Tag Archives: pale ale

Scaphohippus Pale Ale

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My latest hoppy brew involves a pale ale recipe from the Maltose Falcons’ 50th anniversary recipe book. It’s a nice volume with some interesting recipes across a variety of styles. The book is by design geared for members of the club, with a decent bit of inside baseball and anecdotes and stuff, but for someone who likes field-tested recipes (versus rando ones posted online), it’s a worthy addition to a home library. I found some of the recipes to be a bit hard to follow in the formatting or presentation (e.g., lines of text with odd breakpoints that made it hard to discern what went where; limited procedural guidance for some batches–I can’t fault them too much, because it is a compendium of recipes from a whole bunch of people across decades of time), so I wouldn’t recommend it for the novice brewer, but most folks who are in the intermediate to advanced stages of brewing should be very capable of putting the recipes to work.

In any case, a recipe called “Halfcolt Pale Ale” caught my eye as a contemporary pale ale of reasonable ABV that incorporated ingredients I mostly had on hand. I made some modifications, both for the base malts and to use hop pellets versus the cryo products, and away I went on my interpretation. Two versions of the recipe were included in the book; one is a commercial scaled version and the other is a homebrew version. Beyond batch size, there are some significant differences between recipes. Most notably, the homebrew version lists bitterness at 76 IBU, whereas the commercial version is published at 50 IBU. I elected to dry the much more bitter homebrew version, partly because I wanted a robustly in-your-face beer. In the printed version of the recipe, the line alignment for hop additions made it ambiguous which were whirlpool and which were dry hops, so I made some informed guesses.

This recipe gets the name of “Scaphohippus Pale Ale,” because this extinct equine was about half the size of a regular horse (i.e., a “halfcolt”).

Recipe Name

  • 8.75 lb. 2-row brewer’s malt (Great Western)
  • 1 lb. Maris Otter pale malt (Thomas Fawcett)
  • 0.5 lb. Carafoam (Weyermann)
  • 6 oz. Victory malt (Briess)
  • 4 oz. Viking Caramel 100 malt (crystal 40)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 0.25 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), first wort hop and 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade hop pellets (7.3% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), 20 minute whirlpool
  • 0.5 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (10.4% alpha), 20 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. California ale dry yeast (WLP001, White Labs)
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (10.4% alpha), dry hop for 12 days
  • 1 oz. Cascade hop pellets (7.3% alpha), dry hop for 12 days
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), dry hop for 12 days

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 150°, full volume mash
  • 1.049 o.g., 1.009 f.g., 5.3% abv, 75 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Claremont tap water adjusted to hit a profile of 86 ppm Ca, 19 ppm Mg, 89 ppm Na, 192 ppm SO4, 110 ppm Cl, and 156 ppm bicarbonate.

Procedure

  • I collected 7.4 gallons of tap water, adding a Campden tablet, 3 g epsom salt, and 5 g gypsum to hit my water target parameters.
  • I heated the strike water to 156° and added the grains along with 5.7 mL of 88% lactic acid, holding the temperature at 150° for 60 minutes while recirculating. Then, I raised the temperature to 168° for 10 minutes before removing the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.041, for 67% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding first wort hops, additional hops, and finings per the schedule.
  • After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat, added the whirlpool hops, and recirculated for 20 minutes before chilling the rest of the way.
  • I transferred the wort to the fermenter and chilled to 68° before pitching the yeast. Starting gravity was 1.051. I brewed this beer on 24 May 2025 and held it at 68° for fermentation.
  • I added the dry hops on 1 June 2025 and cold crashed the beer on 4 June 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 13 June 2025, using a closed transfer followed by forced carbonation. Final gravity was 1.009, for 5.6% abv.
  • At my first taste of the beer on 25 June 2025, it was very clear, nearly brilliant, and absolutely delicious.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Very clear, gold beer, which pours with a dense and persistent white head. It’s absolutely gorgeous in the glass!
  • Aroma
    • Medium level of citrus and a touch of pine in the hop aroma. Not much malt or yeast comes through; perhaps a hint of maltiness as it warms up?
  • Flavor
    • High level of resiny bitterness, with orange citrus qualities and a slight grapefruit pith edge. There is a moderate level of a clean, malty flavor, with hints of caramel and biscuit.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium level of carbonation, dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a really enjoyable hoppy ale! It tilts more towards IPA (and a traditional west coast version at that) than pale ale due to the aggressive bittering, and so stylistic grounds were the main reason I didn’t give it a 9 or 10. The hop flavor and aroma are great; I think I’ve got my hop handling and kegging techniques pretty dialed in now to maximize flavor and freshness over the long haul. If I were to brew this again, I’d notch back the bitterness for future brews down to 50 or 60 IBU, but everything else hits well.
  • Overall
    • 7/10

Beam Me Up Pale Ale 2024

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I love pale ales, and I love this recipe! I made this last year and decided to give it another try. I upped the hops a touch to get a little more bitterness, and the malt brands are slightly different. Either way, it’s basically the same beer – simple grist, simple hops, simple yeast.

Beam Me Up Pale Ale

  • 12 lb. 2-row pale malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. Viking caramel 100 (crystal 40) malt – (Viking)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, in mash
  • 2.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 60 minute boil
  • 1.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 15 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. BRY-97 (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.057 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 5.5% abv, 55 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Full volume mash, 156° for 60 minutes, 168° mash-out for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water adjusted with lactic acid

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.6 gallons of water at 162°, to hit a target rest of 156°. I added 5.5 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the pH.
  • I recirculated for 60 minutes during the mash, raising it to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out.
  • After the mash, I removed the grains. In total, the mash yielded 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.047, for 67% mash efficiency.
  • Once the runnings were boiling, I added hops and kettle finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled to 82° and transferred the wort to the fermenter. I continued chilling down to 66° before pitching the yeast, holding the fermenter at 66° for the primary fermentation.
  • I brewed the beer on 17 August 2024. Starting gravity was 1.057.
  • I kegged the beer using a closed transfer, on 1 September 2024. Final gravity was 1.013, for 5.8% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep gold beer, clear, with a fairly persistent white head
  • Aroma
    • Slight caramel malty note, and a moderate citrus aroma. It has a very orange-like quality.
  • Flavor
    • Medium bitterness, with a floral orange quality. Light caramel maltiness. This is a tasty beer!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate level of carbonation, smooth and slightly dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is a wonderful American pale ale recipe! I see no need to make any changes – it’s just plain tasty. The citrus character is fantastic!
  • Overall
    • 10/10

The French Connection Pale Ale

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A recent HOPBOX had a few varieties of French hops, which ranged from lager-type to IPA-ready varieties. Wanting to experiment a bit and also make an end-of-summer-drinkable-pale-ale, I created “French Connection Pale Ale.” Because my fermentation space was limited, I opted for a kveik–once again, the faithful Lutra. It’s not over-the-top in flavor, with mild citrusy qualities that would play well with the hops. I kept the grist on the lighter side, with just 2-row and caramel 20, in order to tilt towards easy drinkability and also contrast with the “old school” pale ale I brewed recently.

The French Connection Pale Ale

pale beer in glass
  • Lamonta Pale American barley malt (Mecca Grade)
  • 0.5 lb. caramel malt 20L (Briess)
  • 1.5 oz. Barbe Rouge hop pellets (6.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. dry Lutra Kveik (Omega #OYL-071)
  • 2 oz. Mistral hop pellets (4.2% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 0.5 oz. Barbe Rouge hop pellets (6.6% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.049 s.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.2% abv, 37 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Full volume mash, 152° for 60 minutes, 168° mash-out for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water adjusted to hit target water parameters of to hit target of 91 ppm Ca, 23 ppm Mg, 84 ppm Na, 196 ppm SO4, 120 ppm Cl, 20 ppm HCO3, RA=-62

Procedure

  • I collected 7.5 gallons of tap water and added 6.25 mL of 88% lactic acid, to knock out the carbonates. Then, I added 5 g of Epsom salts and 5 g of gypsum in order to hit my target water.
  • I heated the water to 157° in order to hit a mash temperature of 152°. I added 3 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the mash pH…only to realize I shouldn’t have done this! I hadn’t adjusted my water profile in the recipe, so this would result in a pH of ~4.9. Oops! I figured I would just roll with it by this point, and let the beer find its pH in the end.
  • I mashed at 152° for 60 minutes, with recirculation, before raising the mash to 168° for 10 minutes. I then pulled the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.75 gallons with a gravity of 1.041, for 70% mash effciency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled to 84° and transferred to the fermenter.
  • I brewed this beer on 19 August 2023. Starting gravity was 1.046.
  • After pitching the yeast, I fermented the beer at ambient.
  • I kegged the beer on 7 September 2023. It had a final gravity of 1.012, for 4.5% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • This is a straw-colored, hazy beer, with a thin white head. The head is somewhat persistent around the margins of the glass, but nothing special.
  • Aroma
    • A bit of berry as the beer warms up as well as some citrus; very fresh fruit character. I even get a bit of melon (cantaloupe/honeydew) at times.
  • Flavor
    • Hop-forward, especially in a fresh hop flavor. Bitterness is medium, and the hops come across with a bit of orange and even more berry character–especially currant and others. It’s more of a “generic berry” quality than anything. In some tastings, I get more citrus, but overall that is in the background. Malt quality is fairly innocuous, as expected. There is a bit of the “kveik flavor,” but it’s quite minimal.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium light body, moderate carbonation, and very very slightly dry finish. It’s an easy drinking beer!
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a pretty good “modern American pale ale,” and it is quite drinkable. I wouldn’t say it’s an earth-shaking beer, but the hops definitely are enjoyable. They are a nice departure from “citrus/pine bomb” territory. I would recommend these varieties for others who want to branch out. I got a strong vegetal/allium quality on the first few pours of this, but that is long gone thankfully.
  • Overall
    • 8/10 — the haze dings it a bit for my taste, but otherwise it’s pretty solid.

American Pale Ale 2023

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My previous American Pale Ale was enjoyable for multiple reasons, and I was keen to brew another one in the same flavor space. Specifically, I love the “traditional” Americna craft versions of APA, with their citrus/pine hops and decent malt complexity.

Conveniently, the July/August 2023 issue of BYO featured a style profile on American Pale Ale by Gordon Strong, with a focus on more traditional versions of the style. I usually have good luck with Strong’s recipes, so decided to give this one a go. It had a more complex malt bill than I normally use, which seemed like an interesting experiment.

My version follows the spirit of Strong’s fairly closely, although I increased the pale malt and pilsner malt quantities very slightly in order to account for my system efficiency. I also went with Centennial and Columbus hops instead of the more complex original version (Cascade+Amarillo+Centennial), to use up some of my hops on-hand. Finally, I like the “cleaner” profile of American ale yeasts, so I used those instead of the suggested English yeasts.

American Pale Ale 2023

  • 5.25 lb. Lamonta Pale American malt
  • 4.25 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
  • 1 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 lb. caramel malt 60L (Briess)
  • 0.5 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Columbus LUPOMAX hop pellets (20.5% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale (Lallemand BRY-97)

Target Parameters

  • 1.050 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 5.1% abv, 38 IBU, 8 SRM
  • Full volume mash, 152° for 60 minutes, 168° mash-out for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water adjusted to hit target water parameters of 83 ppm Ca, 6 ppm Mg, 84 ppm Na, 108 ppm SO4, 120 ppm Cl, 20 ppm HCO3, RA=-46 ppm

Procedure

  • I collected 7.5 gallons of tap water and added 6.25 mL of 88% lactic acid in order to neutralize the carbonates. Then, I heated the water to 156° before adding the crushed grains and 1.5 mL of 88% lactic acid for pH adjustment.
  • I set the mash temperature to 152° for 60 minutes with recirculation, and then raised the temperature to 168° for 10 minutes. Finally, I removed the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.75 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.041, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • While I brought the kettle to a boil, I added 4 g of gypsum to hit my water target.
  • I added hops and finings per the schedule, boiling for a total of 60 minutes.
  • Once I turned off the heat, I added the LUPOMAX Columbus hop pellets and recirculated for 15 minutes.
  • Next, I chilled the wort to 85° before transferring to the fermenter for the final chill to 66°. This took around 5 hours. Finally, I pitched the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.049. I brewed the beer on 16 July 2023.
  • Fermentation was vigorous, with the yeast overflowing into the airlock.
  • I kegged the beer on 12 August 2023. Final gravity was 1.010, for 5.1% abv.
  • The beer had dropped very clear by 24 August 2024.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Very clear and deep gold beer, which pours with a creamy and incredibly persistent ivory head. Just gorgeous!
  • Aroma
    • Bready malt and a touch of caramel, with piney hop notes. No significant yeast character.
  • Flavor
    • Moderately high bitterness, with extended bitter finish. The bitterness tends towards piney resin and citrus pith. The malt level is secondary; slightly bready and smooth.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium-low carbonation, slightly dry finish. Overall, this beer has a nice “round” palate.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • YES! This is a wonderful, classic American pale ale, of the sort you just can’t find anymore. Everything merges perfectly. The hop combo is awesome, and hits my sweet spot.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Beam Me Up Pale Ale

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Beer can commemorate life events and the passage of time…meeting new friends and saying farewell to old. A dear friend and neighbor is off to new opportunities with their family, and it’s definitely a beer-worthy event. He loves Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (SNPA), and we’ve shared a few in his driveway (as well as a few homebrews) over the years. So, I decided to brew something SNPA-inspired…and by coincidence, this year’s “Big Brew Day” recipe is right in that wheelhouse.

Beam Me Up Pale Ale, all on its own

The original recipe was in the March/April 2023 issue of Zymurgy, under the name of “Nearly Nirvana Pale Ale.” It’s pretty similar to the Miss’ippi #BIGCASCADE recipe from the September 2013 BYO issue, too! My recipe is a good match for “Nearly Nirvana,” except I lowered the gravity a touch (1.056 vs. 1.060), to more closely match SNPA. This batch is also special in that I used only whole cone Cascade hops from the Farke family farm in South Dakota, all representing the 2022 crop year. I made some minor adjustments in the grist — the original called for Simpsons Crystal Light malt, and I substituted in Briess’s Caramel 40L.

I elected for a quick mash on this one, with just 30 minutes for the main rest of 156°. The goal was to shave a few minutes off of the brew day!

I did something a little different for the tasting, in doing a head-to-head with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Although my beer isn’t precisely a clone, I thought it would be good to make a comparison nonetheless. The intent was to help me more clearly evaluate my own version, and think about what the ingredients delivered.

Beam Me Up Pale Ale

  • 12 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 0.5 lb. caramel malt – 40L (Briess)
  • 1.5 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 60 minute boil
  • 1.0 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 15 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1.5 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% estimated alpha acid), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. BRY-97 (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.056 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 5.4% abv, 44 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Full volume mash, 156° for 30 minutes, 168° mash-out for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water adjusted with lactic acid and mineral additions, to achieve calculated water profile of 142 Ca, 6 Mg, 84 Na, 83 SO4, 120 Cl, 156 HCO3, RA=23 ppm.

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.75 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a target rest of 156°. I added 5.5 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the pH.
  • I recirculated during the mash, raising it to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out.
  • After the mash, I removed the grains. In total, the mash yielded 7 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.046, for 70% mash efficiency.
  • On the way to the boil, I added 2.5 g of gypsum to accentuate the bitterness a bit more.
  • Once the runnings were boiling, I added hops and kettle finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled to 68° and transferred the wort to the fermenter. I pitched the yeast, and held the fermenter at 67° for the primary fermentation.
  • I brewed the beer on 18 March 2023. Starting gravity was 1.053.
  • I kegged the beer using a closed transfer, on 15 April 2023. Final gravity was 1.013, for 5.3% abv.
Down the glass, with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at left, and Beam Me Up Pale Ale at right.

Tasting

Just for fun, I tasted the beer on its own and also did a side-by-side with a can of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

  • Appearance
    • The beer is very clear, gold in color, and pours with a white and moderately persistent head.
      • Versus Sierra Nevada: Mine is slightly lighter in color, with less head and less head retention. The latter might be a result of a pour from draft versus the can? I’m not sure. The SNPA is slightly clearer, but also has what looks like some minor hop particulates at the bottom.
      • Winner: SNPA, by just a small margin, due to the better head and head retention.
  • Aroma
    • Sweet malt aroma and light caramel, with a light and citrusy hop aroma. The hops definitely have a mandarin quality.
      • Versus Sierra Nevada: SNPA lacks the light caramel aroma, and doesn’t have as much hop character (at least in the can I poured).
      • Winner: It’s a draw! I don’t have a preference either way.
  • Flavor
    • Medium level of citrusy mandarin orange and grapefruit, with a light resin quality in the hops. Light caramel in the malt character, medium bitterness, and clean yeast character.
      • Versus Sierra Nevada: SNPA is slightly more bitter, with more resin/pith character to the hop flavor. It’s definitely hop-dominated, with the malt to the back end, unlike mine.
      • Winner: Draw! I like aspects of each. They’re just different beers.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium carbonation, medium-light body, off-dry and smooth finish.
      • Versus Sierra Nevada: SNPA has a medium body profile and is slightly dryer on the finish.
      • Winner: I like SNPA slightly better, for having just a touch more body.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! “Beam Me Up Pale Ale” is by no means a clone (nor is it intended to be), but it’s a tasty and very drinkable beer! The mandarin quality on the hops in my version is super enjoyable. My main adjustments would be to up the bitterness slightly, and perhaps bitter with Chinook or another more resiny hop, using the Cascade for later additions. Or maybe I would leave it the same! It’s not a clone, after all.
  • Overall
    • 8/10
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (left) and Beam Me Up Pale Ale (right), head to head