Cascade Pale Ale Brew Day

[Halfacrem]

It's Friday. I'm at Home as my Son has an Inset day from School. So I'm showing him the ropes (well that's my excuse!)

It's a GH Cascade single hop pale ale today.

Grain and Yeast, raring to go!

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Mashing at 65 degC (well there abouts!!)

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[brisboy]

Sounds like great fun.

 

[Spapro]

Cascade probably my favourite pale ale hop (first gold for a bitter).

Can't go wrong with cascade pale ale - consider dry hopping for 4 days at the end of primary fermentation for a real hop punch in the finished brew

 

[Wicks]

I made the GH Cascade, came out really well. I was beaming from ear to ear when I first tasted it! Best brew yet out of the 4 I've done. Think your onto a winner there :thumb:

 

[Halfacrem]

Cascade probably my favourite pale ale hop (first gold for a bitter).

Can't go wrong with cascade pale ale - consider dry hopping for 4 days at the end of primary fermentation for a real hop punch in the finished brew

I was considering that. I'll have 20g of hops left after the boil schedule (11.5 litre batch). Reckon that would be enough to have a dry hopping impact?

 

[HisDudeness]

That should be fine, about an ounce is a typical starting amount for 23L so 20g is plenty to make a difference in 11.5L :thumb:

 

[Brewdoug]

Be interested how you like this.
Thinking of doing this one myself soon, splitting it in 2 at the boil stage and doing one half Cascade and one half Citra to compare.

 

[Halfacrem]

Brew went really well. I think I've settled on my mash/sparge process for the time being and I managed to hit my Gravity target spot on (1.050), so should be looking at around 5.3% if fermentation goes to plan.

Just realised that bottling time will clash with Christmas, so I'll have to plan my dry hop schedule around Family commitments.

Any recommendations for dry hopping, when it comes round to that? Just pop the hops on top, or bag 'em in a sanitised hop bag? Would a hop tea addition have the same affect, or would this add more bitterness?

 

[Spapro]

Brew went really well. I think I've settled on my mash/sparge process for the time being and I managed to hit my Gravity target spot on (1.050), so should be looking at around 5.3% if fermentation goes to plan.

Just realised that bottling time will clash with Christmas, so I'll have to plan my dry hop schedule around Family commitments.

Any recommendations for dry hopping, when it comes round to that? Just pop the hops on top, or bag 'em in a sanitised hop bag? Would a hop tea addition have the same affect, or would this add more bitterness?

I've found using a boiledfor 15 mins and sterilised bag for the dry hop helps when it comes to syphoning out for bottling - after 4 days flotaing in your brew you can remove the bag, quick squeeze out (with cleaned, sanitised hands) into your brew then dispose. I have found popping the hops straight in (no bag) can give difficulties with blocked syphone etc (although others on here do dry hop without bagging.

Up to you if you want to add a tea, not sure how much difference it makes, wont hurt either way.

 

[JapanBrew]

Cascade probably my favourite pale ale hop (first gold for a bitter).

Can't go wrong with cascade pale ale - consider dry hopping for 4 days at the end of primary fermentation for a real hop punch in the finished brew

Yes. I got my final order of hops and cascade is such a dream!!

 

[Halfacrem]

This is a couple of months down the line now and still needs some clearing. I've had a few bottles of this and I'm not entirely please with it.

There's something slightly sharp about this brew, perhaps a touch of burnt caramel and a slight muddiness to the Hop character. Anyway, I'm useless at describing flavours. This is probably my least favorite AG beer to date.

The good thing is that even a slightly disappointing AG brew is still a Country mile better than my best attempt at a Kit brew, which is great because even though I'm not happy with it, it's still totally drinkable!!

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[MyQul]

What's your water like (hard or soft) I've only just cracked making pales partially because I've started to use bottled water

 

[Halfacrem]

What's your water like (hard or soft) I've only just cracked making pales partially because I've started to use bottled water

My tap water is quite hard, so this is bottled water too (Waitrose essentials, I was feeling posh!!). Perhaps it just needs a little more time to mature?