You’ve read about Alex’s early brewing journey so here’s a beer that played a formative role during his homebrewing days. It’s an American Pale Ale that features a mix of Pilsner malt, Biscuit malt and EBC Crystal malt. Alex also suggests the use of Brewers Gold or Magnum hops for bittering, as well as a classic blend of Cascade, Chinook and Centennial – or if you prefer, Citra, for flavour.
This is an adaptation of my very old American Pale Ale recipe that I used to brew nearly weekly in the early 2000s. I like to keep things really simple in terms of grist and hops and figure things can be complicated later when the basics have been conquered.
The malt quantities are what I would typically use on a homebrew scale for the efficiency I achieved (approx. 80%), so adjust as needed for your system.
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Specifications
Final volume: 19L finished beer (one neat little Cornelius keg)
Cold wort volume: 25L
Target OG: 12.4 oP / 1.050
Target FG: 2.5 oP / 1.010
ABV: 5.2%
Colour: 16 oEBC
Bitterness: 38 IBU
Carbonation: as you see fit
Grist, Mash and Lauter
Pilsner malt – 4.9kg
Biscuit malt – 0.250kg
120 oEBC Crystal malt – 0.100kg
Mash at 3L/kg to achieve a mash temperature of 65-67degC. Rest for 60min and check for starch conversion.
Lauter and sparge as per your standard method to achieve a pre-boil volume of approx. 30L.
Hops, Boiling, Chilling
Boil for 75min with hop additions at 0min, 60min and 75min.
Bittering hops – 0min addition – approx. 20IBU – use Brewers Gold, Magnum or other fairly neutral bittering hop. In my old recipes as it was in Australia I used Pride of Ringwood. Note that there weren’t many hops available back then to homebrewers!
Flavour hops – 60min addition – approx. 10IBU – I like a classic blend of things like Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, etc, or maybe Citra which I didn’t have access to back in the early 2000s.
Finishing hops – 75min addition – approx. 8IBU – once again use a classic blend as you prefer, similar to the above, or mix it up with some Citra, Simcoe, Idaho-7 or similar.
Chill as cold as you can get it (ideally less than 20degC) and pitch with clean American ale strain such as US01, WLP001 or similar.
Fermentation and Packaging
Ferment for around a week, keeping temperature at around 22C if you are able. After fermentation is complete rack to new vessel and add dry hops if you want to adjust the hoppiness. When I used to brew this recipe beers weren’t as hoppy as now, so our palates have shifted – suggest you may want to add a touch. Chill racking tank if you are able and hold for a week.
After settled rack into a clean and sterilised Cornelius keg and force carbonate. Alternatively bottle, adding priming sugar to either the batch or each bottle, whatever you normally do.
Enjoy!
