I been kinda busy, so I wasn't watching this thread. So I guess I'm it. I had to think for a while on which beer I wanted to share. I brew a lot of lagers, but they can be a PITA sometimes, so I picked one I brew for my house beer. It's easy, fast and delicious.
The beer I brew regularly is a American Pale Ale. It's a west coast style, very hoppy, not too bitter and fairly dry. I started working on this beer back @ 2015 to compete in local competitions. The first versions were a little heavy, too bitter and lack any outstanding hop aroma/flavor. About that time I read Stan Hieronymus' book "For the Love of Hops". In it he suggested whirlpool addition to increase hop flavor and have a longer lasting aroma. Fast forward a year later, I set the hop utilization to 3% for whirlpool in the calculator and I had moved ALL the hops to the whirlpool. The beers were just as bitter, but now I could add a massive amount of hops to the beer without the excessive bitterness. I started winning regularly with this beer. It's been the AHA finals a couple of times and was served at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver under the Pro-Am in 2017 and 2018 (didn't win, but it was cool).
I use Munich malt to bring up the color and malt flavor without getting it sweet. I use S04 yeast when I brew for myself and in a competition I use WLP007. WLP007 seems to bring the hops out more and clears faster. After dry hopping I taste it so see if bitterness is right. If it's a little too sharp, I add 1/4 tsp of phosphoric or lactic acid and taste again. If still to high I add another 1/4 tsp, but no more. The pH of the finished beer increases with dry hopping, so the acid additions help bring the pH down. High pH increases bitterness. That's why I avoid Chico strains (US05, 1056, WLP001) because they have a higher finish pH than the English strains. The pH I shoot for is 4.3-4.4.
So enough rambling, below are the recipes, One is my standard 7.5 gallon, one is a 5 gallon version and one is an extract version. The volume is slightly more than the fermenter, but with this amount of hops there is a lot of wort that gets left behind with the the excessive cold break and hop residue. The hops are not fixed in stone, any fruity or citrus hops work well. Galaxy, Citra, Azacca, Mosaic, Cascade, etc. I picked a blend of Mosaic and Citra because they work so well together. The extract versions is slightly darker and I added a little sugar to keep it light.
5 gallon version:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1101261/wayner-s-pale-ale-5-gallon
Extract version:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1101267/wayne-s-pale-ale-5-gallon-extract
7.5 gallon version (original)
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/253526/wayner-s-pale-ale
Thanks everyone for letting me share this, it's a great privilege!
Brew on!