Emergency Best Bitter (I ran out of beer)

[tec-9-7]

When one's keg of best bitter blows, one makes do with what one has on hand!

Should be a bit more hop character throughout than my previous two.

16.5 l batch - total boil time: 90 minutes

Water treatment: 2 tsp Burton Salts to water preboil

2.72 kg Northern Brewer Maris Otter LME
23 g 120° Crystal Malt
40 g Black Patent Malt

5 g East Kent Golding pellet hops (5.8 AAU) for 60 minutes
56.7 g Sonnet Golding pellet hops (4 AAU) for 60 minutes
28.3 g Bramling Cross pellet hops (7.4 AAU) for 5 minutes
14 g WGV pellet hops (7.1 AAU) for 5 minutes

White Labs WLP05 British Ale yeast (pitchable vial)

Force-cool wort, and drop to 15.5° C prior to pitch.

Am going to try an open ferment on this one and see what happens...

The color is very gold in the hydrometer.

[seymour]

Sounds tasty. Welcome back!

[tec-9-7]

We shall see. I have zero experience with three of the hops I'm using, and I don't think I've ever used either this particular yeast, or an open (well, I'm draping a towel across the top) ferment.

Tasted good out of the hydrometer tho!

[seymour]

I've been curious about the Sonnet-Goldings, too. Probably too much other stuff going on there to tell much about a single hop, but I'm excited to hear how it all comes together...

[tec-9-7]

The nose on the Sonnets was very close to the EKGs I used (mostly to use up a foil-pack that I'd previously opened). I doubt I'll be able to tell much about the character though after a 60 minute boil. I'm thinking the BC and WGV will end up much more prominent in this beer.

I'm about to do the Day-2 Yeast Rouse, even though I've got a decent head of krausen in the fermenter at the moment. I've been able to keep the temp down in the 17°-17.5° C range, so I'm optimistic about the character I'm going to get on this one...

[tec-9-7]

I have just kegged this beer... The Ringwood yeast fermented it out from a 1.044 to a 1.011 in eight days at a pretty constant 17° C, and the beer was startlingly clear coming out of the fermenter. The nose is very different from the typical beer I late-hop with EKGs for Fuggles - the BC/WGV combo is it's own animal. Sampled out of the hydrometer, this beer is also quite bitter - not quite the typical APA level, but the strong late hops did yield more bittering than I'd have expected.

This beer is out of style, for most anything English - to bitter for a pale ale, and not strong enough for an IPA, but this promised to be a great drinker! I force-carbed it this morning, and am going to try to wait til evening to pull a pint to taste