Epic Pale Ale clone

[Steve Hinton]

Recipe taken from "Can You Brew It".

Not sure how "cloned" my attempt is. I overshot the SG by 8 points! But more my fault than the recipe so here it is. Feel free to chime in :)

55L preboil

40L post-boil

75% efficiency

OG 1060 (should be 1052)
FG 1010-1012
IBUs 23.2 (True IBU is 45 aprox)
SRM 8.3

8.6kg Golden Promise 80%
1.1kg Baird's Caramalt 10%
360g Carapils 3.3%
720g Fawcett Pale Crystal 6.6%

Strike Water 30L - I added 48g of PH5.2 Stabilizer

Mash temp 68.5C (I hit 66.7C)

70min mash

Sparge Water 38L @ 80C

PreBoil Gravity 1050

90 minute boil

14g US Cascade 6.2%AA at 75m
28g US Cascade at 30m
68g US Cascade at 10m (plus finings - I used koppafloc)
85g US Cascade at 0m
Wait ten minutes
85g US Cascade - hot whirlpool for 10 more minutes

Cool to 18C and pitch, raise to 20C after 24 hours

Wyeast 1272 American Ale II - I used WLP051 instead - two vials into a 3L starter hand swirled frequently for 24 hours, then cold crashed for 9 hours before decanting 2L and pitching 1L yeast slurry split between two fermenters.

114g US Cascade dry hop dose 1 at 20C for 5 days - i just chucked pellets loose into the fermenter
114g US Cascade dry hop dose 2 at cold crash 4C for 5 days - chucked in loose again

I packaged 37L (18L into bottles and 19L into keg) at 2.4 volumes of CO2 stored at 20-22C

 

[Willem Truter]

I tried this one too and it came out really good, some harsh bitterness but I reckon that's because of water and ph. Hope it turns out well man, let us know

[Mark Weusten]

I am trying this Epic PA clone in the weekend. How did your mash temp at 66.7 go for you? I am concerned that 68.5 is a bit high? Any thoughts, comments......

[Steve Hinton]

To early to know Mark. Only bottled/kegged last Friday so I've got a couple of weeks to wait before I can indulge :-)

[Crusader-Rob]

I've always mash this beer at 65, to keep it fermentable, mine finishes at 1012.

[Mark Weusten]

65c sounds good to me

[Steve Hinton]

Yip I got down to 1010. Will be interesting to see what sort of body/mouthfeel it has. Plenty of crystal malts so shouldn't be too thin

[Mark Weusten]

While  we are at it, any other tweaks you guys could see to be beneficial?

[Steve Hinton]

For 55L pre boil I'd drop the grain bill down to 10kg. That should help hit 1052

[Steve Hinton]

either that or go for 60L preboil if you're boil pot has the capacity.

[Sam DT]

Cheers for posting this.

Just knocked out a double batch and have split into two fermenters  one with WLP001 on one with WLP007.

I brewed a batch very similar to this (exact same grain bill except Carared instead of Caramalt and slightly lighter hopping) three months ago mashing at 66. Used WLP001 and came out a little dry at 1.010 so mashed at 67 today to try and boost things a little.

Also threw in the protein rest (55 for 15min) from Deebles NZ pale post.

What are thoughts on racking to secondary prior to second dry hop addition? (I don't usually use a secondary)

[Steve Hinton]

I prefer to keep the beer on the yeast for as long as possible to help clean it up. Keeping it in the primary until packaging also removes the exposure to oxygen and possible contamination - always a risk with the transfer to a secondary.

Just cooled down a bottle of my EPA clone after 10 days carbing for a little taste and it's going to be a ripper.

I'm keen to know how WLP001 and 007 go. Mine bottomed out at 1010 too but the decent wack of crystal malt has helped keep some reasonable body.

[Sam DT]

Cheers, yep that's my usual approach as well.

I'm guessing/hoping that the cold crash might suppress some of the degradation which might usually lead to grassy flavours with ten days at the higher temperatures...