshire i am finding the beer is clear after 2 weeks in primary and racking only serves to free up a fermenter.

Anyway, recipe looks like a nice AIPA. I actually have one fermenting at the moment, a rye IPA with amarillo and cascade. Smelt so good! Lovely spicy, bready aroma of the rye and a very unsubtle hop schedule. Its the recipe out of the BYO magazine that won a fellow croweater the APA catgeory at AABC last year.... well, my interpretation of the style anyway.

Will be dry hopping this straight in primary once fermentation slows down as its a US05 that i was given so dont need. Will also fine straight into primary before racking to keg.

[Wassa]

Daren,

Let us know how it turns out! Sorry I'm late getting back to you, but I would have dry hopped as well and not racked, just left in primary to clear.

[Daron1973]

no wuckers. as yet there's no life in the fermenter, but i find in these months it takes a bit longer then it brews madly.
I'll dry hop in a couple of days once the brewing really begins.

[Daron1973]

I'm gonna keg this shortly. The OG was 1065 and is 1020 after 2 weeks. It took 3 days really fire up then it wet gangbusters. I dry hopped the remaining hops about a week ago.

Anyone reckon i should hold off? It's been quiet for about 2-3 days now. I reckon it's ran its course. I was hoping for a lower gravity, but not to be. It was brewed at a steady 19-20C the whole time.

I just had a sample while checking the gravity and it does taste great,but it's bloody cloudy. I'm hoping the kegging takes someof that out.

[Bum]

If you leave it in the fermenter longer (especially if you can bang it in the fridge) the clarity will improve.

[Daron1973]

Ahhh... impatience took over (mainly my wive's) and i kegged it an hour or so ago.... just keen to get into it now!

[Bum]

The beer will be the same. For a beer like this you'd just be clearing it up for visual purposes. Should still be as good either way. Enjoy!

[Daron1973]

mate, it tasted great warm and out of the tap. Reckon out of the special tap on the fridge it will a sensation