Beer Forum

Whats the best hoppy beer you've brewed?
I've got capacity to be serving two beers at any one time. Right now I've got an English Mild and a Pale Ale. My ideal would be to have one malty beer and one hoppy beer on at all times. I wouldn't want a corny of stout on one and a corny of brown ale on the other, that sounds like palate fatigue to me. I have a batch of Oatmeal Stout aging right now, ready to take the place of the Mild when that kicks, so my question is, what should I have ready when the Pale Ale kicks? (even another Pale Ale would be fine) I'm just hoping for suggestions for some good, hoppy, highly drinkable recipes, so I can keep my taps in balance and the beer flowing.
Thanks.

here's my fav.

10 lb 2 row
1 lb crystal 40
1 oz simcoe and 1 oz amarillo at 30 min
1 oz " and 1 oz " at 5 min
1/2 oz simcoe and 1/2 oz centennial dry hop
1056 yeast
mash 153
ferment 64
i have soft water so i add 1 tsp gypsum to the boil
if you like citrus this is da bomb

Don't let the hop bill scare you. It's just an even blend of cascade, chinook and centennial. You don't have to weigh them out individually, you can just mix them together in a bowl and weigh out total amounts for each addition.
If you're uptight like me, though, you can weigh out each variety.


A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 6.00 Wort Size (Gal): 6.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.50
Anticipated OG: 1.069 Plato: 16.87
Anticipated SRM: 5.3
Anticipated IBU: 68.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 7.38 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.056 SG 13.85 Plato

Formulas Used
-------------



Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager

Additional Utilization Used For Plug Hops: 2 %
Additional Utilization Used For Pellet Hops: 10 %


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
93.9 15.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
6.1 1.00 lbs. Crystal 10L America 1.035 10

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.80 oz. Magnum Pellet 14.40 43.1 60 min.
0.33 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.40 1.3 10 min.
0.33 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.80 2.2 10 min.
0.33 oz. Chinook Pellet 11.40 2.8 10 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.40 1.7 5 min.
0.50 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.80 2.7 5 min.
0.50 oz. Chinook Pellet 11.40 3.6 5 min.
0.66 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.40 2.2 1 min.
0.66 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.80 3.6 1 min.
0.66 oz. Chinook Pellet 11.40 4.7 1 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.40 0.0 Dry Hop
1.00 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.80 0.0 Dry Hop
1.00 oz. Chinook Pellet 11.40 0.0 Dry Hop


Yeast
-----

wlp001

this is a blind pig clone. Ive found it to be tried and true

Image

Size: 5.7 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 224.42 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.067 (1.056 - 1.075)
|=================#==============|
Terminal Gravity: 1.017 (1.010 - 1.018)
|=====================#==========|
Color: 8.0 (6.0 - 15.0)
|===========#====================|
Alcohol: 6.63% (5.5% - 7.5%)
|=================#==============|
Bitterness: 82.74 (40.0 - 60.0)
|================================|

Ingredients:
1.5 oz Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 2.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 2.0 min
0.25 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added dry to primary fermenter
0.25 oz Simcoe (13.0%) - added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to primary fermenter
1.0 oz Centennial (10.0%) - added dry to primary fermenter
13.0 lbs Pale Malt(2-row)
0.5 lbs Wheat Malt
0.5 lbs Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal 40L
1 Unit Whirlfloc - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min

1.0 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale
[/i]

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:13:20 Mash In - Liquor: 4.53 gal; Strike: 165.7 °F; Target: 153.0 °F
01:13:20 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 153.1 °F
01:19:48 Mash Out - Heat: 6.5 min; Target: 168.0 °F
02:04:48 Sparge - Sparge: 3.99 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 6.81 gal collected, 45.0 min; Total Runoff: 6.99 gal

Notes:
Dry hop with 1/2 oz cascade hops and 1 oz centennial hops 7 days into the fermentation. Rack off the dry hops after another 7 days.

not sure but I was under the impression that Blind Pig had some Oak in it. That recipe looks great but to clone the Blind Pig I think you may need to revisit. I could be way off base here but this is what I remember.

Chris

NHBrewer wrote:not sure but I was under the impression that Blind Pig had some Oak in it. That recipe looks great but to clone the Blind Pig I think you may need to revisit. I could be way off base here but this is what I remember.

Chris

I've heard that the original recipe used oak, but has not for quite some time. I've only had the beer on a few occasions, living on the right coast, so I can't claim to be well versed on its flavor profile, but from what I've read oak got left behind with the original brewery.

So, here is my NEW favorite homebrew recipe. I have been brewing for years trying to make a "better pale ale." Gradually, my taste adjusted to the hoppy West Coast style pale ales, then IPAs. One problem though, I like to drink a lot of that hoppy goodness and the abv of the IPAs (good hops) were kickin my ass. So, my "better pale ale" I am calling an Xtra Pale Ale, with the Xtra being the hops that I would put in an IPA strength beer, but Pale Ale Strength. My FAVORITE recipe is below. I have a batch bottled that I am drinking now, and my first Kegged batch of beer (this weekend) is the same recipe. Side note: I learned that with a good higher kilned base malt, i.e. Pale Ale malt between 2L and 4L rather than Standard 2 Row, and just a touch of Crystal makes the Pale Ale character I like without the Crystal malts getting in the way of the hops. Without further rambling, here is the recipe:

XPA - Xtra Pale Ale
10-A American Pale Ale
Author: hopshead



Size: 6.56 gal
Efficiency: 79.13%
Attenuation: 80.0%
Calories: 171.53 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.052 (1.045 - 1.060)
|===============#================|
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.010 - 1.015)
|=========#======================|
Color: 11.0 (5.0 - 14.0)
|==================#=============|
Alcohol: 5.45% (4.5% - 6.2%)
|================#===============|
Bitterness: 73.3 (30.0 - 45.0)
|================================|

Ingredients:
12.0 lb Pale Ale Malt (3.5L)
4.0 oz Dark Crystal Malt II (120L)
1.0 oz Centennial (8.7%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Willamette (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 oz Willamette (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to primary fermenter (after fermentation)
1.0 oz Willamette (4.8%) - added dry to primary fermenter (after fermentation)
2.0 qt WLP001 Top Cropped & Repitched

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 68.0 °F
Elevation: 500.0 ft

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.59 gal; Strike: 163.14 °F; Target: 152.0 °F
00:33:00 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 30.0 min; Final: 151.5 °F
00:45:00 Batch Sparge - First runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 3.0 gal collected, 5 min; Second Runings: 6.25 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 6.25 gal collected, 7 min; Total Runoff: 9.45 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.5

NHBrewer wrote:not sure but I was under the impression that Blind Pig had some Oak in it. That recipe looks great but to clone the Blind Pig I think you may need to revisit. I could be way off base here but this is what I remember.

Chris

I just had some from the brewery a few weeks ago, definitely no oak anymore.