Yellowbelly Pale Ale

[SiHoltye]

Have just found the 'snipping tool' in accessories for Vista, a handy little thing.

[SiHoltye]

1.014 tonight, so in the zone for attenuation. Won't rouse anymore as the film of protective bubbles is next to nowt and the attenuation is good. Sample tastes great.

[sllimeel]

Have just found the 'snipping tool' in accessories for Vista, a handy little thing.

Nice find that

[SiHoltye]

1.013 after 7 days.

[SiHoltye]

It's still going after 8 days. How hoppy do you think the hydro sample tastes?
a) very hoppy,
b) very very hoppy,
c) a) and b) put together.

[SiHoltye]

1.011 tonight.

[SiHoltye]

Kegged and dry hopped with 30g Styrians.

[SiHoltye]

Holy Moley, that's a tasty beer with good aroma! A feat as aroma has eluded me thus far when force carbing. This recipe with 1% crystal, 5g elderflower in the boil and cascades and we may have a Hophead!!!

[SiHoltye]

No priming sugars, I thought that was unnecessary just as a measure to protect any aroma carry over since I was dry hopping anyway. Kegged with IG and applied 20psi for a couple of weeks, turned down for dispensing. The dry hops have been in about a week/10 days now, plan to leave them be as if I don't see any detrimental effect from this, it's one less opening of the keg (to remove them).

[SiHoltye]

I thought by dry hopping I'dd overpoweringly add aroma that force carbing couldn't knock out entirely. To judge my success I ought to prime the next similar beer and dry hop and compare - might take my head off with aroma if thoughts are right - good . 20psi doesn't taste too fizzy for me in an all MO styrian 1.040er, before dispense I release the pressure so the beer just runs quietly out into the glass. Doesn't fizz in the glass so much as sparkle. I've had overprimed bottles before and it's not like that, maybe an influence is 5' of reasonable id beer line? Dunno really, but the carbonation seems about right for an English bitter - and I've drunk a few examples I'm happy with the level of carbonation so I don't care about why it happens right now.

[SiHoltye]

20psi is in fact ridiculously fizzy for serving. I don't think the keg had absorbed all the C02 when I sampled it and it was relatively stable. Now 20psi has gone into the beer it's too tricky to pour/unpourable with my on/off taps. Vented it close to atmosphere and applied 10psi for further storage.

This appears to be a pseudo-american hop monster. The flavour addition is too big and overpowering, as is the dry hop contribution. It's a Bobek hop characteristics delivery sytstem in a pint glass . As in-your-face hop slaps go it's pretty good, just not wholely my cup of tea. I'd have preferred a balanced put with subtler though obvious hop prescence. Think when I do this again ('cos I brew a 'stunner'-like brew every now and then) I'll change it a bit.

OK so technically it's not a BJCP 'pale ale' I don't care. It'll pass as a Pale Ale to uninformed house guests.

I want a bright sparkly pale coloured bitter for Xmas and so have left out all specialty grains (to keep the colour light, also 66° mash), and used the ale hop variety I think is the lightest and brightest in flavour - for me anyway. I couldn't bring myself to make a small 15min hop addition as so many tried and tested printed recipes have, because a) I have the hops available and b) bigger is better right??? - WALLY!
Ingredients
25L, 3hr mash from 66°C (not 90mins only because kids football is gonna get in the way), 90 min boil, efficiency 85%, Water profile Dry Pale Ale, alkalinity 25 CaCO3
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.71 kg Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 100.00 %
65.00 gm Styrian Goldings [3.40 %] (90 min) Hops 22.3 IBU up IBU's to compensate for fewer 15min hops
50.00 gm Styrian Goldings [3.40 %] (15 min) Hops 7.9 IBU 15g
60.00 gm Styrian Goldings [3.40 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 15g
1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) Yeast-Ale Maybe S04 or Notts, if not in the mood for liquid

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.040 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.71 %
Bitterness: 30.2 IBU
Est Color: 7.2 EBC

[adm]

Si,

Has the beer got colder since you put 20 psi on it? 'Cos that will make it fizzier than normal too. I've had to dial my CO2 back as the weather got colder as my keg fridge is controlled for cooling - but not heating yet so as the ambient temperature gets colder than the temperature controller setpoint, the beer absorbs more CO2 at 20psi than it would at my 10C setpoint. In effect, if 20psi gives you 2 vols of carbonation at 10C, it will give you more like 2.5 vols at 5C (numbers just guessed at) and so the beer will be fizzier with the same pressure.

I've now got a pipe heater that's going in my keg fridge this weekend to make sure the temperature - and the fizziness - stays constant. Back in the summer when I started brewing, I only thought about how to keep the beer cold, not warm. From perfectly carbonated beer at my preferred temperature, I ended up with too cold and too fizzy beer!

[SiHoltye]

Yummy.

[SiHoltye]

It's a pint of hops really .

You know all those long time written recipes that people put in published and well bought books, where for ordinary/best/extra bitters they suggest a contribution of english hops at 15 mins from the end of boil, just to add back the some flavour/aroma boiled off earlier? Well I think 'I know better than that', and I'll whack in 3 times what they say for additions of MORE flavour, MORE aroma, and dry hop again with 3 times what they recommend if indeed they recommend any dry hops, I am being a wally. Innovation is great, tailoring a beer to what you personally favour is great also, but I just can't leave winning recipes alone
I'll make an all pale & styrian brew again, but will - I promise to myself - not think I KNOW BEST . I wish this was less hop flavoured now, and am going to remove the dry hop bag in a vain attempt to throttle back the grassy nose I've given it in time for Christmas.

2009 = BALANCE.

The awards that I've won for Best Bitters (and these were the beers I've liked most from me) have never had a more than 15g at 15mins, and no dry hop

Next time, all MO to 1.040, sty to 27IBU's, 15g at 15mins. Then I'll work from there, 'cos at the moment I've not brewed a benchmark pale coloured styrian bitter, it's always been an attempt at the extreme so I've got nowhere to work up from, only down if you see what I mean.

Finished rambling and open-thinking now. I finished work early and poured a few beers for pictures to put on here, then felt obliged to drink them , they gave me keyboard diarrheoa