Panhandle Bitter

[Scooby]

I decided to use the Amarillo hops in a nice simple strongish well hopped bitter:

6.5kg Maris Otter pale malt

30g Amarillo Hops (8.0 AA) All of boil
30g 60min
10g 30min
10g 10min
10g In Hopback
10g Dry hopped

I've used my stocks of WL yeast so will try S-04 I keep as a safety net.

Usual 3hr or so mash at 68-69c I have dropped my expected eff to 65% and will try stopping the sparge at no less than 1.012 then a 90min boil.

Expected OG 1.056 IBU 44 ECB 10.5

Never used Amarillo hops and not sure I have tasted a beer brewed with them so at IBU 44 should be interesting

[Scooby]

There is a BC article discussing S04, it says it is far more O2 hungry that other dried yeasts. I must get around 75% attenuation when using normal aeration techniques, iirc you use o2 so it would be interesting to hear what attenuation you get

Hope your brew day goes smoothly

I've used S-04 on one other occasion with o2, the BeerAlchemy target attenuation was 77.5% and the actual recorded 78.5%, the other dried yeast I have used in the past was Gervin and the attenuation for that without o2 was 76.3% BA's target being 74.9% They were lower gravity bitters

This one is a higher gravity so it will be interesting to see what happens, I will probably brew this at the end of the week and will obviously keep you posted

Btw DaaB, the combination of higher mash temp, correcting the mash pH with Five Star 5.2 and stopping the sparge early has improved the quality of my beer no end more body and a really smooth mouth feel, you can see from the recipe I'm experimenting with this one to see if an even earlier halt to the sparge has any effect

[Scooby]

Your much more well read than I am DaaB, I've taken a lead from SteveD with his comments regarding the folly of chasing high efficiency and your advice to my query about lack of body I reckon 12-14 is about what I will settle on, that equates to about 65% eff in my system

In my limited use of the yeasts, in terms of attenuation with o2 they would indeed be very similar

Can't see any reason to change from an extended mash time, it fits in with my day and makes it much more relaxing

Funny this brewing lark, I look forward to the next brew with as much enthusiasm as any that has gone before, perhaps it's trying something different, (I rarely brew the same beer twice) or using a new ingredient, with this one I'm looking forward to chucking in the Amarillo

[Scooby]

Due to a family dilemma at the end of the week I have had to postpone the brew until next week.

It's been hectic but I think all is ok now. I'm just getting ready to go out on the Wychwood brewery tour It's at 4:00 and there are 15 of us and on it with another 5 or so meeting us at the pub after for a few pints in the garden and a bite to eat Looking forward to it.