Smoked APA Small Batch Experiment

I have written before about my Mesquite Smoked Pale Ale, and how good it smelled when it was boiling, and how it was kind of bacony when I kegged it, and how it tasted of plastic, then later of Band-Aid.

I submitted it to the Alamo City Cerveza Fest and The Cactus Challenge. While neither batch of judges sent me a $50 bill and a note begging me to stop brewing, the first contest scored the beer in the mid 20s, and the second scored it in the low 30s. The folks in San Antonio tasted the Band-Aid, the folks in Lubbock called it astringent.

I have a theory that the plastic/Band-Aid flavor is part of the mesquite flavor. So I am going to brew the beer in a one gallon batch, and test my theory. Here's the recipe:

Smoked Pale Ale 1 gallon batch
1.5 lb 2-Row malt
.2 lb Crystal 60
.2 lb smoked 2-row malt
.1 lb Cara-Pils
.25 oz Cascade 6%/60 min
.5 vial of WLP001 Cal Ale yeast

Thanks to James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio, who reminded me what issue of Brew Your Own his article about small scale brewing was in.