I've been really itching to brew something like Modern Times' Blazing World. With Simcoe, Amarillo, Apollo, and Columbus sitting in the freezer, I thought I'd put together a hoppy, west coast style amber ale featuring two of the most popular hops in the IPA/pale ale category and use the whirlpool and steeping techniques that I've been hooked on lately to extract tons of aroma and flavor from them. I'm aiming for a balanced, yet assertive amber ale with a formidable malt body. To get a nice amber color, I'm adding a pinch of midnight wheat. I'm adding it at vorlauf to avoid extracting acrid flavors from it.
I don't know what my dry hops will be yet, as I plan to sample the beer then decide which hops to use based on what I think it needs.
This batch will be brewed as a pilot. I'll push it a bit to get it out in 2.5 weeks. That should give me enough time to brew another batch for the March 10th shipping time for NHC.
Water:
Calcium: 69
Magnesium: 5
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 121
Sodium: 44
Chloride: 32
Sulfate: 131
Effective Hardness as CaCO3: 52
RA: 69
Water treatment: 5g baking soda, 10g gypsum.
I had some trouble getting the water profile for this. Darker, hoppy beers are difficult for my water because I need to add alkalinity via baking soda, but I also need to keep my sodium down so that it the doesn't outcompete the hop flavor. It is a balancing act to add enough gypsum to get my sulfate and calcium levels up enough, enough baking soda to get my alkalinity to where it needs, and keep my sodium levels down. I'd like to see more calcium and even more sulfate, but to keep the alkalinity down, that would have required more baking soda and an unacceptable level of sodium. This was the best compromise.
Notes:
Mashed at 152 degrees. Treated strike water with 1/2 campden tablet, 7.5 grams of brewing salts.
Sparged and transferred 13 gallons to kettle over 20 minutes.
Preboil OG: 1.050
My final runnings were about 10.22. I added about a gallon of wort from my tun because my volume was looking low and I knew I'd lose a gallon or so to hop trub.
Rehydrated 2 tsp of Irish Moss and pitched it in at 5 minutes. Added 1 tsp of yeast nutrient at 15 minutes.
Whirlpooled for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.
I bagged the Magnum whole leaf hops to keep them from clogging up my hop blocker...no avail
Cooled to 60 degrees then allowed it to sit for 20 minutes to settle.Collected ~11 gallons of wort. I think my wort chiller bumped my hop blocker when I put it in and hop debris got into the chamber. It started gagging right at the top of the hop blocker and I probably had to leave a full gallon or more of wort in the kettle.
Pitched yeast, set in fermenting chamber for 64 degrees (17.7C).
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| The color is looking muted. I'd like to get a bit more bright red out of it. I also think I wasn't boiling vigorously enough at the time of my irish moss addition, since I didn't see a very good cold break. Hopefully I can clear this beer despite that. |
Update 2/14/2014:
I racked this to kegs last night after 2 days of crash cooling at 38 degrees. It dropped out crystal clear at 1.011 SG. The aroma was muted Simcoe/Amarillo - tangerine and tropical. The flavor was well balance between hop and malt, with maybe a little malt dominance. I think with carbonation and dry hopping it will be about perfect. The malt was biscuity, slightly roasty. The hop flavor was mostly the Simcoe citrus coming out, with hints of grapefruit and dank. I decided that I didn't want Simcoe to overpower this beer so I ended up dry hopping with 4oz Columbus for depth and dank-ness, 2oz Amarillo to accentuate the non-Simcoe citrus notes, and 2oz Cascade to round out the grapefruit character. So in each 5 gallon keg went a nylon garment sock with 2oz Columbus and 1oz each of Cascade and Amarillo.
I'll let the hops do their thing for 5 days then crash cool the beer with finings to clear it out. I'm looking forward to having a pint next weekend and potentially brewing this once more for the 1st round NHC in mid-March.
The fresh Columbus hops I just got from Yakima Valley Hops had a pronounced onion aroma. Much more than Columbus usually does. I've read that that Columbus can lend some undesirable onion character. I'm thinking with just a 5 day dry hop and only 2oz in there it shouldn't be an issue.
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| Nice clarity after two days of crashing. Dad in back for reference. |
Recipe: NHC Dreams American Amber Ale
Brewer: Adam Keck
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.75 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 13.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 54.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 75 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 Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
20 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 84.4 %
2 lbs Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 4 8.4 %
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.1 %
3.2 oz Midnight Wheat (550.0 SRM) Grain 7 0.8 %
2.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 54.8 IBUs
3.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Apollo [17.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Columbus [14.00 %]- Steep/Whirl 30m Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirl 30m Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 14 -
Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 23 lbs 11.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 29.62 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F 10 min
Sparge: Fly sparge with 8.44 gal water at 168.0
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