Brew #19 – Extra Pale Ale

Posted on by phil

This is Northern Brewer’s Extra Pale Ale all grain kit.

Ingredients

Mash:

  • 7.5 lbs Rahr 2-row Pale
  • 1 lb. Belgian Cara 8
  • 0.5 lbs. Briess Caramel 20

Hops:

  • 2 oz Cascade @ 60 min
  • 1 oz Cascade @ 1 min

Yeast:

  • 1 packet Safale US-05

Misc:

  • .5 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min

Brew Day (2/23/19)

  1. Started heating about 3.2 gallons of water to 164F (@11 am)
  2. put some hot water in my cooler mash tun to get it warmer (it’s stored in my cold basement office)
  3. doughed-in at 11:40am – target temp 152F – hit 153F
  4. mashed for 1 hour – stayed at 153F for 50 mins then hit 152F for last 10
  5. added about 2 gallons of ~203F water for mashout – target temp 170F for 10 mins – hit about 167-170F (was unable to take a precise temp reading)
  6. Fly sparged with 3 gallons of ~167F water
  7. Collected ~6.25 gallons wort – Pre-boil gravity 1.047
  8. add 2 oz Cascade @ 60 min – using a mesh bag to hold the hops this time
  9. add .5 tbsp Irish moss @ 15min
  10. add 1 oz Cascade @ 1min – used a separate mesh bag
  11. started cooling at 3:35 pm
  12. cooled to ~78F in ~20 mins
  13. poured from kettle thru strainer into bucket, then poured hard back into kettle, then poured hard back into bucket, then poured from bucket to wide mouth fermentor
  14. sprinkled yeast on surface
  15. agitated just a bit while in fermentor but not enough to fully incorporate yeast into the liquid
  16. “fermometer” reads about 71F
  17. OG: 1.054

Secondary (3/3/19)

Racked to secondary after 8 days. I would’ve gone for 2 weeks, but next weekend wont be a convenient time to do this. Gravity reading 1.011 (5.6% ABV).

Bottling (3/17/19)

Bottled with 3.5 oz table sugar dissolved in 2 cups boiling water. This beer looks like it’ll be the clearest I’ve ever made! And it tastes really balanced and clean. No gravity reading taken.

Tastings (Late March — September 2019)

I’m not loving this beer. There’s something off in the flavor. It’s drinkable, but absolutely forgettable. I’ve been letting a few bottles age for about 6 months now, and I am still not feeling this one. The only variable I can think of from some of my normal brewing processes is that I sterilized the bottles in the dishwasher this time instead of submerging in StarSan. It also is not as clear as I had thought at bottling time. Still a looker though!