Australian Pale Ales

[Dirty Dingo Brewing CO.]

So according to the BJCP guidelines, this category doesn't even exist, which completely blew my mind. If you ever come to Aussie Land, you'll learn very quickly that Australia LIVES by the Pale Ale, and you'll find a good Pale Ale Brew anywhere you go for the most part.

So I'm having a competition with a couple mates of mine for charity to help veterans, any suggestions as to what to put into this beauty? So far this is my recipe

Pale 2-Row 70%
Bestmalz Pilzen 30%

23 g Saaz Leaf/Whole 3.5 Boil at 100 °C 60 min 9.46 16.1%
20 g Galaxy Pellet 14.25 Boil at 100 °C 20 min 22.31 14%
20 g Saaz Pellet 3.5 Boil 15 min 4.49 14%
20 g Galaxy Pellet 14.25 Boil at 100 °C 5 min 7.34 14%
20 g Saaz Pellet 3.5 Boil at 100 °C 1 min 0.39 14%
40 g Saaz Pellet 3.5 Dry Hop Day 3 at 18C

Yeast, Safale US-05

Let me know what you think!

Thanks!

 

[Bubba Wade]

I would be inclined to include a small amount of Crystal 30 or 60, just to add a depth of color and maybe a very slight sweetness. Probably 2-4% of the total grain bill, depending on the grain color.

Looks like it will be a good recipe. It looks like you'll be around 45 IBU. What is your planned OG?

 

[J A]

What do you think are the differences in the Aussie Pale and the APA? If you recipe is any indicator, it would be more like a hoppy blonde.
The only thing to compare your recipe with is an APA, in which case, I'd definitely use something other than Saaz hops. Willamette is more proper for a floral/spicy hop and overall, upping the citrus/fruit hop flavors would be better. I'd be looking for the Aussie and Kiwi hops that fit most closely with American hops.
If most Aussie Pales are, indeed more akin to a big, dry-hopped Blonde, you're recipe is pretty spot on, though Saaz for late boil and dry-hops will not likely work as well as other hops (raw, grassy flavor).

 

[Mark Farrall]

Aussie pales have tended to be far more pale than the UK/US versions. Australia really struggled with malt supplies until the 20th century and the wars interrupted that. So beers in Aus have had a large amount of sugar in them traditionally (33% was not uncommon). People have become used to beer generally being a pale golden colour.

The sugar usage has dropped off since the wars as malt and adjunct supplies have become cheaper. So most recipes would be largely pilsner or pale ale malts with a mix of either sugar and/or flaked corn. The attempts to revive European styles here in the 80s and 2000s (and copy hoppy U.S. beers in the 2000s) have added a bit more colour to the palette, but a simple blond quaffing ale/lager is still the default setting for most people.

For the recipe, I'd move the Galaxy to late/flameout and use it for the dry hop (if you're doing one). You could use Saaz for the boil, but something with a bit more alpha acids will reduce the amount you're using. Super pride would be the current relatively neutral Australian bittering hop. Pride of Ringwood is it's predecessor. That'll probably drop your somewhere around a Stone and Wood Pacific Ale, maybe a bit lighter than that. Though they're pretty light on the Galaxy, so not hard to increase that flavour if you want.

And I've heard talk of some of the style guidelines including these types of beer as Australian Sparkling Ale. Think the BJCP were going to add it along with the New Zeland Pilsner.

 

[Mark Farrall]

It's in the current website - https://dev.bjcp.org/style/2015/12/12B/australian-sparkling-ale/. Though that seems to rely heavily on the Coopers beer (my favourite in my late teens, 20s) as the archetype. I got the impression listening to someone who'd done a bunch of research on historical Australian beers that it was probably more yeast forward than the others when it was the trendy style.

 

[Dirty Dingo Brewing CO.]

I would be inclined to include a small amount of Crystal 30 or 60, just to add a depth of color and maybe a very slight sweetness. Probably 2-4% of the total grain bill, depending on the grain color.

Looks like it will be a good recipe. It looks like you'll be around 45 IBU. What is your planned OG?

@Bubba Wade 1.052 is the builder, but 1.055 is probably where I should be. Like Mark is saying, Aussie Pales are a bit more sweet, and I had no idea why that was, thanks Mark! I'm an Expat from America, so I've had the pleasure of consuming copious amounts of both! I also lived in Germany for awhile so I've had a wide range of beers from different countries, including the UK. Also to @Mark Farrall , I had no idea the Sparkling Ale was the Aussie Pale, I passed right by it when reading the beer descriptions on the pdf!
Also to mark, I was trying to avoid Coopers because the competition of a good Aussie Pale has gotten so intense and so many breweries are different. Have you had Akasha's Pale? The Freashwater? Probably my number one favorite.

I'll do what Bubba said and add some crystal, because it could definitely use some color.

And thanks so much @J A , I definitely will change the hops then. I'm using Riwaka this week, very excited. If all else fails, Galaxy, Galaxy, Galaxy lol!

 

[Mark Farrall]

I've enjoyed all the Akasha beer I've managed to get, but we don't see them much down here sadly. I haven't stumbled on that one yet, it's mainly been the bigger IPAs.

Coopers was easily the most flavoursome beer you could find decades ago, but yep, there's so many more options now. I struggle to justify drinking a Coopers myself these days, unless it's a pure nostalgia trip, or there's nothing else on tap.

I think most of the older pale lagers you see here, like XXXX Gold, started out as a sparkling ale. When the style stopped being popular in the 1920s and most of the breweries modernised, they just dropped the sparkling ale name and changed to a lager yeast. But the hopping and the grist stayed largely the same.

 

[GFHomebrew]

If running along the lines of stone and woods Pacific ale then a good healthy dose of wheat malt is recommended up around the kg mark.

I'd sub out the Sazz not sure what your aiming at there.
Galaxy /Ella/ Enigma
Or some nelson Sauvin in the mix might make it interesting.
I look forward to what you have to say about Riwaka heck it's pricey.