ground control pale ale
brewed: 06/05/13
bottled: 11/06/13
subsequent batch info: definitely needs a re-brew and bookmarked for future, however no plans as yet.
ingredients:
2kg weyermann pilsner
100gm joe white medium crystal 60
100gm weyermann munich 1
100gm weyermann vienna
7gm citra (pellets, 13.5 aa%, 60 mins)
3gm citra (pellets, 13.5 aa%, 25 mins)
3gm citra (pellets, 13.5 aa%, 7 mins)
10gm citra (pellets, 13.5%, dry hopped after 7 days for 7 days)
11.5gm DCL yeast US-05 - american ale
0.5 tablet whirlfloc
process:
10L batch, single infusion, no sparge, mash in 65C, 90 min boil, 16C fermentation, 2C cold crash
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.010
%AbV: 5.5% bottled
ibu: 42
brewing notes:
this is the second in my bowie series beers; taking it's name from a lyric in his space oddity song. was gonna get technical and call it 'ground citra-l' (being an all citra-hopped beer) but i'd feel like a wanker and who gives a shit anyway? i'm a bowie nerd. love it.
pretty good brew day today. was strange because my mash efficiency was off, but then my post boil efficiency was on so i'm a bit confused but overall, great day and a nice strong citra tasting brew! have my boil off volumes almost bang on now so that's good for figuring out how much water for future brews.
01/06/13 - dry hopped today by placing 10gms of citra hops straight into the fermenter. it was still a bit foamy but i was told so long as the big, initial fermentation is done it should be okay. this is my first dry hop so hoping it turns out okay. i could have used a hopsock but didn't
05/06/13 - cold crashed today to 2C
tasting notes:
26/05/13 - pitched tonight! had a sneaky taste going into the fermenter and it's reeeeeeeeeally nice. i'm going to wait impatiently to get a taste for it closer to it being done, to try and pick out the different malt characteristics paired with citra. in 4 days time i'll be dry hopping for the first time too. excited for that as i've never done it before and it is what gives craft beers that signature smell. dry hopping means putting the hops into the beer a few days after fermentation has started.
05/06/13 - had a little test after checking gravity and hello citra! me thinks i might like this hop! very unique taste and with the dry hops the aroma is right there on point. still a slight bit oily and resiny but that is due to the dry hops being still fresh and young.
11/06/13 - ground control to major tom! very nice tasting. dry hopping, well, i'll think i'll be doing that for the majority of my ales. kicking myself i hadn't started earlier. so clear and pretty-looking from the fermenter tonight and i had a quick taste and smell and it's citra all the way. beautiful fruity smells. can't wait to try this in a few weeks.
23/06/13 - HOLY SHIT. it tastes amazing. first taste test tonight and i'm blown away! don't even know what else to write. such a fruity hop. citra is my new favourite. DEFINITELY doing this one again.
brew pics: