Saturday 25 May 2013

15 Minute Pale Ale



As promised, here is my 15 Minute Pale Ale.  I got the original idea from this guys post on homebrewtalk  and I thought I've got heaps of Cascade, why not.  It ticks all the right boxes for a pale ale; easy drinking, not too bitter and a great rounded flavour despite only a 15, 10 and 5 minute additions.  If you are concerned that it might be a bit expensive to brew then look at bulk hops.  I used Yakima Valley Hops last season to stock up on the cheap but I've also used Niko Brew in the past as well.  Even with shipping to Australia it's worth it for a staple hop like Cascade.

I didn't dry hop the last batch but it shouldn't matter too much either way.



15 Minute Pale Ale Recipe

300g Maltodextrine @ 20 minutes
1.4Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 20 minutes
86g Cascade Hops 5.4% @ 15 minutes
1 whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes
1tsp Calcium Carbonate @ 15 minutes
28g Cascade Hops 5.4% AA @ 5 minutes
14g Cascade Hops 5.4% AA @ 0 minutes
1tsp Yeast nutrient @ 5 minutes
1.4Kg Sorghum Syrup @ 0 minutes
250ml Amber Candy Syrup @ 0 minutes
*** Cold Crash ***
2 x US-05 American Ale Yeast



Again a fantastic beer.  Should be a house pale ale.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the recipe. I'm very tempted to try it as my first GF beer. Can I ask a couple of questions?

    What is your target post boil volume and gravity?
    Why did you add the calcium?

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  2. Hi Anonymous,

    To answer your questions:

    1. I do a boil of about 2.5 Gallons of water (10L) and top up at the end to just over 5 Gallons (20L) in the fermenter. I've read that people produce better beers if they can boil all 5 Gallons but my pot is too small for that.

    2. I add calcium carbonate because others have said it reduced acidity in Sorghum (I haven't been able to confirm this) but they also said acidity is related to the sorghum "twang". For the very small price it adds I throw it in. Yeast nutrient though is a must have. Be sure to use that.

    Good luck with your brew and be sure to tell me how it goes.

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  3. Thanks for the reply. I've brewed up a small test batch and will hopefully remember to let you know how it goes down. Its currently dry hopping.

    That's interesting about the calcium. Thanks for the tip.

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  4. I see that you always put some sorghum in at flame out.
    In your opinion, what does this produce for the beer? I've always done 60min boils with the sorghum added at 60mins.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah the jury is still out on that one. Back when I bottled my beer I had issues with sorghum twang from time to time. Some people said it was down to adding all of the sorghum at the start of the boil. Since moving to temperature controlled brewing environment for the fermenters that's definitely less of an issue. As well as switching to kegging.

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    2. Sounds like you *may* be able to counteract that with the calcium carbonate as you mention above.
      I had not heard that before, but I will definitely being trying it this week.

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