Beer of the Moment Article - Riggers on American Pale Ale

Paul Rigby

AMERICAN PALE ALE

The origins of pale ale have been covered in a previous article titled "Pale Ale/Bitter" Alas only the origins of pale ale were covered in that article and as with many things related to beer styles that was the start of an evolutionary process not the end.

The modern "US Pale Ale" is in fact, as I have already intimated, the product of an evolutionary process that began with the classic British IPA (India Pale Ale). While the IPA had become popular in the UK so it had also become popular in the once British colony of America, albeit with some slight variations accounted for by locally available ingredients. Essentially the so called US pale ales were really an IPA, with high gravity and highly hopped (especially bitterness). Unlike the British who taxed the high gravity IPA into oblivion, across the Atlantic, the Americans simply banned all alcoholic beverages altogether and called it prohibition! Alas prohibition saw the virtual demise of the true IPA related US pale ale due primarily due to a loss of knowledge and practical skills during the prohibition period. One exception, however, survived prohibition and that was Ballantine’s, (Peter Ballantine was a Scottish immigrant brewer, with a passion for IPA, who moved to New York in 1833), their IPA was brewed on many sites in the US from 1840 and eventually ending up on Rhode Island and was brewed up until the late 1960's. This exceptional brew had maintained the traditional IPA characteristics of high gravity (1.070) and high hopping levels (60IBU's) sadly this fine brew has now also passed to the great taxman in the sky!

Patriotic US craft and micro brewers have resurrected the style and developed a new “US Pale Ale” sub style to add to the world's range of pale ales by the exclusive use of American ingredients. A classic US pale ale should use American malted two row barley (unfortunately not usually available in Australia), US bred and grown hops (predominately Cascade) and a very clean low ester US yeast strain (such as Wyeast 1056 or 1272), water chemistry should be softer and far less mineralised than the traditional Burton water used in a British IPA. It may be apparent to some that so called US pale ale is really closer to the old style traditional British IPA than any IPA brewed an in the UK today!

I recommend reading two publications in relation to brewing India Pale Ales and they are Ray Daniels' excellent book "Designing Great Beers" and the Brewers Publications "Pale Ale" written by Terry Foster.

Enhanced Kit Version

I suggest starting out by purchasing a good quality IPA kit or Pale Ale/Bitter kit. There are numerous choices and the final decision is yours. If you choose to use a pale ale kit, rather than an IPA kit, then more malt extract and hop will need to be used to achieve the necessary alcohol and hop levels required for this style. There really isn't much that can be done to enhance a kit beer but here are a couple of things that I have tried and I think are worthwhile.

1. Substitute 1.5 kg (2.0 kg if using a pale ale kit) of Light Malt Extract for the sugar or dextrose normally used.
2. Put half a litre of cold water in a saucepan and add 250 gm of Crystal Malt and heat up SLOWLY (over a 15 to 20 minute period) until just short of boiling. Strain the liquid into your fermenter, and discard the grain residue.
3. Put half a litre of cold water into a saucepan and add 15 to 20gms of fresh Cascade hop pellets, bring to the boil as quickly as you like, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the strained liquid into the fermenter and discard the residue.
Follow the usual kit instructions for the remainder of the brew. This version will have much better malt and hop profile and more body or mouth feel than a straightforward kit alone.

Malt Extract Version

Base Malt – 4.0 kg Light Malt Extract (Syrup or dry)
Grains - 300 g Crystal Malt, 80 g Wheat Malt, & 20 g Roast Malt.
(Follow the method in point 2 of the enhanced kit instructions above)
Hops - Only American hops should be used, fortunately there are a number of choices to Australian brewers.

Willamette for bittering, and only one choice for flavour and aroma and that is Cascade.
(For bittering aim at around 50 to 55 IBU. Quantity will vary depending on the % Alpha Acid of the hops being used. Grain & Grape staff will be happy to do the calculations for you.)
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 1056 American Ale or 1272 American Ale Yeast 2 as good reliable performer.
If you prefer the convenience of dry yeast then try DCL Safale S-04.

Full Grain Version

Grains - 4500 gm British Ale
1000 gm Light Munich
300 gm Crystal (Lightest colour available)
100 gm Wheat

Mashing regimes are many and varied. Most modern malts are very well modified
and only need a simple single step infusion mash to obtain very good results.
Hops - Aim at 50 to 55 IBU's using Willamette for Bittering, Cascade for flavour, aroma and dry hopping.
(I recommend dry hopping with 25 gm Cascade after racking)
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 1056 (See above)