Amber Ale

Was going to brew an American Pale ale tonight but decided to blend in some darker malts to create a bready Amber Ale with a pronounced hop aroma and flavor. Not an overly exciting style but you can find an example of one at nearly every brewpub in America. The darker malt character helps to carry the style to gateway craft beer drinkers. An American Pale ale can many times be noticeable bitter to the drinkers palette. While an Amber ale, although many times brewed with higher IBU's, is greatly enjoyed. The darker malts help to blend and hide an otherwise surprising hop flavor to the new craft drinker. This amber ale will have a noticeable hop flavor and aroma though. So, some drinking experience is required for this Amber.

Recipe: American Pale malt, Munich malt, Amber malt, Briess Extra Special Roast, and Chocolate malt. Hopped with Warrior, whole leaf Centennial, and Chinook. Fermented with White Labs WLP001.

Rye'd Pale Ale(s)

Brewing a ten gallon batch of a an American Pale Ale with just over 15% Rye malt. I'll be doing a little bit of a hop experiment on this one. I've got quite a bit of whole leaf hops that need to be used up (In freezer for 6 months). I am confident they are still 'fresh' enough' to use but I would like to use them up quickly at this point. So I'm going to be adding over half a pound of whole leaf Palisade, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops all combined at end of boil. Still leaving me with part of a brick of Simcoe to use up. I've heard/read about this hop technique being used by Deschutes for their Hop Trip. Brewed with very little, if any bittering hops and a truck load of whole leaf hop flowers at the end of boil. So I'll be first wort hopping with some Chinook hops, which provides some bitterness, then not adding another hop until end of boil. Today's brew is based off my Rye'd Pale Ale recipe I brewed in January 2010.

Grist Bill: Briess two row, Rye malt, Munich malt, Crystal malt, and Amber malt. Hopped with Chinook, Palisade, Amarillo, and Simcoe. Fermented with Chico yeast.

Rye'd Pale Ale

A favorite style of mine. Take an American pale ale and sub in 10-20% rye malt into the grist bill. The rye malt adds body, complexity to the malt backbone, and a peppery spiciness. Balanced with pungent pine and citrus flavors from Northwest hops. An American pale ale brewed with rye malt and traditional American pale ale hop schedule makes for a delicious brew.

I brewed two Rye pale ales last year, one in June 09', and another in August 09'. I thought the second one turned out better because of all the "C" hops that were used. I will be adding a blend of "C" hops to dry hop with. Keeping malt bill similar with only some minor changes.

Rye Pale Ale v2.0

Brewed this beer with home brew friend a few weeks back and were brewing it again with different hops and a slight malt bill adjustment this time. The last brew turned out quite nice. A little dark, it was approaching amber. Looking to brighten in up and bring it a pale color. This brew has pale malt, rye malt, dark Munich malt, wheat malt, and crystal rye. For hops let's drop the "C" hop bomb into this one. Yup. That means a little warrior for bittering, then into the cascade, columbus, chinook, and centennial. Some in the kettle and dry hops. These "C" hops are some of the most popular hops in American style pale ales. They contribute a citrus grapefruit character. Well it's three in the morning. Waiting for the wort to cool. Then aerate the wort and pitch the yeast. Four in the morning and all wrapped up.