Inspiration
Having had the AHA's NHC Gold Medal recipes be published this week in Zymurgy, I knew it was time to brew a series of these award winning recipes. My hope is to learn about the strengths of these recipes - as many of the recipe formulations are quite different from what I usually brew. It should be nice to see how their techniques compare to what I've been working on in my Iteration Series.
The only difference between this recipe and the original is that I've increased the amount of Mosaic and decreased the amount of Citra to be equal. There is still the same amount of IBUs though. The part of this recipe that I am most excited about learning from is how a beer with aggressive hopping and a complex grain bill with rich malts mashed high will taste - especially at as low an abv as this! Could this technique be the solution to balancing the Session IPA? A little disclaimer, I have yet to enjoy any Session IPA, so I'm hoping this might be a new way of approaching their production.
The only difference between this recipe and the original is that I've increased the amount of Mosaic and decreased the amount of Citra to be equal. There is still the same amount of IBUs though. The part of this recipe that I am most excited about learning from is how a beer with aggressive hopping and a complex grain bill with rich malts mashed high will taste - especially at as low an abv as this! Could this technique be the solution to balancing the Session IPA? A little disclaimer, I have yet to enjoy any Session IPA, so I'm hoping this might be a new way of approaching their production.
The Recipe
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Gravity: 1.030
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 3.87%
IBU (tinseth): 61.35
SRM (morey): 8.17
Grain
3.97 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (44.8%)
1.8 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (20.3%)
1.03 lb - American - Munich - Light 10L (11.6%)
0.63 lb - American - Aromatic Malt (7.1%)
0.51 lb - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (5.7%)
0.42 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (4.7%)
0.51 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 10L (5.7%)
Hops
0.42 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: First Wort, IBU: 17.4
0.73 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 13.28
0.73 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 15.09
0.73 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.3
0.73 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 8.29
0.67 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days
1.5 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days
Mash
1) Temp: 155 F, Time: 60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb
Yeast
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05
Water
Ca2: 75
Mg2: 5
Na: 10
Cl: 50
SO4: 150
HCO3: 0
Notes
7 days @ 62F
7 days @ 66F
Last 4 days - Dry Hop
Cold Crash 1 day
Kegged @ 2.4 Vol
I initially tried this beer on the third day after kegging, and found it to be quite cluttered, unbalanced and hazy - though certainly smelt amazing. However, after around a week of maturing, this beer became distinctly brighter, more focused and retained its aroma. This became the perfect beer for having several of in a session (sitting at 3.9%), and was eventually consumed in one evening amongst close friends for the return of an old friend who lives on Cortes Island. Alright, so what did it taste like? It had a distinctly bready mouthfeel, had a certain element of caramel flavour (though without being sweet) thanks to the rich malts used throughout, and tasted quite wheaty as well. The nose was a strong combination of citrus, melon, pineapple, and berries - with an amazingly complex and rich malt aroma from the aromatic malt. Everything in the nose would lead you to believe that this beer was over 6%. The beer itself still had quite a light overall presence (despite everything) that I didn't exactly love. I just feel that a beer with aggressive hopping needs a strong malt backbone, regardless of how complex or dominant the flavours of your malts are. It's certainly an interesting experiment in brewing light pale ale/ipas.