Brewday 22/09/09 - Aurora ale

[mysterio]

Brewing this up tomorrow for serving through the beer engine... never used Aurora hops so i'm keen to see how they work out... they should really leave their mark with this amount of late hopping

Will hopefully get a pic or two up this time

Might chuck a bit of biscuit malt in

Aurora Blonde Ale

Type: All Grain
Date: 21/09/2009
Batch Size: 12.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.74 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 95.24 % (Low Colour MO)
0.40 kg Wheat, Flaked (3.2 EBC) Grain 4.76 %
100.00 gm Aurora [8.10 %] (15 min) Hops 20.7 IBU
100.00 gm Aurora [8.10 %] (0 min) Hops -
Nottingham Yeast x 2

Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.16 %
Bitterness: 20.7 IBU
Est Color: 8.3 EBC

Mash Profile

My Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp
40 min Step Add 22.68 L of water at 74.4 C 68.0 C

[196osh]

Never seen a beer with no early hops in it.

Does that affect the bitterness? Make it more smooth mabye?

[adeybambam]

I would be very interested in seeing how you go about serving with the beer engine - I am considering a similar system myself. I already have the engine (and a cooler although rarely need it) and I am currently researching buying some AG kit and getting going with AG brewing. I assume it is a case of barreling and then just connecting the beer engine line to the tap of the barrel but any hints would be appreciated. I assume you would have to sup it quickly if yoiu don't want to get into cask breathers etc?

[mysterio]

Adeybambam,

I use a check valve (Jim uses the same with a barrel if you do a search). This allows internal pressure in the keg but the beer will only be allowed out if there is negative pressure from the beer engine. This is the best way I have found to reduce 'fobbing' i.e. airlocks in the beer line. So I will gas up the keg with maybe 5 - 10 psi of pressure, enough to give a little condition, then place the check valve inline between the keg and the beer engine. The keg will keep for as long as you like this way but obviously the beer left in the beer engine cylinder/beer line can stale. I'll post pics at some point.

196osh, dunno about making it more smooth, probably not, infact to paraphrase Wheeler: 'late hopping is something that nasty foreigners with no taste did' I'm just after big hop flavour and aroma and not alot of bitterness

This article is quite interesting http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm

[adeybambam]

Cheers for that Mysterio. I'll search the forums but any pictures would be much great.

[mysterio]

Here's a quick mashing in video about half an hour ago... I attempted to hold the camera while stirring the mash but that didn't work out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbOzVGWaqM0

[mysterio]

Pretty decent pint, this one. Aurora (super styrians) are nothing like styrian goldings. They have a tropical fruit juice flavour which is quite pleasant. Mango, passionfruit, pineapple etc. I think there's also a pungent, marijuana note to it too. The more I sniff this beer the more I think of sniffing a big bag of grass. It even carries through to the flavour. Sadly the beer is really lacking mouthfeel and this detracts from it quite a bit. I think S04 would have been a better call. Looking back, 1.042, no crystal malt and nottingham is asking for it. Some caramalt would have been a good idea.

Oddly enough, the wort for this tasted bitter has hell. I thought i'd F'd up big time, and that the Tinseth calculation probably can't cope with such massive late hopping. But this did not carry through the finished beer. The bitterness is very low and tastes roughly 20 IBUs as calculated.

I can see me using this hop again.

One last note, there is none of the harshness that I usually get from my heavily hopped beers. It's as smooth as you like. I feel like i'm slowly getting to the bottom of this..

[yashicamat]

Pretty decent pint, this one. Aurora (super styrians) are nothing like styrian goldings. They have a tropical fruit juice flavour which is quite pleasant. Mango, passionfruit, pineapple etc. I think there's also a pungent, marijuana note to it too. The more I sniff this beer the more I think of sniffing a big bag of grass. It even carries through to the flavour. Sadly the beer is really lacking mouthfeel and this detracts from it quite a bit. I think S04 would have been a better call. Looking back, 1.042, no crystal malt and nottingham is asking for it. Some caramalt would have been a good idea.

Oddly enough, the wort for this tasted bitter has hell. I thought i'd F'd up big time, and that the Tinseth calculation probably can't cope with such massive late hopping. But this did not carry through the finished beer. The bitterness is very low and tastes roughly 20 IBUs as calculated.

I can see me using this hop again.

One last note, there is none of the harshness that I usually get from my heavily hopped beers. It's as smooth as you like. I feel like i'm slowly getting to the bottom of this..

Sounds like it went well. The flavour notes you describe are exactly what I get from Aurora. Works best with large hopping rates I reckon, which is what you've done. I think your yeast choice was correct actually, just you need to get some caramalt in there to boost the body a bit. I think S-04 would compete against the hoppy flavour, and that kind of defeats the objective in this style of beer.

Pic?

[mysterio]

I think you're probably right about the S04. I usually find Nottingham pretty bland but when you pile the hops in it does a decent job.

[arturobandini]

Bang on for the aroma and tasting notes of Aurora. I've still got enough of these for one more brew but I'm not sure how much I like them really.

[mysterio]

Just dusting off the last keg of this. I'm very impressed with this hop, i'll definately be using it again this year.

I remember one of my aims when I started brewing that making a clone of Deuchars was one of my ultimate aims. I loved (and still do) low gravity, hoppy session ales. I can say, in all honesty, that I prefer this beer. There are definate similarities but this is just all round tastier.