Galaxian v3 18 Oct 09

[adm]

Today's brew was my third go at my Galaxian Pale Ale recipe. I love the Galaxy hops, although they are high AA, they are a true dual pupose hop with a smooth bitterness - the passionfruit flavour is superb.

Anyway, a standard Pale base, with some Rakau Organic pellets I wanted to use up, lots of really fresh 09 Galaxy flowers from Craftbrewer and some WLP001 California Ale yeast, which i think is basically the same as US05, but in liquid form so I'll be interested to see how that turns out. I'll harvest the yeast afterwards and probably do an Imperial IPA with it in a couple of weeks time.

Here's the recipe for 23L at 1052:


Galaxian 3.0

Grain:
5Kg Maris Otter (Warminster)
0.25Kg Medium Crystal
0.15Kg Wheat Malt

Hops:
NZ Rakau Organic Pellets 11.5% AA 20g 26 IBU FWH
Australian Galaxy 14.9% AA 35g 24 IBU 15 mins
Australian Galaxy 14.9% AA 30g 0 IBU 90C steep
These hops were awesome. When I opened the pack, the smell just flooded out and they were really, really sticky! Top marks to Craftbrewer as always!

Yeast:
2L starter from a vial of WLP001 California Ale yeast. Fermented out with the extract wort drained off, then reinvigorated with some fresh wort from the boil.

Water treatment was Camden tablet, then CRS to knock the alkalinity down to 20Ml/l CaCO3, plus a teaspoon of gypsum into each of the mash and boil.

Here's the pics:


Grain bill


Rakau hop pellets for bittering


First runnings from the mash. I mashed in at 67C, and after a couple of hours (dog walk) it was at 65C. pH was about 5.1. I remembered to take the grain temperature into account today and got the temperature right unlike last week.


35g of Galaxy hops for flavour at 15 mins. When these went in, the aroma coming off the boil was extraordinary - really tropical.


Here we are boiling away. I was originally going to do a 10G batch today, but then I realised I didn't have a 10G fermenter free as it was full of grain! Doh! I'll have to order one next week.


Here's some wort taken from the boil to activate the yeast sludge


And here's the yeast an hour later....


Here we are all set to run off.


And the result....nice clear wort (with lots of break) at about 1052


Aerated


And put to bed.....

All in all a nice smooth brewday, and if this beer comes out as well as the last two versions, I'll be a happy puppy.

[196osh]

All looks great. As usual. Those hops sound loverly.

How much difference in head retention would you say you get if you add wheat malt vs not adding it?

[adm]

How much difference in head retention would you say you get if you add wheat malt vs not adding it?

That's a good question.....and to be honest, I don't know the answer. All I know is that when I use this grain bill for a pale, I always get a nice beer with plenty of head.

I don't normally use a sparkler, and being southern I don't really care if the head only lasts a few minutes, but I'd say that on the whole the wheat adds a bit more persistence to the head.

[mysterio]

I'd love to try those Galaxy hops. I can't really justify the hop prices and shipping from Aus anymore sadly. I think most of my hops will be coming from Barley Bottom for the foreseeable.

Why did you decide to go for the WLP001 out of interest? I reckon it flocc's somewhat better than the US-05 and maybe attenuates very slightly less.

[196osh]

Hmmm.

I have a few single hopped IPAs that I am going to do, and I was also planning a low abv mild. Was wondering if I should order a Kg of wheat malt at the same time as the Windsor yeast for the mild.

Think its worth a bash?

[adm]

I'd love to try those Galaxy hops. I can't really justify the hop prices and shipping from Aus anymore sadly. I think most of my hops will be coming from Barley Bottom for the foreseeable.

Why did you decide to go for the WLP001 out of interest? I reckon it flocc's somewhat better than the US-05 and maybe attenuates very slightly less.

The WLP001 was basically just because I had it in. The previous versions of this beer were done with 05, so I figured I'd see if there was any difference. I wanted it to be hop focussed and 05 certainly does that for me. I got the WLP001 as a substitute for the Yorkshire Square yeast I had recently from H&G that was DoA. I asked them to send me the freshest White Labs they had.....and true to form this one was only about a week old.

As for the hops from Craftbrewer, I reckon they are good value IF you can afford to bulk buy and are looking for something "exotic". If you order 10 packs or so, postage is negligible and they end up being a good deal. I think the last order I did was just under a kilo in weight and the postage was about £6.00.

Sadly though, the exchange rate between the UK Pound and the Australian dollar has gone from about 2.5 when I placed my last order, to about 1.8 today - so at that rate they're a bit more expensive. Luckily, I've still got a fridge full of NZ and AUS hops to get through.

[adm]

Hmmm.

I have a few single hopped IPAs that I am going to do, and I was also planning a low abv mild. Was wondering if I should order a Kg of wheat malt at the same time as the Windsor yeast for the mild.

Think its worth a bash?

Yeah - it's worth it. A kilo would last you for half a dozen batches as you only need a little bit. Having said that though, if all you're ordering is yeast then the postage is probably just a first class stamp, whereas if you start buying grain, you'll probably get hit for a few quid.

[mysterio]

10 packs for 6 quid postage? Is that a special deal or does it show up in the checkout?

[GARYSMIFF]

adm

That's a Sexy Clear bit of wort.

I decide to do some DIY this weekend, so no brews from me.

Keep them comming.

[adm]

10 packs for 6 quid postage? Is that a special deal or does it show up in the checkout?

Not sure....I just remember being a bit shocked about it being so low! They may have made a mistake, but it was definitely cheap as chips.

(NOTE: I just went to their website and trial ordered 10 packs of hops - and the postage came in at £17. So either it's gone up, or my last lot was too cheap! It may well be worth a PM to Ross to see where the best breaks are for shipping.)

Here's the pricing from my last order (it was actually $10 AUS for the shipping and was for 15 packs of hops)......

SubTotal = $126.18
Tax Total = $0.00
Shipping and Handling Fee = $10.00
Total = $136.18

[mysterio]

Yeah.. that sounds more like what I paid.. and I did e-mail him a few months ago and he said the advertised rates were the cheapest unless I wanted the hops to come via boat.

[spearmint-wino]

How do you find the Rakau hops adm? I got some in from H&G and was planning on doing something like a BrewDog Punk IPA with them tomorrow.

[adm]

SW,

I find the Rakau to be quite reminiscent of tropical fruit (maybe passion fruit/dried apricot) and flinty/minerally if you get what I mean. It's not as over-the-top, in-yer-face as some of the other NZ/Aus hops like Nelson Sauvin or Galaxy.....a bit more restrained. I think it would go well as a bittering hop alone and in a 15 minute addition or later mixed with some of the "bigger" ones.

It's certainly a nice hop - I haven't done a single hop brew with it though, so my perceptions are a bit coloured by the other hops I've mixed it with.

[befuggled]

Adm, what temperature are you letting the boiler get down to before CF cooling?
That is fantastic looking clear wort, with the break forming - I have seen it here once, but can't repeat it!
Great post - good luck with it!

[adm]

Adm, what temperature are you letting the boiler get down to before CF cooling?
That is fantastic looking clear wort, with the break forming - I have seen it here once, but can't repeat it!
Great post - good luck with it!

Normally what I do is to add a protafloc tab at 15 minutes left to go, then once the boil time is over I'll let it sit for 20-30 minutes before running off through the chiller.

For the boil profile itself, I'll give it a really hard boil for the first and last 10-15 minutes, then turn it down to a good rolling boil for the rest of the time.

For the water, I normally just knock down the alkalinity to around 20mg/l CaCO3 using CRS, then just add a teaspoon of gypsum to the mash and another to the boil.

Not sure if it's the protafloc, boil profile or water profile (or all three), but I almost always get really clear wort and have no real problem with beers dropping bright as long as i leave them in the keg for three weeks or so.