Belgian style APA

[Peatbogbrewer]

Last beer was one of these and was a belter so i thought i'd share, constructive criticism and adaptations are most welcome!

3 kg Maris Otter
250g Crystal malt
250g Amber malt
125g wheat malt
1 kg pale dme
250g brown sugar

single infusion at 65 dogs for 60 mins

40g amarillo @ 60
20g amarillo @ 20
20g amarillo @ 10
20g amarillo @ 0
20g saaz (and why not) @ 0

Mangrove Jacks Belgian Ale Yeast @ 27 degs gave great attenuation and dry, peppery finish.
Amarillo gave punchy orangeyness and saaz a zesty touch, malts came out lovely too.

Next chinook single hop version for xmas piney treat! May miss out 20 min hop edition and dry hop instead?

What you reckon?

[BrewBoyJoe]

looks interesting. What is the target ABV of the beer?

[Matt12398]

At the end of the day if you like experimenting then go for it but if you're fairly new to brewing, start simple.

I'd take out the sugar and amber malt. 90% of the fermentables made up of the Maris Otter and DME. Then 5% crystal and 5% wheat.

Without knowing the AA% I'm not sure on your final estimated IBUs but 40g is quite a lot for an initial bittering charge and possibly a waste of good Amarillo. I'd also switch the 20 minute addition and add everything no earlier than from the last 15 minutes onwards. Take the Saaz out or use that as a contrinution towards your bittering addition because you won't taste any of that noble hop aroma in amongst that Amarillo.

[BrewBoyJoe]

I agree, 5% pale crystal / 5% wheat is a nice combo for Pale Ale!

[Peatbogbrewer]

Target ABV was 6.3% and IBU at about 60. I think i will take your advice and ditch the sugar and amber (although i love the taste) go for 5% on the wheat and crystal plus save the saaz for a tripel. A more refined ale instead of the in your face one i did last, still tastes good....many thanks.

[BrewBoyJoe]

The ABV and IBU and late hopping are in keeping with the APA Style as are the hop choices! How about a bit of Victory or Munich Malt to give a bit of extra malt character, say 5-10%!

[Barley Water]

Humm....well first of all, I would say a 6%+ beer with 60 IBU's and a bunch of late hops is more like a standard American IPA to me (that's pretty much were Dogfishhead 60 is for instance). Now I'm gonna get into personal preference here so you might want to take the rest of this with a grain of salt. First of all, I would save Amarillo for late and dry hopping as there are other high alpha, clean bittering hops that will do a nice job (Magnium or Warrior for instance). Sure, Amarillo will do a nice job bittering but why waste it when other hops (which are easier to get) will do a fine job. Oh yeah, and I agree with the previous poster to lose the saaz. One thing to consider here is that a bunch of hop flavor and aroma is going to completely cover up the Belgian yeast contribution; I would frankly back off on the hops to encourage more Belgian flavor in the final brew. On this side of the pond we tend to use pretty clean ale yeast for IPA's since what we are trying for is a hop show so using a Belgian strain in a beer like that would be a distraction. Many use a bit of simple sugar in higher octane brews if they are looking to keep the body light, just depends of what you want the final beer to be like. If you want Belgian type action use the sugar; if you taste most commercial Belgian beers they tend to be well attenuated and easy to drink given their gravity (but of course that will accentuate the hop bitterness). Many over here use sugar to dry out their IPA's as well, especially the really big ones. By the way, be warned that I will not hesitate to add adjuncts to my beer if I am trying to achieve a specific effect; the homebrew snobs and hipsters be damned. Finally, carbonate the hell out of the beer if you want a Belgian influenced product and for God's sake, drink it out of a snifter or better yet challace.

[Matt12398]

Belgian IPAs do add something more to the party with some interesting yeast character so don't be put off using it.

[Peatbogbrewer]

I'm going to keep the fermentables but reduce the amber, bitter with magnum, drop the saaz, late/dry hop with chinook, keep the yeast at 26 degs and be in Belgian style heaven for xmas. chin chin