It was on Wednesday of last week that I realized I had a situation on my hands. I committed to brewing some beer for a event later this month. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account that I'd be out of the country for a week, pretty much blowing a giant hole into the conditioning, racking, and packaging period for the planned beer - a pale ale. I'd need to get the beer brewed, fermented, carbonated and packaged within 7 days.
I brewed on a Friday night and adjusted the recipe to account for the complete lack of conditioning time. Out of necessity this would be a very sessionable pale ale at 1.042 OG. In addition to 2-row, I used some extra grain that I had laying around: the last of a bag of C40, some Victory malt, and a pound of Carapils. For the hop bill, I rummaged through my freezer for hops with distinctive tropical flavor that might open the minds of the typical "that's too bitter" crowd. And I dosed my water with my go to pale, hoppy beer treatment for Warren, OH water: more gypsum than calcium chloride and a ml or two of lactic acid.
Since I wouldn't be able to dry hop it, I dumped a ton of hops into the knockout addition and used a 30 minute whirlpool steep at 180 degrees to get fresh flavor and aroma in the beer.
The result was surprisingly good. I sampled the beer on 1/14/2014 hoping that it would be fermented out completely after four days. The taste did not disappoint: it was dripping with grapefruit and tropical flavor from the Galaxy and Apollo whirlpool steep. But, it was still 10 points above the target FG. I let it sit for one more day then pitched 10g of Polyclar VT and loaded it up in the cooler where it would crash cool and prepare for conditioning. I've never used Polyclar before, but figured this was a perfect time to give it a shot. It would be fine for vegetarians, has a larger particle size to facilitate quick flocculation, and would be filtered out of the final product. The product specs say to allow 3-10 days for it to work. I've got 2.5. Given that I see gelatin work in 2 days, I don't see why the PVPP won't make a difference in that time frame.
For filtering, I recently picked up a beer filter kit from www.filterstore.com. I like the idea of a reusable cartridge filter rather than paper plate filters, which I haven't had good results with. That being said, I am a little worried that the .5 micron filter will strip out the delicate hop character that I achieved with late addition hops.We will see.
After 2.5 days of cold crashing, I plan on filtering this beer, force carbonating it, then bottling it. In one night. I don't know what to expect, but I've got a plan and frankly, not a lot of other options.
While I wish the process could have been less rushed with this beer, there's something exciting about being pressured to produce a quality product under the gun. I'm confident the beer will be good. At the same time, I'd be lying if I didn't say it the whole thing wasn't a carefully executed experiment of necessity.
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Space monkey. Ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
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| We'll see how this guy works. |
Recipe: Late Night Session Pale Ale
Brewer: Adam KeckDate: 1/10/2014
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
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Estimated OG: 1.043 SG
Estimated Color: 5.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 1 -
5.00 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 84.8 %
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 4 6.1 %
1 lbs Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) Grain 5 6.1 %
8.0 oz Victory Malt (biscuit) (Briess) (28.0 SR Grain 6 3.0 %
1.00 oz Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 33.9 IBUs
0.55 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.00 oz Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 5.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Apollo [17.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool -30. Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool -30. Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 13 -
Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 16 lbs 8.0 oz
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 20.62 qt of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F 10 min
Sparge: Fly sparge with 10.32 gal water at 168.0 F
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