Camden Pale Recipe

1. Mash

Heat 15 L of brewing water to 74°C. Add crushed pale malt, crystal malt and Munich malt to a mash tun, stir thoroughly to avoid dough balls and reach a stable mash temperature of 66°C. Hold mash at 66°C for 60 minutes, stirring gently every 10–15 minutes to maintain even temperature.

2. Mash out & sparge

Raise mash temperature to 76°C (mash out) by adding 2–3 L of near-boiling water and hold for 10 minutes. Begin sparging with remaining water (approximately 10 L) at 76–78°C until you collect roughly 26 L of wort in the kettle (adjust volume depending on system losses to get ~23 L into fermenter).

3. Boil

Bring the collected wort to a rolling boil. Total boil time: 60 minutes. At the start of the 60-minute boil, add 30 g East Kent Goldings (bittering). With 30 minutes remaining add 20 g Fuggles. With 15 minutes remaining add Irish moss or Whirlfloc if using. With 5 minutes remaining add 15 g Cascade (or similar) for late aroma.

4. Chill & transfer

After the 60-minute boil, cool the wort quickly to 18–20°C using a wort chiller or ice bath. Transfer chilled wort to a sanitized fermenter, leaving behind as much trub as possible. Top up with sanitized water to reach final volume of ~23 L if necessary.

5. Pitch yeast

Aerate the chilled wort by shaking the sealed fermenter or by oxygenation to achieve adequate dissolved oxygen for the yeast. Pitch the yeast (rehydrated or direct-pitch per manufacturer instructions) into wort at 18–20°C. Seal fermenter with airlock.

6. Primary fermentation

Allow fermentation at 18–20°C for 5–7 days until vigorous activity slows. Then hold for an additional 5–7 days at the same temperature or slightly lower to mature and drop yeast (total primary time 10–14 days).

7. Secondary (optional)

If desired for clarity, rack to a secondary fermenter after primary (approximately day 7–10) and condition for another 7–14 days.

8. Bottle conditioning

Sanitize bottles and caps. Boil priming sugar (110 g dextrose) in 250 ml water for 5 minutes, cool and add to a bottling bucket. Rack beer gently onto priming solution to mix without aeration. Bottle, cap, and store at 18–22°C for 10–14 days to carbonate, then condition cooler for a further week if possible.

9. Cold crash & serve

Optional: cold crash bottles or keg at 2–4°C for 24–48 hours to improve clarity. Serve chilled in a pint glass. Estimated original gravity targets about 1.048–1.052 and final gravity around 1.010–1.012 for a 4.5–5.5% ABV pale ale style similar to a Camden pale.

10. Bittering hops (EKG 30 g) are added at the start of the 60-minute boil to achieve balanced bitterness typical of an English-style pale. Mid-boil hops (Fuggles 20 g) at 30 minutes add body and English hop character. Late addition (Cascade 15 g at 5 minutes) provides a subtle floral/citrus aroma; if you want a more English profile, substitute another 15 g of EKG or Fuggles for late aroma.

11. Use a healthy yeast starter or properly rehydrate dry yeast as per manufacturer instructions for reliable fermentation. Add Irish moss or Whirlfloc with 15 minutes remaining in the boil to help protein coagulation and improve clarity. If your mash water lacks minerals, add small amounts of gypsum or calcium chloride (about 5 g) to adjust mash chemistry; dissolve and add to strike water before mashing. Use Campden tablet in source water if chlorine/chloramine is present (follow package directions) and then proceed to mash.

12. Sanitize all equipment that will contact wort after the boil (fermenter, airlock, siphon, bottles, caps, etc.) with a no-rinse sanitizer according to product directions. Keep sanitation practices consistent to avoid contamination.