Oh Honey, Oh Baby! Pale Ale

A nice, smooth, summery ale with a good hint of honey and nice carbonation.

Brewer:	Smiling Goat Brews		Email:	turtyl@fire.lsds.com
URL:	http://www.lsds.com/~turtyl
Beer:	Oh Honey, Oh Baby! Pale Ale		Style:	American Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	14 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	14 IBU
OG:	1.065		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	6.8% v/v (5.4% w/w)
Water:	Regular ol' Boston tap water.
Grain:	1 lb. American crystal 40L
Steep:	I steeped the grains for about a half hour in 180°F water.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.162	2 gallons
	5 lb. Light malt extract 3 lb. Honey
	Strangly enough, I boiled 4 fresh (from the tree) cored apples in the wort through the entirety of the boil.
Hops:	1.5 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA, 45 min.) .5 oz. Kent Goldings (aroma)
Yeast:	For this one, I used a dry ale yeast, I don't remember the brand (didn't write it down back in those first days of brewing ;).
Log:	1 week in primary, 1 week in secondary and 3 weeks in the bottle. However, the longer the better for these babies.
Tasting:	I brewed this beer in January of 2001, and just now had my best bottle, yet (April 30, 2001). It's got a fantastic color, good carbonation and head retention and a nice undertone of hops. Every single person I've given one of these beers to has answered with a "Wow." I can't wait to brew it again. Oh.. the apples. When I originally brewed the beer I wanted to make Apple-Honey beer and started coring apples while I was steeping my grains -- about 10 minutes into coring apples I got bored, threw in what I had and called it good. You can't taste the apples in the beer at all (big surprise), but there is a pleasant sour-ish undertone to the beer that I think I can only attribute to the fruit. Next time, I'll skip the apples and see how it comes out.

Recipe posted 04/30/01.