Patrick Henry Pale Ale (Countertop Mash Formulation)

Patrick Henry

Here is an example recipe for countertop partial mashing. This is my pale ale, presented in a 5-gallon (19-L) homebrew recipe formulated for either partial mashing with a 2-gallon cooler (main recipe) or a 3-gallon cooler (see option). Compared to a pale ale made with a straight extract-with-steeping-grains formulation, this beer has more aroma from the pale malt. Compared to some other partial mash methods, this uses more grains and less extract. Over 70% of the fermentables in this recipe come from the partial mash. Other recipes on this website formulated this way include Colby House Porter, Beelzeboss (“saison” brewed with Mt. Dew), Fimbulvinter Øl (winter warmer), and “Freya’s” Eyes (golden ale). Since this is a hoppy beer, I’ve also linked to some tips on dry hopping in the recipe.

Patrick Henry Pale Ale

American pale ale

by Chris Colby

Partial mash (countertop); English units

DESCRIPTION

This is my basic American-style pale ale. I’ve brewed (the all-grain version of) this recipe — slightly tweaking it every time — over 30 times and it’s a great “go-to” beer. I really like the combination of Centennial, Cascade and Amarillo late hops and I use this combo in most of my other pale-ale-like beers, including my sweet potato ESB. The only non-standard part of this recipe is the tiny amount of chocolate malt added. This changes the hue of the beer slightly, and can be omitted if you want.

INGREDIENTS (for 5 gallons)

Water 

carbon filtered tap water, ideally:

< 50 ppm carbonate [HCO₃^–]

~125 ppm calcium [Ca⁺²] *

* use 3:1 ratio of CaSO₄ to CaCl₂

Malts and Malt Extract (for an OG of 1.052 at 65% extract efficiency and an SRM of 11)

3 lb. 5 oz. US 2-row pale malt

8.0 oz. crystal malt (40 °L)

3.0 oz. crystal malt (60 °L)

1/8 oz. chocolate malt

3 lb. 10 oz. light dried malt extract (US, such a Briess or similar)

Hops (for 44 IBUs total)

Simcoe hops (13 IBUs)

0.375 oz. (at 13% alpha acids), boiled for 60 minutes

Centennial hops (14 IBUs)

0.50 oz. (at 10% alpha acids), boiled for 30 minutes

Cascade hops (9 IBUs)

0.625 oz. (at 7% alpha acids), boiled for 15 minutes

Amarillo hops (3.7 IBUs)

0.25 oz. (at 8% alpha acids), boiled for 15 minutes

Cascade hops (0 IBUs)

0.625 oz. (at 7% alpha acids), boiled for 0 minutes

Amarillo hops (0 IBUs)

0.25 oz. (at 8% alpha acids), boiled for 0 minutes

Cascade dry hops

0.75 oz. in secondary fermenter

Amarillo dry hops

0.50 oz. in secondary fermenter

Yeast (to attenuate to FG 1.011, for an ABV of 5.3%)

Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)

or Fermentis US-05 yeast

(a 1.5-qt. yeast starter for liquid yeasts)

Other

1 tsp. Irish moss (boiled for 15 mins)

1/4 tsp. yeast nutrients (boiled for 15 minutes)

5.0 oz. corn sugar (to prime bottles for 2.6 volumes of CO₂)

PROCEDURE

Make yeast starter 2–3 days ahead of time. In your brewpot, heat 5.5 qts. of brewing liquor to 163 °F. Place crushed grains in a large steeping bag and submerge in brewpot water. Mash at 152 °F for 45 minutes, stirring and heating briefly every 10 minutes to maintain the mash temperature. In a separate pot, heat 5 qts of water to 170 °F. When the mash is done, heat it to 170 °F for a mash out. Lift bag and let drip into brewpot until you can move it over to the cooler without splattering too much wort. Scoop or pour the wort from the brewpot into the cooler. Recirculate the wort until it is clear, then run off. Sparge steadily over 60 minutes (collect about a cup of wort from the cooler every 90 seconds) to collect about 10 qts. Add about 2 qts. of water to the brewpot, and start heating it as you collect the wort. You should yield about 3.5 gallons of wort when you’re done collecting the wort. Stir in roughly half of the malt extract and bring wort to a boil. Add the first dose of hops and boil wort for 60 minutes. Add other hops, Irish moss and yeast nutrients at times indicated. Stir in remaining malt extract in the last 10 minutes of the boil. (Tips on adding extract during the boil.) Chill wort to 68 °F, then rack to fermenter. Add water make about 5.0 gallons, aerate wort thoroughly, and pitch sediment from yeast starter. Ferment at 68 °F. After fermentation stops, let the beer settle for 2–3 days, then rack to secondary fermenter with dry hops. (Dry hopping tips.) Dry hop for 5–6 days, then rack to keg or bottling bucket, for a yield of 5 gallons. Carbonate to 2.6 volumes of CO₂.

3-gallon (11-L) Cooler Option:

Increase the amount of pale malt to 5 lb. 5 oz. (2.4 kg). Decrease the amount of malt extract to 2 lb. 9 oz. (1.2 kg). Use 8.3 qts. (7.8 L) of strike water and roughly this volume (about 5% less) of sprage water.  Collect about 4 gallons (15 L wort) of wort.

“They proclaimed that it was triple hopped! Yet nary a hop did I detect.”

Patrick Henry Pale Ale

American pale ale

by Chris Colby

Partial mash (countertop); English units

INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)

Water

carbon filtered tap water, ideally:

< 50 ppm carbonate [HCO₃^–]

~125 ppm calcium [Ca⁺²] *

* use 3:1 ratio of CaSO₄ to CaCl₂

Malts and Malt Extract (for an OG of 1.052 at 65% extract efficiency and an SRM of 11)

1.5 kg US 2-row pale malt

230 g crystal malt (40 °L)

85 gcrystal malt (60 °L)

3.5 g chocolate malt

1.6 kg light dried malt extract (US, such a Briess or similar)

Hops (for 44 IBUs total)

Simcoe hops (13 IBUs)

11 g (at 13% alpha acids), boiled for 60 minutes

Centennial hops (14 IBUs)

14 g (at 10% alpha acids), boiled for 30 minutes

Cascade hops (9 IBUs)

18 g (at 7% alpha acids), boiled for 15 minutes

Amarillo hops (3.7 IBUs)

7.1 g (at 8% alpha acids), boiled for 15 minutes

Cascade hops (0 IBUs)

18 g (at 7% alpha acids), boiled for 0 minutes

Amarillo hops (0 IBUs)

7.1 g (at 8% alpha acids), boiled for 0 minutes

Cascade dry hops

21 g in secondary fermenter

Amarillo dry hops

14 g. in secondary fermenter

Yeast (to attenuate to FG 1.011, for an ABV of 5.3%)

Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)

or Fermentis US-05 yeast

(a 1.5-L. yeast starter for liquid yeasts)

Other

1 tsp. Irish moss (boiled for 15 mins)

1/4 tsp. yeast nutrients (boiled for 15 minutes)

140 g corn sugar (to prime bottles for 2.6 volumes of CO2)

PROCEDURE

Make yeast starter 2–3 days ahead of time. In your brewpot, heat 5.2 L of brewing liquor to 73 °C. Place crushed grains in a large steeping bag and submerge in brewpot water. Mash at 67 °C for 45 minutes, stirring and heating briefly every 10 minutes to maintain mash temperature. In a separate pot, heat 5 L of water to 77 °C. When mash is done, heat to 77 °C for a mash out. Lift bag and let drip into brewpot until you can move it over to the cooler without splattering too much wort. Scoop or pour wort from brewpot into cooler. Recirculate wort until clear, then run off. Sparge steadily over 60 minutes (collect about a cup of wort from the cooler every 90 seconds) to collect about 9.5 L. Add about 2 L of water to the brewpot, and start heating it as you collect the wort. You should yield about 13 L of wort when you’re done collecting it. Stir in roughly half of the malt extract and bring wort to a boil. (Tips on adding extract during the boil.) Add the first dose of hops and boil wort for 60 minutes. Add other hops, Irish moss and yeast nutrients at times indicated. Stir in remaining malt extract in last 10 minutes of the boil. Chill wort, then rack to fermenter. Add water make about 19 L, aerate wort thoroughly, and pitch sediment from yeast starter. Ferment at 20 °C. After fermentation stops, let beer settle for 2–3 days, then rack to secondary fermenter with dry hops. (Dry hopping tips.) Dry hop for 5–6 days, then rack to keg or bottling bucket, for a yield of 19 L. Carbonate to 2.6 volumes of CO₂.