Today’s beer recipe comes from a Popular Mechanics article that shares ten award-winning homebrew recipes from a homebrew club in New York. This one won first place in the American ale category at the 2010 Hudson Valley Homebrew Competition.
I was drawn to this extra pale ale recipe by its use of the hop bursting, a technique in which large amounts of hops are added later in the boil in lieu of the traditional early addition. This results in an assertive hop flavor and aroma without excessive hop bitterness.
The mix of specialty malts in this beer recipe creates a blend of toasty, caramel, and bready malt flavors to support the big-time hop flavor and aroma. If you’re looking for a sessionable, yet hoppy homebrew recipe, this could be the one!
Tips: You’ll need an 8-10 gallon boil kettle in order to do the all-grain version of this extra pale ale recipe. I’d also recommend using Irish moss and gelatin to avoid haze and to help hop trub settle out. Add the Irish moss with 10 minutes left in the boil; add the gelatin during secondary fermentation.
If you’d rather do this extra pale ale recipe’s extract version, see the partial-mash option at the end.
Happy brewing!
Ray Leeota’s Freezer Cleaner Extra Pale Ale
(All-grain recipe, 6-gallon batch)
Brewers: Ray Girard & Lee Jacobson
Style: American Pale Ale
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
IBUs: 40 IBU
ABV: 5.3%
9 lbs. American two-row malt
1 lb. wheat malt
1 lb. crystal 40L malt
1 lb. Munich malt
0.5 lb. Victory malt
1 oz. Columbus hops (14 AAUs) at :20
0.5 oz. Amarillo hops (4.25 AAUs) at :10
0.5 oz. Centennial hops (5 AAUs) at :10
1 oz. Columbus hops (14 AAUs) at :5
1 oz. Centennial hops at flame out
1 oz. Amarillo hops at flame out
Wyeast 1056: American Ale Yeast
Directions: The day before brewing, prepare a 2L yeast starter. On brew day, clean and sanitize equipment. Mash crushed grains in 4.5 gallons of water. Hold at 152°F for 60 minutes. Sparge and collect about 7.5 gallons of wort. Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. Add flame out hops when heat is turned off. Chill wort, transfer to a sanitized fermented, aerate, and pitch yeast. Ferment at 68°F.
Partial-mash option: Replace the American two-row malt with 6.6 lbs. of Steam Freak Light LME. Do a mini-mash with the specialty grains in 5 qts. water, strain wort into a brew kettle, and add malt extract. Top off with water to bring boil volume to 7.5 gallons and proceed with recipe as above.
This extra pale ale recipe as already proven itself to be a winner, so why not give it a try with either all-grain or extract. Either way it sound delicious!
Interested in other hoppy brews? Check out the Brewers Best: Imperial Pale Ale Recipe Kit!
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder and editor of the Local Beer Blog.
