English sorta Pale Ale - Matt's First Recipe

I had some Marris Otter, a variety of crystal malts, a White Labs 002 English Ale yeast cake, and a bunch of Willamette hops. After reading the Pale Ale/IPA chapter in Designing Great Beers, I felt OK to try a recipe out. OH! And I also just got my Barley Crusher, and was anxious to just brew something.

Style-wise is wasn't any kind of English Bitter, not really enough to be an IPA of any kind. I just wanted a good session beer that featured Willamette hops, and thus Lammit Dammit was born. I think it's quite good, and will certainly brew this one again. Taste-wise you get some nutty/maltness balanced with a nice wash of grassy, earthy/spicy hops across the tongue. There's a bit of a lingering finish, especially for 4.2% beer.

If you live around Chicago and use Lake Michigan water, you might want to add the following salts to your mash water (around 3.5 gallons - you want a thick mash): 6g gypsum, 1g calcium choloride. This will help bring out the hops, and give the Chicago water some things it's lacking, like Calcium and Sulfate. It will also balance the PH for the recipe.

Ferment at 68F, ramping up to 71-72 towards the end to ensure a nice final gravity and help clean-up the diacetyl this yeast can produce, which I feel you don't need here. Cheers!

Recipe: Lammit Dammit

Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.5 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.50 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.038 SG
OG: 1.045 SG
FG: 1.013 SG
ABV: 4.2 %
IBU (using Tinseth): 51.6
Color: 8.5 SRM
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 68 degF (ramp up towards end, if possible)

Fermentables
Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - 9lb 0oz
Caramel 40L Malt - 10.00 oz
Victory Malt - 8.00 oz
Caramel 120L Malt - 2.00 oz

Hops (pellets)
Kent Goldings (5.5 % alpha) 1.50 oz All Of Boil
Kent Goldings (5.5 % alpha) 0.50 oz 30 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 0.50 oz 20 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz 10 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz 5 Min From End
US Willamette (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz At turn off

Yeast: White Labs WLP002-English Ale (lots - I used at least a few cups of slurry from a just-finished batch of Mild)

Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: Single Step Infusion (65C/149F)
Step: Rest at 149 degF for 60 mins