Welsh Pale Ale

1/27/2013

My family is part Welsh, so I was overjoyed to find an experienced Welsh home brewer on the /r/homebrewing subreddit. He gave me detailed instructions on how to brew a basic Welsh Pale Ale. As I mentioned before, the beer was delicious and prompted my family to insist that I brew more. So I did, with a few changes: adjusted the water to accomodate some misreading of my municipal water report(!), added 1.5 oz of EK Goldings at knockout (after an amazing experience with flavor and aroma with knockout hops in my Mid/West IPA), switched to liquid yeast instead of Danstar Nottingham, dry hopped with a bit of Willamette hops, and added a bit of Maris Otter to the grist for some malt complexity.

Mashed for 90 minutes at 148-150 degrees. Used 50% Warren, Ohio water and 50% distilled. Added 5 grams of gypsum and 5 grams of Calcium Chloride to create a profile of:

Ca 58
Mg 2
Na 9
Cl 59
SO 67
Alkalinity as CaCO3 31
RA -12

Pre boil OG: 1.036 @ 13 gallons

Boiled hard for 90 minutes.

Ended with 10.5 gallons of 1.045 wort. Aerated with pure O2 and pitched a 3L starter of Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast. Placed in 62 degree basement. Vigorous fermentation observed 24 hours later.

Update 1/31/2013
Added 2oz of Willamette into primary for dry hop.

Update 2/10/2013
Transferred 10 gallons to two kegs. The dry hopping didn't give me as much aroma as I wanted, but we'll see if some carbonation helps accentuate it. The beer is kind of plain compared to the flavorful beers I've been pumping out recently, so it left me underwhelmed. I'm sure it will be good once it's carbed up and chilled.

Recipe below.



BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Welsh Pale Ale (1.1)
Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer:
Style: English Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 13.50 gal
Post Boil Volume: 12.00 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 10.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 7.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 85.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 86.9 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU      
7.50 gal              Distilled Water                          Water         1        -          
7.50 gal              Warren, OH                               Water         2        -          
5.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 90.0 mins)        Water Agent   3        -          
5.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 90.0 mins Water Agent   4        -          
12 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)           Grain         5        75.0 %      
3 lbs                 Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         6        18.8 %      
1 lbs                 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)    Grain         7        6.2 %      
1.50 oz               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 90.0 Hop           8        15.1 IBUs  
1.00 oz               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop           9        9.4 IBUs    
2.00 oz               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 Hop           10       9.4 IBUs    
1.50 oz               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 0.0  Hop           11       0.0 IBUs    
1.0 pkg               British Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1098) [1 Yeast         12       -          
2.00 oz               Willamette [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days  Hop           13       0.0 IBUs    


Mash Schedule: Welsh Pale Ale Temperature Mash
Total Grain Weight: 16 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time  
Saccharification  Add 20.00 qt of water at 162.3 F        150.8 F       90 min      
Mash Out          Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min             168.0 F       10 min      

Sparge: Fly sparge with 10.92 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
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