Hoppy Pale Ale

[Doive]

Evening all,

Decided recently following posts by others, to do a few experimental small brews, a couple of demijohns, that sort of thing. This is my first brew from scratch unsing Brewmate, so nothing too complex. Just received a pre-Christmas order of grain and hops, so a wide choice of what to make. Still, elected to keep it simple. And hoppy. Very hoppy. Wanted a fairly high ABV for this one, so lots of grain going into a 9 litre brew.

11 Litres for mashout

3kg Maris Otter
1kg Lager Malt

Mashed 90 minutes at 65C.

Pre-boil gravity worked out at 1.060 for 9 litres.

Sparged with 3.5 litres to give a boil volume of 12.5 litres.

Hops:
90 minutes
Galaxy 20g
Fuggles 10g
Northdown 10g

60 minutes
Galaxy 10g
Fuggles 5g
Northdown 5g

30 minutes
Galaxy 10g
Fuggles 5g
Northdown 5g
1 tsp Irish Moss
1/2 Protofloc tablet

Post boil gravity - 1.080 for 8 litres. Not bad!

Boil time - looks silly with such a small volume.

The hops.

Plenty of time for one of these.

Hops filtered out.

Final gravity checked at 20C.

Had a taste from the sample tube - wow, very bitter!! I suspect I might have overdone the Galaxy hops somewhat, but will be interesting to find out how it ferments.

 

[clibit]

Is that your own recipe? Let us know how it goes. I would be using one bittering addition and saving hops for late additions myself, especially the Galaxy. Be interesting to hear what you think of the final product.

If you click 'Export to file' in the Brewmate File menu, you can open a text version of the recipe and copy and paste to the forum. Bit quicker!

Hope it goes well, I'm up to AG#13. Currently got an India Red Ale fermenting, my most adventurous brew to date!

 

[Doive]

Hi Clibit, yes this is my own creation - still learning my way around hops and what they can do, so just experimenting. I like a nice bitter strong ale, in the style of a double IPA, so lots of grain and lots of bittering hops. I'm going to try different additions on future brews to help me learn what can do what.

Dropped this into two demijohns yesterday along with quite a bit of sediment, perhaps I should have settled and separated it first. Anyway, had high hopes for the Mangrove Workhorse yeast, as others had good experiences with it. Pitched it at 22C, and 24 hours later - nothing. Nowt. Not a single bubble. Added a bit more, left a few hours - still nowt. Impatient, I've pitched Marston's Gold yeast instead, and that's happily bubbling away after a couple of hours. Smells wonderfully hoppy coming out of the airlock :thumb:

 

[Doive]

All my recent mini brews sitting bubbling away, including tonight's addition of a Hopping Hare clone. So lots of hops used this week then!

 

[pittsy]

Looking good :thumb: , i notice quite a lot of break material in your brews . Maybe you need a better filter , what do you use at the moment .

 

[darkonnis]

I have the same problem with break, smaller batches do seem to generate a lot more break material than larger ones. They probably odn't but because it is such a small amount you notice it less

 

[Doive]

At the moment I'm using a brew bag normally used for BIAB, and pour the hot wort through that. Not fine enough to take out the smallest stuff. Tried a coffee filter mesh for the last one, but still not fine enough. Any suggestions for a super fine filter?

 

[clibit]

I asked this question and someone said a sterilised j-cloth works! Not tried it myself but worth a go I reckon. Should do the job.

 

[dave0w]

how dose the plastic bin cope with been used as a boiler?
can i see some photos of it. it looks interesting

 

[Doive]

No problems so far, done maybe a dozen brews with it. Element seals well against the side, I heated the plastic first with a heatgun and flattened the curve to give it a chance. It's a cheap and cheerful solution to see if I want to brew long term, then I figured I'd upgrade to shiny stuff. But it does everything I want of it, so don't see the need to spend a fortune. These bins are £11 each and are strong, so can afford to experiment.

 

[clibit]

where is the bin from?

 

[Doive]

Burnley Home Brew shop. Good place, he delivers as well.

 

[RobWalker]

your hop schedule doesn't make a massive amount of sense to me, 90 and 60 min additions will have the same effect and 30 min hops will add flavour and bitterness, but with that schedule I assume you're after some aroma which just won't exist without 10 min and below additions.

If I were you, I would have bittered with northdown, added flavour at 15-10 mins with fuggles and then piled on the galaxy at the aroma (10 to 0 mins) and dry hop stages. You might benefit from reading up on hop timings and what they add to the beer - a great hoppy ale can be made with a 60 min bittering addition and a bunch of dry hops and nothing else.

If you're doing small batches too, I'd suggest a 30 minute boil. Your hops will cost a little more but your boil off will be more controllable, and there isn't a huge difference in flavour.

 

[Doive]

Thanks for that Rob, valuable advice - I'm not that familiar with hops and what they can do. There's so many types! When I have a bit of free time over the holidays, I'll read up and try to understand what's what. I'm guessing the stickies here are a good place to start. Hopefully Santa will be bringing me a brewing book I've asked for too :mrgreen:

 

[clibit]

As you are from Burnley, Doive, and told me where you got that bin, I'll let you into the secret of Moorhouses that I learned recenlty from a guy who brewed there - they generally use two hop additions, one at the start of a 60 minute boil, and one after the heat is switched off. The hops all then sit in the beer while it is transferred slowly to the FV, around one to two hours I think. I was shocked at the lack of hops in the last 15 minutes and dry hops, but it works - you get flavour and aroma from the steep hops.

If you want more aroma, dry hop in the FV too. If you want more flavour, add hops between 15 and 5 minutes from the end of the boil.