angry princess blonde 2.0
brewed: 09/09/14
pitched: 09/09/14
kegged: 22/09/14
subsequent batch info: it's here! the second version of the angry princess blonde
ingredients:
4.15kg muntons mild ale
90gm joe white cara-malt
45gm hallertau mittelfrueh (pellets, 3 aa%, 60 mins)
20gm hallertau mittelfrueh (pellets, 3 aa%, 5 mins)
11.5gm DCL yeast US-05 - american ale
1 tablet whirlfloc
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient
process:
batch size: 20L
steps: 1
mash: 64C - 90 mins
boil: 90 mins
chill method: plate chill
ferment temp: 16C
d-rest: 18C
chilled: 1.5C
estimated OG: 1.044
actual OG: 1.043
estimated FG: 1.007
actual FG: 1.006
%abv: 5.1
ibu: 18
brewing notes:
05/09/14 - yep. it's time for angry princess to return. this will be brewed this weekend and will be the first beer to sit in my new KEGERATOR!!!! very excited.
09/09/14 - brewed today. great brew day. had a few troubles with the mash temp dropping a bit (63C and at most 62C) but apart from that, smooth sailing! chilled and pitched and she's now sitting pretty in the fermenter.
tasting notes:
16/09/14 - took a sample today to check the gravity and had a taste. it was still very yeasty and at 1.010 which to me is a good sign. it should mean it's still attenuating and should hopefully get to a lower gravity as per the prediction of 1.007. currently it's around 4.43% abv which isn't bad but i wouldn't mind it getting right to 1.007 and making it about 4.8% (this is like a standard pub beer so that is what i was shooting for). taste-wise though, it's very clean and balanced. not too much hallertau coming through in the way of standout flavour - and i think this is different to the first angry princess because i didn't no-chill it. basically, the last 5 minute hop addition of my first angry princess turned it into a 15ish minute addition and much more flavour was added to the beer. i'll be interested to see how this one turns out in coming weeks and if more hallertau can be tasted. at the moment though, things are looking and tasting on track!
18/09/14 - crash chilled tonight. very minimal hallertau flavour but i'm not too worried. i think it'll be a very clean and easy drinking beer with minimal hop character, and that was what i was after. i could have added more, and maybe that was what made the original what it was, but i think this one will be a favourite of some non-craft beer drinking people. it's balanced, and that is what i was shooting for. just a smooth and easy-drinking lager rip-off beer.
22/09/14 - kegged tonight in the new kegerator! she tastes smooth. easy drinking, a nice burst of hallertau now! i can taste the 5 minute addition there very subtly which is nice and refreshing. this will be a summer quencher for sure.
29/09/14 - having a taste of this now and it's still slightly green. i think it'll round out hopefully by next weekend.
03/10/14 - still young; a slight sweet and overly-hoppy taste as though the malt and yeast haven't rounded out yet. annoyed as i wanted this ready for the nrl grand final but at this stage (2 days away) it looks unlikely. having said that though, it is still under 2 weeks since kegging so it no doubt will come good in about another 2 weeks. this beer style is also a balancing act among all ingredients so it is understandable that it's not ready.
09/10/14 - hold the phone. she's starting to shape up! as per normal, the beer has taken almost three weeks to start mellowing out and for the flavours to 'even'. had a test taste just now and while it's not 100% yet, it's well on its way. i might take this to a friend's bbq on sunday, but if not, she'll be a BEAUTY by the following weekend i dare say. the overly-green hoppy aroma has subsided and balanced with the vienna malt. even subtly there are grainy notes which is common with this malt. the bitterness now is a lot less harsh on the tongue and in the nose.
16/10/14 - she's beautiful. she's taken her time, but god damn she's tasting nice now...and so CLEAR in the glass. really subtle hints of hallertau and a beautiful flavour of graininess from the vienna. a beautiful pairing. the late hopping in this beer really is what makes it special for me, and no doubt my friends who loved the original version. loving this one now. she's just...awesome. the use of us-05 yeast hasn't changed much, if not perhaps given a thinner mouth feel but overall, i think i prefer this version. very happy with how the re-brew turned out. it's almost identical (apart from my slight small changes) so i'm very impressed that i can brew the same beer twice successfully!
22/10/14 - it just keeps getting better and better. a lot more crisper and 'rounder' i'd now call it. probably more balanced than it was before and i'm sure it will continue to improve over the next week or so. am looking forward to having some friends around for this one soon (after prac is over)!
25/10/14 - so i've tasted this one again and it seems as though strangely it's done a bit of a back flip on me. the taste is still quite nice but i think the balance of this one is out. as in, it's slightly sweeter than it should be. 18 ibu is probably just a bit too low for this grain bill which is quite odd. i also thought it was joe white vienna malt, but it was actually muntons mild ale (their vienna equivalent) so i won't be using this one again. not BAD but not as good as my initial princess blonde and the malt really shouldn't have any sweetness.
29/10/14 - another taste today, and the sweetness is very noticeable. it's not overly sweet, but there is enough there for me to notice it, and to me it makes it stand out. i'm not a fan of sweet beers myself (others might) but to me, it needs to have a bit more hop character. the bitterness and sweetness chart up top indicates that it is more on the maltier side, and sadly this is true. i will put this one down to an incorrect judgement of sweetness of the vienna malt and perhaps the muntons variety of malt, and my not adding enough hops to counter this. i still feel that the hops are outplayed by the sweet vienna malt. a re-brew of this will be done again, and will be done using weyermann vienna malt and a bit more hallertau.
27/01/15 - the same thing happened with this beer as it did with my more recent christmas blonde. the sweetness was a flavour contributed because the beer was kegged and cooled too soon from the fermenter. will record this for next time i re-brew this one and make sure it's as good as the original!
brew day / beer pictures:
pitched: 09/09/14
kegged: 22/09/14
subsequent batch info: it's here! the second version of the angry princess blonde
ingredients:
4.15kg muntons mild ale
90gm joe white cara-malt
45gm hallertau mittelfrueh (pellets, 3 aa%, 60 mins)
20gm hallertau mittelfrueh (pellets, 3 aa%, 5 mins)
11.5gm DCL yeast US-05 - american ale
1 tablet whirlfloc
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient
process:
batch size: 20L
steps: 1
mash: 64C - 90 mins
boil: 90 mins
chill method: plate chill
ferment temp: 16C
d-rest: 18C
chilled: 1.5C
estimated OG: 1.044
actual OG: 1.043
estimated FG: 1.007
actual FG: 1.006
%abv: 5.1
ibu: 18
brewing notes:
05/09/14 - yep. it's time for angry princess to return. this will be brewed this weekend and will be the first beer to sit in my new KEGERATOR!!!! very excited.
09/09/14 - brewed today. great brew day. had a few troubles with the mash temp dropping a bit (63C and at most 62C) but apart from that, smooth sailing! chilled and pitched and she's now sitting pretty in the fermenter.
tasting notes:
16/09/14 - took a sample today to check the gravity and had a taste. it was still very yeasty and at 1.010 which to me is a good sign. it should mean it's still attenuating and should hopefully get to a lower gravity as per the prediction of 1.007. currently it's around 4.43% abv which isn't bad but i wouldn't mind it getting right to 1.007 and making it about 4.8% (this is like a standard pub beer so that is what i was shooting for). taste-wise though, it's very clean and balanced. not too much hallertau coming through in the way of standout flavour - and i think this is different to the first angry princess because i didn't no-chill it. basically, the last 5 minute hop addition of my first angry princess turned it into a 15ish minute addition and much more flavour was added to the beer. i'll be interested to see how this one turns out in coming weeks and if more hallertau can be tasted. at the moment though, things are looking and tasting on track!
18/09/14 - crash chilled tonight. very minimal hallertau flavour but i'm not too worried. i think it'll be a very clean and easy drinking beer with minimal hop character, and that was what i was after. i could have added more, and maybe that was what made the original what it was, but i think this one will be a favourite of some non-craft beer drinking people. it's balanced, and that is what i was shooting for. just a smooth and easy-drinking lager rip-off beer.
22/09/14 - kegged tonight in the new kegerator! she tastes smooth. easy drinking, a nice burst of hallertau now! i can taste the 5 minute addition there very subtly which is nice and refreshing. this will be a summer quencher for sure.
29/09/14 - having a taste of this now and it's still slightly green. i think it'll round out hopefully by next weekend.
03/10/14 - still young; a slight sweet and overly-hoppy taste as though the malt and yeast haven't rounded out yet. annoyed as i wanted this ready for the nrl grand final but at this stage (2 days away) it looks unlikely. having said that though, it is still under 2 weeks since kegging so it no doubt will come good in about another 2 weeks. this beer style is also a balancing act among all ingredients so it is understandable that it's not ready.
09/10/14 - hold the phone. she's starting to shape up! as per normal, the beer has taken almost three weeks to start mellowing out and for the flavours to 'even'. had a test taste just now and while it's not 100% yet, it's well on its way. i might take this to a friend's bbq on sunday, but if not, she'll be a BEAUTY by the following weekend i dare say. the overly-green hoppy aroma has subsided and balanced with the vienna malt. even subtly there are grainy notes which is common with this malt. the bitterness now is a lot less harsh on the tongue and in the nose.
16/10/14 - she's beautiful. she's taken her time, but god damn she's tasting nice now...and so CLEAR in the glass. really subtle hints of hallertau and a beautiful flavour of graininess from the vienna. a beautiful pairing. the late hopping in this beer really is what makes it special for me, and no doubt my friends who loved the original version. loving this one now. she's just...awesome. the use of us-05 yeast hasn't changed much, if not perhaps given a thinner mouth feel but overall, i think i prefer this version. very happy with how the re-brew turned out. it's almost identical (apart from my slight small changes) so i'm very impressed that i can brew the same beer twice successfully!
22/10/14 - it just keeps getting better and better. a lot more crisper and 'rounder' i'd now call it. probably more balanced than it was before and i'm sure it will continue to improve over the next week or so. am looking forward to having some friends around for this one soon (after prac is over)!
25/10/14 - so i've tasted this one again and it seems as though strangely it's done a bit of a back flip on me. the taste is still quite nice but i think the balance of this one is out. as in, it's slightly sweeter than it should be. 18 ibu is probably just a bit too low for this grain bill which is quite odd. i also thought it was joe white vienna malt, but it was actually muntons mild ale (their vienna equivalent) so i won't be using this one again. not BAD but not as good as my initial princess blonde and the malt really shouldn't have any sweetness.
29/10/14 - another taste today, and the sweetness is very noticeable. it's not overly sweet, but there is enough there for me to notice it, and to me it makes it stand out. i'm not a fan of sweet beers myself (others might) but to me, it needs to have a bit more hop character. the bitterness and sweetness chart up top indicates that it is more on the maltier side, and sadly this is true. i will put this one down to an incorrect judgement of sweetness of the vienna malt and perhaps the muntons variety of malt, and my not adding enough hops to counter this. i still feel that the hops are outplayed by the sweet vienna malt. a re-brew of this will be done again, and will be done using weyermann vienna malt and a bit more hallertau.
27/01/15 - the same thing happened with this beer as it did with my more recent christmas blonde. the sweetness was a flavour contributed because the beer was kegged and cooled too soon from the fermenter. will record this for next time i re-brew this one and make sure it's as good as the original!
brew day / beer pictures: