Homegrown Cascade APA - Brewday 24.October.2010

[bosium]

This is the first of my homegrown hop series. I was lucky enough in my first growing season to get enough hops to brew with from my Cascade, Willamette, Saaz and Mt Hood plants, so I will be making a hoppy batch of beer for each variety which best shows off that variety's aroma and flavours.

I am using Magnum to bitter with as it's clean, and will allow the true flavour and aroma of my homegrown hops to shine through in the beer. I really wanted the maximum flavour and aroma from my hops, and never having used homegrown hops before, I decided to go really heavy on the late additions in case the aroma wasn't very strong.

This was a pretty small batch, I got about 11L in the fermenter, using the brew-in-a-bag system which I favour for small, quick batches. To all the nay-sayers, it works like an absolute charm. Sure, there's quite a bit of husk and crap that gets through because of the no-vorlauf, but it clears up perfectly in the kettle and fermenter and I've not noticed any astringency.

OG 1.049
FG 1.014
IBU 43
EBC 18

Recipe
90% Golden Promise Pale Malt
6% British Crystal (120 EBC)
2% Belgian Aromatic (56 EBC)
2% Flaked Barley


11g - 35 IBU - German Magnum 15.7% @ 80 min
18g - 5 IBU - Homegrown Cascade 4% @ 10 min
18g - 3 IBU - Homegrown Cascade 4% @ 5 min
18g - 0 IBU - Homegrown Cascade 4% @ 0 min

Mash at 67.8C (154F).
Large repitch of WLP002 (Fullers).

Homegrown Cascade when picked (Thanks for the plant fatcontro11er!)


Mash in a Bag, dropped 0.2C over 1 hour in oven


Boiling on stovetop, preheating IC


Weighing out the now-dried Cascade


Pumping to FV after chilling


Repitch if WLP002

[bosium]

As an update, I kegged this at the weekend. Man I love this yeast, it drops like a stone out of the beer and leaves it crystal clear. It also has a great flavour, but I fermented this one pretty cold at 15C -> 18C and with a massive pitch of yeast to get it as clean as possible to let the hops really shine.

The beer itself actually has tons of bitter grapefruit hop flavour, although it tastes slightly different to US cascade - slightly earthier which must be due to the Essex terroir. I think it tastes great, which came as a bit of a surprise to me as I didn't really know what to expect.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this evolves over the next few weeks.

[mysterio]

Great result!

[Garth]

well done, looking forward to the taste test

[bosium]

Cheers guys, I have high hopes for this one. I just wish I had more than 10L of it, but I guess that's one of the reasons it's special (I can't make it again until next season!).

[Manx Guy]

Looks great and sounds very promising!



Let us know how it tastes once its ready!

Guy

[chivelegs]

Looks a cracker from here!

I used my whole fatcontroller hop harvest in one brew. OK so it was only one plant in its' first year but it made a cracking IPA. As you say, not the same as a 'bought-in' cascade taste but still a great taste. It's a bit of a leap of faith, doing your first homegrown brew.

[bosium]

Cheers Manx, will do!

Chives, yeah this was my one plant's whole harvest too. I had some more cones, but they were mank so I chucked them and just used the good ones. I think it's going to be a decent beer against all odds!

[JammyBStard]

I didn't know Cascade would grow in the uk! Where did you get the seed/rhyzome/plant/cutting? do you think it would grow in a yorkshire allotment?

[bosium]

I didn't know Cascade would grow in the uk! Where did you get the seed/rhyzome/plant/cutting? do you think it would grow in a yorkshire allotment?

I got a small plant from fatcontro11er, a member on the board in Northern Ireland I think. It grows like stink here in Essex, dunno about Yorkshire - isn't it too cold for hops there?

[JammyBStard]

Actually I'm pretty sure they grow; I just don't know how well they will crop.
I believe they're a close relative of the stinging nettle, and nettles do just fine on my plot!

[WishboneBrewery]

Any more tasters on this yet? How's it going?

[bosium]

Any more tasters on this yet? How's it going?

It's actually in my baby keg in the lagerator, busy lagering / chill proofing until I finish my 1/2 keg of Wibbler's Dengie Devil. I serve my ales from the same fridge that I ferment my lagers in (10.C), so there's just space for one keg alongside my better bottle FV.

Last taste test was very promising, although I'm sure it will benefit from a week or two in the lagerator (most beer does). I can't wait to get it on tap! I'll update in a week or two.

[lancsSteve]

slightly earthier which must be due to the Essex terroir.

Are you SERIOSULY trying to tell me Essex has 'terroir'?!?!?

I beg to differ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVO1hsrOnI

Methinks it's time for an Essex-themed beer series starting with a Vajaz-ale

[bosium]

yeah, like, essex beer is jus bettah, innit?