First Recipe Design - Pale Ale - Thoughts?

[horrorbrews]

My first recipe that I've fully designed myself. What do you guys think?  I used Beer Smith which I just recently purchased and now finally feel like I can put a recipe together. 

Pale Ale

0.50 oz Burton Water Salts (Mash 60.0 mins)

9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US

1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L

4.0 oz Biscuit Malt 0.50 oz Apollo - Boil 45.0 min

Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)

0.50 oz Simcoe - Boil 15.0 min

0.50 oz Simcoe - Boil 10.0 min

0.50 oz Simcoe - Boil 0.0 min

1.0 pkg Lallemand BRY-97 American West Coast Ale Yeast

1.00 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop

[philm63]

My thoughts? I've got one or two... It actually looks quite delicious! I was concerned when I first saw the ingredient list that the Crystal malt was a little high for the style, but the numbers show just under 10% when I plug it in to BS. As a hint for next time; attach the .bsmx file to your post so we can look at it from your perspective - we all have different set-ups and it may look slightly different to each of us.

The ratio between the gravity (SG) and the IBUs (aka the BU/GU - yours calculated out to 1.061 in my set-up) looks like it is pushing the upper end of the style envelope, but bitterness is really all about perception. I left the default AA% values as they were in BS.

There are those who might taste a 1.061 BU/GU American Pale Ale and think it is an American IPA. When I taste my APA when it is really fresh, the bitterness, to me, is right on the edge of AIPA, and my average BU/GU for an APA runs right around 0.850.

Again, perceived bitterness is very subjective. There are lots of ways you can brew this and the perceived bitterness will be different each time. If, for example, you mash in at 154 F, you're likely to have a bit more residual sweetness than if you mashed in at 150 F, which could balance the bitterness for this style.

The gravity works out to right around 4.7% ABV lending to a bit lighter APA, and with the 1.061 BU/GU it may more easily be perceived as an AIPA which is not a bad thing at all. I say brew it up and tell us how it tastes.

Ok, those were a lot of thoughts.

[all grain]

looks just like some of my beers except I would add some caraform or cara pills ,and I like to use some flaked oats 1/2# or so.
 of course that's just me. 

[tom_hampton]

I would have left out the burton water salts.  If you are going to treat the water, then do the work to know what you are adding and why.  If not, then just use your local water without additional salts.  Burton water salts are a mixture of salts that are almost guaranteed to be less than ideal for your local water.  14 grams is a more minerals than I ever add to a beer (except in rather unusual circumstances). 

If you already made this beer....I'd make it again and leave out the salts and then do a side by side tasting.  A very worthwhile experiment that will tell you a lot about why water matters (or not!!).