Archer's Arrow

[charliemartin]

Planning to brew this one on Wednesday. A pale ale with mostly Archer hops from the Malt Miller. Just wondered if anyone has tried them yet and if they give the "apricot, peach and floral" taste/aroma they are supposed to.
Using some Target to bitter with because I need to use it up and hoping to get the flavour and aroma from the Archer hops.

Archer's Arrow

Date: 26th Feb 2014

Gyle Number: 15

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Pale Malt 5.5 EBC 8 lbs. 6.0 oz 3800 grams 93.8%
Caramalt 30 EBC 0 lbs. 8.8 oz 250 grams 6.2%


Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Target Whole 12.01 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz 10 grams 11.8%
Archer Whole 4.8 % 15 mins 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams 29.4%
Archer Whole 4.8 % 10 mins 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams 29.4%
Archer Whole 4.8 % 5 mins 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams 29.4%

Dry Hop Whole 4.8% 0 lbs. 0.9 oz 25 grams


Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4% ABV
Total Liquor: 36.4 Litres
Mash Liquor: 10.1 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 76 %
Bitterness: 27.8 EBU
Colour: 9 EBC

Fermenting with WLP028 5th gen.

Mashing at 70C to try and keep the FG up a bit. The last few beers I have brewed with this yeast have attenuated really well giving me much higher abv's than anticipated. Would like this to be a session ale so hopefully the high mash temperature will help.

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[crimsongarlic]

I made a single hop pale ale with Archer was pleasant enough but I wouldn't say I got a massive fruity / floral hit of them, must admit I'm not great at picking out peach and apricot flavours though.

I think for a 13ish litre batch I used:
30g @ 60 mins
15g @ 30 mins
20g @ 3 mins
20g @ flameout
and 15g dryhop

If I was using them again, like you, I'd bitter with something else and be tempted to just add the archer at 5 mins and flameout or an 80 degree steep to try and get more flavour.

[charliemartin]

Thanks for the reply. I must admit I had my doubts that they would have a peachy, apricot flavour or aroma, but I'll give them a try anyway. Sure they'll make a decent enough beer.

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[crimsongarlic]

Will be interested to hear how yours turns out and what you think to it.

[charliemartin]

Well I brewed this yesterday, but must have had too many homebrews the night before because I screwed up the hop schedule. I First wort hopped the Target, but then added my 15 min addition of Archer at 60 mins by mistake!
Luckily I realised my error and quickly changed the schedule to 10 and 0 for remaining hops.
This has upped the IBUs a bit, but should be okay. Might have lost some flavour though which is a shame.

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[crimsongarlic]

Oops, at least it's a lowish alpha hop!

[charliemartin]

This has turned out really well. Very smooth with a nice balance of malt and hops. I had planned to bottle it, but in the end I decided to put it in a pressure barrel. I have to say it's one of the best beers I have made so far. Don't get the peach/apricot thing, more a floral thing going on if anything. There is a slight haze which I think is from the dry hop, but it doesn't detract from the beer.

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[crimsongarlic]

Nice. Maybe you should put hops in at the wrong times more often!!!

[charliemartin]

Good point. I'd like to do this one again sometime with the original hop schedule to see what difference it would make, if any.

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[seymour]

This has turned out really well...Don't get the peach/apricot thing, more a floral thing going on if anything...

I had the first taste of my single hop Archer brew last night, and I agree. I didn't detect peach/apricot either, but I really like these Archer hops. I highly recommend them to all brewers.

[charliemartin]

I had the first taste of my single hop Archer brew last night, and I agree. I didn't detect peach/apricot either, but I really like these Archer hops. I highly recommend them to all brewers.

+1 Definitely worth a try if you haven't used them before.

Cheers,
Charliemartin