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Recipes - California Style Imperial Pale Ale

California Style Imperial Pale Ale (More)

About

This, the second beer I ever made, was originally a Brewer's Best clone of Stone Brewing Co.'s Arrogant Bastard Ale. It was sold as their California Style Imperial Pale kit in their Bold series.

I took this kit, added a bit more grain, changed the yeast, and turned it into a partial mash. What follows is my ingredients and a rough outline and notes of how I made the beer. It turned out very well, and I'm extremely happy with this recipe.


Ingredients

Grains

  • 6.6 lbs Pale Amber Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
  • 2 lbs Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract (DME)
  • 1 lb Crushed Crystal Malt 120L
  • 1 lb Briss Pale Two-Row


Hops

  • 2 oz Chinook Hops (Bittering)
  • 1 oz Chinook Hops (Flavoring)
  • 1 oz Chinook Hops (Aroma)


Yeast

  • 1 vial White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) Yeast (Stepped To One Pint Starter)


Other

  • 1 Tsp Irish Moss * 3/4 Cup Priming Sugar (Corn)


Gravity

OG: 1.071

FG: 1.021


Alcohol

Calculated ABV: 6.63%


Steps

  • Add ~2.5 gallons of water to 20qt boil kettle.
  • Bring grains and 2.5 quarts water in smaller pot to 153°F. Hold at temp for 30 - 45 minutes to mash grains. At the same time, bring water in large pot up to near boiling.
  • After mashing, dump the grains into a strainer suspended over the larger stock pot in order to drain the grains into the main water. Sparge the grains with an additional 2.5 quarts of 153°F water.
  • Bring water in large stock pot to a boil.
  • Add 1/2 of the LME and bittering hops.
  • At +00:15, add DME.
  • At +00:45, add irish moss and flavoring hops.
  • At +01:00, turn off heat add aroma hops and the remainder of the LME, stirring gently to ensure LME is dissolved.
  • Allow to stand for a few minutes.
  • Place large stock pot in tub of ice water, occasionally stirring without splashing or sloshing, until temp is down to 70°F.
  • Pour cooled wort through mesh bag into plastic bucket. Lift the bag and tip it back and forth, possibly squeezing to get all the wort out.
  • Add room-temperature water until 5 gallon mark is reached.
  • Pour wort from bucket into carboy, through a funnel fitted with a screen. Screen may need to be cleared mid-pour, depending on the lingering particulate after the bag screening.
  • Pitch yeast.
  • Shake carboy liberally to aeriate.
  • Add stopper and airlock, place carboy in dark area and allow fermentation to begin.
  • Rack to secondary fermenter after trub has mostly settled and fermentation has slowed substantially.
  • Allow to age at least two weeks in secondary fermenter.
  • Dissolve priming sugar in one pint of water and boil for five minutes. Add to bottling bucket to prime beer.
  • Bottle and age for 10 weeks.


Notes

  • Primary fermentation completed in my first batch after approximately 10 days.
  • While beer was carbonated after just over two weeks, it was not enjoyable for more than two months. Only after aging was it good.