Sierra Nevada Pale Ale & Chico Reloaded - APA - 18B

Recipes in this post:

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone
• Chico Reloaded: less bitter, juicier twist using similar ingredients

The goal of this post is to show how similar ingredients can be intentionally altered to produce very different beers. We'll cover how to brew the classic, by definition old-school Sierra Nevada Pale Ale that defines classic American Pale Ale. Then, by using similar ingredients but with different process, inflict some juice into Chico Reloaded.

Contents

1. Basics
2. SNPA Backstory
3. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone Recipe
4. Chico Reloaded Process Logic
5. Chico Reloaded Recipe
6. American Pale Ale History

Overall experience

APA is a very drinkable beer, clean tasting and slightly balanced bitter that showcases its hops well in the flavor and aroma. The malts should be quite neutral which helps bring out a true hop experience, but decidedly less bitter than IPA. Malt is firm, but often only yielding bread-like qualities. There is often a touch of sweetness to balance bitterness.

SNPA Clone Backstory

Sierra Nevada has proudly embraced their Pale Ale as a homebrewer's "right of passage," posting their recipe on their website. Making classic clone beers is fun because you can actually drink them side by side and make your head spin as to why they taste different.

Of course more than a few variations of a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone exist - generally concerning the hop lineup. What's not debatable is pale malt, crystal 60, Cascade, and neutral American yeast. In spirit of Double Dank, we're going full-trad here.

Before thinking nothing's changed since 1976, early versions likely varied a bit or a lot due to crop harvests and regional differences across hop lots (the same went for macro brewers at the time). This would be evident for a hop-sensitive beer. Cascade itself has evolved genetics after 46 years, since being breed to become more bitter with higher AA units.

It is my responsibility to inform you that Sierra Nevada's own instructions specifically call for opening a bottle or can of their Pale Ale at the start of brew day before doing any work at all.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone

5 gallons | OG: 1.052 | FG: 1.010 | IBU: 39 | SRM: 9 | ABV: 5.5%

Fermentables

• 10 lb Proximity ReGenMalt Base
• 1 lb Proximity ReGenMalt Crystal 60

Hops

• .25 oz Cascade, 90 minutes
• .25 oz Cascade, 60 minutes
• 1 oz Cascade, 30 minutes
• 1.5 oz Cascade, flameout

Yeast

• SafAle US-05 American Ale Dry Yeast
  • Option: Lallemand Lalbrew BRY-97 American West Coast Ale Yeast 
  • Option: Omega West Coast Ale I - OYL-004

Brewer's Friend Recipe - see all tech specs, copy, and modify.

Process

1. Due to the historic significance of this beer, it is mandatory to drink a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale before doing anything.
2. Do a single-step mash at 155°F for 60 minutes.
3. Mash out to 170°F (optional). Collect about 6 gallons of wort - or the estimated volume for your system to make 5 gallons with a 90 minute boil.
4. Boil following hop schedule above.
5. Cool wort to 68°F before pitching yeast.
6. Ferment with temperature in yeast specs - usually upper 60s.
7. After final gravity has been achieved for at least 3 days, it is helpful to cold crash (refrigerate) the beer for at least 24 hours prior to bottling or kegging.
8. Bottle or keg, targeting 2.5 C02 volumes.

Sensory Comparison

How did it turn out?? Luckily, we have some resources to compare to! It's helpful to walk through the analysis with a SNPA, then compare to yours.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale scoresheet and audio analysis

Chico Reloaded Process Logic

Keeping the spirit and largely the same ingredients of original Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, this recipe seeks to carefully dial up some "juicy" character from Cascade hops. Compared to SNPA, the idea is softer bitterness, cleaner and brighter caramel sweetness, and increasing base malt complexion. Chico Reloaded alters the hop schedule, uses higher kilned pale base malts, and drops from C60 to C45 for brighter and lighter caramel sweetness. It throws in 8 oz of Body Builder (a dextrin malt) as a cushion for the final gravity and preserving some body. Attempting to "save body" is the most interesting modern twist when designing a recipe this way.

Sierra Nevada specifies only using base malt (91%) and crystal malt (9%). Modern ingredients in a traditional mash - even in the upper 150s - tends to finish reliably dry when using 90%+ base malt. In 1981, the low 1.010s as an FG was likely more reliable. Today, malts are dependably well-modified and Double Dank ensures those enzymes are fresh by milling-to-order. American and English strains pertinent to this style are also bred to be finishers and don't flinch much when given a wort from a hot mash with longer chain sugars - and in homebrewing, a fresh pitch is not tired from former cycles. The combination of these factors call for dextrin malt. Reloaded is a modern take on the style.

Hopping Schedule

Cascade does not behave like a modern juicy hop, but does have distinct grapefruit/citrus that can be elevated. It is a complicated hop with pine, spice, herb, earthy and so forth- you tell me what it is! This beer will highlight the lighter elements of that. Going too far with its usage, Cascade can easily become grassy and bitter.

Notably, Cascade has a good amount of a monoterpene alcohol called geraniol. Some yeasts, like British or newer juicy strains, convert geraniol into a compound called citronellol that in finished beer presents bright citrus and lemon. Geraniol is one of the more volatile compounds that is best infused into wort during flameout and again during primary fermentation dry hopping.

Biotransformation Dry Hop Charge

Process matters here! During primary fermentation, or as it begins to slow, dry hop the beer with 1 oz of Cascade. This will dish the yeast another shot (in addition to flameout) of geraniol and other compounds that the yeast will work on to create the beer's juicy angle. The goal is infusing volatile compounds directly to the yeast and limiting contact time.

*If you are not able to or not willing to remove this hop addition after 3 days, skip it and include 2 oz in the second dry hop.* Prolonged contact time will create those grassy and bitter compounds, particularly with Cascade. A nylon/muslin bag can be used to add and remove the hops.

Aroma Dry Hop Charge

This recipe is geared toward beginners and assumes ambient temperatures for all hopping. 

If you are cold crashing/have a refrigerator that can fit the fermenter, use that.

Chico Reloaded Recipe

5 gallons | OG: 1.055 | FG: 1.014 | IBU: 37 | SRM: 8 | ABV: 5.4%

Fermentables

• 10 lb Proximity ReGenMalt Pale
  • Option: 10 lb Root Shoot Genie Pale
  • Option: 10 lb Simpsons Maris Otter
• .75 lb Proximity ReGenMalt Crystal 45
  • Option: .75 lb Proximity ReGenMalt Crystal 60
• .5 lb Proximity Body Builder

Hops

• .5 oz Cascade, 60 minutes
• .5 oz Cascade, 30 minutes
• 1 oz Cascade, 10 minutes
• 1 oz Cascade, 40 minute hop stand - 180°F
• 1 oz Cascade, 20 minute hop stand - 170°F
• 1 oz Cascade, dry hop (primary fermentation) - 2 days - ambient
• 1 oz Cascade, dry hop (secondary/aroma) - 2 days - 50°F

Yeast

• SafAle S-04 English Ale Yeast
  • Option: Lallemand LalBrew New England American East Coast Ale Yeast
  • Option: Lallemand LalBrew Pomona Modern Hybrid IPA Yeast
  • Option: Omega British Ale V - OYL-011
  • Option: Omega DIPA Ale - OYL-052

Brewer's Friend Recipe - see all tech specs, copy, and modify.

Process - beginners follow the step-by-step process in app if necessary

1. Do a single-step mash at 158°F for 60 minutes.
2. Mash out to 170°F (optional). Collect about 6 gallons of wort - or the estimated volume for your system to have about 5.5 gallons final kettle volume after a 60 minute boil.
3. Boil following hop schedule above.
4. At the end of boil, turn off heat source. Reduce temperature to about 180°F (in-sink or very briefly with a chiller).
5. Add 1 oz Cascade to 180°F wort. Bagged is best. Hop stand for 40 minutes.
6. 20 minutes into the hop stand, add 1 oz Cascade - bagged preferable. Temperature should have fallen to around 170°F. Gently cool if necessary, or lid on once wort is 170°F or lower. Hop stand for 20 minutes.
7. Remove those bagged hop stand additions. Cool wort to 68°F or however cool you can reasonably get. Transfer to fermenter and pitch yeast at spec range on yeast package or your target range.
8. Ferment with temperature in yeast specs - usually upper 60s.
9. During primary fermentation or closer to the tail end of it, add 1 oz Cascade dry hop. Ensure you have the ability or willingness to remove the hops after 2 days. If not, skip this addition and add it with the next dry hop.
10. After final gravity has been achieved for at least 3 days, cold crash the beer if doing so. Keeping ambient temperature works.
11. Add the second dry hop - 1 oz Cascade for 2-3 days (2 oz if the primary fermentation dry hop was skipped). Remove the hops after 2-3 days, or package the beer.
12. Bottle or keg, targeting 2.5 C02 volumes.
    

American Pale Ale History

American Pale Ale: The beer that sparked the American craft beer revolution! The history of this beer rhymes with the actual American Revolution.

APA roots are only about 50 years old. In 1975, Anchor Brewing brewed "Liberty Ale" named to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride of 1775. The beer was inspired by Anchor owner Fritz Maytag's travels to England, where he encountered English pale ales that were served on cask and all-grain, as opposed to the grain with adjunct norm of the day in the US - as American macro lagers were and still are. Liberty Ale was distinct in its high usage of cascade hops, and as such, was documented by Englishman Michael Jackson as the original APA. So, while commemorating the 200th year of United States independence from England, an American craft beer revolution had also begun, once again inspired by the English.

A few other brewers made similar beers in the late 70s with simple malt profiles and increasing amounts of what are now the classic west coast hop varieties: cascade, centennial, and columbus. But the style did not take foothold until Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was brewed in November 1980, when Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman had to convince bars in Chico, CA to try what was an experimental brew at the time.

After American craft beer began to take a firm foothold in the 90s, the style slowly began to evolve as new hop varietals entered the market. Despite being a bit overshadowed in popularity by its more bitter and robust cousin, American IPA, APAs regularly appear on craft brewery lineups, with drinkers appreciating less ABV and less intense hop experience. Brewers often use the beer to experiment with and showcase hops. One popular method is brewing SMaSH (single malt and single hop) beer, usually using house 2 row and a single hop.

Discover more APA history here.

Resources

-BJCP style page: 18B. American Pale Pale Ale

-BYO: Award-winning APA commentary, by Gordon Strong

-BYO: Brewing Juicy IPAs

-BYO: Juicy and hazy beer science

-Further history on APA and its evolution

-Sierra Nevada Pale Ale homebrew recipe