Philosopher's Stone

[yashicamat]

Decided to do a nice hoppy pale ale today and push the boundaries of hop additions that I've previously sat (safely?) within. Aimed for a fairly light gravity but with plenty of hops.

3160g Low colour Maris Otter
215g Vienna malt
140g Wheat malt

18g Brewers Gold FWH (there were knocking about from the Brewer's Gold recipe and had no use, so decided to boost the bitterness as the crystal are only 4.9%AA)
28g Crystal 60 mins
45g Crystal 10 mins
27g Crystal steep

US-05, whirlfloc and dry pale ale treatment.

I was aiming for 1040 but ended up with 1039, still pretty close. Should give me about 3.8 to 4.0% abv with 40 IBUs.

No photos I'm afraid. Was intending to video this one but the video camera decided to commit suicide as I started the brewday.

[kevthebootboy]

looks good our kid, no pics? you big let down

[DarloDave]

Should be nice! What are the crystal hops like?

[yashicamat]

Should be nice! What are the crystal hops like?

Good question . . . I've never used them before. I wanted ideally for the beer to be just crystal hops, but at 4.9% AA they wouldn't leave much for aroma/steep additions, hence the brewers gold to boost the bitterness. As the BG is being used just for bittering, I am hoping that the flavour will be almost entirely the result of the crystal. They smelt lovely out of the packet, more piney than other american hops I've used (cascade, chinook, amarillo etc.) but still very very nice.

[yashicamat]

Tasting awesome so far! Aroma is incredible - distinctive grapefruit I'd say. Flavour is a superb hoppy clout, somewhere between grapfruit and tangerines. Bit too much sweetness from the malt in the background in the aftertaste. Probably still has a few points to go yet, but I think maybe my bitterness calcs are off, might try this again and up the IBUs by 10%.