American Pale Ale Recipe

The Brew Dudes have brewed a number of American Pale Ales (APAs) over the years and we have listed the recipes on this post. Take a look at the different ways we approached this style. APAs in general should use American base malt, some specialty grains to give the beer some body and extra flavor, and American hops – particularly the big citrus-y ones that we have come to know and love. You could other US hop varieties but they won’t do well in competition. Not that Brew Dude John knows anything about that.

April 3 2012 Update:

Here is the latest Pale Ale from me.  The focus here is smooth bittering, solid classic centennial flavor and aroma, with a big boost of cascade aroma via dry hopping.

10lbs American 2-row (great western)
3lbs German Munich (1oL)
0.5lb Breiss Victory Malt
0.5lb Crystal 40L
1 oz Warrior 14.7%AA 60min
0.5 oz Centennial 11%AA 10min
0.5 oz Centennial 11%AA 0min
2 oz Cascade 5.7%AA Dry Hop 4days (whole leaf)
2pkg US-05 American Ale from Fermentis (dry)

Mash 152F
Ferment started at 62F, 3days in ramp to 65F, 5 days in ramp to 68F and hold.

March 11 2009 Update:

I was thinking my first all grain brew should be a variation of the APA I brewed last year for the LongShot Competition.

I made some adjustments and decided to post the new version of the American Pale Ale recipe.   These adjustments are based on not only to suit an all grain process, but also based on notes I received from the judges:

10 lbs American 2-row malt
2 oz. Special B Malt
5 oz. Honey Malt
5 oz. American Victory Malt
.5 oz Yakima Magnum Pellet Hops boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Glacier Plugs boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Glacier Plugs boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Glacier Plugs boiled 15 min.
.5 oz. Glacier Plugs boiled 1 min.
Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Mash at 152 degrees for 60 minutes. Make yeast starter. Ferment for 2 weeks.

Basically trying to improve on what I feel is a good recipe. Attempting to get a bit hoppier with this one. Staying with a clean yeast strain, but going back to the tried and true 001.

I have Mike on tap to document the first all grain. Should be something… 🙂

Here is my original partial mash version of this recipe:

4 lbs. 4 oz. American 2-row
2 oz. American Caramel 60°L
4 oz. American Victory
3 oz. Honey Malt
3 oz. Special B Malt
3.5 lbs. Dry Extra Light Extract
.5 oz. Cluster (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 15 min.
.5 oz. Glacier (Plugs, 7.0 %AA) boiled 1 min.
Yeast: White Labs WLP051 California Ale V Yeast

Original Gravity: 1.054
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 8.51 °SRM
Bitterness: 37.5 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.50%

If you look closely at the ingredients list, you will see that I have profiled many of them in recent posts. I may need to alter some of the ingredients if I can’t get them.

I will be following a partial mash procedure for this recipe. Here is my brew log for this beer:

American Pale Ale Preparations

Checking On The Hops

Checking On The Grains

APA Brew Day