For several years I've been mostly making easy to drink, fairly straightforward beers. Light to moderate ABV, moderate to low bitterness, moderate to low hop flavor. This beer was no exception. Just an APA, nothing fancy. Simcoe hops from the 2016 crop. They've remained vacuum sealed and seem to still have good flavor. I'd generally been making pale ales with a standard mix of 2-row and crystal 60 malt, but to change things a little I decided to use Crystal 80 this time. It resulted in a slightly darker, redder beer and maybe just a touch more sweetness, which worked well with the Simcoe hops. It was a really good beer, but if I make something like this again, I'd probably go back to Crystal 60. I've read that Crystal malts can cause oxidation. Perhaps the higher roasting level of Crystal 80 causes more oxidation than Crystal 60? Or maybe the beer just hung around in the keg longer than usual--I didn't notice loss or degradation of hop flavor until the beer was a month or two old. Nonetheless, a tasty beer and I definitely want to use Simcoe hops again.
Recipe for 5 gallons:
8 lbs 2 row
8 oz Crystal 80
1 oz Simcoe at 15 minutes (13.3 AA)
1 oz Simcoe at 1 minute
(about 30 IBU)
US-05 yeast
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