The followup, the payoff. Tasting notes above, recipe below, pints all around.
QPA
Target OG: 1.048
Grist:
- 85% Rahr 2-row pale malt
- 10% Weyermann Bohemian Dark malt
- 5% Weyermann Caramunich II
Mash:
- 153F for 75′
- 170F for 10′
Boil:
- Apollo (whole, 17% aa) at 60′ to 15 IBU
- Apollo (whole, 17% aa) at 45′ to 14 IBU
- Centennial (pellet, 10% aa) at 30′ to 4 IBU
- Centennial (pellet, 10% aa) at 15′ to 10 IBU
- Centennial (pellet, 10% aa) 1 oz per 10 gallons, 20′ hop stand after shutdown
Fermentation:
- Chill to 63F, O2 and pitch with 2nd-generation Wyeast 1450 Denny’s Favorite 50
- Crop yeast & dry hop with Centennial (whole, homegrown) 0.5 oz per 10 gallons on Day 7 – SG 1.012
- FG 1.011, Day 13
- Transfer to kegs & crash cool to 35F
the beer engine 
I like the looks of that grain bill – I may have to give that a whirl myself. I feel like I need to switch up the specialty grains in my pale ales and IPAs a bit more. Your recipe looks like a nice way of incorporating the ideas behind a lot of peoples’ fall-back of crystal malt, while switching up the flavor a bit. As always, I get another great take-away from blog. Cheers!
An interesting grist indeed. I’ve planned a brewsession for a Summer Pale Ale this sunday. Don’t got time to get these malts, so gonna use Marris Otter (88%), Munich (7%) and English Crystal Malt (5%). But most certainly try out your grist some time soon.
I gotta know, MD, did you know ahead of time that the German specialty grains were going to do what you said, or was this grist a result of what was on hand during brewday? If it was the latter then here’s to serendipity (clink).
Oh, it was planned – I’ve done it before and will do it again. Weyermann Caramunich gives the same kind of malty-but-not-sweet effect of, say, an Oktoberfest. I knew roughly what to expect of 10-ish% of Bohemian Dark from its supporting role in a Maibock and Helles earlier this spring.
FWIW, I used to work for a guy that once said this to me: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”
How did you handle and store your 2012 centennial that you used for the dry hop?
When my plants hit maturity several years ago, I bought a vacuum sealer – also use it for commercially bought pounds of hops, too: break down into batch-sized increments and seal ’em.
Do you dry the home grown hops prior to vacuum packing, or put them in “wet”? Gracias!
Dry – de nada!
Do you chill down a bit before the hop stand or just let it hang out?
I just let it hang out, although I might have to try letting it cool a bit first next time.