lazy sunday golden ale
brewed: 11/08/13
pitched: 04/09/13
bottled: 20/09/13
subsequent batch info: will try this one again with slight malt adjustments, but also when amarillo hops are good. i believe the ones i used weren't too crash hot sadly.
ingredients:
2kg weyermann pilsner
100gm joe white medium crystal 60
100gm weyermann carapils (dextrine)
10gm amarillo (pellets, 8.9 aa%, 60 mins)
10gm amarillo (pellets, 8.9 aa%, 20 mins)
5gm amarillo (pellets, 8.9 aa%, 7 mins)
15gm amarillo (pellets, 8.9%, dry hopped after 7 days for 7 days)
11gm danstar yeast BRY-97 american west coast ale
0.5 tablet whirlfloc
process:
10L batch, single infusion, no sparge, mash in 65C for 90 mins, no-chill, 17C fermentation, 2C cold crash
OG: 1.044
FG: 1.010
%AbV: 4.5 - 5.0% bottled
australian standard drinks (1 x 340mL glass): 1.3 *
ibu: 47
brewing notes:
i wasn't doing anything exciting today and so i decided (read: was allowed) to brew a beer. i haven't had a single beer i've made that i've liked yet with the famous amarillo hop so this one was it! today was a beautifully relaxing, sunny, lazy sunday and so after a few name ideas, i decided simply on 'lazy sunday pale ale'. i'm still unsure as to which yeast i'm going to use for it. it's out of us-05, the coopers yeast i've got that i'm semi-scared of using in case it isn't cultured properly, and even the WLP080 liquid yeast i've been using. we'll see what happens when it's pitch time.
04/09/13 - today was the day! this beer in its cube, has been sitting through an entire move of house. it's been packed up and stored and goodness knows what else. all i'm hoping is that the amarillo flavour doesn't fade. fingers crossed this one comes out a treat in a few weeks. i used the danstar BRY-97 yeast! a new dry type.
tasting notes:
10/09/13 - checked gravity today and had a little taste and i'm a bit worried that i've wrecked the beer when i pitched the yeast. for some reason there's a slight twang to it, and i'm guessing it's either from the yeast (as i made a few little mistakes when pitching it) or perhaps from the moving about the cube took en route to our new house, or maybe the temperature in the fridge. fingers crossed in a few days this fades. perhaps it's the flavour of the new yeast. hard to tell. i'll try again in a few days once it's finished fermenting and see. perhaps it just needs more time as it's only been 6 days and the yeast needs to properly do its thing. fingers crossed!
20/09/13 - today was bottling time for the lazy sunday. at first, after doing gravity checks, i didn't really like it. since i've bottled it however and had a small taste, i think i've completely changed my mind on amarillo! very very excited to try it in a few weeks once it's carbonated and see what it's like. the yeast seems to have dropped out better than i had first thought so i'm happy about that.
04/10/13 - so almost two weeks since the bottle and i tried one. not too bad although i think it's still very young. the amarillo is still quite bitey. not a strong aroma (i think the yeast and the bottling process subdued it too much) but in a few weeks i think this will even out into a nice little drop.
13/10/13 - for the past few days i've been trying this one out and yesterday i had the whole family around for jenna's birthday. they drank the whole lot! on tasting it, i really think that either the yeast has totally subdued the amarillo flavour OR the conditioning time just didn't allow them to shine like others i've used OR the hops i've bought just weren't that strong or potent. the hop flavour to me seems very subdued even though the beer is nice. it isn't a stronger hoppy pale ale type i'd hoped. it was more of a golden ale. everyone who has tried it has liked it (after about 4+ weeks in the bottle, conditioning) but i think i still have sadly yet to taste amarillo as it really is. i'm happy with this beer but i might make it again another time when i can get my hands on hops i know to be potent.
* formula from: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/standard