Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone

I’m a big fan of well hopped, citrusy American pale ales (APA) and wanted to try something beyond the cascade hopped brew I’ve done a couple of times to get a more rounded flavour. The Sierra Nevada Brewery were at the forefront of the craft brewing movement and their Pale Ale sells worldwide and delivers on everything you’d expect from an APA and more.

There are quite a lot of Sierra Nevada clone recipes out there with differing malt and hop schedules but I opted for one that just used Northern Brewer for bittering and whole lot of Cascade for aroma. The recipe called for a pale Crystal Malt but I only had dark Crystal in my store so my brew will probably be a bit darker than it is meant to be, hopefully it will still turn out tasting great!

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone Recipe

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         5.542
Total Hops (g):           130.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.053  (°P): 13.1
Final Gravity (FG):       1.013  (°P): 3.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  5.21 %
Colour (SRM):             13.4   (EBC): 26.3
Bitterness (IBU):         46.7   (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes):      90

Grain Bill
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5.154 kg Maris Otter Malt (93%)
0.388 kg Crystal 120 (7%)

Hop Bill
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30.0 g Northern Brewer Leaf (9.6% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
30.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
70.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 1 Minutes (Boil) (3 g/L)

Misc Bill
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Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with NBS West Coast Ale Yeast

I managed to get pretty good efficiency on this brew with an SG of 1.055 and 24 litres into the FV. I also got to use my new toy, a refractometer which made taking reading throughout the mash and boil so much quicker and simpler.

The Grain Shot

In the new brew fridge

This brew is the first to use my new fermentation fridge which will hopefully help me make better, more consistent beer by keeping it at a steady temperature while it’s fermenting.