Citra+Mosaic APA

[Matt in Birdham]

Same grainbill as the Russian River Row 2 Hill 56 clone, with different hops. This is a nice, simple grain bill that seems to work well with a range of hops. For this beer I moved the bulk of the additions to 5 mins and flameout.

I've had a bit of a run of "meh" beers recently. Beers that haven't quite hit the mark, and I'm not sure why, but I guess at least partly due to the fact that I moved to a new fermentor (SS Chronical), started oxygenating with O2 and started using a Brewpi all at the same time (which doesn't make it any easier to identify the cause(s)). Even though all of things should be beneficial, they undoubtedly cause some change to the process which needs to be dialled in.

As an experiment for this brew, and to rule out water issues (although I do test for alkalinity religiously before brewing/treating my water), I decided to start with 100% RO water and build from there. Turns out a local garden/aquatics centre will fill 2x25l jerries for £6, so if I notice an improvement I can see me using it from now on at roughly £4 a brew (hardly worth even buying an RO system at that price).

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 29.67 l
Post Boil Volume: 22.92 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.00 l
Bottling Volume: 22.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 10.0 EBC
Estimated IBU: 42.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 57.1 %
2.00 kg Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcet Grain 2 38.1 %
0.25 kg Caramalt (Thomas Fawcett) (29.6 EBC) Grain 3 4.8 %
12.00 g Chinook [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 18.4 IBUs
30.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 9.2 IBUs
30.00 g Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Boil 5.0 mi Hop 6 9.4 IBUs
40.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 2.0 m Hop 7 2.6 IBUs
40.00 g Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Steep/Whirl Hop 8 2.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg San Diego Super Yeast (White Labs #WLP09 Yeast 9 -
30.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Hop 11 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: NO SPARGE
Total Grain Weight: 5.25 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 34.82 l of water at 71.9 C 67.5 C 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------
Calcium Magnesium Sodium Chloride Sulfate Chloride / Sulfate
(Ca ppm) (Mg ppm) (Na ppm) (Cl ppm) (SO4 ppm) Ratio
96 5 23 63 220 0.29

100% RO water + 2g sea salt, 2g epsom, 2g CaCl, 12g Gypsum

100g acidulated - est in EZ Water 5.48, test @ 10 mins 5.2. Wavered 5.1/5.3, seemed to setting 5.2 so no further action taken. EZ water out again, by ~2/10 ph

wyeast nutrient added (1/4 tsp) along with just under half a koppakleer tablet at about 7 mins.

chilled about a minute after flameout to 19.75C.

oxygenated for ~75 seconds with stone & O2 cylinder.

pitched 1.5l starter of active WLP090, Brewpi set to 19C for first 36 hours then ramping to 22 over a week.

22l @ 1.053

Brew went smoothly and ended up with 22l in the fermentor at 1.053, which was a little high but I didn't bother liquoring back. This should be pretty tasty, especially with the extra 30g of Citra and Mosaic going in as dry hops.

[Rhodesy]

Looks nice Matt and in line with my usual APA's which I seem to brew 80% of the time. I really like WLP090 as well when going for the 'Chico' effect. I will be interested as to how this one turns out. I too have felt something missing in my last few brews having played about with dry hopping timings mostly. I would be tempted to up the dry hopping to 5/6g per L but the those hops are pricey and at times quite rare, one benefit of some of the recipe generators is being able to order by the g for hops.

[Matt in Birdham]

Looks nice Matt and in line with my usual APA's which I seem to brew 80% of the time. I really like WLP090 as well when going for the 'Chico' effect. I will be interested as to how this one turns out. I too have felt something missing in my last few brews having played about with dry hopping timings mostly. I would be tempted to up the dry hopping to 5/6g per L but the those hops are pricey and at times quite rare, one benefit of some of the recipe generators is being able to order by the g for hops.

I'm using up the last of a 1lb bag of Citra, so I dare say a few extra grams might make it in depending on how much is left! Same for the Mosaic, actually. Not tried these two together but I think it should work - might be a bit full on though!

It's not just equipment I have changed - I brewed a couple of attempts at "NE style" with WY1318 and lots of chloride and didn't really get great results. A strange kind of "flat" and minerally bitterness in the after taste - not terrible but not that nice. Just kegged a "back to basics" APA last night, with a similar grain bill to this one but bittered with magnum and all cascade late/dry. Hopefully that will get the mojo going again, until this one is ready at least!