Tiresome Stereotype (Blonde Ale)

[Grumpydev]

The first outing for my "brewzebo" and everything went really well - the boiler (with ThermaWrap insulation) had no issues maintaining the boil outside, the tarpaulin sheltered everything from the wind, both volume and the OG were spot on, and fermentation has gone off like a rocket. It was also the first time I've used my modded water cooler mashtun, and that worked a treat too - didn't drop a single degree in the hour long mash.

I currently only have one boiler, so I put my hot sparge water into a fermentation bin, then filled the boiler with the first runoff, then batch sparged from the fermentation bin. It worked fine, but would have been less hassle with a second boiler, but unfortunately it seems they've discontinued the "old" Buffalo 40L and the new one is a lot more expensive

Here's the brewzebo in action - I also bottled my last batch on the same day, hence the bottle tree:





A video of the boil:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/213 ... 20boil.mp4

And the recipe:

Tiresome Stereotype (Blonde Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.041 (°P): 10.2
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010 (°P): 2.6
Alcohol (ABV): 4.03 %
Colour (SRM): 3.6 (EBC): 7.0
Bitterness (IBU): 23.4 (Tinseth)

73% Maris Otter Malt
15% Vienna
7.01% Carapils
5% Torrified Wheat

25g Amarillo (8.2% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil)
23g Amarillo (8.2% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
23g Amarillo (8.2% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Flame Out)

10g Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Batch sparge at 76°C
Boil for 60 Minutes.

Fermented at 20°C with Danstar Nottingham

[micmacmoc]

Great stuff! Great name, your gazebo looks like a party but you forgot to send out invites! Haven't done a Amarillo single hop...bet its pungent?

[Grumpydev]

Great stuff! Great name, your gazebo looks like a party but you forgot to send out invites! Haven't done a Amarillo single hop...bet its pungent?

It was pretty strong smelling in the boiler - will have to wait a few weeks to see if it's the same in a glass

I normally don't do the labels until it's pretty much ready to bottle, hopefully I'm not tempting fate with an infection by doing it early

[Monkeybrew]

Looks like a good little setup you've got there. I brew outdoors by my shed, and have to shelter under a patio umbrella if it starts raining!

I'm brewing something very similar on Saturday, but with Aurora hops. All Amarillo will be lovely

Cheers

MB

[Grumpydev]

Cracked open a test bottle this evening, it's only been conditioning since Saturday morning so it was lacking in a little fizz, but it looked spot on, both in colour and clarity:



The aroma was hints of grapefruit and it tasted amazing! Grapefruit flavours gave way to almost a cream soda vanilla flavour, with a lingering smooth bitterness in the aftertaste - seriously impressed.

I just hope the fizz doesn't clout all the subtle flavours when it's finished carbonating - fingers crossed!