Mos Eisley Cantina Ale 04/05/09

[adm]

To celebrate International Star Wars Day, I'm brewing a mongrel pale.

May the Fourth be with you!

I'm almost an hour into the boil and all is going well so far

Mos Eisley Cantina Ale (21L)

Grist:
4.5Kg Maris Otter
0.100Kg Wheat malt
0.250Kg Pale Crystal
0.050Kg Medium Crystal

Hops:
NZ Pacific Gem 13.7 % AA 15 g 22.9 IBU Loose Whole Hops First Wort Hopped
US Amarillo 9.5 % AA 16 g 7.9 IBU Loose Whole Hops 15 Min From End
NZ Pacific Gem 13.7 % AA 15 g 10.6 IBU Loose Whole Hops 15 Min From End
US Cascade 7.3 % AA 19 g 0.0 IBU Loose Whole Hops Flame Out
NZ Nelson Sauvin 11.5 % AA 10g 0.0 IBU Loose Whole Hops Flame Out
(All the hops are chosen to finish up open packs....)

Yeast is going to be US-05

Pics to follow....

[leedsbrew]

looking forward to seeing this one adm

[spearmint-wino]

"You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy".

MTFBWY

I'm doing a TTL clone today with Wyeast 1469 (TTL strain). Maybe I should call mine The Landlord of the Mos Eisley Cantina
Gotta love your beer names

[adm]

Thanks Fellas,

This brew went flawlessly and I was all done and tidied up in 4 1/2 hours. Not sure what it will turn out like, but there's enough of a mess of high alpha hops in there that it will certainly be.....well.....hoppy!

Here's the dirty pictures:


A good start for the day - a nice fresh sack of Maris Otter


Here's the grist: Maris Otter, Light and Medium Crystal and a bit of Wheat Malt.


pH looks good.


Temperature looks good too.


Hops for 15 mins and flame out


Topping up the mash tun after 90 minutes


First runnings. The white stuff is a teaspoon of gypsum.


All set up and ready to run off


Running off into FV while measuring the temperature. Came out about 23C.


Final result - just under 22L


Pitched and aerated


A nice clear looking wort....with a load of cold break floating around


Cold break settling out nicely. 1.049

Well.....22.5L at 1049 from a recipe meant to give me 21L at 1046. That's 92% efficiency according to Beer Alchemy. Can't be bad.

All in all, a nice smooth brewday. I started at 0930 and was done and packed away by 1400 - at which point we went out to the village May Day fair and I ended up having a couple of nice pints of Langhams Sundowner (excellent) at the pub on the way home!

[DarloDave]

looks nice and hoppy, should be a goodun

[mysterio]

May the fourth be with you

[Parp]

Heysoos Fella,

You must without doubt be the most frequent brewer on the forum.
Or at least the brewer who posts the most!

Posting from an iPod Touch in a cellar bar so must be brief.

Anyways, looks brilliant as always.

Parp!

[Parp]

Back in the house now so can type properly

As always an enviable uber clarity of wort!

A suitably befitting Ale for a memorable day!

You'll be brewing something for the new Star Trek movie i take it


Parp!

[adm]

Parp - I just brew enough so that I always have beer and there's plenty for visitors! Sadly, this is more that i had originally thought it would be so I am seriously thinking about moving my regular brew length from 1 to 2 cornies.....as i keep hitting the bottom just as the beer gets perfectly conditioned!

As for Wort clarity, I use protofloc at the last 15 mins, then let the wort sit for 30 mins when the boil is finished. I use a plate chiller though (which makes no difference at all to wort clarity), but if you use an IC, cool it then let it sit for 30 mins before you run off. I also knock the Total Alkalinity of my water down to 30mg/l for Pale Ales and chuck a teaspoon of gypsum into the mash and another into the boil. I have no idea if this helps wort clarity though.

As for the new Star Trek film, I've never been a trekkie myself but how about "Uhura's Ass Porter".....sweet, black, tasty and very moreish?

(I'll get me coat)

[Parp]

Aye, I think I'm going to have to tinker with the water.

The thing is, I seem to be getting less and less time to do anything other than look after the baby and toddler.

"Uhura's Ass Porter".....sweet, black, tasty and very moreish?

Dear Me!

What about Beam me up Scotty's "Teleporter" ?

Czech-ov Pilsener ?

[Tequilla6]

Oh No, this is getting silly, but some good names for the beers guys...Now I just need to design some labels to match

[adm]

Well, first (and second) pints of this today....and by gh0d it's good. Similar to my ANZAC rocket but more complex.

It could really do with another week or so, as it still has a fair "edge" to the hoppiness - although I quite like that myself - but it's incredibly complex with multiple layers of hop flavour. The Nelson Sauvi is very noticeable, although not overpowering. It's vinous and woody and resiny and citrussy. Very long finish on the hops....the taste lingers and develops for minutes at the back of the mouth, but there's also a nice malty base with noticeable caramel.

Clear too - and probably a bit too cold. Must turn my kegereezer back up to 10C after setting it at 8C for the Wit I've just finished.

Yummy. I should take it off the tap and leave it another week or two. But I won't.

[Tequilla6]

That's one of the problems with brewing I suppose, the temptation to try to see how it's improving, the delight at how nice it tastes but knowing that it's still maturing and the reticence to really leave it alone and you end up having a sneaky taste and maybe a quick pint and before long it's coming into condition and you realise there ain't much of it left...

Happens to all of us I'm sure..